As noted above, this framework was generated eclectically from
various sources to suit the aims of the study. It is made up of 1) a
tabulated list of speech acts and discourse strategies for negotiation,
2) Locher’s (2004) checklist for the nature and exercise of power, 3)
Brown and Levinson’s (1987) theory for politeness, 4) Watts’
(1991) notion of social network, and 5) Goffman’s (1974, 1981)
understanding of frame. Together hese theories, culled from a
comprehensive review of the literature, function as a lense of a
microscope that allow the exercise of power and politeness to be
located and their workings in interaction to be investigated.