From cultural schemas to pragmatic practice: A sociocognitive framework for Minangkabau politeness

Abstract

Background: Politeness has increasingly been recognized as a culturally situated and interactionally negotiated phenomenon. However, existing theories provide limited explanation of how culturally shared conceptualizations are transformed into observable pragmatic behavior. Addressing this gap, this study reconstructs the sociocognitive model of culturally grounded politeness (SMCGP), an integrated explanatory framework that accounts for the sociocognitive processes linking culture and pragmatics. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative theory-building design using abductive reasoning and analyzed a researcher-constructed interactional corpus comprising 40 interactional units representing the four categories of Kato nan Ampek, the Minangkabau speech tradition governing culturally appropriate interaction. Each interactional unit was systematically examined through four analytical layers: cultural schemas, shared knowledge, context models, and pragmatic practices. Findings: The findings demonstrate that culturally appropriate pragmatic behavior emerges through a sequential sociocognitive mechanism rather than through linguistic strategies alone. Specifically, cultural conceptualizations are progressively transformed into shared knowledge, interpreted through context models, and ultimately realized as contextually appropriate pragmatic practices.  Conclusion: Based on these findings, the study reconstructs the sociocognitive model of culturally grounded politeness (SMCGP), which integrates insights from cultural linguistics, sociocognitive theory, and contemporary pragmatics into a unified explanatory framework. Novelty/Originality of this article: The model contributes theoretically by explaining how culture becomes pragmatics and provides a transferable analytical framework for investigating culturally grounded pragmatic behavior across diverse linguistic and cultural settings.