Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness (eBook)

Jonathan Culpeper is Professor of English Language and Linguistics in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, UK. His major publications, spanning pragmatics and the English Language, include Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence (2011). He was co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Pragmatics.Michael Haugh is Professor of Linguistics in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland, Australia. He is currently Co Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pragmatics, and recent books include Im/Politeness Implicatures (2015) and Understanding Politeness (2013, with Dániel Z. Kádar).Dániel Z. Kádár is Professor of English Language and Linguistics and Director of the Centre for Intercultural Politeness Research at the University of Huddersfield, UK. His major publications include Politeness, Impoliteness, and Ritual – Maintaining the Moral Order in Interpersonal Interaction (2011), Understanding Politeness (with M. Haugh, 2013), and Relational Rituals and Communication (2013).

Acknowledgements 5
Contents 6
Notes on Contributors 10
List of Figures 17
List of Tables 19
1: Introduction 20
1 (Im)politeness 20
2 Why This Handbook Now? 21
3 What is in it? 25
4 Looking Forward 26
References 27
Part I: Foundations 28
2: Pragmatic Approaches (Im)politeness 29
1 Introduction 29
2 Classic Pragmatic Theories and Concepts 30
2.1 Speech Act Theory 30
2.2 Conversational Implicature 33
3 Pragmatic Concepts in Politeness Theories 34
3.1 Face Threatening Acts 34
3.2 Politeness Principles and Maxims 36
3.3 Politeness Strategies 39
3.4 Politeness Implicatures 41
3.5 (In)directness 45
3.6 Context and Contextual Variables 47
4 A Case Study 49
5 Summary and Future Directions 51
References 53
3: Sociocultural Approaches to (Im)politeness 58
1 Introduction 58
2 Key Concepts and Theories 59
2.1 Sociocultural Linguistics 59
2.2 Individualistic Views of Politeness 60
2.3 Traditional Approaches to Variables 61
3 Critical Overview of Research 61
3.1 Discursive Approaches to the Analysis of Politeness 61
3.2 Politeness as Social 62
3.3 Politeness as a System and a Resource 64
3.4 Linguistic Ideologies, Indirect Indexicality and Politeness 65
4 Case Studies 68
4.1 Conventional Politeness 70
4.2 Conventional Etiquette 70
4.3 Assertion of Control of Children by Adults (Hegemony) 71
4.4 Assertion That Children’s Needs Are Less Important Than Adults’ Needs 72
4.5 Assertion That Children Should Not Express Themselves 73
4.6 Below-the-lines Comments 73
5 Summary and Future Directions 75
Bibliography 75
4: Ideology and (Im)politeness 78
1 Introduction 78
2 Ideology 79
3 Ideologies of (Im)politeness 83
3.1 Introduction: (Im)politeness 83
3.2 Ideologies of (Im)politeness 1 86
Class 86
Gender 88
‘Race’/Ethnicity 89
Age 90
3.3 Ideologies of (Im)politeness 2 91
The Ideology of Rationalisation 91
The Ideology of Homogenisation 92
The Ideologies of ‘Encoded (Im)politeness’ and ‘Inferred (Im)politeness’ 95
4 Case Study 96
5 Conclusion 99
References 100
5: Face and (Im)politeness 105
1 Introduction 105
2 Key Concepts and Theories 106
2.1 Face as the Explanation for Non-Gricean Behaviour 106
2.2 Face as Bestowed by Others and Emotionally Invested 108
2.3 Reciprocal Face-Maintenance 109
2.4 Face as Universal 109
2.5 A Person’s Face: Temporal Perspective 110
2.6 A Person’s Face: Contents 110
2.7 The Locus and Scope of Face 111
3 Critical Review of Research 111
3.1 Politeness, Face and Facework: A Tale of Amicable Separation 111
3.2 The Range of Face and Facework Study 113
3.3 The Locus and Scope of Face 117
3.4 The Contents of Face 121
4 Case Study 123
5 Summary and Future Directions 127
References 128
6: Power, Solidarity and (Im)politeness 135
1 Introduction 135
2 Key Concepts and Theories 136
2.1 Power 136
2.2 Solidarity/Distance 138
3 Critical Overview of Research 140
3.1 Expressive (Im)politeness 141
How Do People Make Assessments of P & D?
How Do P and D Interconnect? 143
How Do P & D Influence (Im)politeness Strategies?
3.2 Classificatory (Im)politeness 147
3.3 Interactional Achievement (Im)politeness 148
3.4 Researching P, D and (Im)politeness 150
4 Case Study 151
5 Summary and Future Directions 153
References 154
7: Indexicality and (Im)politeness 158
1 Introducing Indexicality and (Im)politeness 158
2 Indexicality 160
2.1 Indexicality as the Study of Deixis 161
2.2 Schema of Interpretation 162
2.3 Indexicality as a Social Process 164
3 (Im)politeness 168
4 Researching (Im)politeness and Indexicality 171
4.1 The Social Significance of Indexicality in Linguistic (Im)politeness 171
4.2 Direct Marking of (Im)politeness Versus Marking of Stances, Activities, Identities 173
5 Case Study 176
5.1 Aims 176
5.2 Method 177
5.3 Sample Analysis 178
5.4 Findings 179
6 Summary/Conclusions 180
References 181
8: Convention and Ritual (Im)politeness 186
1 Introduction 186
2 Key Concepts and Theories 188
2.1 Convention 188
2.2 Ritual 193
3 Critical Overview of Research 195
3.1 Conventionality and (Im)politeness 195
3.2 Ritual 199
Interactional Situatedness 199
Politeness and Ritual 201
4 Case Studies 202
4.1 From Urban Streetball to Academia and Beyond: The Emergence of an Interactional Convention 202
5 Summary and Future Directions 205
References 206
Part II: Developments 211
9: Impoliteness 212
1 Introduction 212
2 Concepts and Other Distinctive Features of Impoliteness Frameworks 214
2.1 Impoliteness Meta-language 214
2.2 Intention 216
2.3 Emotions 217
3 Overview of Research 219
3.1 A Brief History of Impoliteness Research 219
3.2 From Strategies to Formulae 221
3.3 Co-texts and Contexts 225
3.4 Co-texts 225
3.5 Contexts 227
4 Case Study: ‘Lose some Weight Baby Girl’ 228
4.1 Context 228
4.2 Power 230
McHenry’s Power 230
The Worker’s Power 230
The Audience’s Power 231
4.3 Impoliteness Formulae 232
5 Future Directions 233
References 234
10: (Im)politeness and Identity 239
1 Introduction 239
2 Face and Identity in (Im)politeness Research 240
2.1 Face and Identity 240
2.2 Dialectics: The Understanding of Discursive Identity 244
2.3 Face and Identity Revisited 247
3 Identity and (Im)politeness 249
4 Case Study: Golden Dawn: Solidarity/Deference and Aggression as Indexes of Identity Construction 253
4.1 Data and Background 253
4.2 Procedure and Framework 254
4.3 Analysis 255
5 Conclusion 260
Appendix 260
Transcription Conventions 260
References 261
11: (Im)politeness and Relationality 269
1 Introduction 269
2 Key Concept and Theories 271
3 Critical Overview of Research 274
4 Case Studies 279
4.1 Case Study 1: Balancing Obligations 280
4.2 Case Study 2: Relational Ties and Relational Entitlements 285
4.3 Summary 289
5 Conclusion and Future Directions 291
References 292
12: (Im)politeness and Emotion 298
1 Introduction 298
2 The Fundamental Links Between Emotion and Interpersonal Pragmatics 300
3 Emotions and (Im)politeness in  (Im)politeness Research 304
4 The Links of Emotions to Cognition, Sociality and Communicative Observables 309
4.1 Emotions and Cognition 311
4.2 Emotions and Sociality 314
4.3 Communicative Observables of Emotions 318
5 Sketching Paths for Empirical Analysis 321
6 Conclusions and Outlook 326
References 327
13: (Im)politeness and Mixed Messages 334
1 Introduction 334
2 Some Background on Irony, Ritualised Banter and Teasing 335
2.1 Irony and Conversational Implicature 335
2.2 Irony and the Echoic Account 338
2.3 Ritualised Banter 339
2.4 Teasing 341
3 Mixed Messages and (Im)politeness 342
3.1 Mixed Messages in Classic Politeness Theories 342
3.2 The Metapragmatics of Mixed Messages 345
3.3 The Mix of Mixed Messages 347
Convention-driven 347
Context-Driven 350
3.4 The Conventionalisation of Mixed Messages 352
3.5 The Functions of Mixed Messages 353
3.6 The Perception of Mixed Messages 355
4 Case Study: Frontstage and Backstage Evaluations of Teasing 356
5 Summary and Future Directions 360
References 361
14: (Im)politeness: Prosody and Gesture 367
1 Introduction 367
2 Key Concepts and Theories 368
2.1 Prosody 368
2.2 The Frequency Code 370
2.3 Gesture 371
3 Critical Overview of Research 372
3.1 What Role Does Prosody Play in the Communication of (Im)politeness? 372
3.2 Can the Frequency Code Work Across Different Cultures, and Different Modes of (Im)politeness? 375
3.3 What Role Does Gesture Play in the Communication of (Im)politeness, and How Do Gesture and Prosody Interact? 376
4 Case Studies 377
4.1 Production Data: Korean 377
4.2 Perception Data: Catalan 382
5 Summary and Future Directions 385
References 386
15: Experimental Approaches to Linguistic (Im)politeness 390
1 Introduction 390
2 Key Concepts and Methods 391
3 Critical Review of Relevant Empirical Research 392
3.1 Initial Tests of Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory 392
Ordering of Superstrategies 392
Imposition, Power and Distance 394
3.2 Experimental Extensions of Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Theory 396
Person Perception 396
Powerful vs. Powerless Language 397
Processing Politeness: Memory and Comprehension 398
Tests of Politeness and Reasoning 399
4 Case Studies 400
4.1 Experiments on Discourse Markers 400
4.2 Politeness and Parkinson’s Disease 402
5 Summary and Future Directions 403
References 405
16: (Im)politeness and Developments in Methodology 411
1 Introduction 411
2 Key Concepts: Methods and Methodologies 412
3 Critical Overview of Data Collection Methods 415
3.1 Armchair Approaches 416
3.2 Laboratory Approaches 417
3.3 Field Approaches 419
Diary Studies 420
Interactional Approaches 420
Philological Approaches 422
Corpus-based Studies 423
The Semantics and Meta-discourse of (Im)politenes 424
4 Case Study: 30 Years of Politeness Research 427
5 Summary and Future Directions 432
References 433
Part III: (Im)politeness and Variation 438
17: Historical (Im)politeness 439
1 Introduction 439
2 Key Concepts: Comparability, Historicity and Data 440
3 Critical Overview of Research 442
3.1 Discourse Strategies 442
3.2 Terms of Address 444
3.3 Speech Acts 446
3.4 Interjections and Expletives 448
3.5 Negotiation of Politeness and (Im)politeness 450
4 Case Studies 452
4.1 Semantics and Types of (Im)politeness in the History of English 452
4.2 Impoliteness in Verbal Duels: A Discursive Approach to ‘The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy’ 456
5 Summary and Future Directions 459
References 460
18: (Im)politeness: Language Socialization 466
1 Introduction 466
2 Key Concepts and Theories 467
3 Critical Overview of Research 470
3.1 Interactional Routines 470
3.2 Requests and Directives 471
3.3 Honorifics 473
4 Case Studies: Indirectness, Attentiveness, and Honorifics in Japanese Language Socialization as an L1 476
4.1 Children in and around the Home 476
Indirect Requests and Directives 476
Honorifics 478
4.2 Adults in the Business World 480
Attentiveness to Others’ Needs: kikubari 481
Honorifics 483
5 Summary and Future Directions 486
Appendix 487
References 487
19: (Im)politeness: Learning and Teaching 494
1 Introduction 494
2 Key Concepts in and Approaches to L2 (Im)politeness 495
3 Overview of Previous Research in L2 (Im)politeness 497
3.1 Can (Im)polite Behaviour Be Learned and Taught? 498
3.2 Pragmatic Approach: Teaching Conformity 501
3.3 Discursive Approaches: Interactional Achievement 504
3.4 Identity Management 506
4 Pedagogical Model for Teaching (Im)polite Behaviour in the FL Classroom 508
4.1 Raising Awareness 509
4.2 Pragmatic Input: Identification and Reflection of (Im)polite Behaviour 510
4.3 Teaching Grammar as a Communicative Resource 512
4.4 Practicing Polite and Impolite Language in the Classroom 514
5 Summary and Future Directions 516
References 517
20: (Im)politeness and Gender 522
1 Introduction 522
2 Key Concepts and Theories 523
3 Critical Overview of Research 525
4 Case Studies 534
5 Summary and Future Directions 539
References 540
21: (Im)politeness and Regional Variation 543
1 Introduction 543
2 Key Concepts and Theories: Region and Regional Variation 544
3 Critical Overview of Research on  (Im)politeness and Regional Variation 548
3.1 Studies on Varieties of English 551
3.2 Studies on Varieties of Spanish 552
3.3 Studies on Varieties of Other Languages 554
4 Case Studies 556
4.1 Case Study 1: Regional Variation in Appropriate Behaviour in American, Canadian, Irish and English Small Talk 556
4.2 Case Study 2: Regional Variation in Rapport Management in Service Encounters in Ecuadorian (Quito) and Peninsular (Madrid) Spanish 560
5 Summary and Future Directions 567
References 568
22: (Im)politeness and Cultural Variation 575
1 Introduction 575
2 Early Approaches to Politeness and Culture 577
2.1 Universalistic Perspectives on Politeness 577
2.2 Positive and Negative Politeness Cultures 579
3 The Discursive Turn 581
3.1 Situatedness and Generalisations of Politeness 582
3.2 Intracultural Variation 584
3.3 Cross-Cultural Variation 588
4 Case Study: Compliments 590
5 Concluding Remarks 593
References 595
23: Intercultural (Im)politeness 604
1 Introduction 604
2 Key Concepts 607
2.1 Culture and Communication 607
2.2 Warranting Analyses of Encounters as Intercultural 610
2.3 Perspectives, Footings and the Emic/Etic Distinction 612
2.4 Identities and Identification 616
2.5 Accommodation and Interculturality 618
3 Approaches in Intercultural (Im)politeness Research 619
4 Case Studies 621
4.1 Taking Offence in Intergroup Encounters 621
4.2 Metalexemes in Intercultural Contact 625
5 Summary 628
References 629
Part IV: (Im)politeness in Specific Contexts 636
24: (Im)politeness in the Workplace 637
1 Introduction 637
2 Definitions, Key Concepts and Theoretical Approaches 638
2.1 Defining (Im)politeness 638
2.2 Theoretical Framework 639
3 (Im)politeness in the Workplace: A Brief Overview 640
4 Methods of Collecting Data 644
5 Analysing (Im)politeness in Talk at Work 646
5.1 From Country to Country 646
5.2 From Institution to Institution 648
5.3 From Company to Company 650
6 Future Directions for Research 653
7 Transcription Conventions 655
References 655
25: (Im)politeness in Service Encounters 663
1 Service Encounters in Late Modernity 663
2 Towards a Definition of Service Encounters 668
3 Research on (Im)politeness in Service Encounters 669
3.1 Face-To-Face Service Encounters 669
3.2 Telephone-Mediated Service Encounters 673
3.3 Online Service Encounters: A Changing World 675
4 Disattending Customers’ Positive Comments: A Case Study 679
5 Conclusion 681
References 683
26: (Im)politeness in Health Settings 690
1 Introduction 690
2 Key Concepts and Theories: (Im)politeness in Healthcare Contexts 692
2.1 Scope of Research 693
2.2 e-health 694
2.3 Culture 695
2.4 Theory and Method 697
3 Critical Overview of Research: Illustrating Emergent Themes of Relational Work in Health Contexts 698
4 Conclusions and Future Directions for Research 704
References 707
27: (Im)politeness in Legal Settings 713
1 Introduction 713
2 Key Concepts and Theories 715
2.1 The Relevance of (Im)politeness in Legal Settings 715
2.2 Delineating Politeness and Impoliteness in Legal Settings: Via a Continuum 716
2.3 Dealing with the ‘Problem’ of Intentionality 717
3 Outline of the Fourteen Studies 719
3.1 Face-Threatening Acts and the Courtroom 719
Courtroom-Based (Im)politeness Studies Based on Modern Datasets 719
Courtroom-Based (Im)politeness Studies Making Use of Historical Datasets 722
3.2 FTAs and Appellate Court Opinions 726
3.3 FTAs and Judicial Hearings 727
3.4 FTAs and Police Interactions 729
4 Case Study 730
5 Future Directions 732
References 734
28: Facework and (Im)politeness in Political Exchanges 738
1 Introduction 738
2 Facework in Political Settings: Key Concepts 740
3 Critical Overview of Political Genres Studied 745
4 A Case Study: Legislative Hearings 746
5 Summary and Future Directions 752
References 753
29: (Im)politeness in Fictional Texts 758
1 Introduction 758
2 Key Concepts and Theories 759
2.1 Fiction as Linguistic Data 759
2.2 Advantages of Fiction as Data 761
3 Critical Overview of Research 763
3.1 Countering Criticisms of Brown and Levinson’s Model Through Reference to Fiction 763
3.2 Testing and Developing Brown and Levinson’s Model Through the Analysis of Fiction 767
3.3 (Im)politeness and Foregrounding 769
3.4 (Im)politeness for Characterisation and Plot Development 771
4 Case Study 774
5 Summary and Future Directions 779
References 780
30: (Im)politeness in Digital Communication 783
1 Introduction 783
2 Key Concepts and Theories 785
2.1 Asynchronous Versus Synchronous 785
2.2 Private-Oriented Networks Versus Public-Oriented Networks 785
2.3 Relational Versus Task-Oriented 786
2.4 Interaction-Focused Versus Declaration-Focused 786
2.5 Anonymity 787
2.6 Longevity 787
2.7 CMC versus Face-to-face Communication 788
3 Critical Overview of Previous Research 789
3.1 Digital Relationships, Communities, and Identity 789
3.2 Netiquette 791
3.3 (Im)politeness in Digital Media 792
Email 793
Discussion Boards/UseNet/BBSs 793
Chat, Virtual Worlds and Online Gaming 794
SMS/Text Messages 795
Blogs and Microblogs 795
Social Network Sites (e.g. Facebook, Instagram) 797
3.4 Methods in Digital (Im)politeness Research 797
Methodological Difficulties in Data Collection and Analysis 797
Ethical Considerations 798
4 Case Study: Identifying and Managing Impoliteness in Online Gaming 801
5 Summary and Future Directions 806
References 807
Index 813