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This collection of 19 papers celebrates the coming of age of the field of
politeness studies, now in its 30th year. It begins with an investigation
of the meaning of politeness, especially linguistic politeness, and
presents a short history of the field of linguistic politeness studies,
showing how such studies go beyond the boundaries of conventional
linguistic work, incorporating, as they do, non-language insights. The
emphasis of the volume is on non-Western languages and the ways linguistic
politeness is achieved with them. Many, if not most, studies have focused
on Western languages, but the languages highlighted here show new and
different aspects of the phenomena.
The purpose of linguistic politeness is to aid in successful communication
throughout the world, and this volume offers a balance of geographical
distribution not found elsewhere, including Japanese, Thai, and Chinese, as
well as Greek, Swedish and Spanish. It covers such theoretical topics as
face, wakimae, social levels, gender-related differences in language usage,
directness and indirectness, and intercultural perspectives.
Table of contents
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword xi–xii
Introduction: Broadening the horizon of linguistic politeness
Robin T. Lakoff and Sachiko Ide 1–20
Part I. General overviews: The plenary papers
Civility and its discontents: Or, getting in your face
Robin T. Lakoff 23–43
How and why honorifics can signify dignity and elegance: The indexicality
and reflexivity of linguistic rituals
Sachiko Ide 45–64
Whither politeness
Bruce Fraser 65–83
Part II. The theoretical perspective
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu: Routine practice of the routine formula in Japanese
Makiko Takekuro 87–97
An argument for a frame-based approach to politeness: Evidence from the use
of the imperative in Cypriot Greek
Marina Terkourafi 99–116
The significance of 'face' and politeness in social interaction as revealed
through Thai 'face' idioms
Margaret Ukosakul 117–125
Part III. The descriptive perspective
Face threatening acts, primary face threatening acts, and the management of
discourse: Australian English and speakers of Asian Englishes
Christopher J. Conlan 129–144
Politeness in Thai computer-mediated communication
Krisadawan Hongladarom and Soraj Hongladarom 145–162
Polite diminutives in Spanish: A matter of size?
Martha Mendoza 163–173
Indirectness as a politeness strategy of Thai speakers
Deeyu Srinarawat 175–193
Part IV. The comparative perspective
Japanese honorifics as a marker of sociocultural identity: A view from
non-western perspectives
Megumi Yoshida and Chikako Sakurai 197–215
Directness as a source of misunderstanding: The case of requests and
suggestions
Alexandra Kallia 217–234
Forms of address in Irish and Swedish
Anders Ahlqvist 235–244
Women, men and polite requests: English and Greek
Ekaterini Kouletaki 245–274
Privacy: An intercultural perspective
Mark Lê 275–282
Selection of linguistic forms for requests and offers: Comparison between
English and Chinese
Masako Tsuzuki, Kazuhiro Takahashi, Cynthia Patschke and Qin Zhang 283–298
Part V. The historical perspective
Japanese pronouns of address: Their behavior and maintenance over time
Andrew Barke and Satoshi Uehara 301–313
An aspect of the origins and development of linguistic politeness in Thai
Wilaiwan Khanittanan 315–335
Index 337–342
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