This forth volume in the Studies in Pragmatics (SiP) series is a fittingly solid, well-illustrated and theoretical account of Mitigation (as form of Politeness). The main goal of this book is to present a new integrated pragmatic approach to communication. The approach has been called ´pragmatics of identity’. It's major feature is that it aims at integrating pragmatic views (research on politeness, face-work, etc.) with insights from different research fields into an extended framework where psychological aspects of communication in context also can be taken into account.

The Studies in Pragmatics series is dedicated to publishing innovative, authoritative monographs and edited collections from all micro-, macro- and metapragmatic linguistic perspectives. Rooted in the interdisciplinary spirit of the Journal of Pragmatics, it welcomes not only book proposals from linguistics proper but also pragmatically-oriented proposals from neighboring disciplines such as interactional sociology, language philosophy, communication science, social psychology, cognitive science, and information science. The goal of the series is to provide a widely read and respected international forum for high quality theoretical, analytical, and applied pragmatic studies of all types. By publishing leading edge work on natural language practice, it seeks to extend our growing knowledge of the forms, functions, and foundations of human interaction.

General Editor Bruce Fraser Boston University, USA (bfraser@bu.edu)

Associate Editors Kerstin Fischer University of Hamburg, Germany (fischer@nats.informatik.uni-hamburg.de)

Maj-Britt Mosegaard Hansen University of Copenhagen, Denmark (maj@hum.ku.dk)

Consulting Editor Jacob L. Mey University of Southern Denmark, Denmark