13. Politeness and impoliteness

A discursive approach to the analysis of politeness data

“…Although new research outputs that make use of adapted versions of Brown and Levinson's model do make important contributions to the field of politeness research, too, in this article we would like to address some of the critiques of discursive approaches to politeness, and establish discursive approaches more markedly as an alternative starting point for the analysis of politeness. In line with Locher 1 However, see Watts' paper on blended space (2008 Culpeper (2011a) and Kadar and Haugh (2013), we argue in this essay that the discursive approach is not simply a critique, but constitutes a mode of analysis itself, and our aim in this essay is therefore to spell out the way that this approach can be drawn on in analysis. Thus, our essay first charts the way that the discursive approach has developed and the impact it has had on the field of politeness research.…”

“…The discursive approach employed in this article argues that theories of politeness (politeness2) Critics have also noted that the discursive approach is an umbrella term for a number of research strands rather than a specific theory of politeness, and therefore it is not always clear which research falls into the discursive domain and to what extent research advocating a discursive approach is fully discursive. This has caused confusion among critics with regards to the underlying principles of discursive politeness approaches, its model of communication, and the methodology used (see Haugh 2007;Culpeper 2011a). Some approaches within the discursive paradigm have for example made use of Relevance theory, which is based on Grice's maxims of communication, and which focuses on speaker intention rather than on the more complex negotiation of meaning between speaker and hearer (cf.…”

‘Typically Norwegian to be impolite.’ Impoliteness according to whom?

“…Further, as a result of young people rejecting elite culture in the 1970s (Haugen, 1978), the V-form 'De' has largely disappeared (Fretheim 2005). However, when Norwegians born before 1960 were asked whether they missed the formal address form 'De', none did Watts, 2003;Culpeper, 2011), no linguistic expressions are inherently polite. However, when the use of expressions closely associated with politeness diminishes, they can be missed.…”

O Papel Dos Conectores Na Co-Construção De Imagens Identitárias: O Uso Do Mas Em Debates Eleitorais

“…Under the impact of the pioneering approaches of Lakoff (1977), Leech (1983), and especially Brown and Levinson (1987), politeness studies have shown that there are lexical, grammatical, and prosodic phenomena that can only be explained by the consideration of Sociological factors (face, territory, power, social distance) and pragmatic factors (principle of cooperation and its maxims, principle of politeness and its maxims, acts of speech and their conditions of happiness). But, in spite of the results they have achieved, these approaches remain, in general, restricted to the notion of speech act, neglecting the role of other aspects of discourse in the joint construction of identity images (see TERKOURAFI, 2005;CULPEPER, 2011).…”