2 - Conceptualising Politeness

Summary

This chapter explores the conceptualisation of interactional politeness and associated research. It investigates three interrelated questions: (1) who studies politeness; (2) what is ‘politeness’ and how is it related to culture; (3) what are the main data types in which the politeness–culture interface can be captured. The chapter first points out that along with pragmaticians – academics specialising in the study of language use – linguistic politeness has been studied across a diverse cluster of areas. Being aware of this diversity is important because in a pursuit of intercultural politeness we should not limit our research to pragmatics only. Following this discussion, the chapter overviews the key features of politeness, by arguing that (1) it is a relational phenomenon, which (2) follows (linguistic) patterns, (3) means different things, depending on who attempts to define (or interpret) it, and which (4) comes into existence partly in interaction, and partly by not engaging in interaction (e.g. a person may get criticised for not doing something in interaction). The chapter argues that in pragmatics insufficient work has been done to capture the politeness–culture interface. Finally, the chapter overviews the main data types in which politeness in intercultural encounters can be studied.