Politeness

Gabriele Kasper
Table of contents

As a research object in linguistic pragmatics, politeness has a rather short history. The impulse to the study of politeness came from H. P. Grice’s seminal paper ‘Logic and conversation’ (1975), in which he proposed a Cooperative Principle and four maxims underlying transactional discourse (“maximally efficient information exchange”). Grice noted that in order to account for other aspects of language use, additional maxims may be needed, such as a politeness maxim. This suggestion was taken up and elaborated in early accounts of linguistic politeness by Lakoff (1973, 1979), Leech (1977, 1983), and Edmondson (1979, 1981). The common denominator of these proposals is that they view politeness in terms of maxims or rules, thus underscoring their conceptual link to the Gricean maxims.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Aronsson, K. & B. Rundström
1989 Cats, dogs, and sweets in the clinical negotiation of reality: On politeness and coherence in pediatric discourse. Language in Society 18: 483–501.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Banerjee, J. & P.L. Carrell
1988 Tuck in your shirt, you squid: Suggestions in ESL. Language Learning 38: 313–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, K. & B.S. Hartford
1990 Congruence in native and nonnative conversations: Status balance in the academic advising session. Language Learning 40: 467–501.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beebe, L.M. & M.C. Cummings
1996 [1985] Natural speech act data versus written questionnaire data: How data collection method affects speech act performance. In S.M. Gass & J. Neu (eds.) Speech acts across cultures: 65–86. Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beebe, L.M. & T. Takahashi
1989 Do you have a bag?: Social status and patterned variation in second language acquisition. In S. Gass, C. Madden, D. Preston, & L. Selinker (eds.) Variation in second language acquisition: Discourse and pragmatics: 103–125. Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1989 Sociolinguistic variation in face-threatening speech acts. In M. Eisenstein (ed.) The dynamic interlanguage: 199–218. Plenum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Befu, H.
1986 An ethnography of dinner entertainment in Japan. In T.S. Lebra & W.P. Lebra (eds.) Japanese culture and behavior: 108–120. University of Hawaii Pressniversity of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Berk-Seligson, S.
1988 The impact of politeness in witness testimony: The influence of the court interpreter. Multilingua 7: 411–439.  TSBGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bliss, L.S.
1992 A comparison of tactful messages by children with and without language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools 23(4): 343–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S.
1987 Indirectness and politeness in requests: Same or different? Journal of Pragmatics 11: 131–146.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1990 You don’t touch lettuce with your fingers: Parental politeness in family discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 14: 259–288.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S. & J. House
1989 Cross-cultural and situational variation in requestive behavior. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House & G. Kasper (eds.): 123–154.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., J. House, & G. Kasper
1989 Investigating cross-cultural pragmatics: An introductory overview. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House & G. Kasper (eds.): 1–34.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., J. House & G. Kasper
(eds.) 1989 Cross-cultural pragmatics. Ablex.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blum-Kulka, S., B. Danet, & R. Gerson
1985 The language of requesting in Israeli society. In J. Forgas (ed.) Language and social situation. Springer.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boxer, D.
1993 Social distance and speech behavior: The case of indirect complaints. Journal of Pragmatics 19: 103–125.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, P. & S.D. Levinson
1978 Politeness: Some universals in language usage. In E.N. Goody (ed.) Questions and politeness: Strategies in social interaction: 56–289. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1987 Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brown, R. & A. Gilman
1989 Politeness theory and Shakespeare’s four major tragedies. Language in Society 18: 159–212.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bryan, A. & C. Gallois
1992 Rules about assertion in the workplace: Effect of status and message type. Australian Journal of Psychology 44(1): 51–59. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cherry, R.D.
1988 Politeness in written persuasion. Journal of Pragmatics 12: 63–81.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciliberti, A.
1993 The personal and the cultural in interactive styles. Journal of Pragmatics 20: 1–25.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cook, H.M.
1996a The use of addressee honorifics in Japanese elementary school classroom. In N. Akatsuka, S. Iwasaki & S. Strauss (eds.) Japanese/Korean Linguistics 5: 67–81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1996b Japanese verbal suffixes as indicators of distance and proximity. In M. Pütz & R. Dirven (eds.) The construal of space in language and thought: 3–27. Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coulmas, F.
1981 ‘Poison to your soul’. Thanks and apologies contrastively viewed. In F. Coulmas (ed.): 273–288).  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed.) 1981 Conversational Routine. Mouton.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1981 Routine im Gespräch. Zur pragmatischen Fundierung der Idiomatik. Athenaion.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1992 Linguistic etiquette in Japanese society. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, & K. Ehlich (eds.): 299–323.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, J., N. Coupland & J.D. Robinson
1992 “How are you?”: Negotiating phatic communion. Language in Society 21(2): 207–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coupland, N., J. Coupland, & H. Giles
1991 Language, society and the elderly. Blackwell.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Covato, L.G.
1991 The design of an adventure game authoring tool for exploring polite requests in an English as Second Language context. Dissertation Abstracts International 53:430-A.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dufon, M.A.
1993 Referential and relational meaning in interpreted discourse. Journal of Pragmatics 20: 533–558. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dufon, M.A., G. Kasper, S. Takahashi, & N. Yoshinaga
1994 Bibliography on linguistic politeness. Journal of Pragmatics 21: 527–578.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dzameshie, A.K.
1992 Motivations for the use of politeness strategies in Christian sermonic discourse. Dissertation Abstracts International 53: 1143-A.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edmondson, W.J. & J. House
1981 Let’s talk and talk about it: A pedagogic interactional grammar of English. Urban & Schwarzenberg.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Eisenstein, M. & J. Bodman
1993 Expressing gratitude in American English. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (eds.): 64–81.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Færch, C. & G. Kasper
1989 Internal and external modification in interlanguage request realization. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (eds.): 221–247). Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fiksdal, S.
1991 The right time and pace: A microanalysis of cross-cultural gatekeeping interviews. Ablex.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frank, J.
1988 A comparison of intimate conversations: Pragmatic theory applied to examples of invented and actual dialog. The SECOL Review 12: 186–208.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fraser, B.
1990 Perspectives on politeness. Journal of Pragmatics 14: 219–236.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fukushima, S. & Y. Iwata
1987 Politeness strategies in requesting and offering. JACET Bulletin 18: 31–48.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goffman, E.
1967 Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Anchor Books.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1971 Relations in public. Penguin.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, G.
1992 wa. Unpublished ms. University of Illinois.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, H.P.
1975 Logic and Conversation. In P. Cole & J.L. Morgan (eds.) Syntax and semantics Vol. 3: Speech acts: 41–58. Academic Presscademic Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gu, Y.
1990 Politeness phenomena in modern Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics 14: 237–257.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hagge, J. & C. Kostelnick
1989 Linguistic politeness in professional prose: A discourse analysis of auditors’ suggestion letters with implications for business communication pedagogy. Written Communication 6: 312–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Held, G.
1989 On the role of maximization in verbal politeness. Multilingua 8: 167–206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herbert, R.K. & H.S. Straight
1989 Compliment-rejection versus compliment-avoidance: listener-based versus speaker-based pragmatic strategies. Language and Communication 9: 35–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hero, R.
1986 Citizen contacting and bureaucratic treatment-response in urban government: Some further evidence. Social Science Journal 23: 181–187. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Herrmann, T.
1982 Language and situation: The pars pro toto principle. In C. Fraser & K.R. Scherer (eds.), Advances in the social psychology of language: 123–158. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Holmes, J.
1988 Paying compliments: A sex-preferential positive politeness strategy. Journal of Pragmatics 12: 445–465.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
House, J. & G. Kasper
1981 Politeness markers in English and German. In F. Coulmas (ed.): 157–185.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ide, S.
1989 Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of linguistic politeness. Multilingua 8: 223–248. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ikoma, T.
1993 “Sorry for giving me a ride”: The use of apologetic expressions to show gratitude in Japanese. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Hawaii at Manoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Janney, R.W. & H. Arndt
1992 Intracultural tact versus intercultural tact. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, & K. Ehlich (eds.): 21–41.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, D.M.
1992 Compliments and politeness in peer-review texts. Applied Linguistics 13(1): 51–71. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, M.D. & S.B. Fawcett
1987 Consumer-defined standards for courteous treatment by service agencies. Journal of Rehabilitation 53: 23–26.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnstone, B., K. Ferrara & J.M. Bean
1992 Gender, politeness, and discourse management in same-sex and cross-sex opinion-poll interview. Journal of Pragmatics 18(5): 405–430.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jones, K.
1992 A question of context: Directive use at a Morris team meeting. Language in Society 21(2): 427–445.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kasher, A.
1986 Politeness and rationality. In J.D. Johansen & H. Sonne (eds.), Pragmatics and linguistics. Festschrift for Jacob L. Mey on his 60th birthday 30th October 1986: 103–114. Odense University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kasper, G. & S. Blum-Kulka
(eds.) 1993 Interlanguage pragmatics. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kitao, K.
1990 A study of Japanese and American perceptions of politeness in requests. Doshisha Studies in English 50: 178–210.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Knapp-Potthoff, A.
1992 Secondhand politeness. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, & K. Ehlich (eds.): 203–218.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kwarciak, B.J.
1993 The acquisition of linguistic politeness and Brown and Levinson’s theory. Multilingua 12(1): 51–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, R.T.
1973 The logic of politeness, or, minding your p’s and q’s. In C. Corum, T.C. Smith-Stark, & A. Weiser (eds.) Papers from the ninth regional meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society: 292–30. Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1979 Stylistic strategies within a grammar of style. New York Academy of Science Annals 321: 51–78. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1989 The limits of politeness: Therapeutic and courtroom discourse. Multilingua 8: 101–130. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lampi, M.
1993 Discourse organization and power: Towards a pragmatics of sales negotiations. In L.F. Bouton & Y. Kachru (eds.) Pragmatics and language learning vol. 4: 195–208. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech, G.
1977 Language and tact. Linguistic Agency University of Trier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1983 Principles of Pragmatics. Longman.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linde, C.
1988 The quantitative study of communicative success: Politeness and accidents in aviation discourse. Language in Society 17: 375–399.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1988 Who’s in charge here? Cooperative work and authority negotiation in police helicopter missions. Paper presented at the annual ACM conference on computer supported collaborative work. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED301038).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lörscher, W. & R. Schulze
1988 On polite speaking and foreign language classroom discourse. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 26: 183–199.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mao, L.R.
1994 Beyond politeness theory: ‘Face’ revisied and renewed. Journal of Pragmatics 21: 451–486. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Markus, H.R. & S. Kitayama
1991 Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review 98: 224–253. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsumoto, Y.
1988 Reexamination of the universality of face: Politeness phenomena in Japanese. Journal of Pragmatics 12: 403–426.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morand, D.A.
1991 Power and politeness: A sociolinguistic analysis of dominance, deference, and egalitarianism in organizational interaction. Diss. Abstracts International 52: 2207-A.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morosawa, A.
1990 Intimacy and urgency in request forms of Japanese: A psycholinguistic study. Sophia Linguistica 28:129–143.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Myers, G.
1989 The pragmatics of politeness in scientific articles. Applied Linguistics 10: 1–35.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olshtain, E.
1989 Apologies across languages. In S. Blum-Kulka, J. House, & G. Kasper (eds.): 155–173). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olshtain, E. & A. Cohen
1983 Apology: A speech act set. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (eds.) Sociolinguistics and language acquisition: 18–35. Newbury.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Olshtain, E. & L. Weinbach
1993 Interlanguage features of the speech act of complaining. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (eds.): 108–122.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pearson, B.
1988 Power and politeness in conversation: Encoding of face-threatening acts at church business meetings. Anthropological Linguistics 30(1): 68–93.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rintell, E.
1981 Sociolinguistic variation and pragmatic ability: A look at learners. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 27: 11–34.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roberts, J.
1992 Fact-threatening acts and politeness theory: Contrasting speeches from supervisory conferences. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 7: 287–301.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rosenberger, N.R.
1989 Dialectic balance in the polar model of self: The Japan case. Ethos 17: 88–113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ross, S.
1995 Accommodation in oral proficiency interviews. PhD. Diss, University of Hawai’i at Manoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scheerhorn, D.R.
1990 Minding your P’s and Q’s in interpersonal decision-making: The politeness of messages as a consequent of decisional and relational goals. Dissertation Abstracts International 51: 344-A.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1991 Politeness in decision-making. Research on Language and Social Interaction 25: 253.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scollon, R. & S. Scollon
1981 Narrative, literacy and face in interethnic communication. Ablex.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1983 Face in interethnic communication. In J.C. Richards & R.W. Schmidt (eds.) Language and communication. Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shimamura, K.
1993 Judgement of request strategies and contextual factors by Americans and Japanese EFL learners. MA diss. University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Sifianou, M.
1989 On the telephone again! Differences in telephone behaviour: England versus Greece. Language in Society 18: 527–544.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slugoski, B.R.
1985 Grice’s Theory of Conversation as a Social Psychological Model. PhD. Diss. Oxford.
Sornig, K.
1977 Disagreement and contradiction as communicative acts. Journal of Pragmatics 1: 347–374.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Takahashi, T. & L.M. Beebe
1993 Cross-linguistic influence in the speech act of correction. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (eds.): 138–157.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watts, R.J.
1989a Relevance and relational work: Linguistic politeness as politic behavior. Multilingua 8: 131–166. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1989b Taking the pitcher to the ‘well’: Native speakers’ perceptions of their use of discourse markers in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 13(1): 203–237. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watts, R.J., S. Ide, & K. Ehlich
1992 Introduction. In R.J. Watts, S. Ide, & K. Ehlich (eds.): 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(eds.) 1992 Politeness in language: Studies in its history, theory and practice. Mouton de Gruyter.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weizman, E.
1993 Interlanguage requestive hints. In G. Kasper & S. Blum-Kulka (eds.): 123–137.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, A.
1985 Different cultures, different langauges, different speech acts. Journal of Pragmatics 9: 145–161.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wolfson, N.
1989a Perspectives: Sociolinguistics and TESOL. Newbury House.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1989b The social dynamics of native and nonnative variation in complimenting behavior. In M. Eisenstein (ed.) The dynamic interlanguage: 219–236. Plenum. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yamada, H.
1990 Topic management and turn distribution in business meetings: American versus Japanese strategies. Text 10: 271–295.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ye, L.
1993 Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese. MA Diss. University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Yoshinaga, N., N. Maeshiba, & S. Takahashi
1992 Bibliography on Japanese pragmatics. In G. Kasper (ed.) Pragmatics of Japanese as native and target language: 1–26. Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zammuner, V.L.
1991 Children’s writing of argumentative texts: Effects of indirect instruction. European Journal of Psychology of Education 6(2): 243–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
 
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold-dark jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold-light jbe-platform.quadraat-sans-bold prag Twitter_Logo_Blue