Abstract The roots of (im)politeness research in Durkheim’s sociology are neglected. Goffman is the go-to sociologist in (im)politeness research, and Goffman’s debt to Durkheim is substantial. This article argues that a renewed and broadened field of inquiry opens up around (im)politeness phenomena when we take seriously the centrality of Durkheim’s conception of the sacred to both the practice of everyday life and the analysis of everyday phenomena. To embed the sociology of the sacred into the analysis of (im)politeness phenomena, I develop an alternative conceptual architecture that both encompasses and expands the field. This involves two conceptual shifts that I draw out of contemporary Durkheimian cultural sociology. The first shift, from (im)politeness to (in)civility, brings a wider range of phenomena into our analytic purview, and the second, from face to ritual, displaces face as the central concept in (im)politeness research. The value of these conceptual shifts is illustrated using the example of an account of a racist encounter in public space. Consequences of these conceptual shifts for deeper and wider interdisciplinary exploration are explored.
{"title":"Sacred civility? An alternative conceptual architecture informed by cultural sociology","authors":"Mervyn Horgan","doi":"10.1515/pr-2020-0031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2020-0031","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The roots of (im)politeness research in Durkheim’s sociology are neglected. Goffman is the go-to sociologist in (im)politeness research, and Goffman’s debt to Durkheim is substantial. This article argues that a renewed and broadened field of inquiry opens up around (im)politeness phenomena when we take seriously the centrality of Durkheim’s conception of the sacred to both the practice of everyday life and the analysis of everyday phenomena. To embed the sociology of the sacred into the analysis of (im)politeness phenomena, I develop an alternative conceptual architecture that both encompasses and expands the field. This involves two conceptual shifts that I draw out of contemporary Durkheimian cultural sociology. The first shift, from (im)politeness to (in)civility, brings a wider range of phenomena into our analytic purview, and the second, from face to ritual, displaces face as the central concept in (im)politeness research. The value of these conceptual shifts is illustrated using the example of an account of a racist encounter in public space. Consequences of these conceptual shifts for deeper and wider interdisciplinary exploration are explored.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"9 - 33"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42859637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The human/divine relationship is a dynamic that does not easily fit into existing politeness research frameworks and approaches. This paper will look to explore this relationship further, within the ancient Egyptian Late Ramesside Letters (c. 1099-1069 BCE), in order to explore the limitations of facework and ritual in fully exploring the phenomenon, and offer an alternative approach - the ‘community-embedded’ model - which expands on principles from both facework and ritual, as well as collective prayer. The use here of the ‘community-embedded’ approach allows for the analysis of the impact of utterances to and involving God (the divine entity who assumes this role in the communicative interaction) within wider social networks, and how this supports simultaneous relationship maintenance between humans, God, and larger networks specific to the culture under review.
{"title":"Talking to God: conceptualizing an alternative politeness approach for the human/divine relationship","authors":"Kim Ridealgh","doi":"10.1515/pr-2020-0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2020-0027","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The human/divine relationship is a dynamic that does not easily fit into existing politeness research frameworks and approaches. This paper will look to explore this relationship further, within the ancient Egyptian Late Ramesside Letters (c. 1099-1069 BCE), in order to explore the limitations of facework and ritual in fully exploring the phenomenon, and offer an alternative approach - the ‘community-embedded’ model - which expands on principles from both facework and ritual, as well as collective prayer. The use here of the ‘community-embedded’ approach allows for the analysis of the impact of utterances to and involving God (the divine entity who assumes this role in the communicative interaction) within wider social networks, and how this supports simultaneous relationship maintenance between humans, God, and larger networks specific to the culture under review.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"61 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2020-0027","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49523219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Many researchers in impoliteness studies have set themselves the task of determining, amongst other things, (i) what linguistic or non-linguistic phenomena can cause offence, and (ii) why people take offence. However, the reality of interaction clearly shows that, on many occasions, there appears to be a marked dissonance between the speaker and hearer in their evaluations of offensive language, even in locally situated interaction. More research is therefore needed to account for and explain why and how the hearer assigns a particularly offensive meaning to an utterance during the course of an interaction. With this aim, and by drawing on insight from what is referred to as “radical contextualism”, in this study we discuss the possibility of looking at how interactants can arrive at their own (subjective) evaluations of impoliteness in ways that do not match up with the alleged intentions of the so-called offender. Drawing on a number of exchanges that involve such instances of taking offence, we will argue that the taking of offence should best be viewed as a process over which the hearer has a more active control. Accordingly, the paper contributes to current attempts at explaining the variability involved in the taking of offence.
{"title":"Taking offence at the (un)said: Towards a more radical contextualist approach","authors":"Vahid Parvaresh, Tahmineh Tayebi","doi":"10.1515/pr-2020-0032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2020-0032","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many researchers in impoliteness studies have set themselves the task of determining, amongst other things, (i) what linguistic or non-linguistic phenomena can cause offence, and (ii) why people take offence. However, the reality of interaction clearly shows that, on many occasions, there appears to be a marked dissonance between the speaker and hearer in their evaluations of offensive language, even in locally situated interaction. More research is therefore needed to account for and explain why and how the hearer assigns a particularly offensive meaning to an utterance during the course of an interaction. With this aim, and by drawing on insight from what is referred to as “radical contextualism”, in this study we discuss the possibility of looking at how interactants can arrive at their own (subjective) evaluations of impoliteness in ways that do not match up with the alleged intentions of the so-called offender. Drawing on a number of exchanges that involve such instances of taking offence, we will argue that the taking of offence should best be viewed as a process over which the hearer has a more active control. Accordingly, the paper contributes to current attempts at explaining the variability involved in the taking of offence.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"111 - 131"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2020-0032","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41587756","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1978, 1987) is often challenged on its claim of the universality of face, in particular, the applicability of negative face to communicators from the sinosphere. This study argues that the notion of negative face is applicable to account for young Chinese people’s communication strategies and behaviors during their intergenerational conflicts. Drawing on discursive psychology and conversation analysis approaches to the dialogic lyrics of Shénqǔ about Kǒngguīzú, this paper explores the dynamic construction process of young Chinese people’s negative face. It reveals that this dynamic construction has been shaped by the cultural values of mixing traditional Confucian values with a new materialistic and individualistic orientation, and that adhering to the traditional cultural norm of harmony is crucial to satisfying negative face wants. This finding suggests that the mixed cultural values should be incorporated into the parametric system of Chinese negative face analysis.
{"title":"From silence to positive self-presentation: gradual emergence of negative face wants in Kǒngguīzú’s (恐归族) intergenerational conflicts with their family elders","authors":"Ping Zhang","doi":"10.1515/pr-2018-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1978, 1987) is often challenged on its claim of the universality of face, in particular, the applicability of negative face to communicators from the sinosphere. This study argues that the notion of negative face is applicable to account for young Chinese people’s communication strategies and behaviors during their intergenerational conflicts. Drawing on discursive psychology and conversation analysis approaches to the dialogic lyrics of Shénqǔ about Kǒngguīzú, this paper explores the dynamic construction process of young Chinese people’s negative face. It reveals that this dynamic construction has been shaped by the cultural values of mixing traditional Confucian values with a new materialistic and individualistic orientation, and that adhering to the traditional cultural norm of harmony is crucial to satisfying negative face wants. This finding suggests that the mixed cultural values should be incorporated into the parametric system of Chinese negative face analysis.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"291 - 313"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2018-0009","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66809410","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The present paper aims to explore the characteristics of the self-denigration phenomenon in present-day Chinese, hence revisiting a key Chinese linguacultural phenomenon from a contemporary angle. We investigate the following understudied phenomenon: Self-denigration has changed together with Chinese interpersonal language use and interactional technologies, and is currently being used in remarkably innovative ways, in particular in the domain of online interactions. While various historical self-denigrating forms have remained in use, significantly more newly invented ones have gained popularity. We argue that the cluster of self-denigrating forms used in present-day Chinese can fulfil a variety of sociopragmatic functions. Some of these functions - such as showing off - paradoxically contradict with the conventional understanding of self-denigration as a ceremonial form of deference behaviour expressing modesty. Our investigation is based on data drawn from computer-mediated communication (CMC), as well as semi-structured interviews.
{"title":"Self-Denigration in 21st Century Chinese","authors":"D. Kádár, Lingmin Zhou","doi":"10.1515/pr-2018-0043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0043","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present paper aims to explore the characteristics of the self-denigration phenomenon in present-day Chinese, hence revisiting a key Chinese linguacultural phenomenon from a contemporary angle. We investigate the following understudied phenomenon: Self-denigration has changed together with Chinese interpersonal language use and interactional technologies, and is currently being used in remarkably innovative ways, in particular in the domain of online interactions. While various historical self-denigrating forms have remained in use, significantly more newly invented ones have gained popularity. We argue that the cluster of self-denigrating forms used in present-day Chinese can fulfil a variety of sociopragmatic functions. Some of these functions - such as showing off - paradoxically contradict with the conventional understanding of self-denigration as a ceremonial form of deference behaviour expressing modesty. Our investigation is based on data drawn from computer-mediated communication (CMC), as well as semi-structured interviews.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"265 - 289"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2018-0043","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45393640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Recent developments of politeness research mainly consist of the study of politeness within a broader framework of relationship or relating and the re-conceptualization of politeness as an evaluative judgement made by participants on the basis of norms and expectations. This article hopes to contribute to the study of relating by probing into the normative basis of relational work. Addressing the relational aspect of communication, Habermas’ (1979) concept of normative rightness claim highlights the normative commitment of the speaker in doing (more than judging) relational work, which has been obscured by the focus on (hearers’) judgements in current research on relational work. Habermas’ concept brings into focus the fact that participants in interaction can define and redefine their relationship through contesting the other’s normative rightness claim or the normative background thereby evoked. This dynamic process of negotiating relationships through negotiating norms can be further explicated by drawing on Culpeper’s (2008) and Kádár and Haugh’s (2013) differentiations of norms. The article explores the usefulness of such differentiations by analyzing different cases of norm variation which can be seen to underlie relational work dispute.
{"title":"Relational work in dispute: Negotiating norms, negotiating relationships","authors":"Yanwei Hu","doi":"10.1515/pr-2018-0039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2018-0039","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Recent developments of politeness research mainly consist of the study of politeness within a broader framework of relationship or relating and the re-conceptualization of politeness as an evaluative judgement made by participants on the basis of norms and expectations. This article hopes to contribute to the study of relating by probing into the normative basis of relational work. Addressing the relational aspect of communication, Habermas’ (1979) concept of normative rightness claim highlights the normative commitment of the speaker in doing (more than judging) relational work, which has been obscured by the focus on (hearers’) judgements in current research on relational work. Habermas’ concept brings into focus the fact that participants in interaction can define and redefine their relationship through contesting the other’s normative rightness claim or the normative background thereby evoked. This dynamic process of negotiating relationships through negotiating norms can be further explicated by drawing on Culpeper’s (2008) and Kádár and Haugh’s (2013) differentiations of norms. The article explores the usefulness of such differentiations by analyzing different cases of norm variation which can be seen to underlie relational work dispute.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"133 - 154"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2018-0039","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42055613","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This study provides a pragmatic taxonomy of asynchronous computer-mediated expressions of disagreement by Arabic speakers. It draws on a specialized corpus of approximately fifty thousand words in the form of naturally occurring comments/posts compiled over a period of ninety days from 19 Arabic Facebook Pages and Groups in three topic areas: (i) religion, (ii) politics and (iii) society. Following Relational Work (Locher and Watts 2005, 2008), I propose ten discursive strategies as underlying patterns of the pragmatic realization of disagreement among Arabic speakers. These include IRRELEVANCY CLAIM, CONTRADICTION, COUNTERCLAIM, CHALLENGE, EXCLAMATION, VERBAL IRONY, ARGUMENT AVOIDANCE, MILD SCOLDING, SUPPLICATION, and VERBAL ATTACK. With the exclusion of some examples, I argue that most of these strategies are neither polite nor impolite, but rather appropriate (i. e., politic) in the context of disagreement. I also provide evidence that sociocultural and religious norms have impacts on SUPPLICATION and MILD SCOLDING.
摘要本研究提供了阿拉伯语使用者的非同步计算机媒介表达的语用分类。它利用了一个专门的语料库，大约五万字，以自然发生的评论/帖子的形式，汇编自19个阿拉伯语Facebook页面和群组，涉及三个主题领域:(i)宗教，(ii)政治和(iii)社会。在关系研究(Locher and Watts 2005,2008)之后，我提出了十种话语策略，作为阿拉伯语使用者之间分歧的语用实现的潜在模式。这些方法包括不相关主张、反驳、反主张、挑战、感叹、言语讽刺、回避争论、温和责骂、恳求和言语攻击。排除一些例子，我认为这些策略中的大多数既不礼貌也不不礼貌，而是相当适当的。(政治)在有分歧的情况下。我也提供证据表明，社会文化和宗教规范对恳求和轻度责骂有影响。
{"title":"Disagreement among Arabic speakers in faceless computer-mediated communication","authors":"M. Harb","doi":"10.1515/pr-2017-0045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2017-0045","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study provides a pragmatic taxonomy of asynchronous computer-mediated expressions of disagreement by Arabic speakers. It draws on a specialized corpus of approximately fifty thousand words in the form of naturally occurring comments/posts compiled over a period of ninety days from 19 Arabic Facebook Pages and Groups in three topic areas: (i) religion, (ii) politics and (iii) society. Following Relational Work (Locher and Watts 2005, 2008), I propose ten discursive strategies as underlying patterns of the pragmatic realization of disagreement among Arabic speakers. These include IRRELEVANCY CLAIM, CONTRADICTION, COUNTERCLAIM, CHALLENGE, EXCLAMATION, VERBAL IRONY, ARGUMENT AVOIDANCE, MILD SCOLDING, SUPPLICATION, and VERBAL ATTACK. With the exclusion of some examples, I argue that most of these strategies are neither polite nor impolite, but rather appropriate (i. e., politic) in the context of disagreement. I also provide evidence that sociocultural and religious norms have impacts on SUPPLICATION and MILD SCOLDING.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"17 1","pages":"233 - 264"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-06-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2017-0045","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42919373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The study combines Brown and Levinson’s (1987) work on politeness techniques and Tannen’s (1981, 1993) work on indirectness and power-solidarity dynamics to extend research on workplace discourse. I examine how two female Russian-speaking chairs (one of Russian and another of Kazakh origin) differently perform face-threatening acts (FTAs) of criticisms and directives during teacher meetings at a community college in Kazakhstan. Specifically, the Russian chair employs fewer politeness techniques (e. g., hedging with “please”), issuing criticisms and orders with no mitigation, thereby foregrounding the power asymmetry within the group. The lack of mitigation surfaces through explicit usage of pronouns (“I” vs. “you”); action verbs inflected for the 2nd person plural and imperative mood; words with a negative and moral connotation; and phonological modifications for emphasis. Differently, the Kazakh chair utilizes a larger number of politeness techniques, including hedging (e. g., “please”, “unfortunately”), impersonalizing negative actions (through indefinite pronouns and agentless verbs), and manipulating of tense and space. Thus, she performs indirect FTAs that highlight the solidarity aspect of group relations. I relate these findings to studies of management leadership in post-Soviet states that have revealed the tendency of Kazakh managers to use a nurturing leadership style.
{"title":"Balancing power and solidarity through indirectness: A case study of Russian and Kazakh meeting chairs","authors":"Aisulu Kulbayeva","doi":"10.1515/pr-2017-0054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2017-0054","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study combines Brown and Levinson’s (1987) work on politeness techniques and Tannen’s (1981, 1993) work on indirectness and power-solidarity dynamics to extend research on workplace discourse. I examine how two female Russian-speaking chairs (one of Russian and another of Kazakh origin) differently perform face-threatening acts (FTAs) of criticisms and directives during teacher meetings at a community college in Kazakhstan. Specifically, the Russian chair employs fewer politeness techniques (e. g., hedging with “please”), issuing criticisms and orders with no mitigation, thereby foregrounding the power asymmetry within the group. The lack of mitigation surfaces through explicit usage of pronouns (“I” vs. “you”); action verbs inflected for the 2nd person plural and imperative mood; words with a negative and moral connotation; and phonological modifications for emphasis. Differently, the Kazakh chair utilizes a larger number of politeness techniques, including hedging (e. g., “please”, “unfortunately”), impersonalizing negative actions (through indefinite pronouns and agentless verbs), and manipulating of tense and space. Thus, she performs indirect FTAs that highlight the solidarity aspect of group relations. I relate these findings to studies of management leadership in post-Soviet states that have revealed the tendency of Kazakh managers to use a nurturing leadership style.","PeriodicalId":45897,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Politeness Research-Language Behaviour Culture","volume":"16 1","pages":"159 - 191"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1515/pr-2017-0054","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43622074","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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