This handbook comprehensively examines social interaction by providing a critical overview of the field of linguistic politeness and impoliteness. Authored by over forty leading scholars, it offers a diverse and multidisciplinary approach to a vast array of themes that are vital to the study of interpersonal communication. The chapters explore the use of (im)politeness in specific contexts as well as wider developments, and variations across cultures and contexts in understandings of key concepts (such as power, emotion, identity and ideology). Within each chapter, the authors select a topic and offer a critical commentary on the key linguistic concepts associated with it, supporting their assertions with case studies that enable the reader to consider the practicalities of (im)politeness studies. This volume will be of interest to students and scholars of linguistics, particularly those concerned with pragmatics, sociolinguistics and interpersonal communication. Its multidisciplinary nature means that it is also relevant to researchers across the social sciences and humanities, particularly those working in sociology, psychology and history.

We use politeness every day when interacting with other people. Yet politeness is an impressively complex linguistic process, and studying it can tell us a lot about the social and cultural values of social groups or even a whole society, helping us to understand how humans 'encode' states of mind in their words. The traditional, stereotypical view is that people in East Asian cultures are indirect, deferential and extremely polite sometimes more polite than seems necessary. This revealing book takes a fresh look at the phenomenon, showing that the situation is far more complex than these stereotypes would suggest. Taking examples from Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Singaporean Chinese, it shows how politeness differs across countries, but also across social groups and subgroups. The first comprehensive study of the subject, this book is essential reading for those interested in intercultural communication, linguistics and East Asian languages.

"Letter writing is a pivotal yet neglected medium of historical Chinese communication. The epistolary format is key to sinological research. As historical letters have a specific vocabulary and rhetorical structure it is difficult to read them without the supporting apparatus of specialised study. The aim of this compendium is to fill the gap in Chinese studies by providing a bilingual Chinese-English edition of a corpus of Chinese letters, prepared for advanced students of Classical Chinese as well as academics with an interest in historical Chinese epistolary art. The book has a broad and general introduction, systematically constructed vocabulary sections as well as detailed grammatical and philological explanations. It focuses on Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) letter writing, a high point of pre-1911 epistolary activity in Chinese, and will appeal to Chinese scholars and Sinologists at a broad range of academic levels."

Kadar and Pan's exciting researchcompares traditional and contemporary Chinese polite communication norms and maps the similarities and differences between them. The approach is innovative, because whilst intercultural politeness has received considerable attention,intracultural comparative politeness is a neglected issue. Considering the importance of China on the world stage, this understanding of Chinese politeness norms is pivotal,to both experts of communication studies and those that haveinteractions with the Chinese community. The secondary objective of the book is to study the driving forces behind the large-scale diachronic formation of Chinese politeness norms. It takes a sociolinguistic approach to examining how social changes and changes in discursive practice lead to the change of politeness norms. The study will contribute to both politeness research and historical pragmatics by comparing traditional and contemporary Chinese politeness norms and analysing the driving force behind their diachronic shift. It will be invaluable to researchers and postgradute students in the field of linguistics, in particular politeness research, pragmatics and historical pragmatics. It is clear, instructive and requires no prior knowledge of Chinese.

It is increasingly important in our globalised world for people to successfully manage interpersonal relationships. This is the first book to tackle this vital topic, by taking an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the process of relating across cultures. Drawing together key concepts from politeness theory, intercultural communication, and cross-cultural/intercultural psychology, it provides a robust framework for analysing and understanding intercultural encounters. It explores the ways in which individuals make judgements about others, deal with offence and conflict, maintain smooth relations, and build new relationships. These processes are explained conceptually and illustrated extensively with authentic intercultural examples and empirical data. With accessible explanations and follow-up activities, it will appeal not only to academics working in the areas of intercultural communication, pragmatic theory, conflict research and other related academic disciplines, but also to students of these topics, as well as professionals such as intercultural trainers and those working in the third sector.

This book provides a cutting-edge introduction to cross-cultural pragmatics, a field encompassing the study of language use across linguacultures. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics is relevant for a variety of fields, such as pragmatics, applied linguistics, language learning and teaching, translation, intercultural communication and sociolinguistics. Written by two leading scholars in the field, this book offers an accessible overview of cross-cultural pragmatics, by providing insights into the theory and practice of systematically comparing language use in different cultural contexts. The authors provide a ground-breaking, language-anchored, strictly empirical and replicable framework applicable for the study of different datatypes and situations. The framework is illustrated with case studies drawn from a variety of linguacultures, such as English, Chinese, Japanese and German. In these case studies, the reader is provided with contrastive analyses of language use in important contexts such as globalised business, politics and classrooms. This book is essential reading for both academics and students.

The aim of this volume is to fill a long-recognised gap in communication, discourse and culture studies by providing descriptions and analyses of Chinese institutional interactions in various settings. This book contributes on the one hand to the latest developments of discourse studies with insights into the analysis of Chinese institutional interactions. On the other hand, this volume serves as a valuable resource for readers who intend to become acquainted with Chinese culture and institutional discourse. This volume contains contributions by some of the leading scholars in the field of Chinese discourse analysis. The contributions examine Chinese institutional interactions in various settings, including business negotiations, courtroom interactions, medical consultations, survey interviews, and business telephone calls.

This book provides a cutting-edge introduction to cross-cultural pragmatics, a field encompassing the study of language use across linguacultures. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics is relevant for a variety of fields, such as pragmatics, applied linguistics, language learning and teaching, translation, intercultural communication and sociolinguistics. Written by two leading scholars in the field, this book offers an accessible overview of cross-cultural pragmatics, by providing insights into the theory and practice of systematically comparing language use in different cultural contexts. The authors provide a ground-breaking, language-anchored, strictly empirical and replicable framework applicable for the study of different datatypes and situations. The framework is illustrated with case studies drawn from a variety of linguacultures, such as English, Chinese, Japanese and German. In these case studies, the reader is provided with contrastive analyses of language use in important contexts such as globalised business, politics and classrooms. This book is essential reading for both academics and students.

Ritual is popularly associated with ceremonies, though in real life it plays a significantly more important role, reinforcing what people perceive as the appropriate moral order of things, or challenging what they perceive as the inappropriate flow of events. This book introduces the reader to how people use ritual in interpersonal interaction and the interface that exists between ritual and politeness and impoliteness. As rituals have a large impact on the life of people and communities, the way in which they use politeness and impoliteness in a ritual action significantly influences the way in which the given ritual is perceived. Politeness, Impoliteness and Ritual examines this complex relationship by setting up a multi-layered analytic model, with a multidisciplinary approach which will appeal to interaction scholars, politeness researchers, social psychologists and anthropologists, and moral psychologists. It fills an important knowledge gap and provides the first (im)politeness-focused interactional model of ritual.

Ritual is popularly associated with ceremonies, though in real life it plays a significantly more important role, reinforcing what people perceive as the appropriate moral order of things, or challenging what they perceive as the inappropriate flow of events. This book introduces the reader to how people use ritual in interpersonal interaction and the interface that exists between ritual and politeness and impoliteness. As rituals have a large impact on the life of people and communities, the way in which they use politeness and impoliteness in a ritual action significantly influences the way in which the given ritual is perceived. Politeness, Impoliteness and Ritual examines this complex relationship by setting up a multi-layered analytic model, with a multidisciplinary approach which will appeal to interaction scholars, politeness researchers, social psychologists and anthropologists, and moral psychologists. It fills an important knowledge gap and provides the first (im)politeness-focused interactional model of ritual.

Politeness is key to all of our relationships and plays a fundamental part in the way we communicate with each other and the way we define ourselves. It is not limited only to conventional aspects of linguistic etiquette, but encompasses all types of interpersonal behaviour through which we explore and maintain our relationships. This groundbreaking exploration navigates the reader through this fascinating area and introduces them to a variety of new insights. The book is divided into three parts and is based on an innovative framework which relies on the concepts of social practice, time and space. In this multidisciplinary approach, the authors capture a range of user and observer understandings and provide a variety of examples from different languages and cultures. With its reader-friendly style, carefully constructed exercises and useful glossary, Understanding Politeness will be welcomed by both researchers and postgraduate students working on politeness, pragmatics and sociolinguistics more broadly.

Although Chinese is one of the most thoroughly studied languages in pragmatics, and has a pivotal role in intercultural communication studies because of the increasing cultural and economic interaction between China and other countries, no large-scale study has been devoted to this topic. This groundbreaking volume fills this gap in pragmatic and discourse studies through high-quality research focusing on the theory and practice of Chinese discourse and, in a wider sense, interaction analysis. It introduces the different layers of Chinese discourse and interaction, and makes a valuable contribution not only to Chinese studies but also to other fields such as intercultural and discourse studies. The contributors to this volume include renowned experts within the field. They present their arguments in an accessible style, making this book useful to both experts of Chinese and discourse studies, as well as advanced students with an interest in communication and society.

Sociopragmatics is a rapidly growing field and this is the first ever handbook dedicated to this exciting area of study. Bringing together an international team of leading editors and contributors, it provides a comprehensive, cutting-edge overview of the key concepts, topics, settings and methodologies involved in sociopragmatic research. The chapters are organised in a systematic fashion, and span a wide range of theoretical research on how language communicates multiple meanings in context, how it influences our daily interactions and relationships with others, and how it helps construct our social worlds. Providing insight into a fascinating array of phenomena and novel research directions, the Handbook is not only relevant to experts of pragmatics but to any reader with an interest in language and its use in different contexts, including researchers in sociology, anthropology and communication, and students of applied linguistics and related areas, as well as professional practitioners in communication research.

Politeness is key to all of our relationships and plays a fundamental part in the way we communicate with each other and the way we define ourselves. It is not limited only to conventional aspects of linguistic etiquette, but encompasses all types of interpersonal behaviour through which we explore and maintain our relationships. This groundbreaking exploration navigates the reader through this fascinating area and introduces them to a variety of new insights. The book is divided into three parts and is based on an innovative framework which relies on the concepts of social practice, time and space. In this multidisciplinary approach, the authors capture a range of user and observer understandings and provide a variety of examples from different languages and cultures. With its reader-friendly style, carefully constructed exercises and useful glossary, Understanding Politeness will be welcomed by both researchers and postgraduate students working on politeness, pragmatics and sociolinguistics more broadly.

Pan and Kadar's exciting research compares historical and contemporary Chinese (im)polite communication norms and maps the similarities and differences between them. Considering the importance of China on the world stage, understanding Chinese politeness norms is pivotal, to both experts of communication studies and those who have interactions with the Chinese community.

Letter writing is a pivotal yet neglected medium of historical Chinese communication. The epistolary format is key to sinological research. As historical letters have a specific vocabulary and rhetorical structure it is difficult to read them without the supporting apparatus of specialised study. The aim of this compendium is to fill the gap in Chinese studies by providing a bilingual Chinese-English edition of a corpus of Chinese letters, prepared for advanced students of Classical Chinese as well as academics with an interest in historical Chinese epistolary art. The book has a broad and general introduction, systematically constructed vocabulary sections as well as detailed grammatical and philological explanations. It focuses on Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) letter writing, a high point of pre-1911 epistolary activity in Chinese, and will appeal to Chinese scholars and Sinologists at a broad range of academic levels. The author was awarded with the AcademyAward for Young Outstanding Scholarsby the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for this book.