Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice (Language, Power and Social Process [LPSP], 21)

The Volume Addresses The Enormous Imbalance That Exists Between Academic Interest In Politeness Phenomena When Compared To Impoliteness Phenomena. Researchers Working With Brown And Levinson's ([1978] 1987) Seminal Work On Politeness Rarely Focused Explicitly On Impoliteness. As A Result, Only One Aspect Of Facework/relational Work Has Been Studied In Detail. Next To This Research Desideratum, Politeness Research Is On The Move Again, With Alternative Conceptions Of Politeness To Those Of Brown And Levinson Being Further Developed. In This Volume Researchers Present, Discuss And Explore The Concept Of Linguistic Impoliteness, The Crucial Differences And Interconnectedness Between Lay Understandings Of Impoliteness And The Academic Concept Within A Theory Of Facework/relational Work, As Well As The Exercise Of Power That Is Involved When Impoliteness Occurs. The Authors Offer Solid Discussions Of The Theoretical Issues Involved And Draw On Data From Political Interaction, Interaction With Legally Constituted Authorities, Workplace Interaction In The Factory And The Office, Code-switching And Internet Practices. The Collection Offers Inspiration For Research On Impoliteness In Many Different Research Fields, Such As (critical) Discourse Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Pragmatics And Stylistics, As Well As Linguistic Approaches To Studies In Conflict And Conflict Resolution. Introduction : Impoliteness And Power In Language / Miriam A. Locher And Derek Bousfield -- Reflections On Impoliteness, Relational Work And Power / Jonathan Culpeper -- Toward A Unified Theory Of Politeness, Impoliteness, And Rudeness / Marina Terkourafi -- Relational Work And Impoliteness : Negotiating Norms Of Linguistic Behaviour / Miriam A. Locher And Richard J. Watts -- Political Campaign Debates As Zero-sum Games : Impoliteness And Power In Candidates' Exchanges / María Dolores García-pastor -- Impoliteness In The Struggle For Power / Derek Bousfield -- Threats In Conflict Talk : Impoliteness And Manipulation / Holger Limberg -- Verbal Aggression And Impoliteness : Related Or Synonymous? / Dawn Elizabeth Archer -- Impoliteness As A Means Of Contesting Power Relations In The Workplace / Stephanie Schnurr, Meredith Marra And Janet Holmes -- Stop Hassling Me! Impoliteness, Power And Gender Identity In The Professional Workplace / Louise Mullany -- You're Screwed Either Way : An Exploration Of Code-switching, Impoliteness And Power / Holly R. Cashman -- A Manual For (im)politeness? The Impact Of The Faq In An Electronic Community Of Practice / Sage Lambert Graham. Edited By Derek Bousfield, Miriam A. Locher. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [305]-330) And Indexes. This book is relevant for phonologists, morphologists, Slavists and cognitive linguists, and addresses two questions: How can the morphology-phonology interface be accommodated in cognitive linguistics? Do morphophonological alternations have a meaning? These questions are explored via a comprehensive analysis of stem alternations in Russian verbs. The analysis is couched in R.W. Langacker's Cognitive Grammar framework, and the book offers comparisons to other varieties of cognitive linguistics, such as Construction Grammar and Conceptual Integration. The proposed analysis is furthermore compared to rule-based and constraint-based approaches to phonology in generative grammar. Without resorting to underlying representations or procedural rules, the Cognitive Linguistics framework facilitates an insightful approach to abstract phonology, offering the important advantage of restrictiveness. Cognitive Grammar provides an analysis of an entire morphophonological system in terms of a parsimonious set of theoretical constructs that all have cognitive motivation. No ad hoc machinery is invoked, and the analysis yields strong empirical predictions. Another advantage is that Cognitive Grammar can identify the meaning of morphophonological alternations. For example, it is argued that stem alternations in Russian verbs conspire to signal non-past meaning. This book is accessible to a broad readership and offers a welcome contribution to phonology and morphology, which have been understudied in cognitive linguistics

The volume addresses the enormous imbalance that exists between academic interest in politeness phenomena when compared to impoliteness phenomena. Researchers working with Brown and Levinson's ([1978] 1987) seminal work on politeness rarely focused explicitly on impoliteness. As a result, only one aspect of facework/relational work has been studied in detail. Next to this research desideratum, politeness research is on the move again, with alternative conceptions of politeness to those of Brown and Levinson being further developed. In this volume researchers present, discuss and explore the concept of linguistic impoliteness, the crucial differences and interconnectedness between lay understandings of impoliteness and the academic concept within a theory of facework/relational work, as well as the exercise of power that is involved when impoliteness occurs. The authors offer solid discussions of the theoretical issues involved and draw on data from political interaction, interaction with legally constituted authorities, workplace interaction in the factory and the office, code-switching and Internet practices. The collection offers inspiration for research on impoliteness in many different research fields, such as (critical) discourse analysis, conversation analysis, pragmatics and stylistics, as well as linguistic approaches to studies in conflict and conflict resolution.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Impoliteness and power in language Part 1. Theoretical focus on research on impoliteness Chapter 2. Reflections on impoliteness, relational work and power Chapter 3. Toward a unified theory of politeness, impoliteness, and rudeness Part 2. Political interaction Chapter 4. Relational work and impoliteness: Negotiating norms of linguistic behaviour Chapter 5. Political campaign debates as zero-sum games: Impoliteness and power in candidates’ exchanges Part 3. Interaction with legally constituted authorities Chapter 6. Impoliteness in the struggle for power Chapter 7. Threats in conflict talk: Impoliteness and manipulation Chapter 8. Verbal aggression and impoliteness: Related or synonymous? Part 4. Workplace interaction Chapter 9. Impoliteness as a means of contesting power relations in the workplace Chapter 10. “Stop hassling me!” Impoliteness, power and gender identity in the professional workplace Part 5. Further empirical studies Chapter 11. “You’re screwed either way”: An exploration of code-switching, impoliteness and power Chapter 12. A manual for (im)politeness?: The impact of the FAQ in an electronic community of practice References Contributors Contact information Author index Subject index Discusses impoliteness and power in language. This work addresses the enormous imbalance that exists between academic interest in politeness phenomena when compared to impoliteness phenomena, and it offers inspiration for research on impoliteness, conflict and aggression in many different academic fields of enquiry, within linguistics and beyond