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5 - Indirectness, Politeness and the Social Context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2021

Nicolas Ruytenbeek
Nicolas Ruytenbeek
Affiliation:
Ghent University
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Summary

In this chapter, I adopt a sociolinguistic perspective to explore politenessand the other reasons explaining the use of indirect communication. I alsodiscuss how contextual variables, in particular interpersonal parameters,shape both the production of indirect utterances and theirinterpretation.

Keywords

politenessimpolitenesssocial variablespowersocial distanceimpositiongenderculturepersonality
Type
Chapter
Information
Indirect Speech Acts , pp. 141 - 180
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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