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.
