Directness and Indirectness Across Cultures

Karen Grainger is a Principal Lecturer in English Language and Linguistics at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She researches language use and interaction in institutional, intercultural and electronic contexts. She has published in the areas of health care, intercultural communication and educational sociolinguistics. She is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Politeness Research.Sara Mills is Research Professor in Linguistics at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. She has published in the areas of feminist linguistics and politeness theory. Her publications include Gender and Politeness (2003), Politeness in East Asia (co-authored, 2011), Language and Sexism (2008), Language Gender and Feminism (co-authored, 2012), and Gender Representation in an International Context (co-authored, 2015).

“This book provides a deeper analysis of the existence of ‘variability within cultures’ … . It adds both to the understanding of politeness and its relationship with directness and indirectness, such that each ‘linguistic community decides what they see as sophisticated’ and which politeness strategies they interpret as polite or impolite … .” (Silvia Pisabarro Sarrió, Language in Society, Vol. 46 (4), September, 2017)

• 1. Introduction: Language, Culture, (Im)politeness and (In)directness 2. Theoretical Perspectives on Indirectness 3. Theoretical Perspectives on Directness 4. Zimbabwean and British English: A Case Study of Directness and Indirectness across Cultures 5. Situated Directness and Indirectness: Monolingual English Speakers 6. Linguistic Ideologies: Bilingual Speakers' Evaluations of Indirectness and Directness 7. Conclusions