Gender And Politeness (studies In Interactional Sociolinguistics)

Gender and Politeness Gender and Politeness challenges the notion that women are necessarily always more polite than men as much of the language and gender literature claims. Sara Mills discusses the complex relations between gender and politeness and argues that although there are circumstances when women speakers, drawing on stereotypes of femininity to guide their behaviour, will appear to be acting in a more polite way than men, there are many circumstances where women will act just as impolitely as men. The book aims to show that politeness and impoliteness are in essence judgements about another’s interventions in an interaction and about that person as whole, and are not simple classifications of particular types of speech. Drawing on the notion of community of practice, Mills examines the way that speakers negotiate with what they perceive to be gendered stereotypes circulating within their particular group. Sara Mills is Research Professor in the School of Cultural Studies, Sheffield Hallam University. She has published in the areas of feminist post-colonial theory and feminist linguistics, and her books include Feminist Stylistics (1995), Discourse (1997), Michel Foucault (2003), and Language and Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 1994. Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics editors Paul Drew, Marjorie Harness Goodwin, John J. Gumperz, Deborah Schiffrin Discourse strategies John J. Gumperz Language and social identity edited by John J. Gumperz The social construction of literacy edited by Jenny Cook-Gumperz Politeness: some universals in language usage Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson Discourse markers Deborah Schiffrin Talking voices Deborah Tannen Conducting interaction Adam Kendon Talk at work edited by Paul Drew and John Heritage Grammar in interaction Cecilia E. Ford Crosstalk and culture in Sino-American communication Linda W. L. Young Aids counselling: institutional interaction and clinical practice ¨ a¨ Anssi Perakyl Prosody in conversation edited by Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen and Margaret Selting Interaction and grammar edited by Elinor Ochs, Emanuel A. Schegloff and Sandra M. Thompson Credibility in court Marco Jacquemet Interaction and the development of mind A. J. Wootton The news interview Steven Clayman and John Heritage Gender and politeness Sara Mills Gender and Politeness SARA MILLS Cambridge University Press CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521810845 © Sara Mills 2003 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2003 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-521-81084-5 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-00919-5 paperback Transferred to digital printing 2007 To Tony, Gabriel, and Francis Contents Acknowledgements Introduction page viii 1 1 Rethinking linguistic interpretation 16 2 Theorising politeness 57 3 Politeness and impoliteness 121 4