The co-constitution of politeness implicature in conversation

Abstract

The notions of politeness and implicature are key concepts in the field of pragmatics, yet while there have been numerous studies on politeness and implicature phenomena in various languages, there has been much less attention paid to the intersection between politeness and implicature. The notion of ‘politeness implicature,’ which refers to instances where by virtue of implying something politeness arises, is thus introduced in order to further our understanding of politeness, implicature, and their intersection. An analysis of the ways in which ‘politeness implicatures’ arise in conversation indicates that they are not simply indirect meanings arising from recognition of speaker intentions by hearers, but rather arise from joint, collaborative interaction between speakers and hearers. It is thus proposed that an account which proceeds from the assumption that emergence or interactional achievement is a key characteristic of communication, namely the Conjoint Co-Constituting Model of Communication [Arundale, Robert, 1999. An alternative model and ideology of communication for an alternative to politeness theory. Pragmatics 9, 119–154; Arundale, Robert, 2005. Pragmatics, conversational implicature, and conversation. In: Fitch, Kristine, Sanders, Robert (Eds.), Handbook of Language and Social Interaction. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, NJ, pp. 41–63], is better placed to account for the way in which ‘politeness implicatures’ are anticipated or inferred from the situation as a whole in conversation.