Gender and Politeness [Paperback]

Gender and Politeness challenges the notion that women are necessarily always more polite than men.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.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.Challenging the notion that women are necessarily always more polite than men (as language and gender literature claim), Sara Mills discusses the complex relationship between gender and politeness. Mills argues that, although women speakers, drawing on stereotypes of femininity, can appear to be acting more politely than men, there are many circumstances where women will act as impolitely as men.Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Rethinking linguistic interpretation; 2. Theorising politeness; 3. Politeness and impoliteness; 4. Theorising gender; 5. Gender and politeness; Conclusions; Bibliography; Index.'& a very valuable contribution to the field for those teaching language and gender courses & will appeal primarily to the many scholars working in the area of politeness theory & will also be a valuable addition to the critical material available to graduates interested in pragmatics more generally, and l#²