Emancipating (im)politeness research and increasing its impact

Abstract

This paper explores how the authors to the papers in this special issue of Acta Linguistica Academica (2019/2) understand the performance and evaluation of (im)politeness in various types of Chinese data across different contexts. The paper looks at the long-debated issue of universalism and particularism in (im)politeness research, since interaction takes place within different sociocultural systems, in different situational settings, at different interactive contexts, and with different interlocutors. The paper also brings forward the necessity to enhance the impact of Chinese (im)politeness research.