Women, Men and Politeness

Women, Men and Politeness focuses on the specific issue of the ways in which women and men express politeness verbally.Using a range of evidence Janet Holmes examines the distribution and functions of a range of specific verbal politeness strategies in women's and men's speech and discusses the possible reasons for gender differences in this area. Data provided on interactional strategies, 'hedges and boosters', compliments and apologies, demonstrates ways in which women's politeness patterns differ from men's, with the implications of these different patterns explored, for women in particular, in the areas of education and professional careers. This book will undoubtedly become one of those that finds itself on any number of reading lists. It is in essence a survey of research into various discourse features associated with politeness, where gender differences have been found. It does its job extremely efficiently, being thorough, well-presented, easily understood and convincingly argued. It is overall a very useful book. - Journal of Sociolinguistics.…