"Fine thank you. And you?" Linguistic Politeness in Australian English and the Interlanguage Pragmatics of Japanese ESL Speakers

Abstract

This paper examines politeness breakdowns between Japanese ESL speakers and L1 speakers of Australian English. In doing so, the paper develops a model of linguistic politeness which sees the marking of social power and social identification configurations as crucial. Using this model as a template, a possible explanation for differences in politeness strategies used by Japanese ESL and L1 Australian English speakers is suggested and research findings are cited to examine this hypothesis.