On-record politeness in trans-cultural writer-reader communication in academic discourse: A case of a reply to article

The paper discusses the preliminary results of a pilot exploratory study concerning on-record politeness strategies used by academics to soften criticism of scientific performance of other scholars and deal with judgmental opinions in relation to their own research findings. The study uses the apparatus offered by the politeness theory to get insight into the trans-cultural writer-reader communication in written academic discourse, namely, in reply to/response to articles. Methodologically, the study draws from the classic framework of linguistic politeness (Brown and Levinson [1978]/1987) with reformulations (Bousfield 2008) in order to identify ways of showing polite (dis)agreement in academic writing (Myers 1989; 1992). The paper focuses on the general selection of and preference towards particular on-record politeness strategies used for conflict management (mitigation, resolution) and face redress in replies to.