Facework and im/politeness across legal contexts: An introduction

In this introductory essay, I outline some of the studies which have already explored facework and im/politeness in legal contexts: specifically, Lakoff (Multilingua 8: 101–29, 1989), Penman (Facework and politeness: Multiple goals in courtroom discourse, Multilingual Matters, 1990), Archer (Verbal aggression and impoliteness: Related or synonymous, Mouton de Gruyter, 2008, under review), Limberg (Threats in conflict talk: Impoliteness and manipulation, Mouton de Gruyter, 2008) and Harris (Discourse and Society 12: 451–72, forthcoming 2011). Having suggested ways in which these studies have helped to shape and advance current thinking on facework and im/politeness, in both legal contexts and also more generally, I move on to outline the papers in this special edition, and the issues raised therein.