Pragmatics and Society - Volume 17, Issue 3, 2026

Abstract

This study aims at examining the evaluation of impoliteness not manifested in utterances or actions. The focus is on how speaker-hearers conceal their negative evaluation and the reasons underlying their behavior. The data were collected from a WhatsApp group conversation, from a Focus Group discussion with WhatsApp group members, and through questionnaires. The study approaches the data using relational work and rapport management theories. The study shows that hearers conceal the evaluation of impoliteness by affiliating with the topics evaluated positively instead of negatively evaluated utterances. The behavior can cause contested meanings of unmarked utterances between the hearers and the speakers. Although speakers perceive their utterances as politic or appropriate, the hearers observe them negatively. Furthermore, the Focus Group discussion showed that the WhatsApp Group members conducted the unspoken evaluation of impoliteness to maintain the equanimity of social relationships. The questionnaires indicated that concealing negative evaluation is a recurrent action of native speakers of Javanese.

Abstract

This study explores the use of the discourse marker well as a response-delaying marker in non-straightforward answers to wh-questions, specifically when responses involve inserting a side story. Through a detailed analysis of conversational data, particularly from interviews, this study identifies a pattern in which well is used to introduce background information as a side story before the core response is delivered, marked by but as a discourse marker. This sequential use of well and but serves to structure the discourse in a way that allows the speaker to provide the necessary context or background before directly addressing the question. The study examines this phenomenon within the framework of discourse analysis, providing insights into how such markers function in managing conversational flow and response coherence.

Abstract

Communication via text messaging has become a driving force to establish and maintain texters’ identities on social media. Drawing upon a pragmatic view of identity construction, this study probes into Chinese private tutors’ text messages on WeChat and the way they accommodate texts and emojis to adjust different digital identities. Findings show that Chinese private tutors’ digital identities should not be understood as something stable but rather as a changing process that is constructed and accommodated through different social contacts. They have projected identities in the messages either as authoritative teachers for students or as reliable providers of service for parents. The dynamic construction of social identity reflects the education-business nature of private supplementary tutoring in China and private tutors’ struggle for a balance between commercial mandates and professional ethics in texting identities. This study contributes to the understanding of Chinese private tutors’ management of digital identity on WeChat.

Abstract

This study investigates the evolution of protectionism metaphors in English-language media across China, the UK, and the US from 2001 to 2019. It reveals varying degrees of fundamental and incremental changes with cultural variations in the three corpora based on a refined metaphor evolution analytical model. Despite observed changes, the thematic contexts of the examined metaphors remain relatively stable within the UK, US and Chinese narratives with cultural variations and similarities. The Chinese corpus employs metaphors suggesting recurring themes that conceptualize protectionism in ‘dual roles’ and often frame China as a victim. In contrast, the UK and US corpora frame protectionism as a growing and contentious force. The consistent use of the ‘rising protectionism’ frame across three corpora suggests a shared bodily experience and global economic framework. This study contributes to metaphor theory by providing empirical insights into the diachronic metaphorical framing of protectionism from the UK, US and Chinese perspectives. It also contributes to proposing a refined analytical model for understanding metaphor evolution in global economic narratives.

Abstract

The article investigates sales interaction in the work of a photographic artist who provides art-based training services for workplaces. The data come from a product demonstration workshop where the artist presents a photographic method to prospective customers to raise their interest in the service product. By employing conversation analysis, the article analyzes how the artist conducts sales work while responding to the workshop participants’ questions. The results show how the artist uses transformative and extended responses to adjust the question posed to her and resist the terms it creates, highlighting the customizability of her service product and drawing attention to its merits. The article contributes to previous research on sales interaction by shedding light on the interactional practices of sales work in a new kind of work situation as well as focusing on the use of transformative responses that have not been previously studied as part of the sales encounter.

This article reviews New Perspectives on Goffman in Language and Interaction: Body, Participation and the Self9781032552194