Impoliteness Revisited: Evidence fromQingmianThreats in Chinese Interpersonal Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract There is a growing consensus that (im)politeness is associated with participants’ situated evaluations vis-à-vis the moral order (Haugh 2013a, 2015b; Kádár and Haugh 2013). This paper focuses on impoliteness as evaluative practices underpinned by the moral order ofqingmian(lit., affection-based face). Drawing on data from Chinese interpersonal conflicts, the study reveals that unmetrenqing(favor) expectations and unmetmianzi/lian(face) expectations are often evaluated asqingmianthreats by participants, and thereby cause conflicts and disharmony. Our analysis investigates three key issues: (1)qingmianthreat as the cause of interpersonal conflicts, (2) cultural factors influencing expectations associated with ‘taking offence’ in Chinese and (3) the implications ofqingmianthreat for (im)politeness theory at the etic level.

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