Power and Politeness in the Workplace: A Sociolinguistic Analysis of Talk at Work

This book provides insights into the way we all talk at work. It contains a wealth of material illustrating the way people communicate with each other in their ordinary everyday encounters in the workplaces.

The analysis focusses on how and why people 'do' power and politeness in the workplace. It examines the strategies involved in balancing the demands of the workplace and maintaining good relationships with colleagues.

Drawing on a large and very varied corpus of data, the authors explore specific types of workplace talk, such as giving advice and instructions, solving problems, running meetings, making decisions and less obviously types of workpace talk such humour and small talk.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [182]-191) and index.