Compliments and politeness in peer-review texts
Abstract
This paper reports on an empirical analysis of the forms, strategies, and functions of complimenting in one genre of written discourse. The data base is a set of 51 peer-review texts written in an academic setting. First, analyses are provided of the syntactic and lexical patterns of 256 compliments. These analyses reveal the degree and nature of formulaicity in the compliments. A related discussion of politeness considerations in the use of syntactic framing strategies is also offered. Next, several complimenting discourse strategies used by writers to construct their texts are identified. It was found, for example, that writers exhibited a remarkable regularity in the use of opening compliments. It is argued that writers use complimenting discourse strategies to establish and maintain rapport and to mitigate both global and specific face-threatening acts and that these social purposes help to account for both their frequency and patterning in the texts.
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The use of I think limits the scope of the reviewers' claim to knowledge, indicating that they are offering a personal opinion that may not be shared by others.
“The use of I think limits the scope of the reviewers' claim to knowledge, indicating that 'they are offering a personal opinion, and that this opinion may not be shared by others' (Johnson, 1992, p. 62).”
From 'Sorry, I don't good English': Japanese L2 students' written peer feedback in the face-to-face and anonymous review modes (2023) · cites this paper as Johnson, 1992
Lexical hedges used to express uncertainty, possibility, and imprecision were employed in the majority of comments regardless of peer review mode.
“As consistently reported in previous studies (e.g., Johnson, 1992), lexical hedges used to express uncertainty, possibility, and imprecision were employed in the majority of the comments regardless of the peer review mode.”
From 'Sorry, I don't good English': Japanese L2 students' written peer feedback in the face-to-face and anonymous review modes (2023) · cites this paper as Johnson, 1992
Alternatively, the participants' mitigation strategies might simply be related to a common desire to remain free of conflict and maintain friendships.
“Alternatively, they might simply be related to a common desire to remain free of conflict and maintain friendships (Johnson, 1992), although there were few personal consequences to the reviewer for using highly direct or even impolite language in the anonymous mode.”
From 'Sorry, I don't good English': Japanese L2 students' written peer feedback in the face-to-face and anonymous review modes (2023) · cites this paper as Johnson, 1992
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- Authors
- JOHNSON, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Arizona (US)
- Corresponding author
- JOHNSON, D. M.
- ORCID
- JOHNSON, D. M.
- Venue
- Applied Linguistics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 1992-03-01
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 51-71
- ISSN
- 0142-6001 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-450X
- OpenAlex
- W2003696180
- Cited by
- 71
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 8.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Applied Linguistics (publishedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Literature and Literary Theory › Discourse Analysis in Language Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Linguistics and Language Analysis
- Keywords
- compliments, politeness, peer review, academic writing, formulaicity, face-threatening acts, discursive strategies, lexical patterns
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