Perception of Mock Impoliteness across Cultures

doi:10.18627/jslg.41.2.202508.193

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2025 Vol.41, Issue 2 Preview Page

Research Article

Perception of Mock Impoliteness across Cultures: Min, Sujung^1*; ¹Kongju National University

31 August 2025. pp. 193-207

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Abstract

Mock impoliteness refers to the playful use of seemingly rude language, often serving as a bonding strategy among close interlocutors (Napoli, 2024). While such linguistic behavior is common in certain English-speaking contexts, its perception may vary across cultures. This study compares how British native speakers and Korean learners of English perceive and evaluate mock impoliteness remarks. Participants completed a questionnaire rating the offensiveness of teasing utterances within familiar social contexts. Results indicate that British participants generally interpret mock impoliteness as humorous and affiliative, whereas Korean learners are more likely to perceive it as genuinely offensive or inappropriate. Drawing on frameworks of Oatey’s (2008) rapport management, Culpeper’s (2011) impoliteness model, and Goddard and Wierzbicka’s (2004) cultural scripts, the study highlights culturally grounded differences in pragmatic interpretation. These findings underscore the importance of developing intercultural awareness for effective communication in English as a global language.

Keywords

mock impoliteness

politeness

face

humor

cultural scripts

References

Aijmer, K. 2015. Will You Fuck off Please. The Use of Please by London Teenagers. Sociocultural Pragmatics 3.2, 127-149. 10.1515/soprag-2014-0028
Bousfield, D. 2008. Impoliteness in Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.167
Brown, P. and Levinson, S. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511813085
Culpeper, J. 1996. Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics 25.3, 349-367. 10.1016/0378-2166(95)00014-3
Culpeper, J. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511975752
Culpeper, J. and Haugh, M. 2014. Pragmatics and the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmilan.10.1007/978-1-137-39391-3
Culpeper, J., Marti, L., Mei, M., Nevala, M., and Schauer, G. 2010. Cross-Cultural Variation in the Perception of Impoliteness: A Study of Impoliteness Events Reported by STudies in England, China, FInland, Germany and Turkey. Intercultural Pragmatics 7.4, 597-624. 10.1515/iprg.2010.027
Dynel, M. 2009. Beyond a Joke: Types of Conversational Humour. Language and Linguistics Compass 3.5, 1284-1299. 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00152.x
Fox, K. 2004. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. London: Hooder and Stoughton.
Goddard, C. and Wierzbick, A. 2004. Cultural Scripts: What are They and What are They Good for? Intercultural Pragmatics 1.2, 153-166. 10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.153
Haugh, M. 2010. Jocular Mockery, (Dis)affiliation, and Face. Journal of Pragmatics 42.8, 2106-2119. 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.018
Haugh, M. 2014. Jocular Mockery as Interactional Practice in Everyday Anglo-Australian Conversation. Australian Jouranl of Linguistics 34.1, 76-99. 10.1080/07268602.2014.875456
Haugh, M. 2017. Teasing. In S. Attardo (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Humor. London: Routledge, 204-128.10.4324/9781315731162-15
Haugh, M. and Boursfield, D. 2012. Mock Impoliteness, Jocular Mockery and Jocular Abuse in Australian and British English. Journal of Pragmatics 44.9, 1099-1114. 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.003
Holmes, J. 2000. Politeness, Power and Provocation: How Humor Functions in the Workplace. Discourse Studies 2.2, 159-185. 10.1177/1461445600002002002
Kádár, D. Z. and Mills, S. 2011. Politeness in East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511977886
Leech, G. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
McKinnon, S. and Pillar, P. 2014. The Role of Prosody and Gesture in the Perception of Mock Impoliteness. Journal of Politeness Research 10.2, 185-219.10.1515/pr-2014-0009
Mills, S. 2003. Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511615238
Min, S. 2022. Cultural Variation in the Perception of Impoliteness by Korean and English Speakers. Journal of Language Sciences 29.2, 1-19. 10.14384/kals.2022.29.2.221
Napoli, V. 2024. “You’re such an idiot, but I’m only joking”: The Perception of Mock Impoliteness by British and Italian Mean and Women. Intercultural Pragmatics 21.4, 541-572. 10.1515/ip-2024-4003
Norrick, N. 1993. Conversational Joking. Humor in Everyday Talk. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Radcliffe-Brown, A. 1940. On Joking Relationships. Africa 13.3, 195-210. 10.2307/1156093
Radcliffe-Brown, A. 1952. Structure and Function in Primitive Society: Essays and Addressees. New York: Free press. n Joking Relations.
Shardakova, M. 2010. American Learners’ Comprehension of Russian Textual Humor. The Modern Language Journal 100.2, 466-483. 10.1111/modl.12329
Sinkeviciute, V. and Dynel, M. 2017. Approaching Conversational Humour Culturally: A Survey of the Emerging Area of Investigation. Language and Communication 55, 1-9. 10.1016/j.langcom.2016.12.001
Spencer-Oatey, H. 2000. Rapport Management: A Framework for Analysis. In H. Spencer-Oatey (ed.), Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures. London: Continuum, 11-46.
Spencer-Oatey, H. 2008. Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures (2nd ed.). London: Continuum.
Spencer-Oatey, H. and Kádár, D. 2016. The Bases of Impoliteness Evaluations: Culture, the Moral Order and the East-West Divide. East Asian Pragmatics 1.1, 73-106. 10.1558/eap.v1i1.29084
Spencer-Oatey, H. and Kádár, D. 2022. Intercultural Politeness: Managing Relations across Cultures. Cambridge: Cambrdige University Press.
Taylor, G. 1973. Joking in a Bush Camp. Human Relations 26.4, 479-486. 10.1177/001872677302600405
Tholander, M. and Arronsson, K. 2002. Teasing as Serious Business: Collaborative Staging and Response Work. Text 22.4, 559-595. 10.1515/text.2002.022
Wierzbicka, A. 1991. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783112329764
Yoon, K. 2004. Not Just Words: Korean Social Models and the Use of Honorifics. Intercultural Pragmatics 1.2, 189-210. 10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.189
Zhu, N. and Filik, R. 2024. The Role of Social Status in Sarcasm Interpretation: Evidence from the United and China. Discourse Processes 61, 69-89. 10.1080/0163853X.2023.2252695

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 41
No :2
Pages :193-207
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.41.2.202508.193

[1] Aijmer, K. 2015. Will You Fuck off Please. The Use of Please by London Teenagers. Sociocultural Pragmatics 3.2, 127-149. 10.1515/soprag-2014-0028

[2] Bousfield, D. 2008. Impoliteness in Interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.167

[3] Brown, P. and Levinson, S. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511813085

[4] Culpeper, J. 1996. Towards an Anatomy of Impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics 25.3, 349-367. 10.1016/0378-2166(95)00014-3

[5] Culpeper, J. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511975752

[6] Culpeper, J. and Haugh, M. 2014. Pragmatics and the English Language. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmilan.10.1007/978-1-137-39391-3

[7] Culpeper, J., Marti, L., Mei, M., Nevala, M., and Schauer, G. 2010. Cross-Cultural Variation in the Perception of Impoliteness: A Study of Impoliteness Events Reported by STudies in England, China, FInland, Germany and Turkey. Intercultural Pragmatics 7.4, 597-624. 10.1515/iprg.2010.027

[8] Dynel, M. 2009. Beyond a Joke: Types of Conversational Humour. Language and Linguistics Compass 3.5, 1284-1299. 10.1111/j.1749-818X.2009.00152.x

[9] Fox, K. 2004. Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour. London: Hooder and Stoughton.

[10] Goddard, C. and Wierzbick, A. 2004. Cultural Scripts: What are They and What are They Good for? Intercultural Pragmatics 1.2, 153-166. 10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.153

[11] Haugh, M. 2010. Jocular Mockery, (Dis)affiliation, and Face. Journal of Pragmatics 42.8, 2106-2119. 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.018

[12] Haugh, M. 2014. Jocular Mockery as Interactional Practice in Everyday Anglo-Australian Conversation. Australian Jouranl of Linguistics 34.1, 76-99. 10.1080/07268602.2014.875456

[13] Haugh, M. 2017. Teasing. In S. Attardo (ed.) The Routledge Handbook of Language and Humor. London: Routledge, 204-128.10.4324/9781315731162-15

[14] Haugh, M. and Boursfield, D. 2012. Mock Impoliteness, Jocular Mockery and Jocular Abuse in Australian and British English. Journal of Pragmatics 44.9, 1099-1114. 10.1016/j.pragma.2012.02.003

[15] Holmes, J. 2000. Politeness, Power and Provocation: How Humor Functions in the Workplace. Discourse Studies 2.2, 159-185. 10.1177/1461445600002002002

[16] Kádár, D. Z. and Mills, S. 2011. Politeness in East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511977886

[17] Leech, G. 1983. Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.

[18] McKinnon, S. and Pillar, P. 2014. The Role of Prosody and Gesture in the Perception of Mock Impoliteness. Journal of Politeness Research 10.2, 185-219.10.1515/pr-2014-0009

[19] Mills, S. 2003. Gender and Politeness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511615238

[20] Min, S. 2022. Cultural Variation in the Perception of Impoliteness by Korean and English Speakers. Journal of Language Sciences 29.2, 1-19. 10.14384/kals.2022.29.2.221

[21] Napoli, V. 2024. “You’re such an idiot, but I’m only joking”: The Perception of Mock Impoliteness by British and Italian Mean and Women. Intercultural Pragmatics 21.4, 541-572. 10.1515/ip-2024-4003

[22] Norrick, N. 1993. Conversational Joking. Humor in Everyday Talk. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

[23] Radcliffe-Brown, A. 1940. On Joking Relationships. Africa 13.3, 195-210. 10.2307/1156093

[24] Radcliffe-Brown, A. 1952. Structure and Function in Primitive Society: Essays and Addressees. New York: Free press. n Joking Relations.

[25] Shardakova, M. 2010. American Learners’ Comprehension of Russian Textual Humor. The Modern Language Journal 100.2, 466-483. 10.1111/modl.12329

[26] Sinkeviciute, V. and Dynel, M. 2017. Approaching Conversational Humour Culturally: A Survey of the Emerging Area of Investigation. Language and Communication 55, 1-9. 10.1016/j.langcom.2016.12.001

[27] Spencer-Oatey, H. 2000. Rapport Management: A Framework for Analysis. In H. Spencer-Oatey (ed.), Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures. London: Continuum, 11-46.

[28] Spencer-Oatey, H. 2008. Culturally Speaking: Managing Rapport through Talk across Cultures (2nd ed.). London: Continuum.

[29] Spencer-Oatey, H. and Kádár, D. 2016. The Bases of Impoliteness Evaluations: Culture, the Moral Order and the East-West Divide. East Asian Pragmatics 1.1, 73-106. 10.1558/eap.v1i1.29084

[30] Spencer-Oatey, H. and Kádár, D. 2022. Intercultural Politeness: Managing Relations across Cultures. Cambridge: Cambrdige University Press.

[31] Taylor, G. 1973. Joking in a Bush Camp. Human Relations 26.4, 479-486. 10.1177/001872677302600405

[32] Tholander, M. and Arronsson, K. 2002. Teasing as Serious Business: Collaborative Staging and Response Work. Text 22.4, 559-595. 10.1515/text.2002.022

[33] Wierzbicka, A. 1991. Cross-Cultural Pragmatics: The Semantics of Human Interaction. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter. 10.1515/9783112329764

[34] Yoon, K. 2004. Not Just Words: Korean Social Models and the Use of Honorifics. Intercultural Pragmatics 1.2, 189-210. 10.1515/iprg.2004.1.2.189

[35] Zhu, N. and Filik, R. 2024. The Role of Social Status in Sarcasm Interpretation: Evidence from the United and China. Discourse Processes 61, 69-89. 10.1080/0163853X.2023.2252695

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