Bernhard Schieber

Lakoff’s Rules of Politeness

Knowledge

Lakoff’s politeness framework balances clarity with non-imposition, options, and friendliness. These orientations can conflict, and wording alone cannot establish genuine choice or respect. Application preserves essential information, considers power and context, and calibrates indirectness so relational management does not obscure what the listener needs to understand.

What these mean

Editorial orientation · Family

Model

In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.

Editorial orientation · Category

Analytical Frameworks, Typologies & Heuristics

Organizes dimensions, distinctions, types or questions so that a situation can be examined systematically. A framework supplies structure, a typology distinguishes forms, and a heuristic offers a usable way to orient judgment.

Where it is put to work · Executive Insight BriefsThe Executive Insight Briefs on CommunicationSee the volumes →

Related entries

Browse Knowledge →