Multimodal (im)politeness

This study aims to broaden our understanding of cross-cultural differences in communication behaviour. To this end, the present study employs an innovative methodology, which combines a traditional approach to speech act research - based on verbal communication - with prosody and non-verbal communication, in order to gain a multidimensional insight into the disagreeing behaviour of Germans and New Zealanders. After identifying the differences on all communicative channels, this study goes on to explore the perceptual effect these differences exert, thereby providing an insight into how speakers are perceived by addressees of a different cultural background.