Speech act, politeness, the Yamuna Kachru model

Yamuna Kachru's work on politeness (2003a, 2008b) and the various forms it takes in different cultures is foundational and should be studied by everyone researching any aspect of cross‐cultural communication. Her personal and professional life demonstrated her profound understanding of the phenomena of politeness. She was, for me, politeness personified but that in no way prevented her from correcting errors in her students’ work or challenging her colleagues when she disagreed with them. Using the title of this paper as something she would not have readily accepted, I review her understanding of speech act theory (1991a, 1991b,1992b, 1994a, 1995d, 1998b) and principles of politeness.