Is It Polite to Hiss?: Nonverbal Sound Objects as Markers of (Im)politeness in Korean

This paper explores the politeness-related functions of an ingressive hissing-like sound that occurs frequently in Korean and which is typically transcribed as ssup . nonverbal produced by drawing air alongside tongue or between teeth may appear either before production a turn, during turn production. Previous studies have shown speakers produce more frequent hisses when addressing status superiors. suggests function, particularly given importance marking social distance toward elders superiors culture. In current paper, we explore pragmatic these three distinct datasets (oral discourse completion task, dyad recordings, drama interactions). Our analysis shows perform four types actions: displaying delicacy, activity shift, word search, conveying skepticism. Hisses occur at interactional relational trouble spots to delay progression talk, while allowing speaker initiate maintain their turn. They co-occur with other verbal multimodal markers hesitation. We thus see underlying core meaning being related difficulty, uncertainty hesitation, conveyance reluctance problematic talk. The increased frequency hesitation interactions us are trying show care effort interacting situations where exists. These results contribute our understanding politeness holistic phenomenon expressed across multiple dimensions.