This chapter focuses on the proactive management of relations in terms of ‘rapport maintenance’; in other words, the use of language to minimise or prevent causing offence. The chapter takes a communication-style approach and argues that directness–indirectness is a particularly important facet to be managed. This is not only because it is a key feature of politeness theorising, but because research has revealed widespread intercultural differences in people’s preferences for a given level of directness in a given context, and because this in turn can give rise to a range of interactional challenges and misunderstandings. The chapter also argues that other aspects of language use are important; its pays particular attention to the participation domain – how far simultaneous talk is acceptable and patterns of turn-taking and backchannelling. Finally, the chapter argues that the various communication styles that have been identified in the literature should not be viewed as dichotomies, but rather as continua. The chapter draws on relational dialectic theory to underpin this perspective. For all facets of ‘rapport maintenance’, both mindfulness and (convergent/mutual) accommodation are important.

continues the explanation of the origin and evolution of emoji by introducing the importance of non-verbal communication for face-to-face conversation and the issues that can arise from the absence of this online. The chapter looks at research into universal facial expressions, from Duchenne to Eckman, and how this provides a context for how emoji are used and interpreted. It also explains how the language of emoji faces has its origins in conventions developed in manga, which means that there’s also a learned element to the way they express particular concepts and sentiments.