ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the various definitions that have been suggested for conflict and related terms and their relationship. In popular parlance, "conflict" has been associated with tensions surrounding decisions on various issues and in general terms, it "has been stretched and molded to refer to any discord in any social situation". The chapter addresses some of the issues raised and suggest that a multimodal and a multidisciplinary approach are needed for better understanding the function of conflict and disagreement. The significance of emotion in conflict and disagreement is brought up in a number of studies. Interestingly, even though, as it transpires from the above, conflict and disagreement constitute one of the underlying cornerstones of early theoretical frameworks of politeness, they have been treated as sub-strategies of positive politeness or as a maxim of secondary importance. Disagreements and conflict seem to reflect and be more related to broader face issues, than to more restricted politeness concerns.
