A Pragmatic Study On Impoliteness Interactions In The American TV Series Suits

Since the start of this century,impoliteness has gradually been accepted as an undeniable and even indispensable aspect of human linguistic behavior,rather than something secondary or irrational,as is stereotyped in traditional politeness research.Meanwhile,more and more scholars have become increasingly devoted to studying such particular linguistic phenomena from a multiplicity of perspectives and across a wide range of discourse types,which contributes to the burgeoning development of impoliteness research.As a common linguistic phenomenon in human communication,impoliteness figures especially in workplace interactions,yet domestic research in this respect has proved to be relatively inadequate.Premised on that,this study attempts to make an analysis of impoliteness interactions in such an as yet underexplored discourse type.Specifically,this study examines 38 interactional sequences taken from the first season of the American TV series Suits and in which impoliteness occurs.The four main participants involved in those interactions,working in the same law firm,are respectively Harvey,a senior partner;Mike,Harvey’s personal associate;Louis,a junior partner;and Jessica,the managing partner of the firm.Drawing upon the impoliteness models proposed by Culpeper(1996)and Bousfield(2008a),combined with Spencer-Oatey’s(2000)rapport management theory,this study intends to address the following four questions:(1)what impoliteness strategies are usually involved in the four main participants’ impoliteness interactions;(2)how the four main participants’ impoliteness interactions are connected with the management of rapport;(3)what factors trigger the occurrence of the four main participants’ impoliteness interactions;and(4)what pragmatic functions can be achieved via the four main participants’ impoliteness interactions.The data analysis and investigation conducted in this study demonstrate:(1)a total of seventeen types of impoliteness strategies are found to be used by the four main participants in their respective impoliteness interactions,among which ―Insult‖ and―Insinuation‖ have not been encompassed in the impoliteness models put forward by Culpeper(1996)and Bousfield(2008a),and on-record ones occupy an overwhelming majority;(2)the four main participants’ linguistic impolite behaviors embody both the management of face(quality face and social identity face)and that of sociality rights(equity rights and association rights);(3)imbalance of power,conflict of interests,pursuit of a particular goal,and principle of reciprocity act as the four factors that mainly contribute to the four main participants’ use of impoliteness;(4)the four main participants’ practice of impoliteness in their workplace interactions exerts a significant influence on the exercise of power,revelation of negative emotions,creation of entertainment as well as negotiation of interpersonal relationships.The present study,with its focus of interest on impoliteness interactions within a specific workplace,helps to enrich current research into the impoliteness phenomena in such a particular type of contexts.Not only does it provide a theoretical elucidation of impoliteness emerging from workplace interactions in a relatively overall and in-depth way,but practically,it also offers a revealing insight into the implications impoliteness has for interpersonal relationships in workplaces,which is of great advantage to equipping the participants in workplace interactions with a more rational understanding of impoliteness and further an appropriate management of interpersonal relationships.