A Pragmatic Study Of Mock Impoliteness In Entertainment-Designed Context

This study aims to explore the way in which mock impoliteness(MI) is orchestrated for the sake of entertainment, and account for the featured constellations from a pragmatic perspective. After having reviewed the relevant literature, it finds that there has been much research about MI in daily communications from the viewpoint of politeness. The social functions of MI, for instance the function of solidarity incubation(Bernal 2008; Holmes 1982; Leech 1983) or cloak coercion(Grainger 2004; Yedes 1996), have been comprehensively explored. However, MI’s entertaining function has not been thoroughly examined so far.Therefore, the study is designed to look into the following three questions about MI in entertainment-designed context: i) How is MI constructed and what are the featured constellations? ii) What is the primary function of MI in this context? iii) Why is MI constructed and interpreted in such distinctive manners concerning the primary function?This study has collected the data from 10 entertainer-exclusive episodes of Chinese talk show Kangxi Laile. With regard to the first question, the study proposes the working classification systems of MI’s elicitor, strategy and target’s response(Haugh 2010). In light of these classification systems, quantitative analyses are executed. Accordingly, six featured constellations are detected: i) elicitors are exploitatively used; ii) conversational transgression performs as elicitor; iii) interlocutors are exceedingly cooperative; iv) creatively orchestrated MIs are pervasive; v) aggravated MI prevails; vi) given the prevalence of aggressive MIs, non-impoliteness evaluations are nevertheless interpreted most of the time. As for the second question, previous literature enlightens two conjectures that in this context MI may either primarily serve for in-group socialization or out-group entertainment. Linguistic constellations of MI disapprove the socialization conjecture, and prove that audience-oriented entertainment is the primary function of MI in this context. Discussions for the third research question capitalize findings of the previous two questions. The study contemplates pragmatic motivations for MI’s featured constellations in production and interpretation. In terms of production, it is found that MIs are initiated i) to meet audiences’ aesthetic pleasure, emotional, voyeuristic pleasures(Culpeper 2011), ii) to protect the audience from vapidity, and iii) to prosper entertaining effects. As for interpretation, impolite perlocutionary effects of MI instances are found to be neutralized(Culpeper 2011) by i) off-record markers, ii) contextual mismatch, iii) the overriding entertaining purpose.Practically, the study discerns distinctive linguistic constellations of MI, and proposes the workable classification systems of elicitor, strategy and response. Theoretically, the findings support challenges to Leech’s(1983) classical conception of MI. Additionally, the study verifies and enriches Culpeper’s(2005, 2011) conceptualization of MI. Thus, it might shed light on further studies of MI and televised communication, and improve the understanding about MI.