A Study Of Mock Impoliteness From The Rapport Management Perspective

In our daily lives we may encounter mock impolite utterances that appear to cause offence and conflicts but may actually help promote intimacy between interlocutors and achieve positive communicative effects.Although previous studies have investigated mock impoliteness in terms of its definition,features and gender difference;there still exist contradictory definitions of mock impoliteness and its categories.Besides,there are limited studies focusing on the dynamic rapport management process by the employment of mock impoliteness,especially from an interpersonal and relational perspective.To explore pragmatic features and strategies of mock impoliteness,this study investigates mock impoliteness among intimate relatives in the TV series The Big Bang Theory based on Helen Spencer-Oatey’s(2008)rapport management theory,aiming at answering three questions: What are the mock impoliteness strategies the intimate friends use in The Big Bang Theory? What are the pragmatic features in mock impoliteness? What are the communicative effects of mock impoliteness from the rapport management perspective?Based on careful data analysis,the major findings are as follows.(1)Mock impoliteness has the following four characteristics: The first one is that it reflects a certain degree of politeness.The second characteristic is the use of offensive language.The third characteristic is pragmatic ambiguity for the interpretation may be influenced by the context and the various understanding of the interlocutor.The fourth characteristic is that in a multi-party conversation,mock impoliteness is not a matter of politeness or impoliteness,but a non-impolite social evaluation.(2)From the perspective of speech act domain,the mock impoliteness strategies employed include upgraders,downgraders,sarcasm,pun,metaphor,etc.;from the topic domain,they include changing topics and raising sensitive topics;from the perspective of participation domain,they include mentioning other participants and turn-taking strategies;from the stylistic domain,they include serious or humorous tone;from nonverbal domain,they include the use of surprise expressions,body language,etc.(3)This study concludes four functions of mock impoliteness,including reinforcing solidarity,entertainment,constructing identity and power relation construction.It is hoped that this study can not only contribute to the studies of mock impoliteness and(im)politeness,but also further test the applicability of rapport management theory in pragmatic analysis.Moreover,it has implications for using and better understanding mock impoliteness in daily interaction.