1887
Volume 5, Issue 1
  • ISSN 2213-1272
  • E-ISSN: 2213-1280
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

In accordance with numerous studies highlighting aspects of political and parliamentary discourse that concern the rhetoric of political combat, verbal attacks and offensive language choices are shown to be rather common in the context of a highly adversarial parliamentary system such as the Greek. In the present study, however, the analysis of excerpts of parliamentary discourse addressed to women reveals not just aspects of the organization of rival political encounters but, as far as female MPs are concerned, aggressive and derogatory forms of speech that directly attack the gender of the addressees. Drawing on data from video-recordings, the official proceedings of parliamentary sittings, and the media (2012–2015), the present study investigates aggressive/sexist discourse within this context. The theoretical issues addressed concern the impoliteness end of the politeness/politic speech/impoliteness continuum in the light of extreme cases of conflict in political/parliamentary discourse.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/jlac.5.1.02geo
2017-10-02
2025-04-27
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Alvanoudi, Angeliki
    2014Grammatical Gender in Interaction. Cultural and Cognitive Aspects. Leiden/Boston: Brill.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Androutsopoulos, Jannis
    2010 “The Study of Language and Space in Media Discourse.” InLanguage and Space: An International Handbook of Linguistic Variation. Volume I, edited by Peter Auer , and Jurgen E. Schmidt , 740–758. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Archakis, Argyris , and Villy Tsakona
    2010 “‘The Wolf Wakes up inside them, Grows Werewolf Hair and Reveals all their Bullying’: The Representation of Parliamentary Discourse in Greek Newspapers.” Journal of Pragmatics42:912–923. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.08.015
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.08.015 [Google Scholar]
  4. Arundale, Robert B.
    2010 “Constituting Face in Conversation: Face, Facework and Interactional Achievement.” Journal of Pragmatics42:2078–2105. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.021
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2009.12.021 [Google Scholar]
  5. Atkinson, Maxwell J. , and John Heritage
    (eds) 1984Structures of Social Action. Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Attenborough, Frederick
    2014 “Rape is Rape (except when it’s not). The Media Recontextualisation and Violence against Women.” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict2(2):183–203. doi: 10.1075/jlac.2.2.01att
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.2.2.01att [Google Scholar]
  7. Bou-Franch, Patricia
    2013 “Domestic Violence and Public Participation in the Media: The Case of Citizen Journalism.” Gender and Language7(3):275–302. doi: 10.1558/genl.v7i3.275
    https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.v7i3.275 [Google Scholar]
  8. 2014 “An Introduction to Language Aggression against Women.” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict2(2):177–182. doi: 10.1075/jlac.2.2.00int
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.2.2.00int [Google Scholar]
  9. Bou-Franch, Patricia , and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich
    2014 “Gender Ideology and Social Identity Processes in Online Language Aggression against Women.” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict2(2):226–248. doi: 10.1075/jlac.2.2.03bou
    https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.2.2.03bou [Google Scholar]
  10. Brown, Penelope , and Stephen Levinson
    [1978]1987Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Chouliaraki, Lilie , and Norman Fairclough
    1999Discourse in Late Modernity: Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Christie, Christine
    2005 “Politeness and the Linguistic Construction of Gender in Parliament: An Analysis of Transgressions and Apology Bebaviour”. Working Papers in the Web3. extra.shu.ac.uk/wpw/politeness/christie.htm
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Culpeper, Jonathan
    2005 “Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The Weakest Link .” Journal of Politeness Research1:35–72. doi: 10.1515/jplr.2005.1.1.35
    https://doi.org/10.1515/jplr.2005.1.1.35 [Google Scholar]
  14. Dersley, Ian , and Antony J. Wootton
    2001 “In the Heat of a Sequence: Interactional Features Preceding Walkouts from Argumentative Talk.” Language in Society30:611–638.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Eelen, Gino
    2001A Critique of Politeness Theories. Manchester: St Jerome.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Galen, Britt Rachelle , and Marion K. Underwood
    1997 “A Developmental Investigation of Social Aggression among Children.” Developmental Psychology33:589–600. doi: 10.1037/0012‑1649.33.4.589
    https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.33.4.589 [Google Scholar]
  17. Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar
    2013 “Introduction: Face, Identity and Im/politeness. Looking Backward, Moving Forward: From Goffman to Practice Theory.” Journal of Politeness Research9(1):1–33. doi: 10.1515/pr‑2013‑0001
    https://doi.org/10.1515/pr-2013-0001 [Google Scholar]
  18. 2015 “Globalization, Transnational Identities and Conflict Talk: The Complexity of the Latino Identity.” Paper presented in the9th International Im/Politeness Conference “Im/politeness & Globalisation”, Athens1–3 July, 2015.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
    2013 “Small Stories and Social Media: The Role of Narrative Stancetaking in the Circulation of a Greek News Story.” Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, Paper100. https://www.academia.edu/3490252
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Georgalidou, Marianthi
    2009 “Gender Differences in the Discourse of Greek Children Play-groups: The Negotiation of Control Acts in Single and Mixed-Gender Interactions.” Gender and Language3(2):209–248.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. 2011 ““Stop Caressing the Ears of the Hooded”: Political Humor in times of Conflict”. InStudies in Political Humor, edited by Villy Tsakona , and Diana Popa , 83–108. Amsterdam/ Philadlphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/dapsac.46.07geo
    https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.46.07geo [Google Scholar]
  22. Georgalidou, Marianthi , and Sofia Lampropoulou
    (2016) “Grammatical Gender and Language Sexism in the Documents of the Greek Public Administration.” Glossologia24: 23–43. [in Greek]
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Goodwin-Harness, Marjorie
    2006The Hidden Life of Girls. Games of Stance, Status and Exclusion. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. doi: 10.1002/9780470773567
    https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470773567 [Google Scholar]
  24. Harris, Sandra
    2000 “Being Politically Impolite: Extending Politeness Theory to Adversarial Political Discourse.” Discourse and Society12(4): 451–472. doi: 10.1177/0957926501012004003
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926501012004003 [Google Scholar]
  25. Hutchby, Ian , and Robin Wooffitt
    2008Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Polity Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Ilie, Cornelia
    2001 “Unparliamentary Language: Insults as Cognitive Forms of Ideological Confrontation.” InLanguage and Ideology. Volume II: Descriptive Cognitive Approaches, edited by René Dirven , Roslyn M. Frank , and Cornelia Ilie , 235–263. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/cilt.205.14ili
    https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.205.14ili [Google Scholar]
  27. Lambropoulou, Sofia , and Marianthi Georgalidou
    (2017) “Sexist Language in Greek Public Discourse: When Gender Exclusive Forms Become a Matter of Grammatical Correctness.” Women Studies International Forum60: 49–57. doi: 10.1016/j.wsif.2016.12.002
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2016.12.002 [Google Scholar]
  28. Makri-Tsilipakou, Marianthi
    2014 “Practices of Sociolinguistic Categorization: Membership Categories”. In 11th International Conference on Greek Linguistics. Selected Papers, edited by George Kotzoglou , 19–45. Rhodes: Laboratory of Linguistics of the SE Mediterranean Studies, University of the Aegean. [in Greek]
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Mills, Sara
    2003 “Third Wave Feminist Linguistics and the Analysis of Sexism.” DAOL: Third Wave Feminist Linguistics. file:///F:/%CE%98%CE%95%CE%9C%CE%91%CE%A4%CE%91/DAOL_%20Third%20Wave%20Feminist%20Linguistics_.html
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Mullany, Louise
    2007Gendered Discourse in Professional Communication. Basingstoke: Palgrave. doi: 10.1057/9780230592902
    https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230592902 [Google Scholar]
  31. Nekvapil, Jiří , and Ivan Leudar
    2002 “Sequential Structures in Media Dialogical Networks.” Czech Sociological Review38: 483–500. [in Czech]
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Pavlidou, Theodosia-Soula
    2002Language-Gender-Sex. Thessaloniki: Paratiritis. [in Greek]
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Pomerantz, Annita
    1984 “Agreeing and Disagreeing with Assessments: Some Features of Preferred/Dispreferred Turn Shapes”. InStructures of Social Action. Studies in Conversation Analysis, edited by Maxwell J. Atkinson and John Heritage , 57–101. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Schegloff, Emanuel A.
    2007Sequence Organization in Interaction. A Primer in Conversation Analysis. Volume1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511791208
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511791208 [Google Scholar]
  35. Shantz, Carolyn Uhlinger , and Willard W. Hartup
    1992Conflict in Child and Adolescent Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Shaw, Sylvia
    2000 “Language, Gender and Floor Appointment in Debates.” Discourse and Society11(3):401–418. doi: 10.1177/0957926500011003006
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926500011003006 [Google Scholar]
  37. 2002Language and Gender in the House of Commons. Ph.D. Thesis, University of London.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. 2009 “The Difference Women Make: A Critique of the Notion of a ‘Women’s Style’ of Language in Political Contexts.” Proceedings of the BAAL Annual Conference. Newcastle: Newcastle University.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Sifianou, Maria
    2008 “Parliamentary Discourse and Politeness.” InFor Language. Festschrift for Professor George Babiniotis by the Department of Linguistics, edited by Amalia Mozer , Aikaterini Bakakou-Orfanou , Christoforos Charalambakis and Despina Chila-Markopoulou , 464–474. Athens: Ellinika Grammata. [in Greek]
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Tsakona, Villy
    2011 “Irony beyond Criticism: Evidence from Greek Parliamentary Discourse.” Pragmatics and Society2(1):57–86. doi: 10.1075/ps.2.1.04tsa
    https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.2.1.04tsa [Google Scholar]
  41. 2013 “Parliamentary Punning: Is the Opposition More Humorous than the Ruling Party?” European Journal of Humor Research1(2):101–111. EJHR: www.europeanjournalofhumor.org
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Tsakona, Villy , and Diana Popa
    (eds) 2011Studies in Political Humor. Amsterdam/ Philadlphia: John Benjamins. doi: 10.1075/dapsac.46
    https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.46 [Google Scholar]
  43. Watts, Richard J.
    1992aPoliteness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. 1992b “Linguistic Politeness and Politic Verbal Behavior: Reconsidering Claims for Universality.” InPoliteness in Language: Studies in its History, Theory and Practice, edited by Richard J. Watts , Ide Sachiko and Konrad Ehlich , 43–70. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. 2010 “Linguistic Politeness Theory and its Aftermath: Recent Research Trails.” InInterpersonal Pragmatics, edited by Miriam A. Locher , and Sage L. Graham , 43–70. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/jlac.5.1.02geo
Loading
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error