Swearing methodologically : the (im)politeness of expletives in anonymous commentaries on Youtube

Abstract

This theoretical paper addresses the (im)politeness of swear words. The primary objective is to account for their nature and functions in anonymous Internet communication, represented by YouTube commentaries (and exemplified by those following snatches of “Borat”), in the light of recent approaches to (im)politeness, notably: second order (im)politeness, necessarily recruiting first order interpretations; intentionbased approach; and relational work. The emerging postulate is that taboo words can display impoliteness (by manifesting aggression, power-building and abuse) or politeness (by fostering solidarity, common ground and humour). The nature and functions of cursing in anonymous commentaries are posited to be largely reminiscent of those appearing in oral interactions. Nevertheless, several characteristics of expletives appear to be peculiar to the discourse of an e-community of practice.

An Exploratory Study of Relationship Between Psychological Well-Being and Swearing

“…No significant correlation was found between positive relationships with others and swearing .This could be because of the cultural factor which makes individuals in our society conscious of their image .Therefore, unlike researches of Dynel (2012) and Mcleod (2011) individuals of Pakistani culture do not form interpersonal bonds on the basis of swearing.…”

“…Impolite swearing, which is intentional, includes verbal abuse, aggression and social power whereas polite swearing serves as a function of social bonding helping in being a group member and also as adding humour, kind or furious, anonymously among internet users. (Dynel, 2012) Bushman discussed a study whose result suggest that media messages can alter beliefs of people about anger management. That study preferred hitting a punching bag for catharsis and people went for it in the experiment.…”

The landscape of impoliteness research

“…Nonetheless, the topic of taboo words or expletives (i.e., socially circumscribed polysemous words related to taboo spheres, notably religion, sex and bodily functions), together with its salient subtype swearing (also known as cussing), has received relatively little focused attention in impoliteness studies (see Jay and Janschewitz 2008;Dynel 2012b;Christie 2013; see also short discussions in Bousfield 2010, andCulpeper 2010). However, it has generated ample interest within general pragmatics, sociolinguistics and speech ethnography (e.g., Montagu 1967;Jay 1992Jay , 2000, see Dynel 2012b for more references).…”

Studies on (im)politeness and facework on social networks: some remarks towards a state of the art

“…Distinta es la investigación llevada a cabo por Dynel (2012), acerca de la (des)cortesía que conlleva el uso de palabrotas en los comentarios publicados en Youtube.…”