Impoliteness and Identity peculiarities in Family Discourse

Instances of impoliteness are observable across a range of discourses, including everyday face-to-face interactions, social networks, media platforms, and fictional contexts. Therefore, it cannot simply be regarded as the opposite phenomenon of politeness. Researchers claim that impoliteness should be conceptualized and studied as a distinct phenomenon in its own right.
The present research focuses on investigating the linguistic and social manifestations of impoliteness and its impact on identity construction. This examination is conducted within the context of Georgian and American family discourse as a genre. The study of family discourse holds significant importance as it serves as a primary setting for the co-construction of identities and human socialization. Family discourse is characterized by close social relationships/intimacy, making it a crucial context for understanding how identities are formed and developed.
The research is based on empirical evidence derived from the twenty-first century Georgian and American TV series, "My Wife's Girlfriends" and “Modern Family”. This work focuses on the analysis of interactional sequences between specific family members, with a particular emphasis on instances of impoliteness. The aim is to identify and examine cases where certain characters display repeated patterns of impolite behavior, thus highlighting the existence of impolite identities within the family dynamic. Verbal interactions have been transcribed and examined using a qualitative method, specifically employing a Genre approach to the study of (im)politeness developed by Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (2010a). This approach combines top-down and bottom-up analysis of the phenomenon, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of (im)politeness. By adopting a top-down approach, which is theory-based and predictive, analysts can evaluate specific linguistic expressions or practices as (im)polite by relying on theoretical predictions. On the other hand, a bottom-up approach, which is discursive, considers (im)politeness as being constructed within discourse and social interaction. Therefore, through observing individual interactions, analysts have the opportunity to identify specific instances of (im)politeness in practice based on the interpretations and assessments made by the participants themselves.
According to Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (2010a), when analysts assess a specific behavior as (im)polite, it is important to employ both theory-based and discursive approaches to ensure that their evaluation aligns with the participants' assessments and attitudes within the given interaction.
Theoretical framework for the research combines 1. the Social-constructivist approach to identity construction (“Who said what: Subject positions, rhetorical strategies and good faith”, Anton and Peterson, 2003; “Language and identity: National, ethnic, religious”, Joseph, 2004; “Identity and interaction: a socio-cultural linguistic approach”, Bucholtz and Hall, 2005; “Discourse and identity”, De Fina et al., 2006); 2. “A genre approach to the study of im-politeness” (Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, 2010a); and 3. Politeness theory (“Politeness. Some universals in language usage”, Brown and Levinson, 1978, 1987).
The scientific novelty of the given thesis lies in the fact that it introduces a modification to Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model. Specifically, these authors examine face threat and its potential weight or seriousness from the perspective of speech acts, making a valuable contribution to the field. However, the modification to their model presented in this thesis serves a different purpose. It aims to study impolite behavior in a broader sense, focusing on the context of communication rather than specific speech acts. It is worth highlighting that the research topic at hand, specifically the investigation of the peculiarities of impoliteness and identity in family discourse, serves as the basis for modifying Brown and Levinson’s (1987) model.