A Pragmastylistic Study Of The Impoliteness Phenomena In G. B. Shaw’s Pygmalion

The study of impoliteness began in the1970s-80s in the West. Compared with thestudy of politeness and its fruitful research findings, impoliteness study is significantlyignored and the research findings are much fewer than those of politeness. In China,there is even doubt about the necessity of impoliteness study. When scholars both homeand abroad are putting their efforts on the study of politeness and the harmoniousinterpersonal relationship it brings, impoliteness and the conflictive interpersonalrelationship it may generate are greatly neglected, resulting in the conceptual bias.However, conflictive, verbally aggressive, non-socially-cooperative and impolitecommunication can and does take place. In fact, the impoliteness phenomenon not onlyexists in everyday communication, but also plays a central role in political campaigndebates, military training programs, courtroom examination, work place interactions andthe like. Therefore, more efforts are needed in the study of impoliteness.Although short in the history of development, impoliteness study in the West hasbeen systematic and quite a few different yet related impoliteness frameworks have beenestablished. Jonathan Culpeper (1996,2005) applies impoliteness to the analysis ofdramatic dialogues. He even proposed a framework of different choices of makingresponses to impoliteness. Derek Bousfield (2008) points out that impoliteness strategiesare frequently applied rather complexly than simply and applies his On-/Off-recordimpoliteness model to the analysis of different discourses like driver-clamper encounters,military training discourse, police-public encounters, employer-to-employee discourseand person-to-person encounters. He also argues that impoliteness may occur at thesingle utterance level or an extended discoursal level, or it may be contained across quitea few turns. It is Bousfield who has expanded the study of impoliteness from the microsingle utterance level to the macro extended discoursal level. The application of theimpoliteness theory and its development in the West make the present study possible andprovide it with the theoretical basis.This dissertation aims to make an analysis of the impoliteness phenomena and theirpragmastylistic functions in G. B. Shaw’s Pygmalion. It is of great significance both theoretically and practically. Theoretically speaking, by further clearing up therelationship between “impoliteness” and “conflict”, this dissertation claims thatimpoliteness may not necessarily generate conflictive interpersonal relationship. In thissense, impoliteness does not necessarily mean conflict, while in Bousfield’s (2008)model, the concepts of “impoliteness” and “conflict” seem to be mixed up. Meanwhile,in order to better meet the analytical need of the dramatic dialogues in Pygmalion, thisdissertation integrates the three dimensions of impoliteness analysis, namely,impoliteness at the single utterance level, at the macro discoursal level and in theturn-taking system in Bousfield’s (2008) model into one, forming a “3-in-1” analyticalframework. Practically speaking, by analyzing the impoliteness phenomena and theirpragmastylistic functions in Pygmalion, this dissertation not only offers a newperspective of drama appreciation but also helps people better understand theimpoliteness phenomena in everyday communication, promoting interpersonal harmonyand facilitating intercultural communication.Within the framework of Bousfield’s (2008) impoliteness model, the present studyattempts to make an analysis of the dramatic dialogues in Pygmalion. First of all,impoliteness between social equals and social unequals are categorized into four differentcategories, namely, the perceived-intended impoliteness, the unperceived-intendedimpoliteness, the accidental impoliteness and the incidental impoliteness. Then, thepragmastylistic functions of impoliteness phenomena in Pygmalion are analyzed. It isfound that impoliteness and the application of impoliteness strategies play a significantrole in power revealing, characterization, plot development and the generation of thecomic effect of the drama.The main findings of the present study are:(1) The characters with different powerin the play tend to utilize different impoliteness strategies and the more powerfulcharacters utilize impoliteness strategies to re-assert their power while the less powerfulcharacters make use of the impoliteness strategies to challenge the power of the morepowerful characters.(2) On-record impoliteness strategies are not necessarily morepowerful in face-threatening than off-record strategies and in some circumstances,off-record impoliteness strategies can be equally or even more powerful in threateningface than the on-record strategies.(3) Impoliteness and the impoliteness strategies play a significant role in revealing power and the characterization of the play. The dynamicprocess of triggering, responding to and the final resolving of the impoliteness can betterexpose the forward movement of the conflicts and thus the plot development and thetheme exploration of the play.(4) Impoliteness may result in conflictive speech acts butnot necessarily negative interpersonal relationships. For example, when it is betweenfriends or relatives, impoliteness can generate positive or harmonious interpersonalrelationships. In this sense, impoliteness and the conflictive speech acts in the play mayresult in humor, irony, and thus, the comic effect of the play.