Threatening in English: A Mixed Method Approach

262 Pages·2018·3.46 MB·English

by  Julia Muschalik

Threatening
in English
A mixed method approach
Julia Muschalik
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Threatening in English
Pragmatics & Beyond New Series (P&bns)
issn 0922-842X
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Editor Associate Editor
Anita Fetzer Andreas H. Jucker
University of Augsburg University of Zurich
Founding Editors
Jacob L. Mey Herman Parret Jef Verschueren
University of Southern Belgian National Science Belgian National Science
Denmark Foundation, Universities of Foundation,
Louvain and Antwerp University of Antwerp
Editorial Board
Robyn Carston Sachiko Ide Paul Osamu Takahara
University College London Japan Women’s University Kobe City University of
Foreign Studies
Thorstein Fretheim Kuniyoshi Kataoka
University of Trondheim Aichi University Sandra A. Thompson
University of California at
John C. Heritage Miriam A. Locher
Santa Barbara
University of California at Los Universität Basel
Angeles Teun A. van Dijk
Sophia S.A. Marmaridou
Universitat Pompeu Fabra,
Susan C. Herring University of Athens
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Srikant Sarangi
Chaoqun Xie
Masako K. Hiraga Aalborg University
Fujian Normal University
St. Paul’s (Rikkyo) University
Marina Sbisà
Yunxia Zhu
University of Trieste
The University of Queensland

Volume 284
Threatening in English. A mixed method approach
by Julia Muschalik
Threatening in English
A mixed method approach
Julia Muschalik
Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
8
the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
doi 10.1075/pbns.284
Cataloging-in-Publication Data available from Library of Congress:
lccn 2017045527 (print) / 2017059742 (e-book)
isbn 978 90 272 5689 8 (Hb)
isbn 978 90 272 6463 3 (e-book)
Inaugural dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.), Philosophical Faculty, Heinrich-Heine-Universität
Düsseldorf. D 61.
Thesis title: “Threatening in English: Form and Function”
Thesis supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ingo Plag, Prof. Dr. Klaus P. Schneider
Date of oral examination: July 5, 2016
© 2018 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
other means, without written permission from the publisher.
John Benjamins Publishing Company · https://benjamins.com
Table of contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of tables xi
List of figures xiii
Chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 Taking stock: Existing views on threatening 1
1.2 Empiricism and pragmatics: Some relevant research perspectives 5
1.3 Scope and structure of this study 6
Chapter 2
Threatening: Basic concepts and issues 9
2.1 What is a threat? 9
2.2 The form of threats 14
2.2.1 Conditionality 14
2.2.2 Futurity 15
2.2.3 Violent verbs, participants and orientation of a threat 16
2.2.4 Other common features: Pronouns, taboo words, weapons 17
2.2.5 Summary: The form of threats 18
2.3 The function of threats 19
2.3.1 Power and demands: Threats as a tool of manipulation 20
2.3.2 Power and face: Threats as an impoliteness strategy 24
2.3.3 Summary: The function of threats 28
2.4 The context of threats 29
2.4.1 Power and distance as social context 30
2.4.2 P and D combined: The relationship of threatener and target 34
Chapter 3
Data & methodology 37
3.1 Methods in empirical pragmatics: Constraints and implications
for the present study 37
3.2 Judicial opinions as a data source: The case of criminal threats 41
3.3 Research design of the present study 47
vi Threatening in English
Chapter 4
The form of threats 51
4.1 Methodology 52
4.1.1 Unit of analysis 54
4.1.2 Coding 55
4.2 Conditionality 56
4.2.1 Operationalizing conditionality 58
4.2.2 Results and discussion 63
4.3 Futurity 66
4.3.1 Operationalizing futurity 70
4.3.2 Results and discussion 72
4.4 Violent verbs, participants and orientation of a threat 79
4.4.1 Type of verb 81
4.4.2 Agent-patient relation 90
4.4.3 Orientation of threat 96
4.5 Other common features: Pronouns, taboo words, weapons 100
4.5.1 1PP and 2PP 100
4.5.2 taboo language 104
4.5.3 mention of weapons 109
4.6 Social context: Relationship of threatener and target 113
4.6.1 Operationalizing relationship of threatener and target 114
4.6.2 Results and discussion 115
4.7 Detecting feature patterns: Hierarchical cluster analysis 118
4.7.1 Data and methodology 120
4.7.2 Results and discussion 122
Chapter 5
The function of threats 129
5.1 Assessing the point of utterance: Pre-event and post-event threats 131
5.1.1 Methodology 135
5.1.2 Results and discussion 137
5.2 The form of manipulative and retaliative threats 138
5.2.1 Conditionality 140
5.2.2 Futurity 142
5.2.3 Type of verb, agent-patient relation and orientation of threat 144
5.2.4 Common lexical elements: Pronouns, taboo language
and mention of weapons 149
5.2.5 Summary 156
Table of contents vii
5.3 Form as a predictor of function: Classification tree models 158
5.3.1 Methodology 160
5.3.2 Results I: Single conditional inference tree 163
5.3.3 Results II: Random forest of conditional inference trees 168
5.3.4 Discussion: Predictable strategies? 172
5.4 Summary: The function of threats 176
Chapter 6
Conclusion 181
6.1 Summary: The form and function of threatening 181
6.2 The risks and benefits of threatening: The rationale
of a strategic speaker 185
6.3 Outlook: A to-do list for future research 193
References 195
Appendix 211
Index 245

Acknowledgements
There are a great many people who have contributed to the successful completion
of this book and I’d like to take the chance to say special thanks to at least a few of
them.
First, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Ingo Plag,
whose guidance, encouragement and support were invaluable during this whole
endeavor. What I’ve learned in the past five years goes well beyond the content of
this book and I am truly thankful for that. Further, I’d like to thank my co-advisor,
Klaus P. Schneider and his BAEL team, who have given me “academic shelter” and
let me join their pragmatics circle every now and then. Thank you for all your help-
ful comments and suggestions, much appreciated. I also wish to thank the other
members of my dissertation committee, most importantly Heidrun Dorgeloh,
whose professional and personal support I very much value. I am also much
obliged to Dieter Stein, without whom I would not have embarked on this jour-
ney. My deepest thanks are also due to the whole Ang3-Team. Working with you
was and continues to be a pleasure and I really appreciate your constant support,
feedback and company! Katja Jäschke, I am very lucky to have gone through all
this with you. I cannot thank you enough for always having my back and cheering
me up when everything felt unbearable for a second. I continue to be inspired by
your work ethics and your talent. Ulrike Kayser, thank you for being you and for
never tiring of listening to my rants or correcting my comma placement mistakes.
I’d also like to extend my special thanks to my friend and colleague Gero Kunter,
whose patience with me in all matters statistical is truly infinite. If that Hadley
documentary ever gets made, I hope we’ll watch it together. Gero Brümmer, your
support has been vital to me in every way. As has yours, Wiebke Ostermann. Thank
you both so, so much!
Finally, none of this would ever have been possible without my family. You are
everything to me! And Cornelius, I dedicate this book to you and I cannot wait for
all that is yet to come.