Impoliteness Strategies and Children’s Verbal Behavior: An Analytical Study of Disney’s The Lion King

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Damietta University Damietta Governorate, New Damietta City

Abstract

This research seeks to identify the relationship between impoliteness strategies employed in children movies and the verbal behavior of the children who watch these movies. For the sake of the research, the children movie The Lion King is chosen. The research adopts a descriptive qualitative method based on Culpeper's models of impoliteness in (1996; 2011). Quantitative data is used to support the analysis. Additionally, a questionnaire is built to examine the relationship between the identified impoliteness utterances and the verbal behavior of the children. This questionnaire is applied to the parents of the children who watched the movie. The results indicated that all the impoliteness strategies suggested by Culpeper in 1996 and 2011 are employed. The results of the questionnaire indicate that children's verbal behavior is influenced by the impoliteness utterances employed in the movie. This research directs the attention of parents and children’s caretakers to keep an eye on the movies that their children watch as these movies may influence the behavioral development of their children.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Abbas, A. M. & Ismail, S. (2016). Multi-Functionality of Impoliteness in Professional Discourse with Special reference to Translation. Diyala Journal, 71. 621-632.
Bu, J. (2014). Towards a Pragmatic Analysis of Metadiscourse in Academic Lectures: from Relevance to Adaptation. Discourse Studies, 16(4). 449–472.
Brown‏, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge University Press: UK.
Chiluwa, I. (2009). The Discourse of Digital Deceptions and ‘419’ Emails. Discourse Studies,11(6). 635–660.
Cohen, J. (2001). Defining Identification: A Theoretical Look at the Identification of Audiences with Media Characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4(3). 245–264.
Culpeper, J. (1996). Towards an anatomy of impoliteness. Journal of Pragmatics, 25. 349-367.
------------ (2005). Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The weakest Link. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture, 1(1). 35-72.
----------- (2011). Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
---------- (2013). Impoliteness: Questions and Answers. In: Denis Jamet & Manuel Jobert (eds.), Aspects of Linguistic Impoliteness, 2-15. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
---------- (2016). Impoliteness strategies. In:  Alessandro Capone, & Jacob L. Mey (eds.), Interdisciplinary studies in pragmatics, culture and society (Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology; Vol. 4), 421-445. Switzerland: Springer International publishing.
Culpeper, J. & Hardaker, C. (2017). Impoliteness. In:  The palgrave handbook. In:  Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh, & Dániel Z. Kádár (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness,199-226. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
 Culpeper, J., Haugh, M., & Kádár, D. Z. (2017). Introduction. In:  Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh, & Dániel Z. Kádár (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, 1-8. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dhorifah, N. (2016). An Analysis of Impoliteness Strategies in Boyhood Movie Transcript. Unpublished Master Thesis, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Islamic University, Jakarta
Fyfe, K. (2006). Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children’s. Parents Television Council, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Garcés-Conejos B., Pilar G. & Sifianou, M. (2017).   Impoliteness and Identity. The palgrave handbook. In:  J. Culpeper, M. Haugh, & D. Z. Kádár (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, 227-256. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Ghilzai, S. A., Alam, R., Ahmad, Z., Shaukat, A., & Noor, S. S. (2017). Impact of Cartoon Programs on Children’s Language and Behavior. Insights in Language Society and Culture, 2. 104-126.
Haugh, M. (2011). Epilogue: Culture and Norms in Politeness Research. In: Dániel Z. Kádár & Sara Mills, Politeness in East Asia (252-264). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Joksimoviḉ, S., Baker, R. S., Ocumpaugh, J., Andres, J. M. L., Tot, I., Wang, E. Y., & Dawson, S. (2019). Automated Identification of Verbally Abusive Behaviors in Online Discussions. ALW3: 3rd Workshop on Abusive Language Online, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy.
Kaul de Marlangeon, S., & Alba-Juez, L. (2012). A Typology of Verbal Impoliteness Behaviour for the English and Spanish Cultures. RESLA, 25. 69-92.
Lachenicht, L. G., (1980). Aggravating language. A study of abusive and insulting language. Papers in Linguistics: International Journal in Human Communication 13 (4), 607–687.
Lakoff, R. T. (1989). The limits of politeness: Therapeutic and courtroom discourse. Multilingua, 8(2-3).101-129.
Leech, G. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics. London: Longman.
Liu, Xiangdong (2017). Impoliteness in Reader Comments on Japanese Online News Sites. International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, 3 (2). 62-68.
Locher, M. A. & Bousfield, D. (2008). Introduction: Impoliteness and Power in Language. In:  Derek Bousfield & Mariam A. Locher (eds.), Impoliteness in Language: Studies on Its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, 1–13. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Lodhi, M. A., Ibrar, S. N., Shamim, M., & Naz, S. (2018). Linguistic Analysis of Selected TV Cartoons and Its Impact on Language Learning. International Journal of English Linguistics, 8(5). 247-258.
O’Driscoll, J. (2017). Face and (Im)politeness. In: Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh & Dániel Z. Kádár (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, 89-118. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pizziconi, B., & Christie, C. (2017). Indexicality and (Im)politeness. In: Jonathan Culpeper, Michael Haugh, & Dániel Z. Kádár (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness, 134-170. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rai, S., Waskel, B., Sakalle, S., Dixit, S., & Mahore, R. (2016). Effects of Cartoon Programs on Behavioural, Habitual and Communicative Changes in Children.  International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 3(6). 1375-1378.
Ray, M., & Jat, K. R. (2010). Effect of Electronic Media on Children. Indian Pediatrics, 47. 561-568.
Rufer, L. J. (2014). Magic at the Movies: Positive Psychology for Children, Adolescents and Families (A Master's Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Siddiqa, A. (2018). The Acquisition of Politeness by Young EFL Learners in France: An Exploratory Study of Interlanguage Pragmatic Development. (PHD Dissertation, Université Côte d’Azur, France), https://Tel.Archives-Ouvertes.Fr/Tel-01980536.
Shahrokhi, M. & Bidabadi, F. S. (2013). An Overview of Politeness Theories: Current Status, Future Orientations.  American Journal of Linguistics, 2 (2). 17-27.
Sim, Ş. (2018). Transformation of The Villain in Hollywood. International Journal of Cultural and Social Studies (IntJCSS), 4(2). 429-449.
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2007). Theories of Identity and the Analysis of Face. Journal of Pragmatics, 39 (4). 639-656.
Teicher, M. H., Samson, J. A., Polcari, A., & McGreenery, C. E.  (2006). Sticks, Stones, and Hurtful Words: Relative Effects of Various Forms of Childhood Maltreatment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163. 993–1000.
Thomason, L. (2018). Childhood Verbal Abuse and its Psychological Effects on Adults. PHD Dissertation, Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Tutaş, N., & Azak, N. D. (2014). Direct-Indirect Impoliteness and Power Struggles in Harold Pinter’s Plays. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 158. 370 – 376.
Wheeler, A., & Birkeland, K. (2010). Research Report: Violence in Children’s Films. OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal,1, Article 5. 1-5.
World Health Organization (2002). World Report on Violence and Health: Summary. World Health Organization Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data: Geneva.
Wiles, K. (2019). "The Lion King," by the Numbers. Market place Org. Retrieved, on 20/04, 2020, from https://www.marketplace.org/2019/07/18/the-lion-king-by-the-numbers/
Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.