Impoliteness Across Cultures: The Case of English and Arabic Parliament Debates

Abstract

The study is an attempt to investigate how impoliteness, as a pragmatic phenomenon, is naturally manipulated in political debates especially in parliaments or more specifically English and Arabic speaking parliament members. Hence the study explores the interplay of impoliteness and argumentation in politics. The study adopts the eclectic model of Jonathan Culpeper's typology of impoliteness triggers (Culpeper J. , 2016) and his impoliteness functions (Culpeper, 2011). The analysis reflects how impoliteness serves as a powerful tool for the negotiating of political problems. This study uncovers the role of impoliteness in portraying the political parliamentary scenes in two different cultures. The study found that the manipulation of impoliteness in politics is crucial for argumentation. Moreover, English debates show a broader range of impoliteness triggers compared to Arabic debates, indicating more diverse linguistic strategies. Also, insults are the most frequent impoliteness trigger in both languages, highlighting their central role in political discourse