Kustova G.I. Non-Cooperative Speech Behaviour, or “Anti-Politeness Etiquette”
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2025.4.8
Galina I. Kustova
Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Senior Researcher, V.V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Senior Researcher, Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, Moscow, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9404-081X
Abstract. The article examines anti-politeness strategies that are based on the rejection of the principle of cooperation and the politeness strategies associated with it. Non-cooperative behaviour, in the same way as the cooperative one, has its own variety of speech formulas (How should I know?; I don't follow them!; They don't report to me!; How much longer?!; Nobody's asking you! etc.), which are used in certain situations. Anti-politeness strategies employ the same mechanisms (indirect speech acts, implicative schemes) as politeness strategies do. The main strategies of anti-politeness are interrogative (– Where did they go? – How should I know?) and negative (– Where did they go? – They don't report to me / I don't follow them). Both strategies are based on the implication: "no source of information / I don't follow –> I don't know." The main types of non-cooperative formulas are: a reaction to unreliable, erroneous, unconvincing information/statements/conclusions; a reaction to the interlocutor's incorrect hypothesis about the speaker's awareness; a reaction to intellectual immaturity; a reaction to abuse of power (a reaction to an inappropriate question; a reaction to an unreasonable request; a reaction to inappropriate advice); a reaction to incorrect supposition. The analysis of non-cooperative formulas enables reconstructing an important extract of the Russian language picture of the world, i.e. the rules of communication and requirements for the interlocutor.
Key words: principle of cooperation, speech etiquette, speech aggression, speech formulas, implicative strategy, indirect speech act.
Citation. Kustova G.I. Non-Cooperative Speech Behaviour, or "Anti-Politeness Etiquette". Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics], 2025, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 91-103. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2025.4.8
Non-Cooperative Speech Behaviour, or “Anti-Politeness Etiquette” © 2025 by Kustova G.I. is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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