Sprachliche Unhöflichkeit in der polnischen Politik: Krystyna Pawłowicz’ Invektiven auf Twitter

Abstract

According to sociological sciences, every person has a face, which forms the positive social value acquired for himself through the behavioral strategy (cf. Goffman 1955, 1967). Face is influenced by various social processes, and impoliteness is one of the most important threat factors (cf. Szczęk 2018). Verbal impoliteness in Polish politics is the subject of the following article, which analyzed Twitter posts by Krystyna Pawłowicz. This law professor, former member of parliament and current judge of the Polish Constitutional Court, who is one of the most active politicians on social media, is known for her sometimes aggressive and offensive language. For this study, 49 tweets were collected, which were then divided into two groups. One constituted examples of conventionalized impoliteness, while the second consisted of examples of implied impoliteness. The analysis showed that Pawłowicz almost exclusively targeted opposition politicians (mostly Donald Tusk) and members of the LGBT community, by attacking their quality face and face of social identities. It has sought to show addressees appearance, skills, political competencies, or sexual orientation in a bad light. Aggressive illocution should not only lead to the destruction of the world and the listener’s value system but can also be motivated by struggle for power. Krystyna Pawłowicz’s attacks on the opposition are also full of political motivation. She can draw profits from the affective and at the same time compelling function of her statements and resulting disparagement of political opponents.

Keywords

• verbal impoliteness
• twitter
• political discourse