Principe de coopération interactionnelle et agressivité.

Abstract

Our hypothesis here is that electronic exchanges create a particular context (asynchronous verbal interaction) which is conducive to higher verbal tension. The reason is that certain linguistic and discursive elements are stepped up along with a lack of certain prosodic and mimogestual elements which are normally present in face-to-face communication. From this postulate we examine how email exchanges between several people in an institutional context promote verbal tension and how the future of asynchronous verbal interaction itself may be impacted by it. This article is intended as a sequel to Fracchiolla and Romain (forthcoming), based on the same corpus and from which we have developed our thesis of a language continuum ranging from politeness to impoliteness, through specific examination of the various forms observed. The present work aims at reporting more specifically on the greater or lesser correlation between the principle of (non) cooperation and the (non) development of verbal tension. Our corpus consists of CC-type emails exchanged between academics. It is studied from the perspective of a linguistic analysis of verbal violence (Auger et al., 2008; Fracchiolla et al. 2013) in terms of a contextualized rise in tension going through various stages.

Keywords

• politeness
• impoliteness
• emails
• professional (university) environment
• rise in verbal tension
• faces