Abstract

ERMIDA, Isabel. “A beached whale posing in lingerie”: Conflict talk, disagreement and impoliteness in online newspaper commentary. Diacrítica [online]. 2013, vol.27, n.1, pp.95-130. ISSN 0807-8967.

This article investigates the correlation between the expression of disagreement and politeness concerns in the comment boards of the British Mail Online newspaper website. It focuses on a specific news report case - that of an overweight f­emale model suing an advertising agency for using her image to promote body shame. The readers’ linguistic response to the legitimacy of her claims is closely entangled with their reaction to how her body looks on the photograph used in the ad campaign and reproduced in the article. Bearing in mind the diversity of posts, which range from encouraging remarks to insulting observations, the paper aims to discuss the expression of disagreement and, ultimately, the emergence of conflict talk in a specific case of Internet discourse (asynchronous online commentary), the central topic of which is women’s body image. More specifically, it wishes to examine, from the perspective of Politeness Theory, how the various expressions of a specific face-threatening act - expressing disagreement - contributes to creating and reifying representations of femaleness and of physical perfection or desirability.

Keywords : Politeness; Disagreement; Conflict; Face; Female body; Internet discourse; Asynchronous online newspaper commentary.

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