Cover not available
Article published In:
Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict
Vol. 2:1 (2014) ► pp.74–98

Striving to make the difference

Linguistic devices of moral indignation

The present paper discusses issues of language aggression, conflict and identity, and of emotional communication and conflict. In particular, it explores different positionings of deviant identity as projected by a number of juvenile delinquents through the display of moral indignation (Ochs et al. 1989; Günthner 1995), at moments of crisis and conflictual relationships between them. Moral indignation is expressed through the co-occurrence of a number of linguistic and discursive devices, such as hypothetical examples and personal analogies (Günthner 1995; Kakavá 2002), prosodic features, implicit or explicit moral judgments (Günthner 1995), or non-literal threats. These devices are employed in interaction in order to construct opposing moral versions of identities. The paper argues for a tight interweaving between moral indignation, affect, identity indexing, and moral positioning. It further argues that displays of indignation are powerful interactional devices of conflict management and control of the moral and social order and of social relationships.
Keywords: moral indignation, Conflict and identity, affect, juvenile delinquents
Published online: 21 July 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.2.1.03mou
References (64)
Adelswärd, Viveka, Jana Holsanova, and Victoria Wibeck. 2002. “Virtual Talk as a Communicative Resource: Explorations in the Field of Gene Technology.” Sprachtheorie und Germanistische Linguistik 12(1):3-26.Google Scholar
Angouri, Jo, and Theodora Tseliga. 2010. “‘You Have No Idea What You Are Talking About’: From e-disagreement to e-impoliteness in two Online Fora.” Journal of Politeness Research 6(1):57-82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Atkinson, Maxwell J., and John C. Heritage (eds.). 1984. Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, Mikhail. 1981. The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin, edited by Michael E. Holquist, translated by Caryl Emerson and Michael E. Holquist. Austin: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Bamberg, Michael. 1997. “Emotion talk(s). The Role of Perspective in the Construction of Emotions”. In The Language of Emotions edited by Suzanne Niemeier and René Dirven. 209-225. Amsterdam: John Benjamin. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bateson, Gregory. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. New York: Ballantine.Google Scholar
Benwell, Bethan, and Elizabeth Stokoe. 2006. Discourse and Identity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Besnier, Niko. 1990. “Language and Affect.” Annual Review of Anthropology 191:419-451. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Blanco Salgueiro, Antonio. 2010. “Promises, Threats, and the Foundations of Speech Act Theory.” Pragmatics 20(2):213-228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boutet, Josiane, and Monica Heller. 2007. “Enjeux sociaux de la sociolinguistique: Pour une sociolinguistique critique.” Langage et Société 121/1221:305-318. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bucholtz, Mary, and Kira Hall. 2008. “All of the above: New Coalitions in Sociocultural Linguistics”. Journal of Sociolinguistics 12(4):401-431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elisabeth. 2012. “Exploring Affiliation in the Reception of Conversational Complaint Stories.” In Emotion in Interaction, edited by Marja-Leena Sorjonen and Anssi Peräkylä, 113-146. Oxford: Oxford University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corsaro, William A., and Douglas W. Maynard. 1996. “Format Tying in Discussion and Argumentation among Italian and American Children.” In Social Interaction, Social Context and Language: Essays in Honor of Susan Ervin-Tripp, edited by Dan Isaac Slobin, Julie Gerhardt, Amy Kyratzis, and Jiansheng Guo, 157-174. Mahwah NJ.: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Drew, Paul. 1998. “Complaints about Transgressions and Misconduct.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 31(3-4):295-325. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Edwards, Derek. 2000. “Extreme Case Formulations: Softeners, Investment, and Doing Nonliteral.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 33(4):347-373. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra. 2001. “Arguing about the Future: On Indirect Disagreements in Conversations.” Journal of Pragmatics 331:1881-1900. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1978. “Response Cries.” Language 54(4):787-815. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Charles. 2006. “Retrospective and Prospective Orientation in the Construction of Argumentative Moves.” Text & Talk 26(4/5):443-461. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Marjorie H. 1990. He-Said-She-Said. Talk as Social Organization among Black Children. Bloomington & Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Marjorie H., and Charles Goodwin. 2000. “Emotion within Situated Activity.” In Linguistic Anthropology: A Reader, edited by Alessandro Duranti, 239-257. Malden, MA/Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Marjorie Harness, Asta Cekaite, and Charles Goodwin. 2012. “Emotion as Stance.” In Emotion in Interaction, edited by Marja-Leena Sorjonen, and Anssi Peräkylä, 16-41. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Günthner, Susanne. 1995. “Exemplary Stories: The Cooperative Construction of Indignation.” Versus70/71:147-175.Google Scholar
. 1996. “The Prosodic Contextualization of Moral Work: An Analysis of Reproaches in ‘Why’-formats.” In Prosody in Conversation, edited by Elisabeth Couper-Kuhlen and Margret Selting, 271-302. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1997. “Complaint Stories: Constructing Emotional Reciprocity among Women.” In Communicating Gender in Context, edited by Helga Kotthoff and Ruth Wodak, 179-218. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. [1998] 1999. “Polyphony and the ‘Layering of Voices’ in Reported Dialogues: An Analysis of the Use of Prosodic Devices in Everyday Reported Speech.” Journal of Pragmatics 311:685-708. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Held, Gudrun. 1989. “On the Role of Maximization in Verbal Politeness.” Multilingua 7(4):167-206. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hepburn, Alexa, and Jonathan Potter. 2011. “Threats: Power, Family Mealtimes, and Social Influence. British Journal of Social Psychology 501:99-120. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, Kevin. 1998. Expressions of Identity: Spaces, Performance, Politics. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Hirschon, Renée. 1992. “Greek Adults Verbal Play, or How to Train for Caution.” Journal of Modern Greek Studies 101:35-56. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holt, Elizabeth. 1996. “Reporting on Talk: The Use of Direct Reported Speech in Conversation.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 29(3):219-245. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2000. “Reporting and Reacting: Concurrent Responses to Reported Speech.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 33(4):425-454. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hutchby, Ian, and Robin Wooffitt. 1998. Conversation Analysis. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Irvine, Judith. 1996. “Shadow Conversations: The Indeterminacy of Participant Roles.” In Natural Histories of Discourse, edited by Michael Silverstein and Greg Urban, 131-159. Chicago: University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Jaffe, Alexandra. 2009. “Introduction: The Sociolinguistics of Stance.” In Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives, edited by Alexandra Jaffe, 3-28. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jørgensen, Marianne, and Louise J. Phillips. 2002.Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method. London: Sage. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kakavá, Christina. 1993. “Negotiation of Disagreement by Greeks in Conversations and Classroom Discourse.” Ph.D. Dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
. 2002. “Opposition in Modern Greek Discourse: Cultural and Contextual Constraints.” Journal of Pragmatics 341:1537-1568. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Leung, Santoi. 2002. “Conflict Talk: A Discourse Analytical Perspective.” Teachers College Columbia University Working Papers in TESOL & Applied Linguistics 2(2):1-19. [URL] Google Scholar
Locher, Miriam. 2004. Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreements in Oral Communication. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, James R. 2003. “Introduction.” Text 23(2):171-181. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maynard, Douglas W. 1985. “How Children Start Arguments.” Language in Society 141:1–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Maynard, Senko K. 2002. Linguistic Emotivity: Centrality of Place, the Topic-Comment Dynamic, and Ideology of Pathos in Japanese Discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morson, Gary Saul, and Caryl Emerson. 1990. Mikhail Bakhtin: Creation of a Prosaics. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor, and Bambi Schieffelin. 1989. “Language Has a Heart.” Text 9(1):7-25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ochs, Elinor, Ruth Smith, and Carolyn Taylor. 1989. “Detective Stories at Dinnertime: Problem-Solving Through Co-Narration.” Cultural Dynamics 21:238-257. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pechey, Graham. 2007. Mikhail Bakhtin. The Word in the World. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peräkylä, Anssi. 2012. “Epilogue: What Does the Study of Interaction Offer to Emotion Research?” In Emotion in Interaction, edited by Marja-Leena Sorjonen and Anssi Peräkylä, 274-289. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peräkylä, Anssi, and Marja-Leena Sorjonen (eds.). 2012. Emotion in Interaction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Petraki, Eleni. 2005. “Disagreement and Opposition in Multigenerational Interviews with Greek-Australian Mothers and Daughters.” Text 25(2):269-303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita. 1986. “Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims.” Human Studies 91:219-229. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reber, Elisabeth. 2012. Affectivity in Interaction: Sound Objects in English. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sarangi, Srikant. 2003. “Editorial: Evaluating Evaluative Language.” Text 23(2):165-170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schiffrin, Deborah. 1984. “Jewish Argument as Sociability.” Language in Society 131:311-335. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Searle, John R. 1975. “A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts.” In Language, Mind and Knowledge, edited by Keith Gunderson, 344-369. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Sifianou, Maria. 2012. “Disagreements, Face and Politeness.” Journal of Pragmatics 441:1554-1564. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stokoe, Elizabeth. 2003. “Mothers, Single Women and Sluts: Gender, Morality and Membership Categorization in Neighbour Disputes.” Feminism & Psychology 13(3):317-344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stokoe, Elizabeth, and Derek Edwards. 2007. “‘Black this, Black that’: Racial Insults and Reported Speech in Neighbour Complaints and Police Interrogations.” Discourse & Society 181:337-372. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tannen, Deborah. 1984. Conversational Style. N.J.: Norwood, Ablex.Google Scholar
. 1989. Talking Voices: Repetition, Dialogue, and Imagery in Conversational Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tsitsipis, Lukas D. 2007. “Bilingualism, Praxis and Linguistic Description.” In Bilingualism: A Social Approach, edited by Monica Heller, 277-296. London and New York: Palgrave, Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Voloshinov, Vladimir. [1929] 1973. Marxism and the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Walton, Douglas. 2000. Scare Tactics: Arguments that Appeal to Fear and Threats. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, Sue, and Celia Kitzinger. 2006. “Surprise as an Interactional Achievement: Reaction Tokens in Conversation.” Social Psychology Quarterly 69(2):150-182. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (9)

Cited by nine other publications

Valūnaitė-Oleškevičienė, Giedrė, Linas Selmistraitis, Andrius Utka & Dangis Gudelis
2023. Offensive language in user-generated comments in Lithuanian. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 19:2 ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
Haugh, Michael
2022. (Online) public denunciation, public incivilities and offence. Language & Communication 87 ► pp. 44 ff. DOI logo
Blitvich, Pilar Garcés-Conejos & Dániel Z. Kádár
2021. Morality in Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 385 ff. DOI logo
Bou-Franch, Patricia
2021. “Maleducados/Ill-mannered”during the #A28 political campaign on Twitter. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 9:2 ► pp. 271 ff. DOI logo
Bou-Franch, Patricia
2022. Morality, aggression, and social activism in a transmedia sports controversy. Language & Communication 84 ► pp. 33 ff. DOI logo
Warren, Amber N. & Jessica Nina Lester
2020. How teachers deliberate policy: Taking a stance on third grade reading legislation in online language teacher education. Linguistics and Education 57 ► pp. 100813 ff. DOI logo
Petrovic, Jelena
2017. Conditional support for territorial migrations in Serbian national discourse. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 5:2 ► pp. 205 ff. DOI logo
Sissons, Helen & Philippa K. Smith
2017. Discours des réseaux sociaux : enjeux publics, politiques et médiatiques. In Discours des réseaux sociaux : enjeux publics, politiques et médiatiques [Culture & Communication, ], ► pp. 197 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2021. Topics and Settings in Sociopragmatics. In The Cambridge Handbook of Sociopragmatics, ► pp. 247 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.