Chapter 1.Introduction
1
1.1Taking stock: Existing views on threatening
1
1.2Empiricism and pragmatics: Some relevant research perspectives
5
1.3Scope and structure of this study
6
Chapter 2.Threatening: Basic concepts and issues
9
2.1What is a threat?
9
2.2The form of threats
14
2.2.1Conditionality
14
2.2.2Futurity
15
2.2.3Violent verbs, participants and orientation of a threat
16
2.2.4Other common features: pronouns, taboo words, weapons
17
2.2.5Summary: the form of threats
18
2.3The function of threats
19
2.3.1Power and demands: threats as a tool of manipulation
20
2.3.2Power and face: threats as an impoliteness strategy
24
2.3.3Summary: the function of threats
28
2.4The context of threats
29
2.4.1Power and distance as social context
30
2.4.2P and D combined: The relationship of threatener and target
34
Chapter 3.Data & methodology
37
3.1Methods in empirical pragmatics: constraints and implications for the present study
37
3.2Judicial opinions as a data source: the case of criminal threats
41
3.3Research design of the present study
47
Chapter 4.
The form of threats
51
4.1Methodology
52
4.1.1Unit of analysis
54
4.1.2Coding
55
4.2Conditionality
56
4.2.1Operationalizing conditionality
58
4.2.2Results and discussion
63
4.3Futurity
66
4.3.1Operationalizing futurity
70
4.3.2Results and discussion
72
4.4Violent verbs, participants and orientation of a threat
79
4.4.1Type of verb
81
4.4.2Agent-patient relation
90
4.4.3Orientation of threat
96
4.5Other common features: pronouns, taboo words, weapons
100
4.5.11PP and 2PP
100
4.5.2Taboo language
104
4.5.3Mention of weapons
109
4.6Social context: Relationship of threatener and target
113
4.6.1Operationalizing relationship of threatener and target
114
4.6.2Results and discussion
115
4.7Detecting feature patterns: hierarchical cluster analysis
118
4.7.1Data and methodology
120
4.7.2Results and discussion
122
Chapter 5.The function of threats
129
5.1Assessing the point of utterance: pre-event and post-event threats
131
5.1.1Methodology
135
5.1.2Results and discussion
137
5.2The form of manipulative and retaliative threats
138
5.2.1Conditionality
140
5.2.2Futurity
142
5.2.3Type of verb, agent-patient relation and orientation of threat
144
5.2.4Common lexical elements: pronouns, taboo language and mention of weapons
149
5.2.5Summary
156
5.3
Form as a predictor of function: classification tree models
158
5.3.1Methodology
160
5.3.2Results I: Single conditional inference tree
163
5.3.3Results II: Random forest of conditional inference trees
168
5.3.4Discussion: Predictable strategies?
172
5.4Summary: the function of threats
176
Chapter 6.Conclusion
181
6.1Summary: The form and function of threatening
181
6.2The risks and benefits of threatening: the rationale of a strategic speaker
185
6.3Outlook: A to-do list for future research
193