Journal
JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AGGRESSION AND CONFLICT
Volume 6, Issue 2, Pages 248-270Publisher
JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING CO
DOI: 10.1075/jlac.00012.hau
Keywords
accusation; complaint; moral transgression; argument; (Peninsular and Argentinian) Spanish; reality television; interactional pragmatics
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While there is a growing body of research on impoliteness and conflict talk, the role of accusations in interpersonal conflict has been only addressed in passing. In this paper, we focus on accusations in conflict talk amongst interactants who are in a situation demanding the formation of intimate relationships within a relatively short span of time, namely, the television reality show Big Brother. We examine, in particular, accusation sequences arising in multi-party interactions from the Argentinian and Spanish versions of the show. We analyse the ways in which assertions of fault or wrongdoing are construed as accusations through such responses as denials, counter-accusations and challenges, and the ways in which participants explicitly evaluate each other's behaviour through such sequences. We conclude that accusations are designed primarily to enact moral denunciation or condemnation of another party, and so almost invariably occasion interpersonal disputes.
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