Illinois State University ISU ReD: Research and eData Theses and Dissertations 3-16-2020 The Polite Abuser: Using Politeness Theory To Examine Emotional Abuse Cimmiaron Alvarez Illinois State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Alvarez, Cimmiaron, "The Polite Abuser: Using Politeness Theory To Examine Emotional Abuse" (2020). Theses and Dissertations. 1218. https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/1218 This Thesis and Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ISU ReD: Research and eData. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ISU ReD: Research and eData. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE POLITE ABUSER: USING POLITENESS THEORY TO EXAMINE EMOTIONAL ABUSE CIMMIARON ALVAREZ 86 Pages Over the last few decades more and more cultural attention has been paid to intimate partner violence, especially emotional abuse. Follingstad, Rutledge, Berg, Hause, and Polek (1990) established that emotional abuse fell into six distinct categories; however, little attention had been paid to how abusers can utilize polite communication to hurt their partner. Equally, Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory (1987) had never been applied to problematic communication until Austin’s (1990) face attack acts model. This study aimed to understand how polite communication can be used as a form of emotional abuse. In-depth, semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants who self-identified as having been in a former romantic relationship with a partner who hurt their feelings, made them feel bad about themselves, or manipulated them.