Published Online:September 2025
Product Name:The IUP Journal of English Studies
Product Type:Article
Product Code:IJES080925
DOI:10.71329/IUPJES/2025.20.3.83-97
Author Name:Namrata Paul, Sanjukta Ghosh and Kavya Krishna K R
Availability:YES
Subject/Domain:Arts and Humanities
Download Format:PDF
Pages:83-97
At the interface of masculinity and politeness study, the paper discovers the variables that influence interpersonal communication across multiple types of masculinities—stereotypical masculine physique, intellect, race, disabilities, and gender roles. The paper also tries to find out whether a scalar hierarchy of these variables exists where one variable takes over another. The work is based on the spoken language used in an American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The study explores how men employ face-threatening acts like direct criticism, insults, or teasing in their conversations, and examines how these acts serve to establish dominance, challenge authority, or negotiate social hierarchies among men in the male-male conversation. The study is relevant in understanding the role of social variables and the (im)politeness strategy used in American English.
Gender and (im)politeness study has concentrated a lot on women’s use of language and (im)politeness. There has been an extensive examination of women’s language use in relation to politeness, including studies on mitigating speech, indirectness, and deployment of positive politeness strategies, which indicates a stereotypical correlation between politeness and femininity in contrast to impoliteness and its correlation with masculinity.