The Violence of Language in the Contemporary Political Discourse. A Case Study of the Romanian Parliamentary Discourse

This paper inquires into the nature of violence, providing a basic pragmastylistic typology of speech acts by focusing on the features and the relevance of discursive violence. It also investigates the array of the linguistic resources used by the Romanian MPs to violently challenge their opponents, and gives evidence of the most recurrent aggressive discursive practices currently in use within the Romanian parliamentary speech. Last but not least, the research aims at providing insights into the discursive solidarity between violence and impoliteness, on the one hand, and between violence and stylistic inadequacy, on the other hand. The theoretical framework is supported with illustrative linguistic data extracted from the electronic archives of the Romanian parliamentary debates, available at www.cdep.ro.