Evaluating Offense: Appraisal Resources and Impoliteness in Football Fandom Discourse
Abstract
This study investigates how impoliteness is linguistically realized through appraisal resources in online football fandom discourse. Previous studies have largely classified impoliteness strategies but have paid less attention to the evaluative resources through which impoliteness is constructed. Drawing on impoliteness and appraisal theories, the analysis focuses on Liverpool fans' replies to a tweet by Trent Alexander-Arnold following his transfer. Using a qualitative discourse-analytic approach, the study examines how evaluative meanings are constructed through Attitude, Graduation, and Engagement, and how they contribute to the production of impoliteness. The findings show that impoliteness is predominantly realized through negatively inscribed Judgement (propriety), in which the player is evaluated as disloyal or morally deficient. These evaluations are frequently intensified through Graduation (Force) and are often presented as collectively endorsed through contractive Engagement resources. The study contributes to impoliteness research by showing how appraisal resources systematically construct offensive meanings in online football fandom discourse.
Keywords
References
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.31004/jele.v11i5.3102
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