LINGUISTIC IMPOLITENESS IN KING OF BOYS AND GANGS OF LAGOS

ABSTRACT

This research examines the impoliteness strategies as represented in King of Boys and Gangs of Lagos in order to identify the types of impoliteness strategies, the functions of these strategies, and to explore how these strategies are used to assert authority and dominance, and for power struggle. The methodological approach utilized in this study is the descriptive qualitative method which provides description of the impoliteness strategies used in the movies. The dataset utilised in this research were taken from the utterances of the characters in the movies, extracted from the transcripts, and the analysis is based on Culpeper's impoliteness theory. The study discovers that of the five impoliteness strategies proposed by Jonathan Culpepper, the Nollywood movies; King of Boys and Gangs of Lagos use four namely bald on record impoliteness, off record/mock impoliteness, positive impoliteness, and negative impoliteness. The findings also reveal that the characters deploy these super-strategies to achieve two out of Culpepper’s impoliteness functions, the affective and the coercive impoliteness functions. They deploy these strategies to assert dominance and authority, and in power struggle. The study concludes that impolite language is a tool Nollywood movies employ to portray/reflect issues like power struggle, power imbalance, and the societal norms of the society.