Verbal Aggression: Between Violence and Impotence

Abstract. In this article a clear line between two terms “verbal aggression” vs. “verbal violence” is drawn. Based on the results of survey case studies held by the author “verbal aggression” is viewed as a complex linguistic phenomenon. Both intentions aimed at humiliation of the addressee (then verbal aggression equals to verbal violence), and intentions that are not aimed at verbal violence called “efficient” may lie at the core of the phenomenon. The “productive” functions of verbal aggression, emphasized in the field of psychology, are not sufficiently studied from linguistic perspective. Special attention in the article is given to the relation of verbal and physical aggression. Based on the theory of speech acts and the theory of performativity we view language as an action and distinguish two possibilities of aggressive speech acts: the one that is aimed at violence and the non-violent one. In the former case it is language of violence as a separate and independent form of violence.