linguistic impoliteness as a stylistic characterization device in edward albee's who's afraid of virginia woolf

The following paper investigates the linguistic impoliteness throughout the play who s afraid of virginia woolf? by edward albee to better understand its two central characters and their character types. specifically, this study aims to answer the question how can the linguistic impoliteness in the play be used to stylistically read, interpret and understand character types and motivations? this process of characterization relies on the impoliteness theory and strategies offered by jonathan culpeper (2011) and his control system for the reading of dramatic characters. by tracking impoliteness throughout the play, the study observes that the play s two central characters continually threaten each other s faces and disregard the norms. their interpersonal behavior deviates enormously from the audience s general expectation of their character types. meanwhile, the results hint at the pervasiveness of linguistic impoliteness, and how it s deeply rooted, even among the characters that are expected and perceived to embody civility and politeness.