The Language of Harassment

This book addresses harassment head-on by conducting a thorough linguistic analysis of this pervasive social phenomenon and investigates the strategic language used by harassers to convey their ill intentions and inflict harm upon their victims. The linguistic analysis focuses on how harassment is conducted through verbal and physical interactions between the perpetrator or group of perpetrators and the victim at a discourse level. The author revisits several court cases held in the United States and Europe to show the phenomenal difficulties victims face to support their claims with evidence. The Language of Harassment applies pragmatic linguistic theories to shed light on the defining elements of harassment, which include repetitive acts of hostile and unethical communication, ill intentions, power imbalances, and harm inflicted upon the victim. In addition, the author illustrates the linguistic analysis through real-life cases of workplace mobbing, school bullying, sexual and psychological harassment, stalking, and sexting.