Deontic authority in intervention discourse

Insights from bystander intervention

Bibliographic Data

ID5965129
AuthorsYaxuan Ran (0000-0002-6765-7176, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, P.R. China), Yongping Ran, Xu Huang (0000-0003-3472-6822, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, P.R. China, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume21
Issue5
Pages540-560
Publication date2019-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-4456 • E-ISSN: 1461-7080
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1461445619846705
OpenAlexW2945624178
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited39

Our study offers a linguistic-pragmatic examination of instances of bystander intervention, a social action that takes place when a bystander or a group of bystanders intervenes when a wrongdoer abuses a victim or behaves outside socially acceptable norms. We approach this social phenomenon by analyzing data drawn from a database of 11 video-recordings that all involve naturally occurring interactions in public settings in China. The notion of intervention discourse is tentatively introduced in this study to distinguish it from those used to achieve other communicative purposes and to disclose some recurrent patterns of language use in bystander intervention. The data analysis summarizes six categories of intervention discourse along the continuum of strong to weak intervention: terminating, consequence-stating, advising, judging, appealing and stance-taking. Our study demonstrates that the skillful exercise of deontic authority embodied in intervention discourse might have a tangible influence on the outcome of the intervention

Bystander effect · Conversation analysis · Deontic logic · Embodied cognition · Epistemology · Linguistics · Normative · Communication · Hate Speech and Cyberbullying Detection · Interpreting and Communication in Healthcare · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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