Mc battles: A study on (im)politeness and axiological categorization under the light of pragmatics

Abstract

MC battles are part of a long oral and musical tradition of the African American and Latino community. In this paper, we intend to analyze the battle punchlines under he light of the theory of linguistic impoliteness (CULPEPER, 2005, 2011; CULPEPER; HARDAKER, 2017), as well as the notion of axiological categorization (ASSIMAKOPOULOS et al., 2017; EVANS, 2009), situating them as rituals of violence and verbal dispute (BERTUCCI; BOYER, 2013; MOÏSE, 2011; VETTORATO, 2008). The punchlines analyzed were taken from contests that are released to the general public. The results show that the punchlines are characterized by the use of ad hoc strategies of negative and positive impoliteness, together with axiological categorization, and contempt for the rival.