Back to results

De Montfort University

A Linguistic Assessment of Domestic Abuse: Determining Patterns of Politeness Theory and Persuasion Utilised to Facilitate Abuse and Disguise Abusive Personalities

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Domestic abuse is an issue which persists within society, and its subtle, manipulative methods provide a barrier for abuse detection for victims, police officers and prosecution services. The subsequent thesis adopts a holistic approach in determining the barriers of abuse detection through exploring courtship stages to relationship breakdowns. Forms of manipulation reside within uses of politeness and persuasion, and we thus must determine the patterns of such in order to explain abusive behaviours and determine abuse. The present thesis concludes that politeness methods are utilised to groom victims, to perpetrate and mask abusive methods, and persuasion is utilised to entrap victims into their domestic abuse relationship and to influence victims into positions of control without their recognition. Linguistic applications of politeness and persuasion to domestic abuse have not yet emerged within academic research, and the current research thus contributes to knowledge by presenting such linguistic patterns as instruments to identify abuse, tackling the barriers of abuse detection.

Degree

thesis:*
Name dc:type.qualificationname
PhD
Level dc:type.qualificationlevel
Doctoral
Grantor dc:publisher.institution
De Montfort University
Year dc:date.issued
2024

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Flanagan, Tanya

Rights

dc:rights

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
De Montfort University
Base URL
dora.dmu.ac.uk/server/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Flanagan, Tanya. A Linguistic Assessment of Domestic Abuse: Determining Patterns of Politeness Theory and Persuasion Utilised to Facilitate Abuse and Disguise Abusive Personalities. Doctoral thesis, De Montfort University, 2024.