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Metapragmatics of verbal aggression and workplace conflict

Evidence from Greek private-sector organisations

ORCiD logo with link | National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Published online: 17 July 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00154.fil
Abstract
This study advances a participant-anchored, metapragmatic account of conflict triggering in Greek private-sector workplaces. It conceptualises escalation not as a direct outcome of harsh wording but as a rights-based process through which speakers publicly contest one another’s interactional legitimacy. Drawing on 55 semi-structured interviews with Greek private-sector employees, the analysis integrates (a) an etic mapping of recurrent aggressive manifestations, (b) emic metapragmatic evaluations through which participants label and moralise offence, and (c) an interactional threshold defined by explicit offence-labelling with immediate uptake. Findings reveal that escalation occurs when moralised evaluations reallocate communicative rights, particularly in public contexts where audiences amplify face risk and moral accountability. By linking linguistic choices, moral evaluation, and interactional consequence, the study contributes to sociopragmatic theory, workplace conflict studies, and applied models of interactional management.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Theoretical background
    • 2.1Discursive and emic approaches to verbal aggression
    • 2.2Verbal aggression and impoliteness: Forms and their interpretation
    • 2.3From offence to conflict: Evaluation, escalation, and thresholds
  • 3.Method
    • 3.1Research design
    • 3.2Participants and sampling
    • 3.3Data collection
    • 3.4Analytic logic and levels of interpretation
  • 4.Data Analysis
    • 4.1Participants’ evaluations of workplace aggression
      • 4.1.1Inappropriate: Contextual misfit without moral condemnation
      • 4.1.2Unprofessional / antisocial: From situational misfit to collegial norms
      • 4.1.3Impolite / rude / abrupt: Interpersonal breach
      • 4.1.4Insulting / humiliating: The shift to identity threat
      • 4.1.5Intimidating / abusive: Moral violation and interactional rupture
    • 4.2Emic cues signalling movement along the continuum
    • 4.3From offence to conflict: Threshold points in participants’ accounts
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Data availability statement
  • Notes
  • References
References (45)
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