ABSTRACT
As we hope to have shown in this book, the rise and development of belligerent broadcasting is not restricted to a specific genre of programme; nor is it committed to a particular broadcast context. We have also shown how politeness theory can be used in conjunction with argumentation theory to help us to understand these performances of belligerency. Elsewhere, we have explored how belligerence is manifest in strategies that are best explained through Grice’s conversational maxims (Grice, 1989), particularly when exploring the linguistic properties of banter. More generally, though, we have been keen to describe the operation of belligerence in a way that illustrates its diversity and influence. Most of all, we have argued that the fundamental questions of who is allowed to engage belligerently, why and against whom tell us a great deal about the politics, culture and pleasures of broadcasting.
