Threatening in English

Threatening is among the less pleasant “things we do with words”, but, together with other conflictive speech acts, it seems to play a central role in communication. Yet, little is still known about how and when exactly speakers threaten. The present volume addresses this void by giving an in-depth analysis of the form and function of this speech act. A set of authentic threat utterances is used to probe questions on the linguistic repertoire employed and the different objectives speakers pursue