Verbal Combat
Specific speech act structures related to verbal and also physical exchanges are extant in ancient times as well as today. Fixed speech act patterns employed in a verbal exchange are a phenomenon found in historical and modern texts alike. Although conventions change over time and from one culture to the other, ritualised exchanges seem to be part of the basic inventory of language usage, and so it is quite common to find similarities between the way individuals from various cultures engage in a verbal duel. Verbal combat may result in physical combat after a certain extent.
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Famous quotes containing the words verbal and/or combat:
“Language makes it possible for a child to incorporate his parents’ verbal prohibitions, to make them part of himself....We don’t speak of a conscience yet in the child who is just acquiring language, but we can see very clearly how language plays an indispensable role in the formation of conscience. In fact, the moral achievement of man, the whole complex of factors that go into the organization of conscience is very largely based upon language.”
—Selma H. Fraiberg (20th century)
“The combat ended for want of combatants.”
—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)