Pragmatic Failure and Politeness Strategies in Young Sheldon: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Abstract

This article explores PF and SPG failure in Young Sheldon, examining how the titular  character’s speech patterns contribute to the comic effect, characterisation, and broader sociolinguistic issues. Based on Grice’s Cooperative Principle, Brown and Levinson’s  Politeness Theory, and Hymes’ Communicative Competence Model, the study sheds light on  Sheldon’s concretism, impoliteness, and lack of pragmatic adaptations to natural and social  contexts, leading to frequent misunderstandings. A thematic framework discourse analysis  approach is used, analysing selected scenes by transcribing and categorising instances of talk  in which Sheldon exhibits pragmatic and/or sociopragmatic breakdowns. Its relation to the  social description of each speech act is examined in terms of its impact on interpersonal  relationships and humour. These results indicate that while scripted television may  overemphasise pragmatic errors for the sake of comedy, it also mirrors the sociolinguistic  issues that neurodivergent speakers and L2 learners encounter in the real world. By examining  how humour arises from pragmatic norm violations, the article sheds light on the realignment  of linguistic competences in media representations. It suggests avenues for further study, such  as longitudinal investigations into Sheldon’s pragmatic development and the cross-cultural  (in)acceptance of his speech patterns.