17. Politeness and impoliteness
-
Sage Lambert Graham
Abstract
This chapter will explore the concepts of politeness and impoliteness as they are enacted in various forms of social media. Using an ‘interpersonal pragmatic’ approach (Locher and Graham 2010), the focus is on interactive mediated settings such as vlogs, email, discussion boards and virtual worlds. The chapter examines the parameters of how we define (im)politeness, the terminology we employ, and the ways that the digital setting influences the way (im)politeness is enacted. This is followed by an illustrative case study on online gaming that examines how impoliteness is identified and challenged by participants while moderators simultaneously attempt to define and control for this type of problematic behaviour. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of directions for future research.
Abstract
This chapter will explore the concepts of politeness and impoliteness as they are enacted in various forms of social media. Using an ‘interpersonal pragmatic’ approach (Locher and Graham 2010), the focus is on interactive mediated settings such as vlogs, email, discussion boards and virtual worlds. The chapter examines the parameters of how we define (im)politeness, the terminology we employ, and the ways that the digital setting influences the way (im)politeness is enacted. This is followed by an illustrative case study on online gaming that examines how impoliteness is identified and challenged by participants while moderators simultaneously attempt to define and control for this type of problematic behaviour. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of directions for future research.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents xi
- 1. Log in: Introducing the pragmatics of social media 1
- 2. Participation as user involvement 31
- 3. Participation as audience design 61
- 4. Publicness and privateness 83
- 5. Message boards 125
- 6. Blogs 151
- 7. YouTube 173
- 8. Twitter 201
- 9. Social Network Sites/Facebook 225
- 10. Discourse and organization 245
- 11. Discourse and topic 275
- 12. Discourse and cohesion 317
- 13. Discourse and cognition 345
- 14. Discourse and ideology 381
- 15. Facework and identity 407
- 16. Evaluation 435
- 17. Politeness and impoliteness 459
- 18. Flaming and trolling 493
- 19. Narration 523
- 20. Fandom 545
- 21. Getting “liked” 575
- 22. Conflictual and consensual disagreement 607
- 23. Compliments and compliment responses 633
- 24. Requesting and advice-giving 661
- About the authors 691
- Name index 699
- Subject index 721
- Preface to the handbook series v
- Acknowledgements ix
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents xi
- 1. Log in: Introducing the pragmatics of social media 1
- 2. Participation as user involvement 31
- 3. Participation as audience design 61
- 4. Publicness and privateness 83
- 5. Message boards 125
- 6. Blogs 151
- 7. YouTube 173
- 8. Twitter 201
- 9. Social Network Sites/Facebook 225
- 10. Discourse and organization 245
- 11. Discourse and topic 275
- 12. Discourse and cohesion 317
- 13. Discourse and cognition 345
- 14. Discourse and ideology 381
- 15. Facework and identity 407
- 16. Evaluation 435
- 17. Politeness and impoliteness 459
- 18. Flaming and trolling 493
- 19. Narration 523
- 20. Fandom 545
- 21. Getting “liked” 575
- 22. Conflictual and consensual disagreement 607
- 23. Compliments and compliment responses 633
- 24. Requesting and advice-giving 661
- About the authors 691
- Name index 699
- Subject index 721
- Preface to the handbook series v
- Acknowledgements ix