Politeness and impoliteness
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.
Publication Title
Pragmatics of Social Media
Recommended Citation
Graham, S. (2017). Politeness and impoliteness. Pragmatics of Social Media, 459-491. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110431070-017
