33.3148, Confs: Pragmatics/Belgium

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3148. Sat Oct 15 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.3148, Confs: Pragmatics/Belgium

Moderators:

Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everett at linguistlist.org>
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Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2022 22:13:47
From: Daria Dayter [daria.dayter at tuni.fi]
Subject: Panel “(Im)politeness on written discussion websites: Relational work in Reddit-esque communication”, IPrA 2023

 
Panel “(Im)politeness on written discussion websites: Relational work in Reddit-esque communication”, IPrA 2023 

Date: 09-Jul-2023 - 14-Jul-2023 
Location: Brussels, Belgium 
Contact: Daria Dayter 
Contact Email: daria.dayter at tuni.fi 
Meeting URL: https://pragmatics.international/page/CfP 

Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics 

Meeting Description: 

This panel is organised by Daria Dayter (Tampere University) and Thomas
Messerli (University of Basel)

The study of computer-mediated communication (CMC) is commonly conceptualised
in terms of three ‘waves’. In the first one, researchers approached CMC as an
almost monolithic entity to be distinguished from other modes of language use
(‘netspeak’). The second order development has taken us to an understanding of
the role of individual genres and communication types in language online.
Finally, the third wave has focused on contextually dependent discursively
negotiated communicative practices that are negotiated by individuals and
communities based, among other things, on the particular affordances they are
given (e.g. Androutsopoulos 2006, Herring 2019).

Similarly, politeness theory has undergone a ‘discursive turn’. It took a step
from the mitigation-focused theories to the concept of relational work and an
understanding of interpersonal pragmatics whose norms determine not only
marked, but also unmarked non-polite behaviour against which face-threatening,
face-saving and face-enhancing action can be measured (e.g. Locher 2013).

Bringing together both the third wave of CMC and discursive politeness theory
on the particular example of modern online forums, such as Reddit or 4Chan and
similarly structured platforms like Quora or Hive, our panel wants to explore
what relational work norms are being constructed by online communities in
these online spaces. For instance, subreddits, the individual forums that
constitute the Reddit platform, combine codified norms of behaviour with
discursively negotiated patterns, with moderators as well as normal users
serving as gatekeepers of politic (polite and non-polite) behaviour. 

We understand each of these sites as a communicative space with its own
setting and particular participation structure, in which language use and more
generally communication are situated practices that serve transactional as
well as interpersonal purposes. 

Taking the subreddit r/ChangeMyView as an example, we can see, for instance,
that original posters employ particular conversational moves to construct
their own identities as approachable and persuasible, whereas commenters
include the norms created or reinforced by the posts they respond to in the
way they phrase their responses, which are all attempts at persuasion (Dayter
& Messerli 2022). Within this context, impolite responses appear less likely
to be received as successful attempts at persuasion than non-polite or polite
responses.

We invite to our panel other researchers focusing on Reddit and related
communicative settings, including the members of the CopRe research network.
 






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LINGUIST List: Vol-33-3148	
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