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(Im)politeness in Digital Communication

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The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness

Abstract

This chapter examines (Im)politeness in digital contexts, exploring the dynamics of mediated communication, and the ways that (Im)politeness is understood and (re)negotiated within digital environments. Beginning with an overview of (Im)politeness research, it examines aspects of mediated communication (e.g. degree of a/synchronicity, degree of anonymity, etc.) and how these affect interactional strategies. It discusses (Im)politeness in specific digital platforms (e.g. email, discussion boards, etc.), the ethics of studying computer-mediated communication (CMC), and practical matters concerning data collection and analysis. The case study uses online gaming interactions to assess how we understand digital impoliteness and attempt to control it through robot moderators versus human moderators. The chapter concludes with questions about differences between face-to-face and digital interaction, and the effects of increasing multimodality on the ways we perceive and negotiate (Im)politeness.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for instance, boyd and Hargiattai (2010), Herring and Stoerger (2014), and Marwick and boyd (2014) for further discussion of privacy and context in social media.

  2. 2.

    See, for example, Graham’s (2008) discussion of how FAQ guidelines are not applied equitably to all subscribers to an email list.

  3. 3.

    Note, however, that such a stance cannot take into account unforeseen circumstances such as the 2015 Ashley Madison hack in which 30 to 40 million users of a site designed to facilitate extramarital affairs had their details posted online.

  4. 4.

    In accordance with the guidelines outlined in the discussion of ethics above, usernames in this publically-available forum have been reproduced in their original form. Real names or any other identifying information revealed during the chat or talk, however, has been anonymised. Likewise, unless otherwise noted, all examples are included in their original form, including grammatical errors, typos, and formatting.

  5. 5.

    Bold text within messages has been added for emphasis. With this exception, messages are printed in their original form, including spacing, formatting, and spelling/grammatical variations.

  6. 6.

    A […] notation marks a place where, for space reasons, intervening text has not been included. The conversational structure of statements and replies, however, has been maintained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Sage L. Graham

  2. Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK

    Claire Hardaker

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  1. Sage L. Graham
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  2. Claire Hardaker
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Correspondence to Sage L. Graham .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Linguistics & English Language, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom

    Jonathan Culpeper

  2. School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    Michael Haugh

  3. Dept of Linguistics and Modern Languages, University of Huddersfield, Queensgate, United Kingdom

    Dániel Z. Kádár

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Graham, S.L., Hardaker, C. (2017). (Im)politeness in Digital Communication. In: Culpeper, J., Haugh, M., Kádár, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Linguistic (Im)politeness. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-37508-7_30

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