Detailed Information on Publication Record

TRÁVNÍKOVÁ, Petra. Redressive actions following commiserations in online discussions. In Linguistic, Educational and Intercultural Research, Vilnius, 12.-13.10.2017. 2017.

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Basic information
Original name	Redressive actions following commiserations in online discussions
Authors	TRÁVNÍKOVÁ, Petra (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
Edition	Linguistic, Educational and Intercultural Research, Vilnius, 12.-13.10.2017, 2017.

Other information
Original language	English
Type of outcome	Presentations at conferences
Field of Study	Linguistics
Country of publisher	Lithuania
Confidentiality degree	is not subject to a state or trade secret
RIV identification code	RIV/00216224:14640/17:00098034
Organization	Centrum jazykového vzdělávání – Repository – Repository
Keywords in English	positive politeness; redress; face threat; common ground; computer-mediated communication; rapport; online community
Changed by	Changed by: RNDr. Daniel Jakubík, učo 139797. Changed: 4/9/2020 18:20.

Abstract
In Brown and Levinson's (1978) seminal classification of positive politeness strategies, commiserating belongs to the subgroup referred to as human-relations wants, e.g. being cared about. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus consisting of several Internet discussion boards has shown that it is also one of the most frequent positive politeness strategies used there. All the threads under examination are dedicated to the so-called women's topics, such as dieting, pregnancy, infertility, or mothering. Members of these close-knit communities find it necessary to express sympathy in order to enhance each other's positive face and avoid face-threatening acts arising from the sensitive nature of these topics. However, the analysis of the corpus has also revealed that to commiserate merely by saying you are sorry is not enough. In many cases, the interlocutors find it necessary to add complex redressive actions to boost the illocutionary force of their statements. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to introduce these actions and describe their rapport-building function seeking to facilitate smooth communication within online communities.

Abstract

In Brown and Levinson's (1978) seminal classification of positive politeness strategies, commiserating belongs to the subgroup referred to as human-relations wants, e.g. being cared about. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of a corpus consisting of several Internet discussion boards has shown that it is also one of the most frequent positive politeness strategies used there. All the threads under examination are dedicated to the so-called women's topics, such as dieting, pregnancy, infertility, or mothering. Members of these close-knit communities find it necessary to express sympathy in order to enhance each other's positive face and avoid face-threatening acts arising from the sensitive nature of these topics. However, the analysis of the corpus has also revealed that to commiserate merely by saying you are sorry is not enough. In many cases, the interlocutors find it necessary to add complex redressive actions to boost the illocutionary force of their statements. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to introduce these actions and describe their rapport-building function seeking to facilitate smooth communication within online communities.