Analysis of impoliteness and mock impoliteness in Facebook exchanges of a selected millennial group

• Main Author: Rivera, Adonis D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2021
• Subjects: Politeness (Linguistics); Courtesy; Generation Y; Online social networks; Content analysis (Communication); Social interaction; Education
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdm_deal/3; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=etdm_deal
• Institution: De La Salle University

This paper investigated the impoliteness and mock impoliteness strategies employed by a millennial Facebook (FB) group in their interactional exchanges based on Culpeper’s (2011) and Haugh and Bousfield’s (2012) frameworks, respectively. Gender, themes, and languages used by the interlocutors in their FB Messenger were likewise determined. A total of 318 interactional exchanges taken from the selected FB group chat were used as data and analyzed using content analysis. Two (2) intercoders evaluated 30% of the data to improve reliability of the content analysis. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were also employed. The findings revealed that the most prominent impoliteness strategies employed by the millennial FB users were pointed criticisms/complaints and threats. On the one hand, the most prominent mock impoliteness strategy used was jocular mockery. Moreover, the factors that could influence the use of both impoliteness and mock impoliteness strategies among the millennial FB users were emotion, lack of awareness, too much familiarity with colleagues or classmates, and anonymity. The study also revealed that female interlocutors used impolite and mock impoliteness strategies in their interactional exchanges more frequently than their male counterparts. In addition, the common themes in the interactional exchanges were work-related issues and concerns. Code switching was also observed in the exchanges. The present study adds to the literature on impoliteness and mock impoliteness strategies in the country. Keywords: impoliteness strategies, mock impoliteness strategies, interlocutors, interactional exchanges, millennial FB users, jocular mockery, content analysis, intercoders, code switching