Politeness strategies deployed by Filipinos in asynchronous computer-mediated discourse

Abstract

The study explores the Filipino, particularly Bikolano, participants’ management of their virtual conversation in an asynchronous online discussion forum, focusing on the deployment of politeness strategies. Anchored on Walther’s (1992) social information processing theory, the study uses Brown and Levinson’s (B&L) (1978, 1987) politeness theory as a theoretical lens. The five comment threads produced by 32 participants and used for data analysis were drawn from 166 comment threads posted from June to August 2012 in a Bikol-language social group site. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were utilized via frequency count and percentage and Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974) conversational analysis (CA) model, respectively. Findings reveal that the Bikolano online interactants tended to blend positive and negative politeness strategies rather than deploy them in isolation. The study validates the applicability of B&L’s (1978, 1987) politeness theory in the Philippine context, affirming its universal elements while delineating certain linguistic and cultural nuances that make Filipino, specifically Bikol, politeness distinct by itself. In general, the computer-mediated interactions manifest the interlocutors’ flexibility to modality change and their successful deployment of politeness schemes to effectively manage their web-based communication. Implications for transnational education are also discussed as part of the conclusion.

Keywords

• social information processing theory
• conversation analysis
• politeness theory
• computer-mediated communication
• filipino/bikolano politeness strategies