Politeness in Computer‐Mediated Communication

Abstract

Abstract Computer‐mediated communication or CMC refers to a rapidly growing means of online communication through which people interact with each other by language, usually typed on a keyboard and read on a computer screen. CMC includes chat, computer messages, e‐mail, computer conferencing, forums, and online bulletin boards. Some communication modes, such as chat, computer conferencing, and computer messages, allow people to interact in real time (i.e., instant messaging), while others are rather fixed in terms of the response time. CMC has become an important part of our daily lives and participants increasingly use this medium to establish and maintain social relationships. In comparison with face‐to‐face conversation, CMC represents a modified speech exchange system where physical bodies, and paralinguistic cues such as intonation, facial expression, and gesture are not available. In the past 20 years, researchers and educators have become particularly interested in this new medium and how it influences language use. While focusing on the similarities and differences between features of ordinary conversation and online communication, these studies have analyzed and described the ways technological constraint limits the interactional resources, the linguistic choices participants make when communicating via CMC, and the ways they adapt their language to the new medium (Jones, 1995; Herring, 1996, 2002; Harrison, 2000; Schönfeldt & Golato, 2003). Some studies focused on sociological or sociolinguistic aspects such as gender, community, and identity (Jones, S. 1995; Jones, Q., 1997; Baym, 1999) in e‐mail communication (e.g., Herring, 1996), Web discussion boards, and Web chats (Baym, 1999; Herring, 1996), whereas other studies examined mainly linguistic elements of CMC and comparing the language used in CMC with oral and written forms of communication (Jones, 1997; Herring, 2001). Other groups of studies explored how CMC might be used effectively for pedagogical or business purposes (e.g., Al‐Shalawi, 2001).