Claiming In-Group Membership in Online Communities
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Hradec Králové Journal of Anglophone Studies |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | CMC; online communication; politeness; in-group; rapport; jargon; joking; common ground |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The aim of the present article is to show how the members of several Internet communities communicate online in discussion board threads focused on the so-called women’s topics, e.g. dieting or mothering, claim in-group membership via the following positive politeness strategies: 1. in-group markers, such as topic-related nicknames, diminutives and personalized address forms, terminology, special jargon related to the context of the forum with a special emphasis on acronyms, generic names and inclusive we, 2. stressing/ presupposing common ground and 3. joking. All of these strategies serve to enhance the community spirit and function as a powerful solidarity-building device, and thus serve as what Brown and Levinson refer to “social accelerators”. |