The pragmatics of politeness: Taking a critical stance in academic digital discourse

Abstract

The paper explores the discourse strategies used in academic discourse in the informal setting of academic personal websites. A digital variation of academic discourse typically provides spontaneous responses using direct ways of expressing ideas. Unlike scholarly discussions at conferences, academic etiquette and diplomatic language are not always maintained, and personal attacks and emotive statements occur. Expressing criticism and disagreement, the participants may use politeness strategies to mitigate face-threatening responses. Mapping the variety of these strategies, I work with those parts of academic web pages that are devoted to vivid discussions of the subject matter. Usually, the web page introduces a research paper that invites responses from web page visitors. My aim is to classify politeness strategies used in the responses that show disagreement and animosity. The research draws from a corpus of articles and related responses randomly chosen from personal and institutional academic web pages.