The Politeness Factors in Computer-Mediated Communication

• Main Authors: Chia-hwa Chang, 張嘉華
• Other Authors: Vincent W. Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/94975258922979419426

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語研究所 === 87 === Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) is a newly-sprung medium of communication, in which people interact without seeing or even knowing each other. People’s behavior in CMC has been observed to differ greatly from the norm in face-to-face communication (FFC), the most striking of which is the uninhibitedness demonstrated by CMC participants. This study aims to find out what reasons or rules lie behind these norm-deviating behavior, and it is found that there are four factors governing people’s performance of politeness. These factors are Power (P), Distance (D), Rank of Imposition (R) of a given act, and Mask (M). Since social cues are usually unavailable in CMC, the values of these factors are mostly determined by the interactional facts and the psychological state of the participants at the moment of communication. The four factors together form a formula according which people calculate their appropriate politeness behavior. The formula goes as follows: Wx = D(S,H) + P(H,S) + Rx —M(AS,RS) Wx is the value that measures the weightiness of the given FTA x; D(S,H) is the value that measures the social and psychological distance between the speaker and the hearer; P(H,S) is measures the power the hearer has over the speaker, and Rx is the ranking of imposition of this act x in the culture. Finally, M(AS,RS) measures the degree of difference between one’s Assumed Self and Real Self. Based on this formula, different interactional scenarios among CMC participants are discussed in detail. Finally, I make an attempt to apply this model to FFC and the result seems to be satisfactory.