Abstract
Many internet users actively participate and share their views using social networks. Their behavior is sometimes unpredictable; it could be polite or impolite. This study aims to investigate impoliteness in the comment section of the Al-Jazeera Arabic news website to uncover the types of impolite acts which commenters engage in online, and expose conventionalized and non-conventionalized impoliteness triggers. It also seeks to explore the influence of computer-mediated contextual factors, such as anonymity and synchronicity on impoliteness. The study adopts Neurauter-Kessels’ framework (2011) to identify the types of face attacks and Culpeper’s bottom-up model (2011, 2016) of impoliteness triggers to classify impolite acts. The analysis shows that commenters engage in FTAs that are targeting the writers. The most frequent attack is the lack of balance, wholeness, fairness, and objectivity and the least frequent is being out of touch or having a lack of interaction with the audience. Commenters also employ both conventionalized and non-conventionalized impoliteness formulas in their face-attacks. Findings indicate that there are some distinctive features of Arabic impoliteness discourse, such as the use of colloquialisms, proverbs and idioms, religious expressions and interjections. The analysis also reveals that anonymity and asynchronicity are significant in accounting for the manifestation of impoliteness.
About the authors
Ghaleb Rabab’ah is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Jordan. He obtained his PhD in Linguistics from Newcastle University, UK. He published many papers in Linguistics, Applied Linguistics and ESL in international journals, such as Journal of Pragmatics, Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics, Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, and Teaching English with Technology. His research interests include discourse analysis, pragmatics, and CMC.
Nusiebah Alali is a PhD student at the University of Auckland. She has a Master’s degree in language, culture and communication from the University of Jordan. She also holds a Master’s degree in American Studies. Her research interests include corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, and CMC.
Acknowledgement:
The authors of this paper would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Karen Grainger, Editor-in-Chief, and the respected reviewers whose comments and suggestions helped to improve our work.
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Appendix 1
No. | Author | Title of Article | Date of Publication | No. of Comments |
1. | Ibrahim Hamami | Syria and the Talk of Resistance | 2011/6/18 | 134 |
2. | Mohammad Al-Shanketi | Aleppo Lessons - Away from Pity and Cries | 2016/12/15 | 108 |
3. | Mohammad Al-Shanketi | The Efficient Return of the Turks to the Frontlines | 2016/8/27 | 49 |
4. | Ibrahim Hamami | About the Prince of Qatar’s Visit to Gaza | 2012/10/24 | 46 |
5. | Mohammad Al-Shanketi | Hasan Al-Turabi: The Transient Stance and the Remaining Influence | 2016/3/7 | 28 |
6. | Hossam Shaker | The Truth about ISIS European Trucks | 2016/12/22 | 26 |
7. | Suheil Al-Ghanoshi | Tunisian Renaissance Following the Steps of the Palestinian Liberation Organization | 2016/8/9 | 25 |
8. | Muhna Al-Jbeel | How was the Intellectual Islamic Balance Disrupted and how can it be restored? | 2016/8/10 | 24 |
9. | Ibrahim Hamami | The Other Face of Syrians Taking Refuge in Europe | 2015/9/10 | 23 |
10. | Sa’eed Al-Haj | The Assassination of the Russian Ambassador in Turkey: Narratives and Repercussions | 2016/12/20 | 20 |
11. | Nabeel Al-Fouli | Will the Christians of Egypt Accept Tampering with their Lives Again? | 2016/12/14 | 16 |
12. | Sari Orabi | The Resolution Which Condemned the Settlement and Al-Sisi | 2016/12/25 | 15 |
13. | Ibrahim Hamami | Syria and the Arabic Role | 2016/12/25 | 15 |
14. | Saleh Al-Nuami | The Calm in South of Syria: Search for Israel | 2016/8/12 | 14 |
15. | Mohammad Al-Shanketi | Military Coups and Political Selfishness | 2016/7/18 | 14 |
16. | Nada Ameen | The Arabic Social Mobilization. Will it Turn into a Revolution? | 2016/12/19 | 13 |
17. | Mohmmad Taifouri | Political Crisis in Morocco: Interpretations and Implications | 2016/12/26 | 12 |
18. | Hussein Abdul Aziz | New Military Geography after Aleppo | 2016/12/16 | 12 |
19. | Sa’eed Al-Haj | Turkey and the Syrian Crisis: Features of the New Phase | 2016/12/26 | 11 |
20. | Abdul Sattar Qassem | Future Repercussions of Arab Mobilization | 2016/12/27 | 10 |
21. | Muhna Al-Jbeel | Why did Nietzsche’s Man Commit Suicide and why did Izetbegovic’s Man Win? | 2016/12/28 | 9 |
22. | Muhna Al-Jbeel | Biography of the Prophet and the New World: Correction of Concepts | 2016/12/14 | 9 |
23. | Tujan Faisel | Turkey Coup: A Comparative Historical Approach | 2016/8/8 | 8 |
24. | Mohammad Hani | Cracking the Arab Delusion | 2016/8/9 | 7 |
25. | Ngaire Woods | The New Xenophobia | 2016/12/15 | 7 |
26. | Yasser Mahjoub Al-Hussein | Sudanese Opposition: The Bets of Change | 2016/12/27 | 5 |
27. | Saber Kul Anbari | The Extension of the Law “D’Amato” and the Fate of the Nuclear Deal | 2016/12/24 | 5 |
28. | Faisel Ali | Yemen… Federalism is the Way of Salvation | 2016/12/17 | 5 |
29. | Carl Bildt | Going to Shelters | 2016/12/21 | 4 |
30. | Abdul Jaleel Al-Marhoon | Arab Security and its New Challenges | 2016/8/11 | 2 |
Total Number of Comments | 676 |
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