Language and Communication in Computer-Mediated Contexts: A Rich and Challenging Research Field

This special issue offers an invitation to think about the first decade of the 21st century. Acknowledging that millennia boundaries are always arbitrary such that any development is likely to have started earlier and to still be ongoing, I decided to write about the advent of computer-mediated communication (CMC) as one of the linguistic areas that are topical and prominent in today's world. In recent overview articles on 'electronic discourse' (Locher 2014; Locher and Mondada 2014) and on challenges in research methodology for scholars working on computer-mediated discourse (Bolander and Locher 2014), a number of observations were made that I want to revisit in light of the aim of this special issue. Given the fact that communication through computer-mediated means is a fairly recent phenomenon and that the vast majority of research on this use of language have been published since the turn of the millennium, we can indeed state that this topic is relevant. In line with Crystal, "[t]he Internet is the largest area of language development we have seen in our lifetimes. Only two things are certain: it is not going to go away, and it is going to get larger" (2011, 149). In this chapter, I will briefly sketch the object of study, show some of the research questions and developments that have occurred and discuss some of the ways linguists have responded to language online

Interpersonal Pragmatics and its link to (im)politeness research

"In light of the fact that politeness research has been on the map since the 1970s, this paper revisits some of the more recent developments. The scope of analysis has been widened from face-maintaining and face-enhancing data to instances of conflictual and face-aggravating behaviour. There is an increase in discussions about appropriate methodological and theoretical approaches to politeness, and we see a tendency to creatively draw on approaches from other fields (such as identity construction research). These trends have made the field an especially vibrant one that is currently witnessing a struggle to (re)define its focus. Two connected issues (clarifying and refining the scope of our research questions and efforts of developing an interdisciplinary approach within interpersonal pragmatics) are particularly discussed in an endeavour to outline potential research paths.

Review of: Real Talk. Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action. Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (Eds), Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013, 296 pp., ISBN 978-0-230-36871-2, £74, EUR 100, USD 88 (hardback; paperback available)

The collection on Real Talk. Reality Television and Discourse Analysis in Action, edited by Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, is divided into three parts containing 12 chapters in total and offers insights into the study of identity construction, (im)politeness and genre by studying and comparing reality TV shows in different countries. In addition to the many important insights on identity construction and face-aggravating behavior, the collection is particularly valuable since it brings together scholars working on data from different countries. We learn about shows in Argentina, China, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States and about the ways in which language is used to manage identity and (im)politeness concerns in this TV genre/discourse. It is particularly fortunate that direct comparisons of the same shows that are broadcast in different countries and have been adapted to the norms of these countries are available. Furthermore, the collection is refreshing since there is no apologetic defense of why one should study this data. In line with other scholars who work on telecinematic discourse where the fictional element of the data is more dominant (see, e.g., the collections edited by Piazza et al., 2011; and Androutsopoulos, 2012; or scholars such as Bednarek, 2010), the contributors to the collection understand the data as naturally-occurring and as cultural artifacts worthy of being studied in their own right. Overall, the collection convincingly offers insights into theories, methodologies and topics of relevance to the study of language use in reality TV shows from a discourse analytic perspective. This carefully edited work is highly recommended for scholars working in media linguistics and discourse analysis, especially those who work on identity construction, (im)politeness and genre

Multilingualism in fiction

Multilingualism is a fact that has shaped and is shaping the linguistic set-up of our societies. Fictional texts also have a long tradition of drawing on polyglottal means, a fact that has been studied in many different disciplines. This chapter sketches the different research traditions that explore the phenomenon. It touches especially on the techniques of incorporating different languages in the same fictional text, such as attempts at presenting authentic multilingual renditions as well as simplifying the multilingual situation in processes that draw on the potential of linguistic indexicality, translation and contextual embedding. The main focus lies on the potential pragmatic effects that the texts can achieve, such as scene creation/enrichment, character creation, the creation of humor, the display of social criticism, realism and ideological debates of difference and belonging. For a text to work it is rarely necessary to transpose multilingual reality entirely in all its complexity into a fictional text. However, the ways in which multilingualism does occur in fiction deserve to be studied in their own right

The relational aspect of language : avenues of research

In this theoretical chapter center stage is given to the 'relational aspect' of language and how it has been studied in a number of avenues of research, primarily within the field of politeness research. This overview draws on previously published work on the pragmatic turn (Locher 2012) and on insights from the recent special issue on interpersonal pragmatics in the Journal of Pragmatics (Haugh, Kádár and Mills 2013)

Polite behavior within relational work: The discursive approach to politeness

Ever since Brown and Levinson's (1978, 1987) seminal work, politeness research in linguistics has been thriving. It is only in the last couple of years, however, that alternative ways of looking at politeness have been investigated in more detail and have gained more followers. This paper aims at explaining one of these ways - the discursive approach to politeness - and argues for employing the notion of relational work to move away from a dichotomy between politeness and impoliteness. Instead, it is argued that relational work comprises negatively marked behavior (impoliteness/rudeness), positively marked behavior (politeness), as well as nonmarked, politic behavior which is merely appropriate to the interaction in question and not polite as such. The interactants' assessments of linguistic behavior with respect to norms of appropriateness in social interaction is argued to be at the heart of politeness considerations rather than knowledge of prefabricated inherent linguistic devices. These theoretical considerations are illustrated with a discussion of non-elicited, written dat

Moments of relational work in English fan translations of Korean TV drama

This study is situated in the field of the pragmatics of fiction and audio-visual translation studies and explores renditions of relational work and im/politeness in the English fan subtitles of Korean dramas, as provided by the platform www.viki.com (Dwyer, 2012, 2017). An important aspect of TV drama as a cultural artefact are story lines. Within those the indexical potential of language is used (among others) for character positioning, character development, relationship development and (indirectly) reflection of cultural norms and expectations (Planchenault, 2017). Fictional data is thus an ideal source for studying linguistic ideologies about relational work. The case of Korean is challenging for subtitlers since it dynamically indexes relationships through a complex system of grammaticalized politeness forms and a set of honorific morphemes and vocabulary (see, e.g., Rhee, 2019). The Korean nuances often cannot be translated as there is no straightforward correspondence to indexes of politeness in the target languages. Nevertheless, the English subtitles give access to an abundance of foregrounded relational work moments. The paper works on 204 scenes (from 4 dramas) and explores in what ways the complex Korean politeness system and the fictional play with this system is made accessible in the subtitles for non-Korean audiences. Four themes emerged: (1) character address term negotiations; (2) character meta-comments on relational work; (3) character meta-discussions on role understanding; and (4) subtitler meta-comments on language and culture. The results demonstrate two main issues: (a) these relational work moments are intricately connected with (character) identity construction in the fictional artefact; (b) the subtitlers take an active role in translating cultural assumptions about relational work and lean towards foreignization rather than domestication

The emergence of the identity of a fictional expert advice-giver in an American Internet advice column

This paper is a contribution to research on the expression of expert advice-giving (e.g., Heritage and Sefi 1992; Silverman et al. 1992). We present a linguistic analysis of the ways in which the identity of the fictional expert advisor Lucy emerges in an Internet advice column run by professional health educators as part of a university health service. In discourse-analytical close readings of 280 question-answer records, we identify and discuss seven recurring strategies (the advisor's name, self-reference and use of address terms; expert information-giving; giving options and making readers think; the choice of vocabulary; offering opinions; the use of empathy; the display of humor), which together contribute to Lucy's voice as an expert advice-giver if the readers repeatedly access the question-answer exchanges. This emerging identity is in line with the site's mission to provide information designed to facilitate independent and responsible decision processes and corresponds to an ideal of nondirectiveness, as also identified in the literature on other advisory settings (He 1994; Sarangi and Clarke 2002; Vehviläinen 2003). The constructed identity of Lucy thus makes ‘Lucy Answers' an attractive site to (re)turn to for advice and complements the other services provided by the health educator