POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN
ANONYMOUS ONLINE DISCUSSION
Nadia Ananda Herianto
Abstract
Few studies about the uses of politeness strategies in anonymous online discussions have been conducted. This study wants to find out about the politeness strategies used in anonymous online discussion. Brown and Levinson (1987) stated that one of the factors affecting the uses of politeness is the intimacy between participants. Many studies find that all kinds of strategies are present in anonymous discussion, however in various frequencies (Gil-Salom and Soler-Monreal, 2009; Hsieh, 2009). In this study, observation was used. Five topics were chosen from a website that provides anonymous environment. The participants were people who commented on the topics. The comments were classified into different strategies using Brown and Levinson’s politeness (1987). Off-record and bald-on record strategies were used in many statements. As previous studies have suggested (Nissenbaum, 1999; Stein, 2003; Chang, 2003; Farrall, 2012), the participants tended to use these strategies because anonymity provides the freedom of expressing opinions. Positive and negative politeness were present in the discussion. Positive politeness were used more often than negative politeness. However, not all of Brown and Levinson’s strategies (1987)appear in anonymous online discussion. An interesting finding is that there were the uses of swear words. According to Dynel (2012), the uses of swear words is one of impoliteness strategies. Previous studies found that impoliteness often appears in discussion because of the anonymous environment (Smith, 1999; Danet, 2001). From the findings, it was found that not all Brown and Levinson’s strategies can be found in anonymous online discussion.
