(Im)politeness in an Internet Chatroom

The Internet is the most used advanced technology which is accessible from any computer connected to the net. The fact that thousands of people all over the world can be connected to it at the same time and chat beyond physical barriers must necessarily alter the way of communication, the organization of interactions and means of expression. It is not surprising then, that the language of the Internet has recently attracted the attention of many linguists. This book deals with the interplay of conversation practises and (im)politeness strategies used in the synchronous chatroom. It examines four interactional techniques: addressing, opening and closing sequences and turn-allocation strategies on the background of (im)politeness theory introduced by R.J.Watts. The selected denominations are observed to function in a different context than face-to-face conversation, and thus acquire new qualities. For its novel and fresh view, the presented conversation analysis of Internet Relay Chat together with the reconsideration of (im)politeness in this medium will be especially valuable to linguists, students of linguistics or to anyone else who is interested in this relatively new topic.