Politeness Strategies in Online Conversations From a Wechat Group

Focusing on the social phenomenon of politeness in daily communication, this study tackles the online language occurring in a Wechat group from the perspective of politeness strategies. The selected chat transcripts are categorized in to five types based on the criterion of different communicative purposes, naming exchanging information, expressing gratitude, offering help, requesting, and demanding & warning. The analysis indicates that positive politeness strategies and negative politeness strategies are prevalent in online communication. Besides, they are proved to be powerful instruments to reduce the risk of face threatening acts and maintain a harmonious social relationship.

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