Understanding Impolite Utterances on Facebook in Kenya: A Cyberpragmatic Approach

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the different pragmatic strategies that Kenyans use to understand impolite utterances on Facebook. Research shows that impoliteness is common in today’s society. For example, in the political arena, Kenyan politicians use both positive and negative Face Threatening Acts (FTAs) to convey their agendas. This highlights the significance of language choices in communication. Additionally, parliamentarians utilize both positive and negative politeness strategies to ensure effective communication within the National Assembly. This approach helps mitigate threats to face and emphasizes the importance of linguistic politeness in promoting harmonious interactions. Research shows that individuals who communicate online tend to display more aggressive and antagonistic behaviors. Online platforms often provide users the opportunity to behave unpleasantly. In the context of cyberbullying among university students, strategies such as blocking offenders, pursuing legal action, and enhancing online security are employed to combat this issue. These proactive measures aim to address the impoliteness commonly found in digital interactions, highlighting that online communication typically exhibits higher levels of impoliteness compared to face-to-face communication. Using the inferential cognitive and social cognitive systems in Escandell-Vidal’s (2004) theory of impoliteness, the study qualitatively analyzed data. Findings indicate that both the inferential cognitive and social cognitive systems work simultaneously in the interpretation of impoliteness on Facebook.