Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

Politeness and Social Dynamics in the Chat Communication 119
suspended and chatters create with that a partial commitment and closeness in
their social relationships.
These responses may relate to what in conversational analysis has been
designated as ratifying activities (‘Ratifizierungsaktivitäten’; cf. Brinker & Sager
2001:87). They indicate the acceptance and validity of the participants’
contributions. However, a specific form of this type of activities, which is
fundamental for analyzing politeness in chats, refers not only to accepting and
validating other chatters’ utterances but also evaluating them positively. I am
talking about activities of special treatment (‘Honorierungsaktivitäten’; cf.
ibid:155) that represent a salient communicative behaviour in chats and are one of
the forms in which politeness is expressed in the medium. In the next section, I
will illustrate this with some examples.
4. Politeness and social dynamics in chat communication
Before the beginning of the following episode, the chatters Zarte30 and
!nickshicks! establish their first contact in a superficial and playful way.
However, during the ongoing interaction, both participants show, by means of
activities of special treatment, a higher commitment, friendliness and closeness in
their relationships.
(3) Example 3 (recording 21_30.08.01 episode 1)
802 !nickshicks! :
803 *g* wollte mich gerade verabschieden ;o) [20:42:21]
“*g* I just wanted to say goodbye ;o)”
[...]
854 Zarte30 :
855 Bleib doch noch nickshicks [20:43:02]
“do stay a little longer nickshicks”
[...]
894 !nickshicks! :
895 na bei einer so netten Aufforderung zarte [20:43:35]
“well with such a nice request zarte”
[...]
953 Zarte30 :
954 schön nickshicks.... [20:44:37]
“that’s nice nickshicks....”
[...]
The first activity of special treatment can be observed in !nickshicks!’s
contribution (“well with such a nice request”, l.895), which evaluates Zarte30’s
communicative behaviour positively. In this message, the participant expresses at
the same time his intention to continuing the exchange with her. Zarte30’s request
at the beginning of the episode indicates a certain interest and liking for the
chatter. However, not only this can be considered as an expression of politeness in