A formação de vínculos sociais na comunicação virtual qual a contribuição da teoria da polidez e da expressão de postura?

Abstract

In Cyberpragmatics, the field of Pragmatics that analyzes interactions in the digital environment, the use of phatic language is considered prominent. Because it is related to membership, connectivity, and the formation of social bonds, the phatic culture incites its users to constantly validate the other as an interlocutor, as well as to seek social approval. Drawing from this framework, this study aims to investigate how / if the formation of phatic effects is associated with stance-taking, and with the acknowledgment of the principles of politeness. To investigate this, we analyzed the interactions that took place in a professional training forum, developed within a teacher training course, offered by a Brazilian Federal University. In our data, the speech acts identified revealed concern of the forum participants with strengthening group membership and with being acknowledged as competent speakers. Data analysis has also suggested that the participants met the expectations of the verbal behavior required by the communicative situation, which, in the case of the forums, was associated with the acknowledgment of the interlocutor, as well as with enriching social contact. Furthermore, from the phatic viewpoint, the complexity of the digital interaction has revealed that the phatic culture may transcend the exchange of affective and/or insubstantial communication to become an inherent feature of the digital environment