Politeness Strategies

Politeness Strategies Used by Indonesian Chatters in Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

The purpose of this study is to find out politeness strategies used by Indonesian chatters in the discourse of online environment specifically in IRC channels. This study investigates three downloaded data of written conversations or messages in the IRC.

The data were collected by logging in into an IRC channel, which is #Caféislam, for approximately two hours and then copying the conversations or messages written by the Indonesian chatters in the channel into the computer hard disk.

The written conversations or messages that are taken as data are only the one containing face-threatening act (FTA). The data are analyzed using Brown and Levinson’s theory of politeness strategy (1987). Based on Brown and Levinson’s model of politeness strategy (1987), the politeness strategies used in chat conversations to reduce the FTA are grouped into four main strategies: Bald on Record, Positive Politeness, Negative Politeness, and Off-the-Record.

The results of the analysis show that bald on record strategy is most widely used by Indonesian chatters in IRC. It may happen due to the setting of the conversation that is the cyber world where the people communicate there may not really know each other and they may never meet in the ‘real’ world. It can be said that there is almost no boundary for everyone to say what they want to say.

Ima Khalimatus Sa’diyah

Keywords: Internet Relay Chat (IRC), chatting in IRC, Indonesian chatters, politeness strategies, face-threatening act.