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"How may I help you?" Politeness in Computer-Mediated and Face-to-Face Library Reference Transactions
Abstract
Drawing upon Wittgenstein’s theory of language games, we apply a pragmatic
approach to organizational communication. The study extends current theories of computer-mediated
communication, and explores how language actually gets used across media. We conduct a comparative
study of face-to-face versus computer-mediated reference transactions in an academic library, and
analyze people’s use of politeness strategies. The study observes that people use politeness
strategies to play different language games across media, and that a dynamic interplay exists
among the three constituents of language games: sense making, language use, and forms of life. In
particular, we found that: First, people use significantly more negative politeness strategies and
fewer positive politeness strategies online than face-to-face. Second, language use influences
people’s understanding and precedes practical forms of life. Third, CMC is a different form of
life than a face-to-face communication. The new online form of life shapes people’s sense making
and the way they use language, resulting in emerging new grammars of CMC. Finally, our findings
suggest the interplay among multiple forms of life. This study offers important theoretical and
managerial implications for organizational communication and the production and delivery of
services in the rapidly expanding digital economy.
Published January 2007 (Volume 17, Issue 4) in:
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