The ironic impoliteness speech act on digital social network Facebook

Although manifestations of courtesy and discourtesy have been studied in the context of face-to-face conversation and virtual conversation, there is still a gap in the studies regarding discourtesy, especially in the virtual world. Note the absence of a study of verbal and nonverbal elements in online interactions that trigger discourtesy. As a criterion for choosing the corpus in this article, we sought examples of impoliteness arising from the use of irony in a group of the Facebook social network and, based on the examples, we realized the need to discuss the Politeness Principle and the General Politeness Strategies by Leech (1983; 2014). Through the analysis of some examples, it is observed that the use of irony in interaction is a crucial factor for impoliteness manifestations in interaction. To understand the dynamics of a virtual conversation, we find theoretical support in Speech Act Theory, Austin ( 1990 [1969]), Searle (2002 [1979]) and Cooperative Principle by Grice (1982 [1975]). Therefore, Pragmatics will provide theoretical support for this article, as it considers language as an action and as the product of an intention within a specific sociocultural and situational context.