Politeness Principles in Online Political Discourse: A Pragmatic Analysis of YouTube Comments on the Turkish President’s Speech
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37108/ukazh.v2i1.2401Keywords:
Politeness principles, Online political discourse, Pragmatics, YouTube comments, Political solidarityAbstract
This study investigates linguistic politeness in YouTube comments responding to the Turkish President’s speech at the Palestine Solidarity Rally, as published on the TRT Arabi YouTube channel. As social media increasingly serves as a space for political discourse, studies examining linguistic politeness in online political interactions remain limited. Therefore, this study aims to identify the forms of linguistic politeness employed in the comments and examine their role in constructing political solidarity in digital communication. This study employs a qualitative descriptive approach using Geoffrey Leech’s Politeness Principle as its theoretical framework. The data consist of linguistic expressions found in comments posted on the TRT Arabi YouTube channel and were collected through the non-participatory observation method. The data were analyzed through qualitative linguistic analysis based on Leech’s politeness theory. The findings reveal that 105 comments comply with Leech’s politeness principles, comprising one instance of the modesty maxim, ten of the tact maxim, twenty-one of the agreement maxim, twenty-eight of the sympathy maxim, and forty-five of the approbation maxim. The results indicate that linguistic politeness in comments on the TRT Arabi YouTube channel contributes to the construction of positive discourse surrounding the President of Turkey and represents widespread support for the Palestinian struggle. This study argues that linguistic politeness functions not only as an implementation of social norms but also as a political strategy for fostering collective cohesion in digital spaces.
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