Abstract
Considering the popularity of Twitter in digital diplomacy, this paper explores how international politicians enhance sociability by performing online compliments and praise. Drawing on 480 amicable actions collected from 14 accounts of foreign-affair actors, we analyze the prevalence, content, form, and functions of diplomatic expressions of positive evaluation. Our findings indicate that although having important functions on interpersonal, national, and international levels, compliments and praise are uncommon actions in digital diplomacy. We suggest that the lack of diplomatic “approbation protocol” and the perils of context collapse on Twitter encourage international actors to perform solidarity by other means. We also propose that the mediated and diplomatic contexts extend the traditional definition of compliments and blur differences in cultural speaking styles.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Complimenting Behavior and (Self-)Praise across Social Media. New contexts and new insights |
| Editors | Maria Elena Placencia, Zohreh R. Eslami |
| Publisher | John Benjamins Publishing Company |
| Pages | 165-185 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789027260727 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2020 |
Publication series
| Name | Pragmatics and Beyond New Series |
|---|---|
| Volume | 313 |
| ISSN (Print) | 0922-842X |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:8. This research is supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant No. 987/61). We would like to extend our gratitude to Mia Schreiber, Sapir Cohen, Lee Aldar, and Yossi David for assisting in the data collection and analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Keywords
- Compliments
- Context collapse
- Digital diplomacy
- Political discourse
- Praise
- Public speech acts