MA, University of Cincinnati, 2022, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This study examines the facework of three American, male streamers (Ninja, Pchooly, and Dr. Disrespect) to determine if any common strategies exist after losing in a video game in front of an audience. By examining popular stream highlights of losses available on Twitch Tracker or compilations of losses posted on YouTube, this thesis project explores the verbal and non-verbal reactions of the loser and are then categorized for either preventative or restorative facework. The results revealed more restorative forms of facework for these streamers and imply that members of individualistic cultures use more restorative facework strategies. This study also argues that these streamers might be engaging in egregious behavior in order to gain more attention and followers, and therefore, more revenue earned through subscriptions or donations. Future studies should analyze the reactions non-Western, non-male subjects to determine how these reactions might differ, as well as examine streams in their entirety and not rely on highlights, as this project has.

Committee: Eric Jenkins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Evan Torner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Nancy Jennings Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures

Politeness and facework are important aspects of communication that vary from culture to culture. They are influenced by factors such as the degree of social distance, the relative power of the participants, and the type of imposition or face-threatening act present in any given situation. Due to variation in the implementation of politeness and facework across cultures, locutions that may be interpreted as polite in one culture may be taken as rude in another, or they may simply fail to communicate the desired illocutionary force. This study investigates how differences in power, distance, and weight of imposition influence the choice of facework strategies across three participants groups: speakers of American English, Russian speakers residing in Russia, and Russian emigres in the U.S. It evaluates their use of politeness by having them envision 12 social situations and write an email, text message, or dialogue as if they were actual participants in the situations presented. These responses were evaluated and categorized for each cultural group using Brown and Levinson's (1987) politeness theory. Then the data for the three cultural groups were compared against each other to determine similarities or differences in the use of politeness and, in particular, to evaluate how differential power, distance and weight of imposition affected each group's production of facework. The responses of the Russian-American participant group were also specially evaluated to assess whether there was any effect of L2 influence on their production of politeness and facework in their L1. The results of this study indicate that the use of positive politeness across the participant groups was relatively similar, while the use of negative politeness had more noticeable differences. In addition, the Russian-American groups did demonstrate clear L2 influence on their use of politeness and facework in the L1, but also diverged from both the American and Russian groups in some asp (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Daniel Collins (Advisor); Brian Joseph (Committee Member); Donald Winford (Committee Member) Subjects: Linguistics