THE TRANSFORMATION OF POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN DIGITAL DISCOURSE: A PRAGMATIC ANALYSIS

Sarimsakova Shoira Ulugbek qizi (PhD., Senior teacher National University of Uzbekistan, The faculty of Foreign Philology.)

International Journal of Literature and Language Studies
Vol. 5 No. 6 (2026): International Journal of Literature and Language Studies

This article investigates how politeness strategies are changing in the digital age due to the rise of online communication. While traditional politeness relies on face-to-face cues like tone of voice and gestures, digital communication lacks these physical elements. Using a corpus of 45,000 words from academic and social media interactions, this article analyzes how people adapt. The results show that digital politeness is a highly structured system. Interlocutors systematically use emojis as pragmatic softeners to reduce the bluntness of text messages. Additionally, the study identifies chronemic hedging intentionally delaying responses as a new way to show respect for another person’s time.