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(Im)politeness and Moral Order in Online Interactions
Edited by Chaoqun Xie
[Benjamins Current Topics 107] 2020
► pp. 149–173

The meta-conventionalisation and moral order of e-practices

A Japanese case study

This study overviews the phenomenon of the meta-conventionalisation of interpersonal practices in the context of computer-mediated communication. The term ‘meta-conventionalisation’ refers to the coding of the conventional interpersonal practices of a particular group, or various groups, in the form of entertainment as films and novels. The word ‘meta’ refers to the fact that such pieces of artwork narrate a set of conventional practices from a quasi-observer point of view, without involving their audience in these practices as language users – in this sense they are different from good practice guides (typically described as ‘netiquette, in the context of e-pragmatics), which assume that readers will internalise the practices they describe. Meta-conventionalisation has been an understudied phenomenon, in spite of representing an important aspect of our daily lives. We illustrate how this phenomenon operates by examining a Japanese case study: a popular novel which features the online interactions of a group of otaku, that is, asocial young people who lock themselves up and interact in highly specific ways.
Keywords: meta-conventionalisation, interpersonal interaction, conventional practices, moral order, Japanese, otaku
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background: Previous research on meta-conventionalisation & Japanese e-language, and the data studied
    • 2.1Meta-conventionalisation
    • 2.2Research on Japanese e-language
    • 2.3Data
  • 3.Analysis
  • 4.Concluding remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 4 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.107.ip.00016.kad
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