Face, Morality, and Politeness in Cross-Cultural WhatsApp and Campus Interactions: Implications for Inclusive Education (SDG 4)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63230/jocsis.3.4.338Keywords:
Face and Morality, Intercultural Communication, Politeness, Sociopragmatics, WhatsApp CommunicationAbstract
Objective: To examine how university students from diverse ethnic backgrounds negotiate face and moral expectations through politeness responses in WhatsApp and related campus interactions, and what these practices imply for inclusive education in support of SDG 4. Method: A qualitative descriptive design with sociopragmatic discourse analysis was applied to 107 interaction excerpts from students at universities in Malang, covering WhatsApp chats and face-to-face talk among peers, between students and lecturers, and between juniors and senior organisation members. Speech acts, politeness strategies, and moral evaluations were coded. Results: Politeness responses varied with the relationship between interlocutors. Peers relied on positive politeness, humour, and regional address terms to build solidarity, whereas students writing to lecturers combined religious greetings, self-identification, regional deference markers such as Tabe, and apologies for imposing. Face threats were mitigated through explanations, circumstance-based refusals, and repair. These choices reflected moral evaluations of respect, reluctance to impose, solidarity, inclusiveness, and conditional honesty. Novelty: The study integrates face and moral order in one analytic frame for Indonesian cross-cultural digital and campus talk and links pragmatic competence to SDG 4 (targets 4.7 and 4.a), with supporting relevance for SDG 10 and SDG 16.
References
Afzaal, M., Xiao, S., & El-Dakhs, D. A. S. (2024). A comprehensive bibliometric analysis of speech acts in international journals (2013–2023). Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2380556. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2380556
Aritonang, D. R., Dewi, S. N., & Nurhaida, N. (2025). Language politeness of Indonesian language education study program students via WhatsApp social media: A pragmatic study. Jurnal Hata Poda, 4(1), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.24952/hatapoda.v4i1.16983
Arundale, R. B. (2024). Facing differences in conceptualizing "face" in everyday interacting. Intercultural Pragmatics, 21(4), 477–505. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2024-4001
Bibi, F., & Hamida, L. (2024). Exploring communication patterns among international students in Indonesia: A study using communication accommodation theory. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2397188. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2397188
Bibi, F., & Sartini, N. W. (2023). Gender and social power dynamics in compliment responses: A cross-cultural pragmatic study of university students in Indonesia and Pakistan. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 10(1), 2262076. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2023.2262076
Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.
Burnette, J., & Calude, A. S. (2022). Wake up New Zealand! Directives, politeness and stance in Twitter #Covid19NZ posts. Journal of Pragmatics, 196, 6–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2022.05.002
Bustam, M. R., Syihabuddin, S., & Saifullah, A. R. (2024). Analysis of language politeness in students and lecturer interactions on WhatsApp group: A pragmatic approach. Apollo Project: Jurnal Ilmiah Program Studi Sastra Inggris, 13(1), 65–78. https://doi.org/10.34010/apollo.v13i1.12399
Culpeper, J. (2011). Impoliteness: Using language to cause offence. Cambridge University Press.
Culpeper, J., & Tantucci, V. (2021). The principle of (im)politeness reciprocity. Journal of Pragmatics, 175, 146–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.01.008
Daar, G. F., Beratha, N. L. S., Suastra, I. M., & Sukarini, N. W. (2023). The off-record politeness strategy and cultural values of the Belis negotiation speech event: A sociopragmatic study. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), 626–636. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v12i3.48746
Febrianti, M., & Yuneva, Y. (2023). An analysis of students' politeness strategies in WhatsApp group interaction. Edu-Ling: Journal of English Education and Linguistics, 6(2), 206–215. https://doi.org/10.32663/edu-ling.v6i2.3508
Federici, A. (2025). The pragmatics of online healthcare communication: Politeness strategies in an anxiety and depression support community. Journal of Pragmatics, 246, 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2025.06.010
Ghaderi, S. (2025). How Ta'ārof works: Ritual politeness and social hierarchy in Persian communication. Intercultural Pragmatics, 22(3), 509–544. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2025-3004
Giles, H., Coupland, N., & Coupland, J. (1991). Accommodation theory: Communication, context, and consequence. In H. Giles, J. Coupland, & N. Coupland (Eds.), Contexts of accommodation: Developments in applied sociolinguistics (pp. 1–68). Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction ritual: Essays on face-to-face behavior. Anchor Books.
Gretenkort, T., & Tylén, K. (2021). The dynamics of politeness: An experimental account. Journal of Pragmatics, 185, 118–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.09.003
Haristiani, N., Septiana, A., Mohd. Nor, N. F., & Nagata, R. (2023). The politeness of criticism speech acts in Japanese and Minangkabau films. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 13(1), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v13i1.58272
Haugh, M. (2015). Im/politeness implicatures. De Gruyter Mouton.
House, J., & Kádár, D. Z. (2023). A new critique of the binary first- and second-order distinction in politeness research. Journal of Pragmatics, 213, 145–158. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2023.06.001
Ide, S. (1989). Formal forms and discernment: Two neglected aspects of universals of linguistic politeness. Multilingua, 8, 223-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/mult.1989.8.2-3.223
Ismail, W., Ahmad Kamal, M. A., Azram, A. A. R., Zulkifli, N., & Johari, N. L. (2023). Politeness strategies used by students in communicating through WhatsApp. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 8(10), e002561. https://doi.org/10.47405/mjssh.v8i10.2561
Kádár, D. Z., & Haugh, M. (2013). Understanding politeness. Cambridge University Press.
Kádár, D. Z., & House, J. (2021). Interaction ritual and (im)politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 179, 54–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2021.04.021
Kathukya, F. M., Wanyama, J. K., & M'Ngaruthi, T. K. (2025). Riding with respect: Politeness in conversation between bodaboda riders and their clients in Mbooni Sub-County, Makueni, Kenya. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2504920. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2504920
Kecskes, I., & Dinh, H. (2025). "ChatGPT for intercultural pragmatic learning? Potentially, but not yet" – The question of using AI to develop students' intercultural pragmatic competence. Intercultural Pragmatics, 22(2), 369–397. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2025-2008
König, K. (2024). Transmodal messenger interaction: Analysing the sequentiality of text and audio postings in WhatsApp chats. Discourse, Context & Media, 62, 100818. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2024.100818
Maharani, W. W., Arasuli, A., & Kurniawan, I. (2022). The forms of politeness applied by English students in communication to their thesis advisor lecturers via WhatsApp. Journal of English Education and Teaching, 6(3), 417–432. https://doi.org/10.33369/jeet.6.3.417-432
Maíz-Arevalo, C. (2024). Sharing is caring: An ethnographic approach to Spanish WhatsApp groups. Journal of Pragmatics, 226, 78–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2024.03.016
Marmorstein, M. (2021). Displaying consideration via EHM ('uhm') in Hebrew WhatsApp dialogues. Discourse, Context & Media, 41, 100471. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2021.100471
Monson, S. (2022). Pampering customers with sweet talk: Negotiating politeness and (mock) conflict talk in Akan marketplace bargaining. Journal of Pragmatics, 191, 240–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2022.02.004
Mulyono, Laksono, K., Wuryaningrum, R., & Cahyo, A. A. R. (2025). The application of politeness principles in speech acts in the 2024 presidential election debate. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2495479. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2495479
Revita, I., Oktavianus, O., Zalfikhe, F. A., & Syaputri, W. (2025). Cultural nuances in pre-request speech acts: A pragmatic analysis of the Minangkabau language. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2449285. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2449285
Singh, R., Singh, K. K., & Kundra, S. (2024). Negative and positive politeness strategies in the syntactic structures and hedging devices used in conversation in Bua Fiji Hindi. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 11(1), 2424605. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2024.2424605
Spencer-Oatey, H. (2008). Culturally speaking: Culture, communication and politeness theory (2nd ed.). Continuum.
Sudar, S., Sukarni, S., Setiyono, J., Widoyoko, S. E. P., & Irianto, S. (2025). Language politeness in EFL student-lecturer interactions through technology-assisted communication. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(1), 171–182. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v15i1.69949
Triyono, S., Sahayu, W., & Yuliana, F. (2026). Politeness and impoliteness by teachers and students in technology-assisted teaching and learning process. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 15(2), 320–331. https://doi.org/10.17509/azngyy22
United Nations. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/70/1). United Nations. https://sdgs.un.org/2030agenda
van Dorst, I., Gillings, M., & Culpeper, J. (2024). Sociopragmatic variation in Britain: A corpus-based study of politeness. Journal of Pragmatics, 227, 37–56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2024.04.009
Zulkarnain, I., Asmara, S., & Sutatminingsih, R. (2023). Tutur: Language and traditional communication in the Mandailing community, Indonesia. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 10(1), 2211816. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2023.2211816
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2027 Journal of Current Studies in SDGs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
