23. Compliments and compliment responses

Abstract

Compliments and the responses that they elicit have been widely studied in face-to-face interactions. Researchers are now turning to digital contexts, particularly social media, where complimenting is a widespread occurrence. This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the art of compliment and compliment response studies on social media. After a brief exploration of the background of compliment studies in face-to-face interaction, we provide a working definition of compliments. We then examine studies to date of complimenting behavior on social media, highlighting similarities and differences, and any emerging trends. Next, methodological and ethical considerations are explored in this relatively new area of study. Finally, we comment on directions that future research could take.

Strategies of positive evaluation in computer-mediated communication

“…It may not be so surprising on YouTube, where in fact the complimenter does not address the complimentee directly, and similar tendencies were found in Facebook communication. As Placencia and Lower (2016) suggest, the anonymity afforded by the online environment allows users to feel comfortable breaking the usual rules of conversation and politeness. Unafraid of losing their real-life face, they are free to ignore compliments and indulge in self-praise.…”

“…A great amount of attention has been given to (im)politeness within computermediated communication in various settings, using data from different language backgrounds and practices (see for example the special issue of the Journal of Politeness Research from 2010 or Placencia and Lower 2016). Similarly to the research of linguistic politeness, computer-mediated communication research has undergone some moves.…”

Quejas, cumplidos y elogios online: Reseñas de hoteles en la plataforma Tripadvisor

“…Además, la bibliografía especializada aborda la distinción entre cumplido explícito, implícito e indirecto (Herbert, 1989;Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 1989;Jaworski, 1995;Jucker, 2009;Placencia & Lower, 2017;Placencia & Eslami, 2020), si bien los límites no siempre quedan claros. Se entiende por explícito el cumplido realizado por el hablante y dirigido al oyente ('¡Qué majo eres!…”

“…A partir de esta definición, ha de entenderse que el indirecto no se dirige al oyente sino a un tercero ('Tu novio es guapísimo'). Según Placencia y Lower (2017), el término indirecto se ha empleado, en realidad, en los dos sentidos: cuando el hablante no dice de forma explícita el motivo del cumplido, sino que este ha de inferirse (en este caso, se emplea como sinónimo de cumplido implícito), y cuando el cumplido no se dirige directamente al destinatario sino a un tercero (Placencia & Lower, 2017).…”

A Study on Javanese Learners of English and Compliment Response Strategies

“…As a result, to be regarded as a complement, an utterance must allude to something that the participants esteem highly and ascribe to the addressees [2]. Complementing behavior can develop or reinforce unity [3], [4]. Compliments can be used at any point in a conversation, including the start, middle, and end, and are frequently used as conversation openers and closings.…”