Phatic Talks of Javanese Women in Internet-Mediated-Communication: A Cyberpragmatics Perspective

Abstract

Javanese women perform peculiar strategies in conducting phatic talks in internet-mediated communication (IMC). The Javanese cultural norm boundaries influence the strategies of phatic speech act and their politeness strategies in IMC. Therefore, the types of phatic talks and the politeness strategies attached to each type of phatic talk are interesting to explore. The source of data for this qualitative research was the five WhatsApp Group (WAG). The data were 252 phatic talks taken from the IMC virtual texts of Javanese women. The respondents were 66 Javanese women aged between 20-50 who are members of the WAGs. The observation method is applied to collect the data. The virtual texts with the virtual tokens that occurred were transcribed for textual analysis. The Cyberpragmatics approach along with the Javanese politeness maxims was implemented for data analysis. The types of phatic talks found in IMC are classified into greetings, congratulations, compliments, condolences, supports, and jokes. Politeness strategies performed by Javanese women in IMC have specific characteristics based on the traditional Javanese politeness maxims of Kurmat (Respect), Tepa Selira (Tolerance), Andhap Asor (Humility), Empan Papan (Self-Awareness), and Grapyak (Friendliness). The IMC phatic talks among Javanese women are the strategy to maintain a social bond. To this extent, the phatic talks are not only a strategy of ice-breaking but also an expression of personality identification of Javanese women who ought to be friendly and caring in all circumstances. Therefore, the phatic talks in IMC might not only a means for social networking but also a strategy to preserve the cultural identity of Javanese women.