Phaticity and politeness in of YouTube video tutorials

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate how/if phatic communication (Zuckerman, 2016) serves to foster the production of non-official verdicts (Austin, 1975; Labinaz; Sbisà, 2021; Locher; Watts, 2005; Miller, 2008) in YouTube tutorial videos. The data were collected in April and May 2020 among the most watched videos in the field of basic informational technology. The analysis followed the qualitative method, and aimed at identifying the resources linked to relational politeness and phatic language in the veredicts. Our results revealed that the verdicts were performed in these videos with the aim of legitimizing the information imparted, which was also done together with the resources associated with politeness and relational work. The role of phatic communication was also asserted in the data as a significant feature of non-official communication in the digital sphere.