College Students’ Use of Impoliteness Expression in the WeChat Diction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate college students’ use of impoliteness expressions in WeChat diction and what factors influence college students’ use of impoliteness expressions. In-depth interview was used. The chatting records of a large WeChat group with 134 members—Hubin 12 Housings’ 2021 graduate Management group in a comprehensive university in Wuhan in the latest month were analyzed. 10 college students who were members of that WeChat group were interviewed. The interview was related to their inner activities when using impoliteness expressions and what factors could influence their use of impoliteness expressions. The results showed that college students were more likely to use motivated impoliteness, informational impoliteness and strategic impoliteness. College students’ use of impoliteness expressions were influenced by gender, social status and the relationship between the speaker and the hearer. The paper could provide a new study area for researchers. It will attract researchers’ attention on the use of impolite language, especially among different roles of people in society.