Positive Business Communication: Means of Harmonizing Communication in Commercial Group Chats

Internet communication and its genres are one of the most relevant issues of modern linguistics. Genres of Internet communication are in constant development. Internet chats started as a platform of phatic communication that provided leisure activities. These days, group chats serve a lot of purposes. For instance, commercial group chats are aimed at online buying and selling. This research focused on two Viber commercial chats that united women-customers and sellers from the city of Saratov (2021–2023). The discursive analysis revealed conflict-free environment, which is not typical of phatic chats, where anonymity usually contributes to the violation of communication and ethical standards. The authors identified the means of harmonizing communication that communicants resorted to for effective interaction. The participants created a benevolent atmosphere by using hypocoristic proper names, emoticons, complementarity, etc. Etiquette genres of greetings, gratitude, compliments, congratulations, and wishes resulted in a balanced communication. Tactics of conflict prevention included solidarity, mitigation, e.g., diminutives, reminders, concern for the addressee, assessment, courtesy, humor, etc. The resulting communicative attraction contributed to effective communication between sellers and buyers. The positive communication experience in such chats may improve the real communication.

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