The Pragmatic Structure of the Responsive Message and the Typology of Feedback Forms in the Blog Text

Abstract

The article provides a linguistic analysis of various types of feedback in accordance with their pragmatic role and functional load in the format of interlocutors’ blog interaction. In the context of blog communication, dialogical relationships between senders and recipients of stimulating messages, which are a prerequisite for the exchange of opinions, are based on the respondent’s planned feedback. The differences between explicit and implicit feedback with stimulating messages are revealed. A working hypothesis is put forward that in blog communication, in comparison with oral spontaneous communication, implicit feedback plays a more constructive role and has a specific functional load due to the respondent’s delayed (asynchronous) response to the stimulus, the reactive activation of the means of establishing and maintaining phatic contact with the interlocutor and the subjective detailing of the dictal and/or modus content of the stimulating message. Due to the time and/or spatial distance between the interlocutors, as well as the presence of multiple respondents, feedback is predetermined by the addressee’s expectations regarding the planned interaction, and not by the fact of mutual recognition of individual intentions that characterize oral spontaneous communication. The projected response and mental representations of an imaginary responsive respondent shed light on the pragmatic differences between stimulating and responsive messages, through which the participants of the communication plan to continue the exchange of information and emotions. The repertoire of communicative strategies that acquire essential importance in the process of overcoming the problems of establishing and maintaining feedback in computer-mediated communication is determined. The current aspects of designing the interfaces of blogging platforms that influence the pragmatic contexts of feedback implementation are discussed. It is established that in blog interaction, when initiating a stimulating judgment, the lack of feedback can be a natural phenomenon that does not affect the effectiveness of communication. This idea confirms the hypothesis put forward and outlines the prospects for research.