Olushola Ebenezer Oyadiji

The study seeks to further the line of inquiries into the conceptualisation, use and interpretation of politeness in human interactions. Its aim is to explicate politeness in the interactions of Netizens in Nigerian news-based virtual communities: a relatively new and expanding community of language users. Its data are to be collected through observation and capture of reactions to online news items from these multicultural virtual communities generated by online news agencies, purposively sampled to represent the Nigerian geo-political zones and political ideologies, over a period of two years. The data are to be subjected to qualitative analysis based on an eclectic analytical framework suffused with insights from Lim and Bowers’ model of Face Theory, Sociopragmatic Interactional Principles, Face Negotiation and Rapport Management, Netiquette and Neuliep’s model of Context. Conclusions based on the findings shall form the basis of its recommendations to future researchers and Netizens in the Nigerian cyberspace.