Membership Categorization Devices as Discursive Strategies for Managing Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

Managing Asynchronous CMC

MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIZATION DEVICES AS DISCURSIVE STRATEGIESFOR MANAGING ASYNCHRONOUS COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION1

Cynthia B. Correo2 and Soumen Mukherjee3

2. Assistant Professor/Literature and Language Studies Department /Ateneo de NagaUniversity, Naga City, Philippines.Cell No.: +639199874440 Email: [email protected]

3. Associate Professor/ General Management & Communication Area/ Alliance University, Bangalore, India.

Email: [email protected] ===========================================================================

ABSTRACT

The study explores the membership category devices that Filipino participants

deploy to manage virtual conversation in an asynchronous online discussion forum.

Anchored on Walther’s (1992) social information processing (SIP) theory, the study

combines Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974) conversational analysis (CA) and

Sacks’s (1992) membership category analysis (MCA) model in analyzing the three

comment threads with 169 postings from a web-based discussion board. The data

reveal that the interactants primarily used their knowledge of the socio-cultural and

political constructs influencing their interaction to manage their e-discourse efficiently

just like in FtF interaction. The dominant membership categorization devices (MCDs)

rotate on the (a) topic orientation, (b) goal orientation, (c) political orientation, and (d)

1 Pre-publication copy of the article published in Humanities Circle, Volume 2, Issue 2, July 2014, pp. 85-134, Central University of Kerala, India. ISSN 2321-8010

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


cultural orientation of the online participants. The study lends support to Walther’s

(1992) SIP theory that in a discussion forum, a hybrid e-discourse exhibiting features of

spoken and written discourses, the Filipino interact ants effectively utilize discourse

strategies, the operation of MCDs in this study, just like in naturally occurring

interactions to ensure successful communication.

Keywords: social information processing theory, conversation analysis, membershipcategorization analysis, computer-mediated communication, asynchronous onlinediscussion forum

1.0 Introduction

A recent theory of interest to Computer-Mediated Communication

(CMC) scholars is Walther’s (1992, 1996) Social Information

Processing (SIP) theory which posits that despite the absence of non-

verbal clues in CMC, online interlocutors adjust to the system’s

features and form social impressions that enable them to develop

human relationships, comparable to those established through face-to-

face (FtF) interactions. This main argument contradicts earlier CMC

theories dubbed by Culnan (1987 in Walther 1992) as “cues-filtered-

out perspectives” with their focus on the lack of nonverbal cues as a

cause of more task-oriented, self-absorbed, less receptive CMC (see

Walther, 1992 for a historical overview of CMC studies in the

1980’s). SIP claims that through verbal cues CMC users can create

fully formed impressions of others solely on the linguistic content

of computer-mediated message as these cues make lucid the online

participants’ individual and social identities even in the presence

of anonymity (Walther & Parks, 2002).

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Contemporary scholars (e.g., Choo, Austin & Renshaw, 2007;

Egbert, 2003; Fitzgerald, Housley, Butler, 2009; Gibson, 2009; Ten

Have, 1999) believe that through the combined methods of

conversational analysis (CA) and membership categorization analysis

(MCA), verbal cues such as membership categories and categorization

devices which facilitate coherence of CMC are traceable in virtual

talk-in-interaction. Antaki and Widdicombe (1998) contend that a

researcher can define a person’s “identity”, whether he or she is the

person speaking, being spoken to, or being spoken about, by casting

him or her into a category associated with certain characteristics or

features such as behaviors, beliefs, feelings, and roles. Hence, a

sizable number of studies have already utilized the methodological

combination of CA and MCA to explore membership categorization

devices, contributing to an understanding of how identities and

cultural context are captured in virtual conversations (e.g., Adkins

& Grant, 2007; Choo et al., 2007; Fitzgerald et al., 2009; Gibson,

2009; Gibson, 2010; Lamerich & te Molder, 2003; Lawson, 2008;

Sneijder & te Molder, 2005; Ten Have, 1999).

Majority of these studies focused on warranting the participants’

individual and group identities as reflected in the talk data and the

investigation of how online participants tactically maneuver the

system’s features and the operative Membership Category Devices (MCD)

to discursively leverage social interactions in the virtual

environment. Nevertheless, CMC scholarship on e-discourse management

has remained to be a less chartered academic territory (Anderson,

Beard, & Walther, 2010) and the dearth in this area is more strongly

felt in the Philippine context.

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Given the importance that CMC plays in the daily interaction

with others especially with people from different cultural

backgrounds, significant insights can be gained from an awareness of

how membership categorization devices are tactically utilized to

balance the functional and interactional demands of conversation.

Thus, the present study contributes to the burgeoning scholarly work

in the field of computer-mediated communication by drawing out from

established theoretical frameworks within the sphere of discourse

analysis, that is, Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson’s (1974)

conversational analysis model with its complementary strand, Sacks’s

(1992) membership categorization analysis. Arguably, in a discussion

forum, a hybrid e-discourse exhibiting features of spoken and written

discourses, interactants effectively utilize MCDs as discourse

strategies just like in naturally occurring interactions to ensure

successful communication.

2. Frameworks

2.1 Social Information Processing Theory

Social Information Processing (SIP) Theory (Walther, 1992)

challenges the view that CMC is incapable of producing meaningful

social relationships in cybernetic milieu (Daft & Lengel, 1986;

Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976 in Griffin, 2009; Siegel,

Dubrofsky, Keisler, & Mcquire, 1986; Walther, 1992, 1996). SIP

recognizes that the pace of development of online interpersonal

relationship may require more time but once forged, web-based social

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relationships may demonstrate the same relational dimensions and

qualities as that of FtF. The theory further asserts that online

communication experiences may even help facilitate relationships that

may not have been formed in FtF environments due to intercultural

differences and geographical challenges (Okdie, Guadagno, Bernieri,

Geers, & Mclarney-Vesotski, 2011; Walther, 1992, 1996, 2005, 2007).

According to Walther (1992), CMC users deploy discursive and

interpersonal strategies adapted to the available cues provided by

the medium, making the language content and style as primary channels

of interpersonal communication. The theory implies that an online

interactant who has devoted adequate time and experience in CMC can

manage satisfactorily a conversation in a similar fashion with FtF

communication by strategically adjusting to the channel’s

advantageous features (Anderson et al., 2010; De Luna, 2011; Okdie et

al., 2011; Walther, 1992).

2.2 Conversation and Membership Category Analyses of Computer-

Mediated Discourse

A growing number of studies from social sciences have examined

the details of online interaction using a combination of CA and MCA

as methodological framework. These studies riveted on either online

chats or online discussion forums inform the present study by their

findings on how membership categorization devices are captured in the

way the participants manage their turns and how these categories

provide what Ten Have (1999) called as reading paths, categories that

significantly improve the intelligibility of the conversation.

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Several studies (e.g., Choo et al., 2007; Egbert, 2003; Gibson, 2009)

demonstrate how the participants’ cultural orientation helps define

categories affecting the sequentiality of interaction. Others (i.e.,

Adkins & Grant, 2007; Antaki, Ardévol, Núñez, & Vayreda, 2005;

Housley & Fitzgerald, 2009; Lamerich & te Molder, 2003; Sneijder & te

Molder, 2005) established the ways the participants take

accountability in the way they present themselves and form categories

governing their online interaction. Fitzgerald, Housley, and Butler

(2009), on the other hand, traced the presence of omnirelevant

devices as a resource for interactional practice, manifesting the

members’ sense of their role and identity in situated interaction.

3. Methodology

This study is a descriptive-analytic study exploring the

membership categorization devices that participants deploy to manage

their asynchronous CMC. Informed by Walther’s (1992) social

information processing theory, the study employed Sacks, Schegloff,

and Jefferson’s (1974) conversational analysis framework with its

complementary strand, Sacks’s (1992) Membership Categorization

Analysis prevalently used for analyzing naturally occurring

conversation or FtF interactions to determine the way individuals use

these discursive strategies to attain the pragmatic goal of their

language.

The analysis focuses on three comment threads with 169 postings

from 22 members of a Bikol-language social group site named Bandilyo

Budyong (Public Announcement). These comments threads were

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purposively chosen from among the 166 cases posted from June to

August 2012. The three comment threads from this public-accessed

Facebook-based discussion forum were selected primarily on the basis

of their representativeness in terms of structural features typical

of discussion forums current at the time and active engagement of the

participants in the interaction. For ethical consideration, all

participants were assigned letter codes and places cited in the study

were also assigned fictitious ones since retaining their original

names allows easy identification of the involved participants in the

study particularly if the readers come from the cited places.

To collect the data, the researchers adopted a non-participant

observer approach during the data-gathering phase, conducting a

preliminary scanning of all the 166 comment threads and streamlining

the analysis to three comment threads with a total of 169 posts or

talk turns. Upon data retrieval, the data were prepared for analysis

by assigning codes to the 22 participants (A-V; A=first participant,

V=22nd participant and labeling the comment threads (CTA-CTC;

CTA=Comment Thread A, CTC=Comment Thread C). The threads were further

divided into the number of posts attached to it, with each post

treated as one turn unit. Postings that are composed of several

sentences were further divided into sentences. Each line was numbered

from 1 to the number of the last sentence and each turn was also

assigned 1 to the last number of the turns in a comment thread. A

space intentionally created by the interlocutors was also assigned a

number and so was the posting-information box displaying the time and

date the posting was done and the number of LIKES it gathered from

readers. Thus, the codes A7 and B15 pertain to speaker A (first

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participant) at turn 7 and speaker B (second participant) at turn 15.

Since the interactants in the discussion boards primarily used the

Bikol Language in their interaction with some shifting in English at

a very minimal rate, the Bikol corpus was translated to the English

language through collaboration approach involving three translators

considered highly competent users of both the Bikol and English

languages. The translated output was further subjected to translation

evaluation by two Bikolano university professors teaching English

courses. The data were analyzed using conversational and membership

categorization analyses to uncover the MCDs operant in the CMC, which

the participants utilize as discourse strategies in maintaining the

coherence of their web-based interaction.

4. Results and Discussion

The study reveals that the interactants primarily used their

knowledge of the socio-cultural and political constructs influencing

their interaction to manage their e-discourse efficiently just like

in FtF interaction. The dominant membership categorization devices

(MCDs) were identified through their (a) topical orientation, (b)

goal orientation, (c) political orientation, and (d) cultural

orientation.

4.1 Topic Orientation: Political Issues vs Non-Political Issues

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Segment 1 exhibits the initial posting (IP) for thread A for an

in-situ analysis. For ease of reading, only the English versions are

presented for the constitutive analysis.

(1) CTA-IP 1 B LET’S TALK ABOUT A NEUTRAL TOPIC THIS TIME, MY TOWNMATES:2 1

3 WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE 2-3 QUALIFICATIONS THAT A LEADER,

PARTICULARLY GOVERNMENT LEADERS, MUST POSSESS?

4

5 WE MAY ELABORATE OUR IDEAS FOR A MORE PRODUCTIVE EXCHANGE OF

OPINIONS.

6 Like ·4 · Follow post · 16 August at 02:43

The IP composed of three sentences opens up with an invitation

to discuss two to three qualifications that a leader must possess.

The first sentence introduces the main question by underscoring that

this topic is a neutral one, giving a hint that previous topics

discussed in the forum might not have been neutral. Also the intended

audience is mentioned, kahimanwa (townmates), which indicates that

most, if not all, of the members of this group site come from the

town of Paraiso. The second sentence expresses the main question

specifically requesting for the opinions of the site members on the

necessary qualifications of a government official. Remarkably, for

several days this IP elicited no response from the members even after

several attempts by B to engage other members to address the prompt,

but after 8 days the CTA-IP found its pair in the IP of CTB displayed

as segment 2.

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http://www.facebook.com/groups/BandilyoBudyong/permalink/399370316793512/


(2) CTB-IP1 K1 THE QUALIFICATIONS!

23 As K, I was led to greater reflections on the question posed by

B last week regarding the qualifications of a future community

leader particularly of Paraiso.

4 Here is my answer accompanied by credible evidence.

5 Thank you! 67 WHO IS MANUEL (MR) ROXAS89 He is businessman who is a native of Paraiso.

10 He was bo[r]n and raised in Brgy. Bathala.

11 Born on July 22, 1942 married with five (5) children.

Currently, Manuel (MR) Roxas is12 the Brgy. Captain of Bathala.13 (Post of a pamphlet highlighting MR’s educational background

from elementary grade to passing the Board Exam for Mechanical

Engineers in the Philippines, work experience, business

ventures—e.g., facilities maintenance engineer at the US

Embassy in the Phils., Chairman of the Board for MR Metal

Industries—and seminar/training participated—e.g., participant

in various sales management training held in Hong Kong,

Sweden, and AdMU, Philippines)

14 As a public servant, Manuel (MR) Roxas made significant

accomplishments as Brgy. Captain 15 of Bathala. Despite being a novice leader, he was able to

provide "streetlights" and "shorelights” as well as concrete

covered court in Barangay Bathala, amounting to several

16 millions using his own money. He supported the construction of

the concrete drainage system of the Barangay and contributed

to the progress of tourism through the improvement of Ba'haw 10

Managing Asynchronous CMCFalls flocked by both local and foreign tourists.

17 He made the Barangay a part of the Tourist Map of Camarines Sur

through the prestigious “Search for Miss and Mr. Bahaw”.1819 These are just some of his accomplishments and plans as a

community servant.20 Like · 4 Follow post · 24 August at 11:55

Evidently, the IP turned political as K complied with the

request of B for his opinions on qualities of a leader, completing

the question-answer or request-comply pairing in the discourse

structure. To clarify the notion of politics, this study adopts the

definition provided by Cambridge Advanced Online Dictionary, which

defines politics as “the activities of the government, members of the

law-making organizations, or people who try to influence the way a

country is governed.” Along this line, the IP invited a political

debate when presenting a particular person as an example of a good

leader based on the speaker’s own preference rather than the

tripartite opinion being asked in CTA-IP on good leadership.

In line 1, K typed the phrase, THE QUALIFICATIONS, in uppercase

punctuated with an exclamation point. This strategy could be seen as

a strategy for calling the attention of the site members to his

posting and react to it accordingly. He even allocated a space in

line 2 to spotlight the preface in Line 3 which might have served a

three-pronged purpose: (1) to connect the CTB-IP to CTA-IP, (2) to

introduce his answer, and (3) to thank in advance readers of and

possible reactants to the posting. Line 7 introduces the person in

question form, whom the readers may assume to be an example of a good

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government leader given the context of CTA-IP. Lines 9 to 12 make use

of the topic orientation as a membership category device (MCD) to

stir the curiosity of the readers as the sentence underscores his

being a native of the place and an incumbent government official in

one of the 18 barangays of the municipality. Lines 13 to 18 highlight

his academic and work background, and major accomplishments as a

government leader. Remarkably, the CTC-IP ends with a closing

statement that the accomplishments presented had just been a part of

the major accomplishments of the would-be candidate, suggesting that

there were other accomplishments worthy of mentioning given enough

space.

Politics as a topic orientation is carried over to the next

thread, CTC, whose IP is displayed in segment 3 for analysis.

(3) CTC-IP (English Version)1 C ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT! ANNOUNCEMENT!2 13 As I went around our town … I heard that a heated discussion

occurred between roxas and ex mayor david... know what?45 Where’s the man you claim to be good?6 In fact, he attempted to bring with him 300plus FLYING VOTERS?7 Where is the man they claim to be a good person? It’s not even

the scheduled time 8 for the filing of candidacy yet he has already started throwing

dirt to politics … 9 Is that what is called a good leader? He brought with him

people 10 from different places such as CEBU and caramoan… 11 Has comelec been given dirty money?

12

Managing Asynchronous CMC12 Where is the clean and honest politics that he desires? 13 He is showing no confidence in himself because he has to cheat

even if he hasn’t started yet? Right?14 Who will be put to shame if people know that he has brought

with him people who are not residents of paraiso to be

registered as voters in our municipality?15 It seems I haven’t read about it in your posting here...

because it is SHAMEFUL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!16 Like · 2 Follow post · 3 September at 17:55

The CTC-IP opens up with the word, BANDILYO (ANNOUNCEMENT),

written in uppercase and repeated three times, each time accompanied

by an exclamation point. Prefacing the main message through this way

catches the attention of the readers as it brings a sense of urgency

and saliency to the message. The suspense is further heightened by

line 3 as the speaker refers to a heated discussion between two

political leaders in Paraiso, still very consistent in tracking the

indexical paths. Lines 5 to 14 are interspersed with interrogative

and declarative statements all meant to question the credibility of

Manuel Roxas (MR), the person mentioned in the CTB-IP as an example

of a good leader, by providing the reasons behind the intense

discussion mentioned in line 3. Allegedly, MR attempted to bring

around “flying voters” (c6) from various places (c10) to register in

his barangays as bona fide residents and subsequently be legitimate

voters of the place for the upcoming national election (c14). Line 11

insinuates that MR might have paid the Commission on Election

(COMELEC) officer assigned in Paraiso for him to realize his

intention. The action is then presented as an act of throwing dirt to

politics (c8) and therefore shameful (c15). Incidentally, the IP also13



poses MR as a man of integrity (c5, c7), a good leader (c9), and a

man who desires for a clean and honest election (c12) but whose

credibility is at stake because of his “alleged shameful act”.

As presented, all three threads have political underpinnings

primarily centering on politics in Paraiso, Camarines Sur. These data

support the observation that as far as topic orientation is

concerned, the majority of the members of Bandilyo Budyong can be

categorized as people who are interested in political issues in their

locality. As observed, in this discussion forum, if a member wanted

active participation from other members, he posed IPs rotating on

political updates about Paraiso.

These findings lend support to Gibson’s (2009) claim that

fidelity to the existing “reading paths”, that is, categories and

MCDs, facilitates participants’ active engagement in the interaction

for they themselves can decide if they have adequate background on

the matters being talked about to sustain a meaningful interaction

with others. In addition, this fidelity allows participants to link

one message to another even if the messages are posted in different

threads, thereby enabling them to confidently participate in the

online discussion.

4. 2 Goal Orientation: Neutrality vs Partisanship

When it comes to goal orientation, the three threads orientate

to the goal of either educating the public about good leadership and

good governance or persuading the members to vote or not to vote a

certain candidate for a local position. It must be recalled that the

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initial posting (IP) of comment thread A (CTA) requests for the

members’ opinion on the qualities of a good leader particularly in

Paraiso in question form (a1-5) whereas the IP of comment thread B

(CTB) is a lengthy reply to the query (b1-b20), but instead of

presenting two to three qualities required of a good leader as

requested in the CTA-IP, the post includes a pamphlet about the

academic and occupational qualifications of a would-be candidate for

mayoralty position in the town. Meanwhile, the IP of comment thread C

(CTC) (c1-c16), attempts to discredit the would-be candidate by

alleging that the said person committed a violation, encouraging

“flying voters” to ensure winning in the coming election.

Apparently, the series of IPs starts with a seemingly neutral

topic about good leadership and good governance, perhaps to help the

readers arrive at an informed decision particularly during the

forthcoming national election. However, CTB-IP and CTC-IP go

political with the CTB-IP introducing a would-be candidate and

possibly initiating a political campaign for him. CTC-IP, on the

other hand, attempts to discredit the would-be candidate by hurling a

political issue, that is, encouraging “flying voters”. It is safe

therefore to conclude that the members’ political stance can serve as

a membership categorization device to identify three categories among

the interactants: (1) those who take the neutral ground, just

possibly educating the members how to arrive at an informed political

decision, and (2) the partisans who are further divided into two

camps: (a) Roxas supporters and (b) David supporters. These

membership categories are manifested in the talk data and uncover the

interlocutors’ interactional “intentions”, their role in that

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setting, and their expectations of other people's roles in that

setting among others (Gibson, 2009).

4.3 Political Orientation: Empowerment vs Disempowerment

The three threads also unravel the interactants’ view on

politics and political leaders particularly in their locality. A

generalized dichotomy of political systems as well as political

leaders surfaces with the first type explicitly described by the

interlocutors while the other type implicitly defined based on the

description of the first type. The first type of political system can

be labeled as ineffectual political system since it is viewed negatively

by the participants and even described as a social ailment, a cancer

of the society (a40) which is quite difficult to heal (a39),

associated with corruption (a42). Although leaders won by majority

votes just like in the other system (a49), voters can be bought

(c265) with amount ranging from Php 500.00 to several thousands of

pesos (c104) represented by tolong payo (three heads) found in one

thousand Philippine peso bill. Within this system, flying voters

abound (c6-c7, c42) because of this rampant vote buying (c265) and

even the Commission on Election (COMELEC) officers may also be

tempted financially to commit corruption (c11, c72) so election is

dirty and dishonest (c53). Unfortunately, this type is also

associated with hunger, a metonymy of economic poverty (a53). The

second type, the direct opposite of the ineffectual type can be

labeled as the effectual type of political system associated to clean

and honest policies (c12) and with leaders that comprise the first

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category of political leaders. Unfortunately, the ineffectual

political type seems to be linked with the current political system

in the municipality.

Reflective of the political systems, political leaders are also

polarized into effectual and ineffectual political leaders. Effectual

political leaders are described by the interactants as sincere (b23),

honest (b23), open-minded (b64), and people-oriented individuals

(a30), who are expected to implement government programs and

infrastructure projects efficiently (b14-17). In contrast,

ineffectual political leaders are perceived to be insincere (b23),

dishonest (b23) and resort to vote buying resulting in having no

major accomplishments done. Electoral allies (a23) and campaign

managers (b27) who are political parasites benefited by the

inefficient political system (b269) gravitate to them, seemingly

giving them power to “do foolish acts” (d46). Both types of leaders

however must win the position through majority votes during election

(a49).

Consequently, with these political perceptions, the members are

dichotomized into two factions, the satisfied and the dissatisfied

constituents. Among the disgruntled constituents who are also members

of the group site, there seems to be an emerging sub-category, the

empowered constituents. Segment 4 taken from CTA is presented for a

more detailed in-situ analysis. Some lines that are irrelevant to the

present analysis are deleted to facilitate discussion.

(4) CTA30 C1 He must not be a businessman or else he will not focus on the

17

Managing Asynchronous CMC0 people but on his business to get rich, right?

31 6 September at 18:46 · Like

36 C1

3

If we keep on debating on that po (politeness marker)… you

would just go crazy po ..

37 why don’t we just accept the fact po that it is difficult to

change the political system in the local and the national...

38 some would say the choice depends on the people..some would say

people are after the money..

39 in my opinion po...the things that are mentioned here are

society’s ailment that is difficult to heal

40 ... as they say it is already cancerous.........41 7 September at 11:51 · Edited · Like

42 F1

4

C so you admit that your father and brother belong to the

corrupt.

43 answer me, what are the major accomplishments that your father

and your brother can proudly say they have done to the town of

paraiso..

44 7 September at 20:36 · Like · 3

45 G1

5

there is, her father was elected for three terms therefore what

he had done was good that’s why he stayed long in his office.

Hahahha

49 I1

7

G is correct, if all the paraiso constituents are judge-voters

Ote and Ote Jr. are exonerated from all accusation.

50 They are saved by majority votes. 51 AMEN!!! 53 J1

8

Be hungry.

Segment 4 which starts at line 30 of CTA begins with C’s reply

to B’s request for the site members’ opinion on qualities of a good

leader. The statement is loaded with C’s assumption that a

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http://www.facebook.com/browse/likes?id=407348085995735

http://www.facebook.com/groups/BandilyoBudyong/permalink/399370316793512/?comment_id=407348085995735&offset=0&total_comments=18




businessman is category-bound to be profit-oriented and thereby not

suitable for public service meant for leaders who are people-

oriented. In line 36, C asserts, in reference not only to CTA as a

context but the other threads as well, that “if we keep on debating

on that … you will only go crazy”. With this statement the readers

may begin to wonder what C’s intentions are: why does she discourage

the other participants to engage in further verbal scrimmage and why

does she think (by using the exclusive pronoun “YOU”), those who do

will just end up getting confused or even crazy while she remains

unscathed?

Moving on to line 37, C suggested to the readers particularly B

to just accept the “irreversible” political system in the

Philippines. She seemingly infused the feeling of hopelessness in

line 38 when she articulated the ambivalent positions of people in

her line, “some would say the choice depends on the people … some

would say people are after the money”, indicating that no one seems

to take accountability for changing the problematic system because

people who have the power to change the system tend to run after the

[politicians’] money. In lines 39 and 40, she further aggravated the

situation by describing the general state of politics as a social

malady comparable to the incurable cancer. These lines, 37-40,

signify a move to persuade people into accepting the deplorable

status quo and implicate a type of political system where corruption

thrives and social problems are not effectively addressed. Her

intentions begin to take shape when, in line 42, F reacted to these

statements by connecting them to C’s father (the former Mayor who had

already expressed his intention of running again as mayor) and

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brother (the incumbent Mayor) and concluding that with those

declaratives, C admitted that her father and brother perpetuated the

“irreversible system”. At this point, in the hearers’ view the role

being taken by C crystallizes as she is now associated with the

current political system and political leaders.

In line 43, F demanded that C cite some major accomplishments

that her father and brother are category-bound to do being government

officials. F’s use of the phrase, simbaga daw ako (answer me),

exhibits a dare, reflecting his certainty that C’s father failed to

fulfill category-bound obligations such as implementing

infrastructure projects and government programs beneficial for the

people. F’s utterance introduces two categories of political leaders:

(1) those who fulfill their duties and implement government programs

and projects meant to benefit their constituents and (2) those who

fail to perform their duties and use government budget for other

purposes. Unfortunately, to F’s eyes the incumbent political leaders

were cast under the second type.

Apparently, F represents the disgruntled constituents among the

interactants. Surprisingly, C opted not to reply to this question;

instead, G at line 45 took the turn and answered F’s question posed

in line 43 by citing the 3-term tenure of C’s father as mayor of

Paraiso as a major accomplishment. He concluded that C’s father must

have been good as a public official for he had stayed long in his

office. With this, another category-bound rule was expressed, that

is, public officials must be elected by a majority vote and this

applies to both types of political leaders. In line 46, I, another

interlocutor, confirmed G’s statement and cited that through

20


“majority votes C’s father and brother are exonerated from all

accusations.” Here, G and I appealed to the predicate that a

political leader must be elected by the people through a majority

vote and thus since this predicate was not violated, they seemed to

blame the voters for whatever category-bound incongruence C’s father

and brother committed.

In lines 50 to 51, I reiterated this conclusion but J, in line

53, seemed unconvinced by his single Bikol word, mapagutom, which

could mean “You want to be hungry”, “Let yourself be hungry”, or “Be

hungry” (it does not have a single-word equivalent in English). This

negative comment is a less preferred response as the expected pair is

an agreement to the prior statements. To better situate the comment

in the effectual/ineffectual leader classification, one must further

dissect the conversational context of the utterance. The comment,

mapagutom, is positioned as a reaction to the previous comments of G

and I that C’s father and brother had also made major accomplishments

while in office as evidenced by their length of service as public

officials and if ever the two flouted any category-bound conventions,

they were not held accountable for their actions but the people who

voted for them. Following this line of argument and considering C’s

view on the “irreversibility of the system”, the comment could

reflect at least two possible meanings: (1) if this line of thinking

continues, I/we/you will go hungry; (2) if C’s father and brother

continue to rule, I/we/you will go hungry. In both cases, the word,

mapagutom, reminded the site members to either change the present

system or the incumbent leaders, or else hunger or the more

encompassing economic deprivation might persist. The word, mapagutom,

21


may also be associated with the incumbent leaders who were perceived

as ineffectual in addressing poverty in their district and in

providing good services to the people.

Among the interlocutors in segment 5, F and G positioned

themselves as disgruntled citizens questioning the ineffectuality of

the incumbent leaders while C even without admitting it situated

herself as a supporter of the administration. Clarifying a member’s

orientation alongside these MCDs may help in the overall coherence of

his or her discursive contribution to the interaction as he or she

pursues targeted communication goals. Notably, the conversation data

warrant the participants’ openness to dialogic resolutions to infuse

positive change in their socio-political milieu despite the social

fermentation that was beginning to take shape rather than resorting

to more belligerent routes.

4.4 Socio-Cultural Orientation: Culturally Initiated vs Culturally

Uninitiated

The interlocutors’ cultural orientation has also highly

influenced cohesiveness and coherence of turn-construction in online

discussion as participants co-managed them through the use of shared

cultural indexes. One socio-cultural index frequently used by the

participants was their belief in the supernatural world and

supernatural beings. As observed, the group accepts membership

regardless of anonymity as members; they may use either their real

names or pseudonymous accounts. Most of those who prefer to be

anonymous use names associated with mythical figures such as aswang

22


(vampire-like creature), engkanto (supernatural beings), maligno

(malevolent spirits) although some of them use literary figures like

Jose Rizal’s Pilosopo Tasyo (Tasyo the Philosopher). Remarkably, most of

the interlocutors classified the members with fictitious names as

engkanto or maligno (supernatural beings). These interactants identified

the engkantos or malignos (c222) as real humans who hid behind false

names allegedly because of hidden agenda (b160-b70). In general, they

were described as invisible creatures coming from different

dimensions, who thrive in darkness but want to come out through a

tunnel-like passage (c231-c245).

One of the recurrently mentioned engkantos/malignos in the

conversation is Ash Wang, a member who uses the mythical figure,

aswang, known in Philippine folklore as a vampire-like creature

(Scott, 1994). Aswangs, popular throughout the Philippines except in

the Ilocos region, have been described in various ways in Philippine

myth (Tan, 2008). Based on the description given by the interactants,

Ash Wang was described as a nocturnal being (c207) with distinct

smell (a8) and thrives in darkness (b228), but is seen mostly during

full moon (b230) looking for victims (a7). She can transform herself

into a pig or a beautiful lady (b228-231), can fly (c195), and can

see the future through a crystal ball (c226).

To illustrate how the participants co-managed the organizational

coherence of their talk online through these cultural constructs

particularly the traditional beliefs in supernatural beings, segment

5 taken from CTC is exhibited for analysis.

(5) CTC

23


19

5

J5

1

Is there a possibility that …Ash Wang is among the 'FLYING

VOTERS’

(according to ms. Anna David)?19

6

9 September at 20:13 · Like · 1

19

8

I5

2

ASwang is the PILOT of all FLYING VOTERS.

19

9

Monday at 16:53 · Edited · Like · 2

20

0

J5

3

but she may not be able to FLY during daytime.

20

1


20

4

I5

5

she cannot cause fear

20

5

election is usually conducted during the day and seldom

extends at night.20

6

Her kind is for NIGHT SHIFT.

20

7

9 September at 20:21 · Like

It must be recalled that the IP of CTC was meant to question the

credibility of Roxas as a possible head of the town by citing an

alleged election-related violation committed by him, that is, he

brought “flying voters” (unqualified voters) to his barangay to

register as residents. Segment 5 which starts at turn 51 (line 195)

of CTC shows J asking the participants if Ash Wang could possibly be

among the “flying voters”. In the next turn (52), I answered that

Aswang is the pilot of all flying voters. J, at turn 53, questioned

24








http://www.facebook.com/ash.wang.319


Ash Wang’s ability to vote much more to be a “flying voter” because

according to him Aswang may not be able to fly during daytime. At

turn 55, I expanded J’s statement by claiming that Aswang would not

have the ability to cause fear since election is usually conducted

during the day and seldom extends at night time when Aswang is

believed to sow fear again.

From this excerpt, one can observe the cultural construct

operating as an index enabling the interlocutors to weave one turn

after another as J and I co-constructedly affirmed the existence of

Aswang. I’s reversal to the folkloric spelling of aswang (line 198)

rather than what Ash Wang has chosen as her virtual name confirms the

automatization of this cultural construct. The quasi-synchronicity of

the turns also affirms such automatization since this indicates that

the participants did not have much time to edit their messages.

Whether in reality they both believed in the existence of aswang or

just simply used their cultural knowledge to participate in the talk

no longer matters in this context because the most important point to

consider is that the cultural construct about aswang enabled them to

sustain the interaction logically and coherently. Thus, this cultural

construct serves as a membership categorization device producing two

membership categories among the participants, the culturally

initiated members and the culturally uninitiated ones.

Readers may ask how this membership category can be possibly

related to the other MCDs found in the three comment threads. The

next turn (56) displayed in segment 6 can explain the presence of

segment 5 in CTC.

25


(6) CTC20

8

J5

6

hehehe.. I put this posting on top for it might be covered by

others 20

9

sayang (it might be put to waste) C put too much strain on

herself since the veins in her neck seemed to bulge as she

shouted ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ATTENTION!

This turn clarifies that J’s purpose for taking turn 51 (line

195) was to bump the thread up for the site members to see it

immediately upon opening the site for as he claimed, “it might be

covered by other [threads]. His valuing of the content of the thread

was articulated when he stated in line 209, sayang (the effort might

be put to waste), followed by an explanation why he had to do the

bumping. However, as he posted the question in turn 51 which

demonstrates ‘cultural wit’, I took the next turn which resulted in

series of turns in a logically accepted manner until J took the cue

to take off from that segment of talk, the cue being the fulfillment

of adjacency pairs. In relation to his goal orientation, the move

implicates his intentional placement of CTC to sustain discussion of

the issue hurled at Roxas until a satisfactory resolution was

attained without jeopardizing the intelligibility of the talk-in-

interaction.

As posited above, only through the participants’ operational

understanding of the aswang as a cultural construct can they sustain

such extended conversation without apparent misunderstanding

happening along the discussion. Clearly, one’s cultural orientation

enables or disables a person from contributing to an effective

construction of turns in an interaction. To relate this to the

26


politically inclined MCDs reflected in the threads analyzed, one has

to uncover the implicatures of these seemingly innocent speech acts,

one of which is the metaphorical implications of the language. As

observed in the data, the participants describe engkangtos/malignos as

unseen spirits/supernatural beings which when positioned in the

politically operating omnirelevant MCD scheme may refer to members in

the group site who are dissatisfied with the political system but

cannot openly criticize the current local government administration

for reasons that this study will try to uncover in later sections.

Segment 7 supports this metaphorical narrative.

(7) CTB21 B2 It seems that you made a thorough research tabi (excuse me) Uncle

K. I

22 wish I could meet this Mr. Roxas in a drinking spree so that I

could personally

23 assess him. It will be unfortunate to miss the opportunity of

meeting a sincere man willing to 24 help paraiso. Why don’t we give MR a try in the next fight? I

keep hearing stories in Bathala

25 and Silangan about his capacity to be a leader of Paraiso and I am

convinced of your choice, Uncle.

26 25 August at 00:06 · Like · 1

27 L3 Seems that K is a campaign manager of Manuel Roxas ..

28 26 August at 23:08 · Like · 1

29 B4 I am a campaign manager of those who I believe deserve my vote.

As I hover around the

30 eastern part in Paraiso, I learn that one strong alternative to

the present leadership is Mr. Roxas.

31 Listen and open your eyes.

27





Managing Asynchronous CMC32 26 August at 23:33 · Like · 1

33 K5 I’ve just answered Ash Wang’s question noy (younger

brother/male kinsman) Marlon Banat when s/he asked about the

qualifications of a leader particularly in our town ….

34 ... My answer is truthful and verifiable with accompanying

evidence. 35 You, brother, as an electorate what do you think must be the

qualifications?

36 What is your basis for choosing a leader? 37 you may give concrete examples for the readers to reflect on.38 27 August at 10:02 · Like

39 K6 And based on my Philosopy "There is nothing wrong about

supporting something that is good.”

40 That is why, I am supporting this person who has advocacy for

progress. 41 Let us not be contented of the fleeting happiness that we feel

on or before election. 42 The election lasts for a day only, but its benefits to the

constituents will be reaped until old 43 age. This must start from us; then the leaders will rally

behind us. Thus, if we want to revel

44 on its long-term benefits, let us choose a leader who has

concern for the welfare of the people and who feels ashamed to

do evil acts, and most especially, has fear of the Lord.

45 27 August at 10:10 · Edited · Like · 1

46 C7 foolishness.....47 27 August at 16:41 · Like

48 C8 purely incessant talks ....49 27 August at 16:42 · Like

50 K9 What makes our talk different is that it is full of hope, hope

that will certainly be fulfilled, unlike your sense of hope

which is actually empty.

51 27 August at 18:02 · Like

28









Managing Asynchronous CMC52 B1

0

C, why did you say that Ne (younger sister)?

53 27 August at 19:20 · Like

54 I1

1

It was only Jerry Lopez who claimed he knows MR personally. He

said he knows

55 MR from head to foot. Aside from him, only the Engkangtos

(supernatural beings) are the

56 ones passionate about this topic. We should not get mad if

someone prays for a new face to

57 leadership because it is his or her individual right.. If you

feel, C, that an opposition or a

58 defiance to your family is a propaganda, you should be ready to

prove to the opposition that the people still want you. 59 Don’t ever say that THE STATEMENTS MADE BY THESE PEOPLE—REAL

HUMANS OR ENGKANTOS (SUPERNATURAL BEINGS)—ARE MERE FOOLISHNESS.

60 28 August at 17:53 · Like · 3

61 B1

2

MY IMPRESSION OF SIR SAMMY IS RIGHT... KNOWS HOW TO RESPECT THE

RIGHTS OF OTHERS....62 HE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE A GOOD LEADER SOMEDAY.63 28 August at 19:16 · Like

64 B1

3

OPENMINDEDNESS—one of the qualities I look for in a leader.

Open to criticism to see his

65 own weaknesses and improve them for the good of everyone.66 28 August at 19:19 · Like

Segment 7 starts with the first reply to CTB-IP introducing

Roxas as a viable alternative to the other candidate running for the

mayoralty position. In the first line (21) of this segment, B, who is

Ash Wang, complimented K for the information posted. In line 22, B

expressed desire to meet Roxas in person to personally assess the man

she described as “a sincere man willing to help the town” and who

29







has carved a good reputation as a leader. When L, at line 27,

insinuated that K was a campaign manager of Roxas, B immediately took

the turn and claimed that she is the campaign manager of whoever

deserves her vote. Based on these initial turns, she clearly defined

her role as a Roxas-supporter since she even tried to persuade the

other members to give Roxas a chance to be the next municipal head.

K’s political stance is more apparent than hers since he was the one

who initiated the thread with Roxas’s pamphlet imbedded in his post,

and the rest of his posts clearly articulated his support to MR. In

line 46, C, an antagonist, reacted negatively by her remarks

—“foolishness” and “purely incessant talks” (line 48—reflecting her

irritation to most of the postings in the website. At line 54, I

(Sammy Corpuz) who used his real name for his account remarked that

all other Roxas-supporters were Engkantos except Jerry Lopez who openly

supported Roxas. This segment shows therefore that most of Roxas-

supporters prefer to use pseudonyms, apparently to hide their real

identities.

One plausible explanation for this preferred anonymity can be

extracted from line 55, “we should not get mad if someone prays for a

new face to leadership because it is his or her individual right…”,

which indicates that opposing or criticizing the current leadership

or political system can have negative repercussions to an individual

such as experiencing social rifts, emotional and physical harassment

among others. Going back to the metaphorical narrative, segment 8

below which is extracted from segment 7 helps better situate this

metaphor to the more global MCD schema (politics as an omnireleveant

MCD) of the three threads being studied.

30


(8) CTD22

2

J6

0

I think the admin must pass an RH Bill against maligno/engkanto

since their number might keep growing.

23

0

B6

4

The appearance of malignos in the dark moving towards the light

at the end of the tunnel

23

1


23

2

J6

5

the RH Bill for humans here in the Philippines, I am in favor

but for the tawong lipod I am not in favor

23

4

9 September at 20:42 · Edited · Like

23

5

B6

6

the malignos are getting out of their dimension to see the

light...

23

6

THEY WILL BE HERE SOON!

23

7


23

8

J6

7

perhaps even the tawong lipod (supernatural beings) in the past

may now emerge in the light for them not to be bothered anymore

by the condition of the people

23

9


24

0

B6

8

You’re right J, even the young tawong lipod will now come out to

see the light...

In line 230, B mentioned about malignos reaching for the light at

the end of the tunnel. Treating it as a metaphor, the malignos might

have been used as a reference to people who were still in the dark

tunnel of political ignorance, apathy or subjugation but were stirred

towards political consciousness, empowerment or freedom. Sensing this

31







meaning, J who initially suggested at line 22 that the administration

of the group site pass RH Bill against maligno/engkanto immediately

clarified that he was not in favor of maligno/engkanto being deleted

from the site. At lines 234-235, B continued her prediction about the

malignos getting out of their dimension, to which J added at line 238

that even the engkangtos in the past would soon rise to address the

concern of the people. J’s response at line 238 clearly indicates his

lucid understanding of the illocutionary force of their co-

constructed metaphorical narrative. B affirmed this implicature at

line 240 by her conclusion that even the youth would empower

themselves to be the purveyor of change.

Accordingly, the alignment of the interlocutors’ cultural

orientation contributes significantly to the lucidity and overall

coherence of the conversation as they web together a well-crafted

discourse through their harmonized cultural indexes. This finding

provides empirical support to the claim that mutual knowledge of the

rules of a language, of the background beliefs in a culture, and of

human rationality is necessary for successful communication to take

place, especially via implicatures (Ten Have, 2002).

5. Conclusion

The study confirms earlier findings that the online

participants’ talk rotates on certain MCDs which facilitate the

overall coherence of their individual discursive contribution to the

interaction as they clearly pursue targeted communication goals and

make lucid their own identities in the virtual social site (e.g.,

32


Adkins & Grant, 2007; Lamerich & te Molder, 2003; Lawson, 2008;

Sneijder & te Molder, 2005). The findings also lend support to

Sacks’s (1992) claim that topical ties are created by reusing the

categories that others have already introduced and that the

functional intelligibility of a post is enhanced through the use of

categories as commonsensically linked to another. Furthermore, the

findings uphold the argument that socio-cultural assumptions about a

certain group can be empirically warranted not because of a priori

categorization but by taking an emic approach focusing on the

participants’ perspectives as demonstrated in conversational conduct

(Fitzgerald et al., 2009; Kasper & Markee, 2004).

Apparently, the alignment of the interlocutors’ socio-political

and cultural orientations contributes significantly to the lucidity

and overall coherence of the conversation as they web together a

well-crafted discourse through their harmonized socio-political and

cultural indexes. If interlocutors are sensitive to the presence of

these MCDs, the possibility of being verbally manipulated by others

particularly in virtual environments is diminished. Being

metacognitively aware of these possibilities, they can decide to

empower themselves or remain passive in addressing socio-political

concerns through the power of language.

As a theoretical approach to talk-in-interaction, MCA together

with CA powerfully extracts social realities as “provided for and

oriented to by members” (Hester & Eglin, 2003, p.93). With careful

application, it is a robust method for investigating the members’

sense-making accomplishments and the way they negotiate with the

social milieu in which their categorial membership exists in

33


cohesion. In the presence of anonymity, MCA helps in analyzing many

aspects of the participants’ common sense knowledge about their

socio-political and cultural milieus, their ideologies and beliefs

that help in warranting their virtual identity. In the absence of

non-verbal cues, membership categories facilitate online interactions

while the participants define and negotiate their communicative

intents.

In general, the results confirm previous findings (Ten Have,

1999; Gibson, 2009; Gibson, 2010) that reinforce Walther’s (1992)

social information processing theory. Indeed, the Filipino

interlocutors effectively manage their e-discourse similar to their

FtF interaction and adjust communication techniques to tactically

utilize affordances of the web-based channel, this time through the

operation of their MCDs.

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Membership Categorization Devices as Discursive Strategies for Managing Asynchronous Computer-Mediated Communication

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