The issue of contradictory nature of the Reddit social network discussion has been raised. The section of “Unpopular Opinion” as a source of users' comments with the most conflicting matter has been chosen. It is declared that contradictory statement coincides with the title of the 'Unpopular section' rubric in case its implicit nature is manipulative. Initial statement refers to the very first comment of the contradictory statement and triggers next and further comments (NC and FC). The comments to the conflict statement using linguistic markers and manipulative contexts have been analyzed. Phrases and sentences marked with manipulative, implicit or explicit nature of utterance have been found and grouped. Conflict resolution strategies as a key to comprehend the insight of opposed comments and their frequency have been regarded. The algorithm of sequence of step analysis concerning the Reddit social network comment system has been considered. Other contradictory statements have been selected for future analysis and thorough research.
The human nature is contradictory itself. If it comes to interaction in society, one has always bear in mind: conflict situation is inevitable. To manage conflict in an effective way a communicator has to find common areas of agreement, agree on solutions to satisfy each other’s demands and always be ready to make a right decision if the conflict remains unresolved. It is worth noting that a capacity to respond to other people’s viewpoints is considered healthy and true way of communication. If there is a dead end, the best choice – to disengage and leave your interlocutor emotionally balanced.
Currently, while communicating people face endless meaningless discussion which may lead to a conflict situation. Phenomenon of conflict is discovered in communication research, namely contact linguistics, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics as well.
Preliminary, conflict situations occur due to language peculiarities in terms of
regional and political characteristics. A particular branch dealing with language
conflicts is called contact linguistics [
There are certain types of language conflicts (e.g. between people of minorities and majorities, one or more language communities) when it comes to territoriality principles, linguistic discrimination, etc. In this paper, we do not intend to define language conflicts, but they relate to conflict situations people suffer from, as being predominated by language preferences. Here, we consider conflict situations in social network Reddit. We refer to the section “Unpopular opinion” as there are the most contradictory statements of all other sections which may trigger crucial conflict resolution strategies (https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/dbtzpg/giving_scholarships_b ased_on_minority_status/). In order to deal with any of the following contradictory situations, let us provide the definitions of the crucial conflict resolution strategies: 1. Avoiding – ignoring the contradictory situation, taking out of confusing conversation, leaving it unexpectedly without solving it. 2. Competing – assertive intentions to prove your rightness and end up a dialogue with your own statement. 3. Accommodating – taking position “in the middle” trying to cooperate and not to let “the rebellion” spread. 4. Collaborating – offering a shared solution to overcome the issue. 5. Compromising – finding the neutral solution to the issue, which does not have to please anyone but will be fair enough in the particular situation.
It must be noted that those five strategies are common in oral communication, but there is an attempt to apply these techniques in verbal communication.
There are lively discussion statements and comments from different users in social
network Reddit. We allocate those statements using linguistic markers of
manipulation, implicit and explicit influences, contradiction, arguments, approval, disapproval,
etc. [
The second NC and its FC to the initial comment are the following: NC: There are scholarships for white guys at black schools, not all but some do offer it (compromising) FC: - (Fig. 5)
In Fig. 5 the next comment could have been extended, but the answer ‘yes’ ended up the dialogue.
The third NC and its FC to the initial comment are as follows: NC: You know what's also bullshit? Why is one somehow more offensive than the other? (competing), FC: Wait people are getting free college because they're rich? (competing), More importantly how (competing), As far as Im aware (accommodating), that really didn't anwer my question (avoiding)
The fourth NC and its FC to the initial comment are as follows: NC: The sad thing is that.. (avoiding) FC: That was part of my friends’ dilemma (collaborating) (Fig. 6)
In Fig. 6 the conversation failed, so none of the technique mentioned resulted in dead speech end.
The fifth NC and its FC to the initial comment are as follows: NC: I completely agree with you (accommodating) FC: Your comment is indicative of the fact that (collaborating), thanks for the interesting perspective (collaborating)
One conflict situation generated one statement implying contradictory insight followed by five next comments and their further comments, which were considered as a basis for identifying conflict strategies being applied.
In Fig. 7 there is an algorithm covering the general structure of the Reddit social network comment system.
In Fig. 8 there is an algorithm covering the special cases of the previous Figures 16, namely, those comments where dialogues ended up in an unexpected way or failed due to rhetorical questions or users’ lack of interest.
conversation
The unexpected ending for any of the communicators may result in a conflict situation in communication. In this paper a model of conflict situation and its possible strategic solving principles were considered. The study was conducted using the Reddit social network, mainly its discussion section with statement and its comments. The analysis of linguistic markers of discussion was performed. To define the ways of dealing with a conflict statement, the strategic resolution principles were applied to the comments. As a result, five different comment sections were allocated. The frequency of resolution of these conversations was calculated (see Table 1). n o i t c e s t n e m m o C 3 0 0 1
In general, avoiding and competing techniques dominated in these comments. They show that the discussion was active and users equally craved for prompt result of conversation. Compromising was hard to obtain. Accommodating was characterized with delicate polite answers. The most frequent resolution technique was collaborating, as people lively demonstrated their awareness of the statement.
One dialogue came to a dead end referring to either not being appealing, informative enough, or users ceased their speculation on that point. Another dialogue remained open, the answer was not given as the user considered the questions rhetorical or ironical.
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