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Article published In: Formality and Informality in Online Performances
Edited by Sofia Rüdiger and Susanne Mühleisen
[Internet Pragmatics 5:1] 2022
► pp. 66–91

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Complaining, teasing, and meme-framing

Socializing through Moments storytelling

 | Nanjing Xiaozhuang University
 | Zhejiang International Studies University
Published online: 24 November 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00077.ton
Abstract
This article explores the pragmatic act of complaining on WeChat Moments (henceforth Moments) focusing on the following question: When complaints are made in a social context where ratified viewers are hard to define, how are such acts constructed and construed? The multimodal data under study come from a project designed to address the under-examined issue of indirect complaints in Chinese social media. Drawing on the conceptualization of frame analysis in pragmatic studies and informed by a conversation analytical approach, this article proposes the concept of social complaints, accounting for how Moments users employ it performatively to deal with serious matters, to socialize and to manage rapport with people in their social networks. Teasing, it is found, is often performed in both complaints and responses to the complaints, which manifests Moments users’ flexible positioning strategies in handling interpersonal relations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review and research background
    • 2.1Complaints in the literature
    • 2.2Social complaints
    • 2.3Research background
  • 3.Data and methods
    • 3.1Data
    • 3.2Theoretical framework
  • 4.Meme-framing in SCs
    • 4.1The storyteller being projected
    • 4.2Ambiguous projection
  • 5.The formality and informality in social complaints
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (78)
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Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Guo, Jingye & Yan Jiang
2025. Linguistic (In)Directness in Complaints on an Online Discussion Forum for Chinese University Students. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 35:3 ► pp. 1388 ff. DOI logo
Huang, Xu & Xuekun Liu
2025. Understanding complaints: the role of moral transgressions in e-commerce interactions. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12:1 DOI logo
O’Driscoll, Jim
2024. The complexity of non-seriousness: a case study of a (mock?) mock impolite utterance. Journal of Politeness Research 20:1 ► pp. 183 ff. DOI logo
Rodriguez, Andrea
2022. Complaining. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 66 ff. DOI logo
Sinkeviciute, Valeria
2022. Teasing. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 156 ff. DOI logo

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