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/lp/de-gruyter/discursive-manipulative-strategies-in-scam-emails-and-sms-the-nigerian-08bnNmarTC
- Publisher
- de Gruyter
- Copyright
- © 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
- ISSN
- 1898-4436
- eISSN
- 1898-4436
- DOI
- 10.1515/lpp-2022-0008
- Publisher site
- See Article on Publisher Site
Abstract
AbstractCyber scam, a subculture in Nigeria, especially among youths, has been under-investigated from the linguistic perspective. This study thus explores discursive-manipulative strategies in scam emails and SMS/messages in Nigeria, drawing samples from a corpus of over 200 emails and 50 SMS documented between 2018 and 2022. With insights from Brown and Levinson’s face, Mey’s pragmatic act and McCronack’s information manipulation theories, it is observed that discursive manipulative strategies such as positive and negative false alarm, self-denigration, formulaic, and evocation of theistic and religious context project the Nigerian realities in scam emails and SMS. Embedded in these manipulative strategies are face-saving and face-threatening acts strategically woven round the violation of the maxims of quality and quantity.
Journal
Lodz Papers in Pragmatics – de Gruyter
Published: May 1, 2022
Keywords: scam emails; SMS; manipulative strategies; Nigeria