Politeness and social change: The metapragmatics of Slovakia's 2018 ʽdecent revolutionʼ.

A murder of a Slovak investigative journalist in February 2018 led to a wave of massive rallies across the country and abroad which demanded a fair investigation of the murder as well as some political concessions. The grass-roots protests were held under the slogan Za slušné Slovensko (For a Decent Slovakia) in which the concept of slušnosť (decency) was chosen to echo the ethos of the November 1989 Velvet Revolution. In a wave of ensuing societal discourses about (im)politeness, slušnosť has proven to be a highly contested term. This contestedness is examined in two threads from Internet discussion fora which are attached to news articles reporting on March 9, 2019 mass gatherings. The analysis demonstrates how posters negotiate their understandings of slušnosť with regard to their group-based stances and identities. Also, the paper points out the indexical resources which posters use to construct their own and others' identities and demonstrates how (im)politeness, morality and identity construction are closely interrelated. The paper adopts the approach of ʽpoliteness as a social practiceʼ and uses ʽtactics of intersubjectivityʼ as the main analytical tool. The metapragmatic analysis of a societal change is contextualized within wider socio-political developments in post-1989 Slovakia. • A murder of a Slovak journalist in February 2018 sparked mass protests held under the slogan of ʽFor a Decent Slovakiaʼ. • In the slogan, the concept of slušnosť (decency) was chosen to echo the ethos of Czechoslovak 1989 Velvet Revolution. • In the ensuing societal discourses slušnosť has proven to be a highly contested term across social groups. • Internet discussion for a demonstrate how understandings of slušnosť are linked to posters´ stances and group identities. • After the ʽrevolution of decencyʼ of 2018, the argumentativity of slušnosť has contributed to societal group-based divisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]