Performance of Cooperative Principle and Vagueness in Internet Slang

School of International Studies, Hainan University, Haikou, Hainan, 570228, China

^* Corresponding author: yuanyiping@hainanu.edu.cn

Abstract

In digital communication, Internet slang often appears to flout conventional conversational norms with its inner vagueness, raising questions about its compatibility with Cooperative Principle. This study investigates how three major categories of Internet slang—abbreviations and acronyms, leetspeaks, and emoticons interact with Cooperative Principle’s maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relation, and Manner. Abbreviations and acronyms condense information and rely on shared context, maintaining relevance despite reduced explicit content. Leetspeak subverts standard linguistic clarity to create in-group codes, reinforcing community coherence at the cost of outsider comprehension. Emoticons are lack of conventional semantics, but provide vital affective cues that clarify tone and intent. Together, these findings illustrate that strategic maxim violations can coexist with effective communication in online context, suggesting that pragmatic theory may account for the functional use of ambiguity in digital communication. Through deliberate vagueness, these slang forms frequently and intentionally violate these maxims. However, rather than hindering understanding, such deviations often enhance communicative efficiency, strengthen community identity, and enrich emotional expression within computer-mediated communication context.