In this paper, I draw on identity theories as developed within social psychology in general, and Positioning Theory in particular, to investigate the discursive strategies that Tunisian Facebookers use to counter collective face threat, and how they position themselves vis-à-vis in-group and out-group members. To categorize the strategies, a post-data collection taxonomy was developed, which allowed for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the comments. Wherever appropriate, the analysis also considered the range of multimodal semiotic means the commentators used to communicate their emotional stances. Results show that Tunisian Facebook users positioned themselves in multiple ways following face threat, and that their perceptions of their and others’ rights and duties resulted in various discursive positioning moves. Results also show that Tunisian Facebookers used linguistic as well as multimodal resources to convey their emotions. Previous intracultural findings about lexemic and interactional aspects of Tunisian face seem to be relevant for intercultural digital communication involving Tunisians as findings of this study illustrate the influence of cultural values on online face concerns and show the importance of considering the wider offline context when accounting for digital discursive practices.

在本文中，我利用社会心理学中发展起来的身份理论，特别是定位理论，来研究突尼斯 Facebook 用户用来应对集体面孔威胁的话语策略，以及他们如何将自己定位在组和组外成员。为了对策略进行分类，开发了一种数据收集后分类法，可以对评论进行定量和定性分析。在适当的情况下，该分析还考虑了评论员用来传达其情感立场的多模态符号学手段的范围。结果表明，突尼斯 Facebook 用户在面临威胁后以多种方式定位自己，并且他们对自己和他人权利和义务的看法导致了各种话语定位动作。结果还表明，突尼斯 Facebook 用户使用语言和多模式资源来传达他们的情绪。先前关于突尼斯面孔的词汇和互动方面的文化内发现似乎与涉及突尼斯人的跨文化数字交流有关，因为本研究的结果说明了文化价值观对在线面孔问题的影响，并表明在考虑数字化时考虑更广泛的离线背景的重要性话语实践。