The use of stance markers for identity construction

Abstract In the hospitality sector, effectively responding to online reviews is vital for hotels to uphold their reputation and customer rapport. Taking 120 positive review responses and 120 negative review responses from Chinese hotels on Ctrip as the corpora, this study conducts a comparative analysis on the similarities, differences, functions and motivations of stance marker use and identity construction. It is found that both sides show similarity in the use of boosters, emotional markers, and the communicator identity construction. However, positive review responders use nicknames and evaluative markers more frequently and highlight the inviter identity, while negative review responders employ more first-person plural forms and hedges and emphasize the service provider identity. The findings reveal that responders to positive and negative reviews demonstrate both commonalities and distinct priorities in shaping positive hotel images and engaging with guests, offering insights for business practitioners to optimize their pragmatic strategies in digital communication.