Language Ideologies on TikTok

master's thesis

• Title (english): Jezične ideologije na TikToku
• Author: Domagoj Gregorović
• Mentor: Anđel Starčević (mentor)
• Committee member: Višnja Josipović-Smojver (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2023-09-27, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

This Master’s thesis found nine TikToks which present language ideologies and analysed them through the lens of Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA). The goal of this paper was to find out what language ideologies are disseminated in the modern landscape of social media, and in what ways, using the modern tools these applications provide. In the introduction it is noted that TikTok seems to be the best platform to carry out this research as it boasts a considerable number of users, therefore leading to more potential examples of language ideologies. The nine examples chosen for this paper are broken down into three categories: three TikToks which present regional variant discrimination, five which present the standard language ideology, and one which is a parody of language ideologies. The elements this paper focuses on, in terms of representational strategies, were the gaze, pose, setting, attributes, and lexical choices, all in the hopes of thoroughly analysing these TikToks to uncover all the implications and meanings. The paper also focuses on the modern editing techniques and audio they employ to further add to their point. TikTok has a real community of users spreading their opinions on language, almost always at the expense of some other speakers, leading to language anxiety, erasure of non-standard linguistic features, and stigmatization of non-standard language usage.

Abstract (english)

Ovaj diplomski rad pronašao je devet TikTokova koji sadrže jezične ideologije i analizirao ih je u kadru Multimodalne kritičke analize diskursa (MCDA). Cilj rada bio je ustanoviti koje jezične ideologije se šire u suvremenom prostoru društvenih mreža i na koje načine, koristeći suvremene alate koje te aplikacije pružaju. U uvodu je napomenuto da se čini da je TikTok najbolja platforma za provedbu ovog istraživanja jer se može pohvaliti znatnim brojem korisnika, što dovodi do više potencijalnih primjera jezičnih ideologija. Devet odabranih primjera za ovaj rad podijeljeno je u tri kategorije: tri TikToka koji prikazuju diskriminaciju regionalnih varijanti, pet prikazuju ideologiju standardnog jezika i jedan koji je parodija jezičnih ideologija. Elementi na koje se rad usredotočio, u smislu reprezentacijskih strategija, su pogled, poza, okruženje, predmeti i leksički odabiri, sve kako bismo temeljito analizirali ove TikTokove i otkrili sve implikacije i značenja u njima. Rad se također usredotočuje na moderne tehnike uređivanja slike i zvuka koje se koriste za dodatno pojačavanje nečije osnovne ideje. TikTok ima pravu zajednicu korisnika koji šire svoja mišljenja o jeziku, gotovo uvijek nauštrb nekih drugih govornika, što dovodi do straha od jezika, brisanja nestandardnih jezičnih elemenata i stigmatizacije upotrebe nestandardnog jezika.

• Keywords: Language ideologies; Critical discourse analysis; TikTok
• Keywords (croatian): Jezične ideologije; kritička analiza diskursa; TikTok
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:520984
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation; Course: Linguistics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2023-10-19 17:34:11