CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

An overview of the study's background is given in this chapter. It stands for the problem

description, goal, and goals, in order from which the research questions follow. Along with the

scope and limitations, the study's relevance is also described.

1.1 Background to the Study

Language serves as a tool for interpersonal communication. It serves a variety of communication

purposes. Another dynamic system that is continually expanding and changing to meet the needs

of its users is language. With several languages and dialects spoken all over the world, it is

incredibly diverse. Notwithstanding these differences, there are certain common traits shared by

all languages, such as the capacity to convey meaning through syntax, grammar, and vocabulary.

In addition, it is a dynamic, multifaceted system that differs among cultures, geographical areas,

and people (Lyon, 1972). Language can be written, spoken, or signed, and depending on the

situation and the speaker's aim, it can express a variety of meanings

Bennett (1976) asserts that humans interact in order to convey knowledge or request actions.

Transactional and interactional functions are the two roles that language plays. Using language to

transfer knowledge, whether propositional or factual, is known as a transactional function. This

kind is employed in the creation of legislation, literature, and cultural concepts.

On the other hand, an interactional function is distinguished by the use of language to create and

maintain social connections. Language is used by both males and females of the human race

since it is based on social ties. As a result, language is used differently by the sexes, and its
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direction arises only from people's natural needs to establish authority, interaction, power, and

sovereignty, all of which shape language structure.

One of the most ubiquitous aspects of human social contact may be considered to be talking. We

occasionally chat to specific people or to anybody who would listen. We talk to ourselves when

we can't find somebody to listen to us. This means that a wide range of purposes are served by

human language, making it an extremely significant tool. The investigation of communication

within the larger framework of the social and cultural practices and beliefs of the people of a

certain culture or speech group is known as the Ethnography of Communication (EOC),

originally known as the ethnography of speaking. EOC considers the communication form—

spoken language is one example of this, but it may also encompass other forms—as well as its

function within the specific culture.

Examples of phone conversations are examined by Schegloff and Sacks (1973). At the time, the

argument was that phone calls and in-person interactions varied significantly. The objections

included maintaining or altering eye contact, as well as the significance of body language in

defying the other person's words. Emojis and smileys, the digital equivalent of body language,

have helped to calm all of these worries in the modern day.

The internet is an electronic medium that offers a channel that both enables and restricts

communication in ways that are essentially distinct from those observed in other semiotic

contexts.

Initially, items were meant to be read when language was first written during the era of Egyptian

civilisation. However, it was lacking as the maker of the product normally determines its

meaning. Thus, one may characterise language usage now as revolutionary (Crystal, 2006, p. 5).

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Internet users often send and receive emails, check their inboxes, look for information about

previous research projects, browse for fun, and engage in social networking. One of the best

inventions ever made by humans is the internet.

Social media refers to electronic communication channels where individuals engage with one

another by creating, freely exchanging, discussing, and exchanging ideas, information, and other

content about themselves, their lives, and each other through a multimedia mix of written words,

images, videos, and audio on online platforms while online and connected to the internet. As to

Kuppuswamy et al. (2010), social media refers to digital spaces that facilitate communication

and debate on various topics. Users of social media work together to create content. possess

initiative while seeking knowledge and respect self-control when using social media (p. 330).

Facebook, WhatsApp, Linkedin, Twitter, Myspace, YouTube, and other social media platforms

are accessible to anybody who desires them. One sort of technology that is frequently utilised on

certain desktops and mobile phones is WhatsApp. Numerous messaging programs have been

introduced since smartphones gained popularity, but WhatsApp has emerged as the most well-

liked of them all. This program can have a significant effect on frequent users and is extremely

addicting. The functionality of WhatsApp Messenger has been enhanced recently. It is accessible

on iPhones, Android phones, Windows phones, Blackberrys, and Nokia Symbian 60 phones. To

begin, users only need to input the device's phone number into the program. From there, it will

search through the phone's contacts to see who else has the app loaded. After then, users may

start messaging contacts that the application finds and invite more contacts.

Individuals frequently use their phones to talk on WhatsApp when out and about, on buses, in

their beds, and while strolling. It is among the most widely used chat apps available right now.

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On WhatsApp, users have hundreds of chat messages along with photo, video, and audio files.

The advancement of digital technology has made it simpler for individuals and organisations to

communicate. WhatsApp is utilised for a number of things, including business, student

education, and friendship-related communication. It permits face-to-face communication.

Gender and language describes the connection between masculine and female language. Sahtet

(2007) asserts that gender differences are a reflection of both the attitudes and lifestyles of men

and women, as well as the statements that they make. Research on gender differences is common

in various disciplines, including psychology, sociolinguistics, and studies of women. The

disparities between men and women in these domains have been examined from various

perspectives using various research techniques.

Despite the fact that study findings emphasise the differences differently, many parallels

nevertheless exist. For example, men are more interested in power and want to be leaders, whilst

women are OK with being subordinates; men communicate openly and prioritise information

flow, whereas women speak subtly, implicitly, and gently. For them, it's crucial to communicate

their emotions. The disparities between male and female language have alarmed many

academics. To a certain extent, it demonstrates how prevalent and significant gender differences

are.

The primary social communication manifestation Is discourse. According to Fairclough (1993),

Fairclough and Wodak (1997), and Van Dijk (1997), it refers to all linguistic forms utilised by

communicators in a community. Talking back and forth in language between the writer or

speaker and the reader or listener is called discourse. Discourse, according to Van Dijk (1997, p.

2), is “the form that people make of language to convey ideas, thoughts, or beliefs within a social

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context.” Discourse analysis and speech are often connected at times. That being said, language

is more than simply speech, thus this shouldn’t be the case. It’s nonverbal and also involves

writing.

Everything important, both linguistically and extralinguistically, is addressed by discourse

analysis. As we have seen, written speech is more meticulously crafted. Written discourse, such

as that found in newspapers and other literary works, as well as electronic discourse, such that

found in chat rooms, text messaging, and email, are of interest to critical discourse analysers.

Speaking is not the only way that power is expressed. The power structure of society is also

reflected in written speech. Writers attempt to be explicit since their work is intended for readers,

and typically, they are not present when the reader reads it.

Writing is a reflection of the writer's thoughts, which are not necessarily objective because all

writers have a point of view that may not be clear until a critical analysis is performed. We will

be focussing on newspaper discourse in this unit since it has been considered by critical

discourse analysts to be a rich text genre in terms of what they search for. Discourse analysis

(DA), according to Jorgensen and Phillips (2011), is a branch of linguistics that examines

language grammatically at the context level. According to Yule (1997), DA looks on how

language users decipher and comprehend social and contextual meanings conveyed through

language texts.

Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is the study of language use in writing and speech as it relates

to assessment procedures. According to Fairclough (1995), critical discourse analysis (CDA) is a

type of discourse analysis that looks at how texts relate to the discursive practices and processes

of social and cultural systems that are characterised by the relationships between ideologies and

power conflicts. Furthermore, according to Wodak (1995), CDA is a kind of analysis that
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examines many opaque and transparent structural interactions including dominance, control,

discrimination, and power that exist in language. The main focus of discourse analysis research

is how language is used in social contexts.

Providing an account for the relationships between speech and social power is one of the primary

purposes of Critical speech Analysis (CDA) (Aljarallah, 2017). This approach should be

articulated and characterised in particular in terms of how the texts and speech practices of the

dominant groups or institutions reproduce or legitimise the abuse of power (Rahimi &

Shahragard, 2007).

In this study, the researcher aims to discuss and analyse how language is used in some carefully

chosen posts by WhatsApp users to construct and negotiate gender identities and power

relations; how men and women use different language features, like pronouns, modality,

politeness, humour, etc., to express their opinions, attitudes, emotions, and identities in relation

to a variety of topics, like family, work, religion, and culture.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Language is a tool for social connections, particularly those involving power and gender

dynamics, as well as a method of reflection and communication. One of the most widely used

social media platforms, WhatsApp, offers a wealth of data for examining the ways in which

language is utilised in various situations to create, negotiate, and challenge gender identities and

power relations.Ongoing research, however, focusses on how WhatsApp postings, as a particular

discourse genre, expose language, gender, and power dynamics from a critical angle.Therefore,

the purpose of this study is to apply Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to a subset of WhatsApp

posts from different groups and topics in order to investigate how language features—like lexical

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choices, grammatical structures, and pragmatic strategies—are used in WhatsApp posts to

express, reinforce, or challenge power inequalities and gender stereotypes.

1.3 Aim and Objectives

The research aims to conduct a comprehensive critical discourse analysis of selected WhatsApp

Posts as it's depicts language, gender and power exploring the linguistics features employed in

the posts.

The following are the objectives of the study:

1. To examine how language shapes and reflects social relations, ideologies and identities

through the WhatsApp posts.

2. To identify the major linguistic features and stylistics choice used in the WhatsApp posts.

3. To identify the themes and symbols of the WhatsApp post, which include references to

historical events, cultural symbols, or metaphors that represent specific ideas.

4. To examine how language is used to construct and negotiate gender identities and power

relations among the users of this WhatsApp platform.

5. To reveal the hidden meanings, assumptions and implications of language use in

WhatsApp posts.

1.4 Research Questions

1. How do WhatsApp posts reflect the social relations, ideologies and identities of the users

in different contexts?

2. What are the major linguistic features and stylistic choices that characterize WhatsApp

posts?

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 3. What are the common themes and symbols that emerge from WhatsApp posts, and how

do they relate to historical events, cultural symbols, or metaphors that represent specific

ideas?

4. How do WhatsApp users construct and negotiate their gender identities and power

relations through language use on the platform?

5. What are the hidden meanings, assumptions and implications of language use in

WhatsApp posts, and how do they affect the users' perceptions and actions?

1.5 Scope and Limitations of the study

The scope of study is to analyse some selected WhatsApp using Critical Discourse Analysis.

Specifically, The study aims to explore how language, gender, and power are constructed,

negotiated, and contested in WhatsApp posts from different social groups and contexts, by

considering the social and cultural factors that influence the production and interpretation of

WhatsApp posts, such as the purpose, audience, genre, topic, identity, ideology

The limitation of the study includes ideological biases. The study brings it's own ideological

perspectives, consciously or unconsciously, into the analysis, which could affect the

interpretation of the discourse. This can result in a skewed understanding of the discourse or an

overemphasis on certain aspects that align with the study preconceived notions.

1.6 Significant of the Study

This Study "Language, Gender and Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis of some selected

WhatsApp posts" is of significant importance to the field of linguistics, as it will aid the

understanding of Media Discourse. Media Discourse cannot be overlooked, since it's one of the

building blocks for communication in this 21th century. By analysing the WhatsApp posts, the

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study has practical implications for the users and producers of WhatsApp posts, as well as the

educators and policy makers, by raising their critical awareness and sensitivity towards the issues

of language, gender, and power in digital media, and by suggesting possible ways to promote

more inclusive, equitable, and democratic practices and outcomes.

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 CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.0 Introduction

Social science research is beginning to focus more and more on the domain of social networking

sites. Researchers from a wide range of disciplines have started looking at the many facets of

social networking sites. We can examine the key viewpoints that are comparable to research

done in the same subject thanks to the evaluation of the literature. This will provide appropriate

guidelines for the study project and allow for the integration of earlier investigations, resulting in

the growth of knowledge. Moreover, a review of the literature has expanded our awareness of the

study's relevant concerns and improved our understanding of how to organise the various parts of

the framework.

2.1 Overview of WhatsApp

In 2009, WhatsApp was introduced by two former Yahoo! employees, Brian Acton and Jan

Koum. When Acton and Koum departed Yahoo! To take a vacation from work, the two went to

South America in September 2007. They had formerly applied and been turned down for

employment at Facebook. Throughout the remaining years, Koum was dependent on his

$400,000 in Yahoo! funds. After buying an iPhone in January 2009 and seeing the potential of

the app store, Koum began going to West San Jose to see his buddy Alex Fishman. There, they

would talk about "having statuses next to individual names of the people."

However, without Igor Solomen Tkov, an iPhone developer on rentacoder.com, who connected

him to Koum, this would not have been feasible. In an attempt to resemble "What's up," Koum

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titled the software "WhatsApp." On February 24, 2009, he formed WhatsApp Inc. in California.

However, Acton advised him to hold off for a "few more months" since early versions of

WhatsApp frequently broke. Apple introduced push notifications in June 2009, enabling users to

receive pager alerts even while they were not utilising the app. Koum modified WhatsApp such

that notifications would be sent to a user's network. After the introduction of WhatsApp 2.0,

which included a messaging feature, the number of active users unexpectedly rose to 250,000.

Acton made the decision to join the firm while still unemployed and operating another start-up.

On November 1st, he formally joined. The software finally debuted in November 2009, just on

the iPhone software Store, following months of beta testing. After that, Koum enlisted Chris

Peiffer, a friend who lived in Los Angeles, to work on creating the Blackberry Version, which

was released two months later.

2.2 Language and Gender

The 1960s and 1970s saw the emergence of three works that focused on the connections between

language and gender: Male/Female Language (Key, 1975), Language and Women's Place

(Lakoff, 1975), and Difference and Dominance (Thorne & Henley, 1975). According to Bell,

McCarthy, and McNamara (2006), gender is a term that depends on context and gives both males

and females access to different language tactics. Gender portrays the roles that society has

assigned to men and women. Every society views women's and men's roles differently and has

different expectations of them (Bell, McCarthy, & McNamara, 2006).

Cultural, political, economic, social, and religious issues all influence these expectations (Bell et

al., 2006). A given society's customs, laws, class, ethnic background, and prejudices all have an

impact on how women and men are treated, and these factors also shape certain attitudes and

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behaviours about gender. It is commonly accepted that there are two extremes in terms of

features for males and girls. In actuality, men make up the dominant groups with the good traits

like oddity, activity, independence, and reasoning, whereas women belong to repressed groups

that represent bad traits like emotionality, dependency, passivity, and weakness (Ho, 2009).

2.3 Discourse

A discourse is a manner of thinking, speaking, or writing on a certain topic or subjects. In

addition to being a tool for communication, discourse is also used to create social reality. Our

attitudes, opinions, and perceptions of the world around us may all be influenced by discourse.

"The set of rules governing the production, dissemination, and transformation of statements" is

what Michel Foucault defined as discourse (Foucault, 1972). In addition to being a tool for

communication, discourse may also be a tool for power manipulation and control over others.

Discourse, according to Gumperz (1982), is the means by which individuals in social interactions

utilise language to express meaning.

Discourse strategies are the methods people employ to plan and direct their discussions in order

to achieve their communication objectives. Turn-taking, subject selection, and the application of

certain language forms to communicate social meaning are a few examples of these tactics. The

cultural and social context in which words are employed in a discussion is just as important to

discourse as the actual words that are used. Gumperz also emphasises how critical it is to

comprehend the cultural presumptions and expectations that underpin communication and how

they may impact how meaning is understood in speech. Additionally, he contends that discourse

encompasses more than simply the words that are said; it also include the social and cultural

environment in which those words are employed (1987).

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The meaning of the words used might change dramatically depending on this circumstance.

According to Cook (1989), discourse includes a variety of ways that individuals communicate

with one another using language as well as the ways in which language is used to establish and

preserve social connections. Cook's concept of discourse emphasises how language usage in

social circumstances is dynamic and multifaceted. It highlights the fact that discourse is about

more than simply words; it's also about the meaning that words are meant to communicate.

People may negotiate and make agreements through language, as well as convey their opinions,

ideas, and values. Discourse is essentially the use of words to express meaning in a particular

social context or situation.

It entails using language in many different contexts, such as dialogue, reasoning, storytelling,

and more. It can be written down or uttered. Words must be arranged and spoken in a certain

way to express specific meanings, goals, and viewpoints.

2.3.1 Discourse Analysis

The study of discourse analysis looks at how language is used in social settings to express power

relationships, create meaning, and influence our perception of reality. It investigates the use of

language in spoken conversations, written texts, and media messages, among other kinds of

communication. It incorporates elements from several academic fields, including as psychology,

anthropology, sociology, and linguistics (Gumperz, 1982; Cook, 1989; Van Dijk, 1993;

Fairclough, 2013; Rogers, 2004).Discourse analysis, according to Harris and Harris (1970), is the

study of language in use, or language as it appears in social circumstances. Beyond the sentence

level, discourse analysis examines how language is used to convey meaning in social and

cultural contexts. This type of study can be done using spoken or written language.

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The study of discourse markers, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and other linguistic elements as

well as non-linguistic elements such the social and cultural settings of communication are all

included in discourse analysis (Harris & Harris, 1970 and Gill, 2000).It looks for linguistic

patterns, meaning construction processes, and language's role in social identity

expression.According to Brown, Brown, Yule, Brown, and Gillian (1983), discourse analysis—

the study of language use in social contexts—covers a variety of subjects, such as the

composition and purpose of discourse, the examination of spoken and written discourse, and the

influence of context on meaning.

2.4 Critical Discourse Analysis

In reaction to the limitations of conventional language analysis in addressing power relations and

ideology in speech, critical discourse analysis (CDA) emerged in the late 1970s (Wodak &

Meyer, 2001). With the aim of exposing and challenging prevailing discourses that uphold

injustice and oppression, the critical viewpoint of CDA highlights the connection between

language, power, and social relations (Fairclough, 2013).Wodak and Meyer (2001) claim that the

foundation of CDA is the Frankfurt School's critical theory, namely the writings of Jurgen

Habermas and his notion of communicative action.

According to Habermas, language is not neutral; rather, it is employed to suppress alternative

viewpoints and defend prevailing interests. Building on this idea, CDA studies the ways in which

language shapes social reality and maintains power structures.One of the first proponents of

CDA, Norman Fairclough, developed a three-dimensional model of language analysis that

combines social, discourse, and linguistic analysis (Fairclough, 2013). This paradigm emphasises

how important it is to comprehend conversational language patterns as well as the social context

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in order to comprehend how meaning is constructed and contested.Since its inception, CDA has

been used in many other fields, including as politics, media, healthcare, and education (Wodak &

Meyer, 2001).

The approach has also been critiqued for its lack of transparency and its potential for political

bias (Van Dijk, 1993). Yet, CDA remains a crucial instrument for examining power dynamics

and social injustice in discourse.As an interdisciplinary method, critical discourse analysis

(CDA) is used to examine language use in texts, discourse, and social and cultural contexts

(Wodak& Meyer, 2009). It tries to expose hidden power dynamics, ideologies, and social

injustices through language use (Fairclough, 2001). The idea of discourse is one of the

fundamental ideas in CDA. Discourse, according to Fairclough (2001), is a collection of related

texts that make use of similar themes, subjects, and discursive strategies.

Through an analysis of language, including vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and discourse

structure, CDA aims to reveal the hidden power dynamics and underlying ideologies that are

present in speech. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), according to Widdowson, is important

because it has moral appeal, socio-political rationale, and a liberal ideological stance. He also

concurs that the CD analyst tackles how power is exerted through language and notes difficulties

that are pertinent to domains outside of academia. But he makes a strong case for CDA to apply

consistent principles and systematic linguistic theory, be transparent in its methodological

processes—which must be repeatable—and have a critical attitude towards its own goals,

procedures, and practices.

CDA should encompass the methodical examination of whole texts, co-texts, and contextual

relationships.Chilton's (2005) work criticises CDA, arguing that it lacks a cognitive theory of

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language that might demonstrate how discourse influences social cognition and vice versa,

despite the fact that Chilton has produced several studies on discourse with a social-critical

objective. Compared to standard CDA techniques (including SFG), cognitive frame theory,

conceptual metaphor theory, and blending theory provide a more compelling explanation for the

occurrence of problems like racism and biassed cognition.According to Billig (2003), CDA

possesses the essential traits of a critical approach: the assertion that one is critical of both the

existing social structure and methods that fail to question the dominant patterns of that structure.

Furthermore, he acknowledges the significance of CDA's assertion that non-critical perspectives

predominate in academia and maintain the status quo of power relations, and he concurs with

CDA's conviction that an interdisciplinary approach is required.Furthermore, the common CDA

principles that the socio-cognitive and socio-critical methods share (Fairclough & Wodak, 1997)

include:

Social difficulties as stated in the CDA.

b. Power relations are created and executed discursively, much like a discourse.

c. Dialectical discourse shapes society and culture.

d. Discourse is not impartial; it is an ideological tool.

a. Discourse is historical in nature and cannot be understood in isolation.

f. Discours e.g. facilitates the relationship between society and text. Discourse analysis is an

interpretive and explanatory process.

h. One type of social activity is discourse.

2.4.1 Critical Discourse Analysis and Media

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Globalisation has been a contentious topic in recent years. According to Harvard (2003), it serves

as "the basic frame of orientation when we attempt to explain new economic, political, and

cultural phenomena... and the deployment of Internet..., qualifying communication and media as

an important part in the change processes." Furthermore, a quick recap of the impact that the

mass media networks that are accessible at the outset of the article have on people's lives will

attest to the emergence of the society network and the mass media-mediated world (Castells,

2000, 2011).

According to Wodak and Busch's (2004) writing on CDA, the media presents the public sphere

and may be examined as a site of social power dynamics and conflict. "Language frequently

merely seems transparent. Media organisations frequently claim to be impartial since they

facilitate public conversation, represent unconnected events, and supply newsmakers with

viewpoints and arguments." The agenda's primary presumptions include nationalism, capitalism,

racism, identity politics, misogyny, anti-Semitism, and war reporting. The following explains

several aspects of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) study that run counter to the media and

provides related examples.

a. Language of New Capitalism

Describe "New Capitalism." The ability of the capitalist system to endure major changes

is well-documented. The term "New Capitalism" describes the new version of capitalism

that has emerged as a result of recent changes. These changes may be viewed as both a

"re-structuring" and a "re-scaling" at the same time (Jessop, 2000). A "re-structuring" is

defined as changes in the relationships between various social life domains or fields.

Most obviously, this refers to the relationship between the political, educational, and

artistic domains and the economic field, which has even been known to "colonise" other
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domains. Observe the state of higher education. "Re-scaling" in the sense of altered

relationships between various social life scales, such as local social life (such as in small

towns)

This is one interpretation of what is commonly called "globalisation": it is not only a

matter of a national or local economic dynamic being replaced by a global one, but rather

of the relationship between local economies—both global and national—changing. "After

all, globalisation is a long-term process, of which the era of colonisation and imperial

nations was a significant part. It is evident how important changes are as a subject of

study. under comparison to previous types of capitalism, language (and semiotics more

generally, including "visual language") is becoming increasingly prominent and essential

under the New Capitalism. For example, this is implied in depictions of the New

According to Klein (2000), capitalism is "information-based" or "knowledge-based," and

this is demonstrated by its dependence on new communication technologies, the growing

significance of "brands" and "branding" in the economic success of goods, businesses,

countries, and even individuals, and the media's prominence in portraying these ideas.

Consequently, as knowledge is generated, consumed, and transmitted through discourses

(organisational, managerial, economic, political, educational, and so on), the rescaling

and restructuring of capitalism is likewise discourse led.

Furthermore, discourses are dialectically materialised in the "hardware" and "software" of

organisations (Chouliaraki and Fairclough, 1999; Fairclough, 2001). They are established

as ways of acting and interacting, and they are taught (through a variety of processes,

such as "skills training") as ways of being, through identities. New linguistic (and mostly

semiotic) forms—genres—include new ways of behaving and interacting, whereas new

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 ways of being are partially semiotic—new styles. Thus, under the strain of rescaling and

restructuring, changes in organisations (local government, workplaces, universities, etc.)

include, at least in part, semiotic and linguistic changes.

The publication of the special edition of Language in New Capitalism coincides with the

ongoing aerial bombing of Afghanistan as part of the ongoing "War on Terrorism," which

was sparked by the horrific assaults on the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre in

December 2001. This relates to the topic because it establishes the wide-ranging and

pervasive consequences of the modern international restructuring and rescaling of

capitalism in terms of what is sometimes called a new "global order."

The subject of "language in new capitalism" extends beyond the realm of economics to

encompass the ramifications of economic change in national politics, education, culture,

international relations, and security. In order to maximise freedom and social justice,

critical social research focusses on the challenges, injustices, problems, risks, and

opportunities that individuals living in social order and specific economic contexts face.

Fix the issues and opportunities in line with changes in the social and economic order.

The goal of the Language in New Capitalism research network is to concentrate critical

discourse analysis and language studies on semiotic stages of contemporary social and

economic transitions.

b. Racist Discourse

A type of discriminatory social practice that shows itself in writing, conversation, and

other forms of communication is called racist discourse. Racial speech, in conjunction

with other non-verbal forms of discrimination, serves to perpetuate racism as a means of

ethnic or "racial" dominance. It usually does this by articulating, endorsing, or

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 legitimising racist beliefs, attitudes, and ideologies of the prevailing ethnic group.

There are two main categories of racist speech:

1) Racist speech aimed against people of various ethnic backgrounds; 2) Racist speech

concerning people of different ethnic backgrounds

One of the several discriminatory ways that members of dominating groups communicate

orally with members of dominated groups, such as immigrants, refugees, ethnic

minorities, etc., is the first type of racist speech. They might overtly demonstrate their

superiority and lack of respect by employing insults, disparaging slurs, rude ways of

addressing others, and other verbalisations. Since such overt verbal discrimination is now

typically regarded as "politically incorrect," racist speech aimed towards members of

dominating ethnic groups has a tendency to become more nuanced and indirect.

Thus, among other disrespectful behaviours, white speakers may speak too loudly,

display a bored expression, avoid eye contact, use an arrogant intonation, refuse to give

minority speakers the floor, interrupt them appropriately, ignore the topics suggested by

their interlocutors, focus on topics that imply negative attributes of the ethnic minority

group to which the recipient belongs, and many other behaviours. Some of these

linguistic disparities are really expressed representations of the racial or ethnic supremacy

of white speakers, while others are more generally a challenge of intercultural

communication.

c. War Reporting

The CDA approach has also been used to examine war reportage in the mass media.

Three frameworks of news understanding—Marginal Oddity, the Enemy Within, and

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Legitimate Controversy—as well as metaphors, argumentation strategies, themes, and

syntactical and lexical choices for each frame were identified through an analysis of

archived US newspaper articles reporting exceptions to the Gulf War (Hackett & Zhao,

1994).

Nonetheless, the handling of various voices (utilitarian, moralist, and radical) inside the

peace actions—which were put on the defensive in journalistic discourse in order to

preserve its acceptability—was a crucial component of the covert goal.Press discourse

designs during the Persian Gulf War (1990–1991) undoubtedly sought to provide a wide

understanding of "America's `master narrative' of war, a history which had been

threatened by the Vietnam experience" (Hackett & Zhao in Sathi Abdullah, Faiz, 2013).

The Bush administration had covertly released disinformation to the media "to legitimate

sending U.S. crowds and to organise public support for this action," according to Kellner

(1992), who examined "a standard case of media manipulation" to illustrate how the state

uses common media to stimulate its own concerns.

d. Discourse of Advertising

Advertising as a discourse "must first be recognised as forms of paid, non-personal

communication used by identified sources with a persuasive intent through various

media" (Rotzoll, 1985; underscores added).

Although most people associate commercials with the mainstream media, which

includes television, newspapers, and magazines, the public also sees them on

billboards, posters, and indirect mail (Rotzoll, 1985), not to mention the omnipresent

Internet web page in recent years.Advertisements, the "primary and most dominant

form of promotional discourse," are easily hijacked through the embedding or mixing

21
 of genres, according to Bhatia (2004). An instance of a mixed genre piece is the

weekly "Classified Plus" product or service review that appears in the South China

Morning Post. It is described as "an advertorial or a blurb...has been deceptively used

as a recommendation or a review, whereas in fact it is no different from an

advertisement." Bhatia goes on to show how the rhetorical structures of written

discourses, like “commercial advertising” and “philanthropic fundraising,” can be

analysed side by side to show how the latter type of discourse appropriates generic

resources and incorporates inter-discursivity elements to make it appear deceptively

similar to the former. In ads, hybridisation and the creation of hybrid identities come

from the appropriation of intertextual features and the colonisation of one discourse

by another (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006; see also Fairclough (1995) for the terms

“conversalization,” “marketisation,” and “commodification”). According to the

research, the image is meant to sell advertising space and the magazine, not to portray

“a real woman at work,” but rather to represent “a particular kind of lifestyle” and

divert the reader’s attention from the ridiculousness of many of the recommendations

offered.

e. Summary of Current Areas

Six CDA areas of concern—identity politics, governance, nationalism, racism,

gender, and globalization—as well as research examples that may be connected to

sociopolitical and media challenges are listed by Wodak and Meyer (2009). They also

discuss how these areas are planned in relation to other local issues. A few of the

topics mostly address methodological concerns with some minor imposition of

contemporary interests, such as

22
 1. The impact of novel media or genres, together with enhanced notions of space

and time, on society;

2. The influence of the Knowledge-based Economy (KBE) and its

recontextualization;

3. Emerging trends in our political structures that arise from regional or

worldwide advancements;

4. Using cognitive science approaches to integrate CDA outside of Eurocentric

and Western perspectives; 5) Contextually of individuality politics on all

levels, relationships between hegemonic stories, complex historical processes,

and CDA approaches; and 6) 6) Preventing “cherry picking” through the use

of combined quantitative and qualitative approaches and “retroductable [clear,

explicit], self-reflective presentations of research” (Wodak & Meyer, 2009a)

2.5 Empirical Review

Globally, college students have been using social networking sites at an exponential

rate over the past ten years. It appears that social networking sites have taken on a

major role in these young people's lives (Gemmill and Peterson, 2006). College

students utilise social networking sites more than any other demographic, mostly

because they are drawn to the new technology in general and the possibility it

presents for building social networks in particular.

In their study, Keol and Meier (2018) outlined the benefits that Korean students

derive from utilising social networking sites like WhatsApp as well as how and why

they use them. The report itself starts out by outlining the reasons for the rise in the

23
number of foreign students being admitted to American colleges. It also relates to the

psychological experiences of foreign students, including emotions of helplessness,

alienation, and confusion as well as nostalgic, depressed sentiments.

The research "Social capital as WhatsApp; differentiating uses and users" by Burke

and Marlow (2011) goes into great detail into how one should view the applications

of social networking sites. However, it notes that using social networking sites is

frequently viewed as a single, homogenous activity where everyone uses them and

has the same level of social interaction at all times. The study mainly looks at how

different types of site activities, versus one-on-one communication, broadcasts to

larger audiences, and passive consumption of social news, as well as individual

differences among users, such as social communication skill and self-esteem, affect

social capital on WhatsApp.

In this (2011) study, 415 Whatsapp users participated in a survey. The results showed

that getting messages from friends is linked to an increase in bridging social capital.

The study's main objective was to see how various usage of a sizable social

networking site affect various user social capital kinds. The real or potential resources

connected to a long-lasting web of mutually recognised or acquainted relationships—

more or less institutionalized—are referred to as social capital. According to the

study, social information-seeking, expressive information-fishing, and utilising social

networking sites to learn about individuals they have met offline are the main sources

of motivation for college students, who feel more driven to build social capital.

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Lin and His-Peng (2011) used incentive theory and network externalities to analyse

how college students use social networking sites. Following an empirical

investigation utilising 402 samples and the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM)

Approach, Lin and Lu (2011) discovered that the most significant contributing factor

to college students' growing use of social networking sites was their "enjoyment." In

their evaluation of students' use of social networking sites, Bicen and Cavus (2010)

identified the most popular social networking sites among students in the computer

education instructional technology department. The survey found that college

students utilise the Internet extensively and share their expertise with others. The

findings indicate that Facebook and Whatsapp are the websites that students use most

frequently.

In a survey, Folorunso (2010) examined how the Diffusion of Innovations (DOI)

theory applied to the use of social networking sites by students at the University of

Agriculture, Abeokuta in Nigeria. The study's demographic data showed that college

students made up the majority of consumers. The five constructs—Relative

Advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Observability, and Reliability—were

employed to assess the influence of Social Networking Sites on attitudes and trust, as

well as the relationship between attitudes and intentions to utilise them.

According to the study, the relative benefit, intricacy, and observability of social

networking sites do not have a positive impact on people's attitudes towards using

technology, but their compatibility and trialability do. The 2010 study came to the

conclusion that college students' attitudes about social networking sites had a

beneficial impact on their intentions to utilise the technology.It takes skill to

25
communicate. Although we are unable to quantify the non-verbal communication's

proportional contribution to verbal communication (Lapakko, 1997), individuals

frequently underestimate how much meaning non-verbal communication may

convey. In fact, we may depend significantly more on non-verbal clues and less on

words that are spoken when we are unsure about another person's thoughts or our

own feelings about them.

2.6 Theoretical Framework

2.6.1 Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis

Norman Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis was influenced by a number of

critical theorists, including Foucault, Gramsci, Habermas, and others, but it also has

roots in Hallidayan Functional Linguistics.Conversationalization is highlighted by

Fairclough (1995b: 10–11) as a general feature of media language. The public

language used in many media texts—such as documentaries on scientific or

technological topics—presents characteristics of conversational language, which is a

language used in private conversations. Though the whole television production

industry, including science and technology, is a component of public, institutional

life, the majority of the broadcast programming is received and consumed in private

settings, like as the home and among families.

Language is used differently in public and private spheres. Fairclough (1995)

observes that this conflict is expressed in a multitude of media texts through the mix

of public and private language.According to Fairclough (1995), there are two distinct
26
tensions in modern mass media: the conflict between amusement and knowledge, and

the tension between public and private.There are three main areas of analysis for any

communicative event or interaction in Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis

approach: text (such as a news report), discourse practice (such as the production and

consumption process), and socio-cultural practices (such as the social and cultural

structures that give rise to the communicative event).

Fairclough's model's primary analytical emphasis is text. Language analysis of

vocabulary, grammar, semantics, the writing and sound systems, cohesion-

organization above the sentence level, and turn-taking organisation in the context of

dialogue-shaped media are all included in its study (Fairclough 1995: 57). His method

likewise adheres to Halliday's functional analysis, and he discovers in any phrase The

three roles mentioned above are articulated and renamed as follows (Fairclough

1995).First, there are representations that have an ideational purpose and may contain

certain ideologies. Second, specific identities constructed by writers and readers (who

gets featured, what roles they play, etc.) that are connected to interpersonal function

Thirdly, a specific interpretation of the writer-reader connection that is tied to the

textual function, such as formal or informal, near or remote. Fairclough (1995) notes

that the emphasis in representations is on how individuals, relationships, events, and

other things are portrayed in texts. A fundamental premise is that media texts are

representations of reality that depend on the social positions, interests, and goals of

people who create them, rather than just reflecting facts as is occasionally naively

believed.Following Gramsci (1971), Fairclough (1995: 55) describes discourse

27
practices as a community's standard methods of using language. He explains these

practices in terms of networks, which he refers to as orders of discourse.

Within a specific discourse type, there is a recurring pattern of twin and

complementary foci, communicative events (e.g., an editorial in a newspaper) and the

general framework of the discourse order, genre and discourse configurations, and the

discourse's evolution within the context of social and cultural changes as well as its

relationships with other socially adjacent discourse orders (Fairclough 1995: 62–

63).According to Fairclough (1995), media discourse plays a mediating role between

public and private discourse, explaining how it both shapes and is shaped by socially

nearby discourse regimes.

For example, television formats' cultural relevance explains their effect across several

public realms. Therefore, although the first was initially a simulation of the later, the

celebrity interview format may be utilised in higher education for introductory books

on the thought processes of well-known individuals, and media discourse offers

models of conversational encounters in private life.Conservative or innovative

discursive techniques are also possible. The character of modern media texts is hybrid

and heterogeneous, a result of innovation that Fairclough (1995) attributes to the

times.

The media is vital in both reflecting and promoting broader processes of change, and

as a result, its methods are always evolving. We are living in a time of fast and

ongoing change in society and culture. This encompasses the media's discursive

28
methodologies. The main idea to stress is that certain social contexts of change and

instability are linked to innovation in discursive practices.

29
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Design

The principal analytical technique for this study is Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis,

which is combined with a quantitative and qualitative research methodology. Essentially, this

study describes how language, gender, and powe function in certain WhatsApp posts. It is said

that different discursive tactics are employed in different WhatsApp postings. These techniques

are based on both individual and generic styles to communicate a message, and language use also

determines the degree of power associated with gender. Every Whatsapp post has a purpose and

a main topic that each user posts about. Every WhatsApp user communicates differently and

employs a variety of discursive techniques. Basically, these discursive techniques are examined

using the analytical instruments found in critical discourse analysis.

3.2 Sampling and Sampling Technique

This study uses a Critical Discourse analytical lens to examine how language, gender, and power

are used in Whatsapp posts. A variety of scenarios were generated on the site and examined.

3.3 Method of Data Collection

Primary and secondary sources of data were the methods employed to collect the data for this

investigation. The core source consists of the fundamental findings from a selection of

WhatsApp accounts and profiles. Documentary materials like books, journals, and the internet

are examples of secondary sources.

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3.4 Method of Data Analysis

Fairclough's Critical conversation Analysis, which looks at the connections between language,

gender, and power in conversation, will be used to examine the data. By using this method, the

study is able to identify the underlying presumptions, values, power and belief structures, and

discursive techniques that users of the WhatsApp platform utilise.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.0 Introduction

In this chapter, the framework for examining and assessing the part language plays in the

formation of knowledge, ideology, and power—Faircough's Critical Discourse approach—is

applied to data analysis. By seeing discourse as a type of social activity, Faircough's approach to

Critical Discourse Analysis highlights the fundamental relationship between language and social

practice.

The goal of Faircough's CDA model is to examine how language usage establishes and maintains

social power relations. In order to analyse any communicative event or interaction, Fairclough's

Critical Discourse Analysis approach has three main focusses: text (such as a news report),

discourse practices (such as the process of production and consumption), and socio-cultural

practices (such as the social and cultural structures that give rise to the communicative event).

4.1 Description of Text

Fairclough's model's primary analytical emphasis is text. Language analysis of vocabulary,

grammar, semantics, the writing and sound systems, cohesion-organization above the sentence

level, and turn-taking organisation in the context of dialogue-shaped media are all included in its

study (Fairclough 1995: 57). One advantage of CDA research was the variety of approaches and

viewpoints available for text analysis. Additionally, it made it possible to comprehend social

phenomena like language, gender, and power on a larger scale, which strengthened our grasp of

shared experience.

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4.1 Whatsapp Profiles

4.1.1 Friendship Matters

Among all the subjects, status updates about friendship came in first place, making up 9.5% of

all the changes. Friendship between people of the same sex is regarded as the usual in life due to

the gender segregation role. Given that most Whatsapp status updates were addressed to users'

friends who share the same sex, it appears that the popularity of same-sex friendships that exists

offline is replicated in the virtual world. Four primary areas comprise the status updates shared

under this theme: having fun with friends, expressing regret for a break in communication,

offering or seeking contact details, and staying in touch.

Since university students make up the present research sample, birthdays, engagements, and end-

of-year parties were among the festivities. It appears that commemorating these occasions is

common, based on the examination of the sample status updates. The places where these events

were held show disparities in gender: the majority of male status updates stated that these events

were held outside the home, frequently in cafes or restaurants, while the majority of female

status updates stated that these events were held inside the home. As evidenced by the fact that

some of the status updates included excuses for ignoring friends online (such as "My friends,

forgive me for ignorin your private messages"), students appear to view WhatsApp as a crucial

platform for preserving their connections. I'm back, so we can carry on with our activities.”)

Furthermore, through these friendship-driven online habits, young people have grasped the

opportunity to "hang out" with friends on new social media platforms. Youth may so engage in

more peer socialisation and identity formation activities online as opposed to offline.
33
It was also evident from a couple of the status updates that the students used WhatsApp to

provide their friends their contact information. This may indicate that college students consider

WhatsApp as a popular method for communication where they can be certain that a significant

number of their friends would receive their messages. Some said things like "Hey friends! "

while disclosing their new phone numbers. Please put down my phone numbers so that nobody

claims, "I called you, but it wasn't reachable."

They also exhibited this by enquiring about acquaintances they hadn’t seen in a long time, such

“James, how are you? It has been a while since I last saw you. Some enquired about the best way

to get in touch with their friends directly (for example, “You haven’t even used Whatsapp in a

while”). “Are you dead or alive?”

. 4.1.2 Social Issues

Social problem status updates encompassed a broad spectrum of subjects. The prevalent cultural

disparity in the expected, gendered offline social conduct and the way that women are

reprimanded and condemned for engaging in activity that men are allowed to engage in were two

of the major social standards that both men and women questioned. Numerous people believed

that this gave men the dominating position in society. One of the primary causes of misbehaviour

among males, for example, is the belief that men are infallible, which leads to their doing

whatever they choose, as stated by a female poster.

Talks on social issues among university students typically started out as conversations about

everyday subjects, like a Facebook page, a hash tag, or a shared YouTube video.

. Their exchanges with one other concerning such content varied from a single conversation to a

month-long exchange. These status updates addressed the concerns by either neutrally reporting

34
the news and awaiting comments from others, or by displaying particular sentiments (supporting

or opposing).

In order to facilitate discussions about social issues in online communities, Gerhards and Rucht

(1992) identified three collective action frames: diagnostic framing, which defines a problem or

places blame; prognostic framing, which details potential solutions; and motivational framing,

which inspires people to take action or mobilise

.Vegh (2003) categorised online posts that addressed social issues as well. She offered a helpful

framework for analysing these posts by separating them into three categories:

awareness/advocacy (the creation of information that is sympathetic), organization/mobilization

(the planning and deliberation that results from this information), and action/reaction (the

outcome of such planning and deliberation). When these categories are applied to social

problems status updates, they may be categorised under both Vegh's (2003) awareness/advocacy

dimension and Gerhards & Rucht's (1992) diagnostic frame. This sample provides no proof that

the content matched the higher levels these writers mention.

4.1.3 Family Matters

The family is regarded as society’s most significant social institution. For people, it serves as

their primary source of identity and status. Due to the fact that we live in a collectivist society

that places a high value on both nuclear and extended families, it is expected of university

students to share some family-related content on their status updates. Examples of such content

include news and updates about family members and family announcements, such as happy or

sad news or occasions that call for support, like births: “My sister gave birth to a baby girl last

35
night!” Sarah is her name”), medical procedures: “My mother underwent surgery today and is

doing OK now”), and demises: “My cousin Doris succumbed to God’s mercy today”

4.1.4 Jokes

Weaver (2013) asserts that jokes are historically and culturally particular behaviours. It makes

people chuckle in specific situations and displays humour while interacting with others.

Additionally, it could clarify specific facets of society at a certain era (Wanzer, Booth-

Butterfield, & Booth-Butterfield, 1995). Jokes pertaining to local culture and generic jokes are

the two primary categories into which this theme's jokes fall.

Jokes concerning women's conduct, such as "Say „MMMMMMMMMM.‟ Say„OOOOOOOO.‟

Say „AAAAAAAAAA," were part of the local cultural humour. One female in Saudi Arabia is

applying lipstick to another. Some joked that there were distinctions between Nigerian women

from different tribes or states (e.g., "A 16-year-old Edo girl sounds like a hoover, while a 30-

year-old Abuja lady has a soft voice").

General jokes like "Leave it if you spill water on the floor or on yourself" were among the other

status posts. It will desiccate on its own. Make sure your phone's battery is completely dead

before charging it. The answer to your query does not exist if it is not found on the first website

that Google suggests.If you plan to sleep on your made bed again, why bother? Don't go if you

will not be able to arrive on time due to being late. If an ice cube falls to the ground, place it

beneath the refrigerator.

4.1.5 Personal Updates

Barash et al. (2010) claim that giving brief summaries of everyday activities through status

updates has grown in popularity among social media users. Previous research (Denti et al. 2012;
36
Winter et al. 2014) has corroborated this claim by showing that the most common status updates

on Facebook are related to personal matters and occurrences.

This theme's status updates are separated into two categories: those that share the users' present

activities and those that share their personal activities in certain locations. Locations like

restaurants or lecture halls (e.g., "ENG111... I'm tired"), states (e.g., "In Abuja"), or locations

inside or outside the nation (e.g., I will pass by Abuja City to have a seafood supper) were all

included in the status updates. Some status updates (such "Reading") just mentioned what the

user was doing at the moment the message was made, without mentioning the location.

4.1.6 Congratulations

Many college students post congrats on their status updates, with a primary focus on two things:

national celebrations and athletic triumphs (such as “Congratulations to the fans of my favourite

football team Barca for winning!”).

4.1.7 Birthday Celebration

Birthdays and the celebration of friends', loved ones', and classmates' birthdays are among the

many status updates shared by university students. Example: "Happy Birthday, my love! I'm

wishing you a long and prosperous life today."

4.2. Vocabulary

4.2.1 Informal Vocabulary

37
One of the most notable characteristics employed by the participants is the casual vocabulary;

this feature appears to reflect the shared history of the participants as well as the fact that

WhatsApp users are regarded as friends.

Informal Vocabulary

Dear, Hello, Hi, Got, Yeah/yep/yea, Darling, Baby, Funny, Sweets, Milove/my love, Nope/nah

4.2.2 Verbal or Vocal Cues

Certain noises can be used in nonverbal communication as long as they are not words. Pitch,

loudness, pace, quality, and other non-word aspects of language are examples of what we refer to

as paralinguistic qualities.Paralinguistic refers to "alongside the words or language" since the

word para means "alongside" or "parallel to." Vocal cues, which include all oral characteristics

of sound other than words themselves, are the paralinguistic component under examination here.

Cues in vocal form include:

- Pitch: the highest or lowness of your voice

- Rate: how rapidly or slowly you speak

- Inflection: the variety or changes in pitch

- Quality: the unique resonance of your voice, such as huskiness, nasality, raspiness, and

whininess.

- Non-word Sounds: mmh, ahh and the like, as well as pauses or absence of sounds used

for effect in speaking.

38
 - Pronunciation: whether or not you say a word correctly.

- Articulation: whether or not you combine pronunciation and articulation to produce a

word with clarity and distinction so it can be understood. A person who mumbles has an

enunciation problem.

- Silence: the back of sound.

4.3 Orthography

One method for writing a language is called orthography. It is a standardised method of writing a

certain language using a specific writing system (script). It contains capitalisation, punctuation,

and spelling guidelines. The question of how internet users perceive spelling has long been a

topic of discussion in online linguistic research since it is assumed that writers on the internet

deviate from accepted writing conventions when they spell. Analysis of a few chosen Whatsapp

status posts for this research project produced a variety of features, including incorrect

capitalisation, informal abbreviations, unusual spellings and expressions, and heavy contraction

usage—all of which are indicative of language use in relation to a particular gender.

4.3.1 Abbreviations

An acronym is a word or phrase that has been reduced or condensed and is used to denote a

complete. Usually, the initial letter or letters of a word are used to construct it. One notable

linguistic feature that is prevalent in WhatsApp chats is the usage of acronyms. The table and

conversation display the acronyms used in the talk;

FIRST STATUS POST

Joy: HBD beautiful, Age in soar n… in grace

4.3.2 Omission of Vowels and Accent simulation

This covers all kinds of abbreviations that come from phonetically motivated letters by typing

words exactly as they are spoken or by removing vowels. The most often used abbreviations

were "u," "r," and "ur." The others are: "bby," "arnd," "nd," "nvr," "ppl," "cht," "b," "wt," "tnks,"

"abt," "gud," "plz," and "wht." Accent simulating can take many different forms. (For the

definition, frequency, and simulation of accent, see above for vowel omission). The sample

below provides examples of accent simulations and vowel deletion.

Example

Mary: gud to b bckhme

Peter: plz. Who hs type-cable fr sale

4.3.3. Clippings

Clippings are the process of forming words by breaking a word down into its constituent pieces.

It's a way of condensing a word to only its main sound or forms. It speaks about "words that lose

their word ends in order to be shortened." In the conversation, this kind of abbreviation is

frequently used. Examples are "doc," "bro," "pls," "sis," and "esp."

4.3.4 Capitalization

An additional characteristic that is strongly indicative of non-standard spelling is the lack of

capitalisation in the majority of student submissions. Capitalisation is one of the intriguing

aspects that calls for close examination. The focus of this research will be on the function of

40
capitalisation as an element of emphasis, even if it appears to take on various places and serve

unique purposes. Expressions are capitalised entirely to emphasise points, draw attention to

themselves, and even challenge the other person. Because of this, overusing capitalisation is

regarded as rude conduct. However, the results of the current study show that WhatsApp users'

camaraderie and casualness diminish this rudeness.

Example

Kelvin: The end!!! These are moments when you start having these feelings…

Finally you realize that u are ALONE, u came alone!! U are now faced with the question “what

next”?? Am thankful to baba GOD for this!!! #bowingout

4.4 Discourse Practices

Following Gramsci (1971), Fairclough (1995: 55) describes discourse practices as a community's

standard methods of using language. He explains these practices in terms of networks, which he

refers to as orders of discourse. A specific kind of discourse alternates between twin and

complementary foci, communicative events (like an editorial in a newspaper), and the general

structure of the discourse order, genre configurations, and how it changes in response to social

and cultural shifts as well as interactions with other socially adjacent discourse orders

(Fairclough 1995: 62–63).

41
4.4.2 Gender Differences in Whatsapp Status Updates

The Table represents the themes that showed gender differences

Male Status Update Female Status Updates

Social Issues Congratulations

Political Issues Family Matters

Jokes Emotional Outlet

It is evident from the Table that men shared more status updates on jokes, politics, and social

issues.Female students shared more updates on family matters, emotional outlets, and

congratulations on their status updates than did male students. These results support and

reinforce the findings of other studies, which showed that more women use WhatsApp than men

to satisfy their desire to express their emotions and that men use it more frequently to discuss

political and social topics. According to the research's findings, men often make more jokes on

their WhatsApp accounts, while women typically post more about their families and congrats.

Societal role theory may also be used to explain the variations in status updates between men and

women, as societal conventions assign women to take care of the home sphere and men to lead

public lives. This might help to explain why men talk about politics on their accounts more often

than women do, even though women tend to post more congrats and family-related status

updates. Furthermore, men are stereotyped as being funnier and less emotionally expressive than

women.

42
4.4.3 Self-generated statue notifications

Users have added or changed these self-generated status updates on purpose in order to share

them with their connections. There are four types of these alerts: solely text, hybrid, purely

iconic, and blank statuses.

4.4.4 Purely- text realizations

Users purposefully included both their own writings and quotes.Users meant to actively use the

space that WhatsApp gave to engage with other members of their community by writing their

own texts. The users have carefully chosen texts that are meaningful to them and that they

believe their connections would find interesting as well.

4.4.5 Hybrid realizations

Users appear to be intentionally encouraged to use WhatsApp’s extensive collection of

emoticons in addition to the standard text formats. From the data, some examples of these

statuses include “Sh,” “My S7,” “life is a test,” “Fragments,” and “a smile in your brother’s or

sister’s faceis a charity.” There are three primary applications for emoticons, according to

Sanchez-Moya & Cruz-Moya (2015, p. 58): conveying a tale, giving a semantic value, and

supporting the spoken word.

4.5 Socio-cultural Practices

43
Some insights into the society's broader socio-cultural characteristics are provided by the data

analysis.

Examining these aspects of the socio-cultural background might be helpful in giving a

descriptive explanation of how society influences language and how certain ideas, like power

(i.e., dominance and authority), are technically expressed in language. Van Dijk (1998a: 6)

asserts that "we need to look closely at their discursive manifestations if we want to know what

ideologies actually look like, how they work, and how they are created, changed, and

reproduced." This argument is highly crucial to his theory.

This is due to the fact that the thoughts and worldviews of WhatsApp users have an impact on

the content they publish. As a result, these textual alerts have access to and mirror users'

thoughts, perceptions of reality, and worldviews. This suggests that one may also see

WhatsApp's status updates as a means of disseminating the ideals, customs, life lessons, and

worldviews that distinguish certain individuals or groups within society. As a result, they

facilitate the real-time exchange of information.

4.5.1 Language and Gender Socio-cultural Practice

Foley (1997) asserted that the relationship between gender and language is culturally produced

rather than innate. According to research done by Lakof in 1975 and Romaine in 1994, there are

linguistic traits that are unique to men and women. For example, in most contexts, women are

expected to speak more formally and respectfully than males.

The tales on WhatsApp mostly include guys posting about sports, competitions, business,

politics, and legal issues. Women tend to post more frequently about their lives, issues, food, and

other topics. Every word example on WhatsApp has a male or boy's name. When it comes to

44
describing events or circumstances inside the family in WhatsApp posts, the male member has

performed better than the female.

Both genders were distinguished by their unconventional use of punctuation, spelling, and

abbreviations. Male and female WhatsApp status discourses differ in their primary subject of

attention, even though their structural constructs are comparable. This means that they differ in

two significant ways.

Men seem keen to emphasise their interest in political and social matters, in contrast to their

propensity to centre their talks around religious and romantic subjects. Generally speaking,

women use more immediate terms in their status posts than men do.

4.5.2 Language and Power as Socio-cultural Practices in Whatstapp Chats

Language is a means of demonstrating power. For instance, language is used to convey

directions and instructions. Certain responsibilities are set in stone in oral and traditional

practices of societies. Since the beginning of time, there has been a domination and emancipation

game. In our day-to-day talks, we encounter examples of language and authority such as Madam

Chairman, Lady Doctor, and Female Judge. Phrases like "maiden voyage," "maiden flight," and

"maiden speech" have appeared in our talks because of the widespread belief that women are

naive and untried. Women's courteous language is interpreted as a sign of weakness and

indicates that they are incapable of holding positions of leadership inside organisations.

It takes a different shape on WhatsApp platforms, where users are allowed to express who they

are and identify as whatever they want to be.

45