Virtual identity construction in social networking sites: A discourse analytic approach

• Main Author: Pulido, Dennis
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: Online social networks; Virtual reality; Linguistics
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/330
• Institution: De La Salle University

The advent of the World Wide Web has provided a venue in which identity may be constructed. Its virtual nature provides a unique environment in which linguistic resources may be utilized and exploited. The study aims to document and analyze how identity is constructed in a virtual environment. The corpus of the study consists of fifty (50) online profiles that were collected from Friendster.com. A discourse, linguistic, and paralinguistic analysis of the online profiles was conducted to ascertain how identity is constructed in a virtual environment. The discourse analysis was done on a macro-level by categorizing the entries according to their respective frames. Linguistic analysis was done on a micro-linguistic level by analyzing the use of lexical cohesion devices, grammatical cohesion devices, speech act and codes-switching. Paralinguistic analysis was done on the emoticons that were present in the profiles. Finally, the patterns of virtual identity were documented. The study shows that identity is constructed in online profiles primarily through the use of frames. The frames contain specific aspects of the profiles owners identity that were made available to the computer-mediated audience. Lexical cohesion devices link certain details inherent in the profiles. Grammatical cohesion devices provide a structure through which the details are made perceivable. Speech acts indicate the utterances made available to the readers. Code-switching indicates aspects of the profile owners identity that were written using another language. Emoticons reveal the state the emotional stance of the profile owners identity towards aspects of their identity. Drawing upon these findings, the study develops a model of virtual identity construction. The model synthesizes the macro, micro, and paralinguistic features that were identified from the profiles.