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Metapragmatic Disputes of Linguistic Authority and Ideologies on Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 7-2-2019 [X]splaininggender, race, class, and body: Metapragmatic disputes of linguistic authority and ideologies on Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr Judith C. Bridges University of South Florida, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons Scholar Commons Citation Bridges, Judith C., "[X]splaininggender, race, class, and body: Metapragmatic disputes of linguistic authority and ideologies on Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr" (2019). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/7750 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. [X]splaining gender, race, class, and body: Metapragmatic disputes of linguistic authority and ideologies on Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr by Judith C. Bridges A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics and Applied Language Studies Department of World Languages College of Arts & Sciences University of South Florida Major Professor: Dr. Camilla Vásquez Mariaelena Bartesaghi, Ph.D. Nicole Tracy-Ventura, Ph.D. Amanda Huensch, Ph.D. Date of Approval: July 2, 2019 Keywords: digital discourse analysis, Citizen Sociolinguistics, metapragmatics, social network sites, neologisms, gender, race, class, body Copyright © 2019, Judith C. Bridges DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my family. To my mother, Rosemary Darbon, who inspired my passion for learning, teaching, and serving others. To my father, James Louis, who taught me the virtues of hard work, and of integrating imagination and artistry into one’s work. To my big sis, Danae, from whom I learned to be rebellious and to laugh at life’s absurdities. And to Adell, my closest friend since we split into two zygotes, whose energy I feel, always. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I must first and foremost give thanks to my committee, Drs. Camilla Vásquez, Amanda Huensch, Nicole Tracy-Ventura, and Mariaelena Bartesaghi. These amazing professors have done so much for me. I am fortunate to have had their guidance, and I am eternally grateful for all the time and energy they dedicated to me. I am especially thankful to my advisor and committee chair, Dr. Vásquez, whose invaluable support, patience, kindness, and often-much- needed encouragement made it possible for me to complete this work. I cannot imagine being close to where I am now without her. I am forever grateful and feel more blessed than I can convey for having the opportunity to work with Dr. Vásquez. Others at USF that I must thank are Patty Garcia and Claudine Boniec, the department powerhouses, for their capacity to immediately calm nerves and solve practically any problem. I thank my peers and friends, Ramona Kreiss, Jhon Cuesta-Media, Jelena Vuksonovic, Mathilde Olivero, Addie Sayers-China, Yi Zhang, Abeer Mohammed, Yao Liu, for the laughs and positive energy. And I must thank my students, former and current. They have no idea how much joy they give me. I thank them all for the invigorating times together and for teaching me so much. Beyond the USF community, I would not have been able to complete this work without the unconditional love and care of my mother, father, and my two incredible sisters. I would also like to thank Joe Rivera for the many years of always believing in me and encouraging me. Thanks, also, to Dexter and Diego, my adorable canine and feline furballs, for lovingly forcing me slow down, play, and just smile. Finally, a few more individuals deserve recognition for the completion of this work. This last year has been the most eventful one of my life, with peaks and troughs at a level of intensity I had not previously experienced. Looking back, a handful of people stand out like lighthouses in stormy darkness for their compassion and generosity that kept me going. So, I would like to thank Tara Conceçiao, Eddie Bujarski, Lisa and Chris Acierno, and Jeff Silver. You all each know what you did for me, and I am grateful. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Metapragmatics ....................................................................................................................... 8 Pragmatics and the Sociability of the Internet ....................................................................... 11 Digital Discourse Research ................................................................................................... 17 Splain in Three Distinctive Platforms ................................................................................... 19 Twitter ............................................................................................................................... 21 Reddit ................................................................................................................................ 24 Tumblr............................................................................................................................... 26 Domain demographics ...................................................................................................... 30 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................... 31 Purpose of the Study .............................................................................................................. 33 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 33 Significance of Study ............................................................................................................ 35 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................... 36 Metapragmatics ..................................................................................................................... 36 Mapping meta-X labels. .................................................................................................... 39 Developing the scope of metapragmatics ......................................................................... 44 Synthesis of metapragmatic research in discourse studies and CMC. .............................. 51 Linguistic Creativity and the Development of Splain ........................................................... 60 Identity and Social Involvement in Web 2.0 ......................................................................... 66 CHAPTER THREE: MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................... 73 Theoretical Assumptions and Principles of a “Critical Citizen CMDA” .............................. 75 Critical, computer-mediated discourse analysis ............................................................... 75 Citizen sociolinguistics ..................................................................................................... 78 Additional theories & concepts ......................................................................................... 81 i Data Collection and Management Procedures ...................................................................... 83 Rationale for the selection of four focal splain words ...................................................... 85 Search interfaces and platform differences ....................................................................... 89 Management and storage of data. ..................................................................................... 94 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 96 Data Procedure and Analysis................................................................................................. 97 RQ1 ................................................................................................................................... 97 RQ2 ................................................................................................................................. 101 Ethical considerations ..................................................................................................... 101 Evaluation of Research ........................................................................................................ 103 Researcher reflexivity ..................................................................................................... 103 Validity criteria ............................................................................................................... 104 CHAPTER FOUR: RQ1 FINDINGS ......................................................................................... 106 Categorizing Linguistic Practices
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