Wrath Posts on Social Media: A Content Analysis

INTRODUCTION

The factuality cannot be denied that nowadays internet has made a profound

impact on our everyday life. In communication, social media has given the world such a

radical influence on the languages we use today. In just one click, people can post and

share events of their lives and other things. Some people plainly use this medium as

their leisure, while others use this to promote and advocate something they find

relevant. Social media serve many purposes aside from being an instrument to share

news. The availability and quick access of these medium made a drastic impact on the

language we use today, especially in this generation that has a combination of strength,

adventure and vanity.

There is now a lot of evidences that social media network sites have become

mainstream and it has been reported that globally, these sites account for online every

11 minutes spent online (Jones, 2009). 54 percent of internet users between 16 and 24

have set up their own page or profile on a social networking site (Palmer & Koenig-

Lewis, 2009). Social media sites have audience more than any other social media tools,

today. Facebook reaches 710 million users (Hanafizadeh & Behboudi, 2012).

People nowadays are very expressive when posting an indignation of feelings on

social media. People think that using social media as their tool of expressing thoughts is

a proper way of releasing their anger and other dark emotions. The rising belief and
confidence of people in social media can cause them different things and consequences

to take, for those who post and who absorbs the information. In order to resolve this

problem, we should have a better understanding towards the usage of words.

With this, the researcher wanted to know how language used in social media

posts to express wraths are formed and if it has patterns in communication in a

replicable and systematic manner.

This study aims to describe the morphosyntactic features as well as the terms

and condition embedded in social media (Facebook). This will lead to the understanding

of the importance of knowing the links between causes of language use and its effects.

Purpose of the Study

This study aims to analyze the language used by the students of University of

Southern Mindanao- Kidapawan City Campus on Social Media (Facebook). This study

analyzes their posts in terms of Linguistic Features, Cultural Implications and Manners

in posting on Social media.

Research Questions

This qualitative research study aims to analyze the indignation of expression

found in different posts on facebook. This sought to answer the question:

1. What is the morphosyntactic feature of wrath on facebook posts?

Theoretical Lens

The researcher will use Miller’s Situated Genre Theory (1984). It is developed

primarily to analyze text- based discourse in institutional or disciplinary contexts.

Recently, researchers have applied situated genre theory to forms of CMC such as

email, discussion databases, virtual communities, and publishing on the verb.

The theory of Norman Fairclough (1993) defines CDA as discourse analysis,

which aims to systematically explore opaque relationships of causally and determination

between (a) discursive practices, events and texts, and (b) wider social and cultural

structures, relations and processes. This is to investigate how such practices, events

and texts arise out of and are ideologically shaped by relations of power and struggles

over power, and to explore how the opacity of these opacity of these relationships

between discourse and society is itself a factor securing power and hegemony.

Significance of the Study

This study will be very significant to every people using social media. People has

to be informed that their posts and the language they use to express anger in such

medium actually has its deeper sense. This study aims to educate people that social

media rants that are full of negative emotions and languages are so much more of just

plain expression of feelings. It is a reflection of who they are and the patterns can

manifest their word choices and their own attributes.

 With this study, people will tend to be more careful and mindful of what to share

and what language should they use to protect themselves and other people that were

influenced by the things they see in their social media accounts.

Definitions of Terms

The following words were used in the flow of the study and defined operationally

to aid for better understanding.

1. Linguistic Features- these refers to the sentence structure, Slang Words.

Acronyms and abbreviation. (e.g Selfie; B4- before and ABM - and ask me

anything)

1.1. Common word- it refers to the word, acronyms, or terms that is commonly

used by the facebook users.

1.2. Acronyms it refers to the phrase or sentence, shortened using initialism and

alphabetism.

1.3. Alphabetism is an acronyms and abbreviation which is read letter by letter.

2, Textual Analysis- this involves the identification terms, acronyms,

3, Social Media Posts- These refers to the posts, messages, shortcuts of social media

users on facebook.

1. Styles of Posting- This refers to the creativity, manners of the poster in a

particular post.
 4.1. Common Terms- This refers to the work, emotions and characters that

appeared common or that is similar from the other posts.

Limitations and Delimitation

The study will be limited in the gathering and analyzing the post concerning the

language structure; structure, acronyms and slang words used. The study will focus on

the different linguistic features present in the random posts of the Facebook users of the

University of Southern Mindanao-Kidapawan City Campus students.

Organization of the Study

The researcher will use descriptive method in conducting this study. This study

aims to analyze the post concerning the language, structure, acronym and slang words

used. The study was focused on the different linguistic features present in the random

Facebook users of the random students of the University of Southern Mindanao-

Kidapawan City Campus, Kidapawan City.

The descriptive research study will be organized according to the format

presented by the University of Southern Mindanao.

Chapter I presents the introduction of the study, followed by the purpose of the

study, research questions, and theoretical lens. Significance of the study, definition of

terms, limitations and delimitation and organization of the study. In this chapter, the

foundation of the study is established, the circumstances surrounding the issues and
the reason why there is a need for the conduct of the study is also presented. This is

followed by the purpose of the study which states the aim and goal of the study in

relation to the surrounding issues stated in the introduction. The research questions will

serve as the guide and aid as to what will be answered as the study will develop. This is

the followed by the significance of the study which discusses benefits and advantages

of the study to the society, then the definition of terms which defines and gives clear

definition and explanation as to how they are used in the study operationally. Then, the

limitations and delimitations set the boundary of the study. Lastly, the organization of

the study outlines the sequence of the study.

Chapter II presents the related articles, literatures, readings and studies.

Chapter III explains the methods of the purpose of the study, research questions,

data source, data collection procedure, data analysis, trustworthiness of the study and

the ethical considerations. In this chapter, explained in details are the type of descriptive

research, role of the researcher, how the materials are gathered, how the data source is

determined, how data are collected, how the data are analyzed, how the trustworthiness

of the study is considered, and how ethical issues are laid and addressed.

Chapter IV shows the result of the analysis on the corpus gathered.

Chapter V discussed the different viewpoints of the results given.

 REVIEW RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter reviews varied theories and studies from several authors which will

somehow influence the study.

LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Gimson, 1970 in Udoh (2010) cited by Montefalcon (2016) defines language as a

“system of conventional signs used for communication by a whole community”. As a

medium of communication, language does not exist in a vacuum, but operates in a

context of situation. These contexts determine the variation of language.

Language is very crucial for human survival because it is the most important and

most effective instruments for communication. It is the bond that holds societies

together. Consequently, a society must afford shared cognitive experiences and

orientations, hence Aberle et al in Morrish (1980) emphasizes the need for a society to

develop a corpus of cognitive orientation which will provide meaningfulness to social

situation as well as sense of stability derived from identity of experiences. On the other

hand, for motivation to be sustained in individual and group activity, a society must

provide a means of communication for its members. One of the essential elements of

living in a society or in a community with others is the means of communication, and this

can be achieved through language. One can invariably say that language is the

principal means of communication, the primacy of language cuts across every sphere of
life: low enforcement, technology, science, politics, religion a s well as interpersonal

spheres cited by Montefalcon (2016)

Linguistic on the other hand is the scientific study of the language. It

encompasses the description of languages, the study of their origin, and the analysis of

how children acquire language and how people learn language by other than their own.

Linguistic is also concerned with relationships between languages and with the ways

languages change over time. Linguistic may study language as a thought process and

seek a theory that accounts for the universal human capacity to produce and

understand language.

According to Chomsky’s Linguistic Theory, the structures of language are

biologically determined in the human mind and hence genetically transmitted. He

therefore argues that all human shares the same underlying linguistic structure,

irrespective of socio-cultural linguistic.

Bloomfield on the other hand emphasized scientific basis of linguistics. This is

adherence to behaviorism and emphasis on formal procedures for the analysis of

linguistic data. In the study of language, he marginalized the semantic aspect.

Bloomfield left his mark on the field of morphology and syntax.

 Finnegan (2018) defined Linguistic as the systematic inquiry into human

language -into his structures and uses and the relationships between them, as well as

into the development and acquisition of language. The scope of linguistic includes both

language structure (and its underlying grammatical competence) and language use

(and its underlying communicative competence).

Historically, the central focus of language study has been grammar pattern of

speech sounds, word structure, sentence formation, and meaning. More recently,

attention has also focused on the relationship between expression and meaning. On the

other hand, and context and interpretation, on the other. This field is called pragmatics.

some linguistics focus on the language variation across speech communities or within in

a single community, across time, or across situations of use, such as conversation and

sports announcer talk. Linguistic studying variation seek two kinds of explanation

cognitive ones having to do with constraints on the human language-processing

capacities and social ones having to do with social interaction and the organization of

societies. A third group of linguistics applies the findings of the discipline to real- word

problems in educational matters, to the acquisition of literacy (reading and Writing) and

of second languages and foreign languages; in clinical matters, to understanding

aspects of Alzheimer’s disease and aphasia; in forensic settings, to analysis of

conversation for evidence of conspiracy, threats, defamation, and other matters of legal

concern, to interpretation of contracts ( from rental agreements and insurance policies

to agreements for manufacturing airplanes), to clarification of public safety instruction

(such as medical labels and dosage directions), and to identification of voices and
authorship of documents. Some applied linguist address problems in language policy at

national and local levels: what language to designate for use in schools, courts, voting

booths, and so on; what kind of writing system to employ in a culturally diverse modern

nation; what regulation of existing language is needed, as in the plain English

movement in the United States or in the development and production of the tools of

standardization, such as dictionaries and grammars. As the world shrinks and cultures

mix together, linguists are also applying their skills to the challenges of cross-cultural

communication language is a means of establishing social identity and social meaning

(cfr. Supra).

However, question remains as to what particular linguistic features serve this

particular purpose. Eckert (2008) points out that some social categories are directly

indexed by specific linguistic elements. Nevertheless, more frequently they indicate

particular comportment emblematic of these categories, such as toughness or intelligent

supremacy (Ochs, 1991 in Eckert, 2008). linking this to multilingualism, this theory

suggests that the direct association of a particular language to a particular social group

can motivate the language choice. However, in most cases, code mixing will occur in

order to (un)consciously accomplish other effects, such as humor, coolness, trendiness,

toughness or intelligence. Other ways for speakers to make identity claim in spoken

discourse is via handling “voice quality and prosody; segmental phonology; morphology;

syntax; discourse; lexicon; and speech acts, activities and events” (Eckert, 2008: 113),

or influence their identity via extra-linguistic aspects such as clothing, make-up, drug

use, musical preferences, actions or bodily posture (Eckert, 2008). as this research

focuses on the discourse situated in the online environment of a SNS, some linguistic
elements, such as voice quality and prosody, cannot be employed in this setting.

Nonetheless, digital writers do try and compensate for this shortage.

In addition, a SNS such as Facebook offers its users additional opportunities to

shape their social identity; verbally via status updates and extra linguistically via images,

picture and videos.

Social Media

According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), Social Media is a group of software

applications facilitated by the internet on devices such as computer and phones for the

purposes of socialization and communication between people globally enabling people

to send and receive messages, upload and download pictures and videos among other

thing. They define Social Media as a group of internet based applications that build on

the ideological and technological foundations of web. 2.0 and that allow creation and

exchange of user-generate content.

According to Dominic (2011), online communication uses special techniques

which involve participation, conversation, sharing, collaboration and linkage.

Participation is the simplest technique that defines social media; it involves soliciting

feedback from people on various issues and items such as blogs, statuses, article or

images. Conversation functions are facilitated by blog and websites that allow people to

comment and respond to one another. Individuals share, create, upload content for

others to see such as you tube, Flickr. Wikis are social media exemplification of

collaboration. The most elaborate social media involves linkage: Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram, My Space, Google where people link up with their virtual other online users

who are ready to communicate with one another based on their relationships.

(Hinchcliffe 2008), said that Social Media comprise Internet-Based applications

that are developed based on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.

Social media enables the creation and exchange of user-generated content.

Overall, existing approaches to sentiment analysis, whether rule-based or

learning-based, have focused on determining sentiments for a collection of documents.

By contrast, our approach focuses on identifying themes and links among those themes

through exploratory factor analysis and thematic mapping. In particular, exploratory

factor analysis s employed to identify the factors or themes, as well as the variables or

words that belong under specific categories [Hair et al., 2006]. Thematic mapping

creates links based on co-occurrences among keywords in sampled texts. Our

approach can be used to extract both facts and opinions from social media content.
 METHODOLOGY

The chapter presents the research procedure of the study. It includes the role of

the researcher participants, data collection procedure and data analysis.

Research Design

This study will utilize a descriptive-qualitative that will analyze the

morphosyntactic features of a certain post on Facebook. Thus, the study will be

anchored into two combined processes; analyzing the screenshots and data analysis.

This approach encourages the kind of flexibility so important to the qualitative

researcher who can change a line of inquiry and more in new direction as more

information and better understanding of what are relevant data acquired.

Role of the Researcher

In respect to the interest of the study of the researcher, he chose the topic which

he believed will provide certain information on morphosyntactic features on social media

particularly on facebook posts. The researcher will formulate an appropriate research

question which helps him to gather information that fits on what the study seeks, with

the guidance of his adviser, he will develope a research plan and go on with the next

level. The researcher will analyze the morphosyntactic features used in the social

media. After morphosyntactic features were determined, the analysis will be submitted

to the adviser to check the validity of the study. It will also submitted to the three other
validator inclined to the language fort the further validation. This was done to ensure

that validity of the qualitative research study is attached.

Research Materials

The researcher will collect screenshots the facebook posts and the content will

be analyze to determine the wrathfulness.

Data Collection

In capturing the essence of the descriptive-investigation, the researcher will

gather screenshots of facebook friends’ posts specifically the students from the

University of Southern Mindanao-Kidapawan City Campus. After, the researcher will

analyze the posts of the collected screenshots. There will be 15 individual screenshot

posts of facebook friends in the said school.

Data Analysis

In planning and organizing the study and all related issues surrounding it, I now

have researches of my study. To make sure that I have enough knowledge of my study

I have consulted books and journals both from the library and internet. I was also

assisted by my certainly aide the needs of the analysis. Validation will be done also to

establish the credibility of the study.

Trustworthiness

In conducting this research, this will add to the research results achieved by the

researcher. According to Lincoln and Guba (1198) ensuring the credibility is one of the

most important factors in establishing trustworthiness. This is also important for the

information to be considered valid. Guba (1998) proposed four criteria that should be

considered by the qualitative researchers in pursuit of a study worthy of trust. These are

credibility, dependability and confirmability.

According to Lincoln and Guba (2000), credibility (vs. internal validity) refers to

the idea of internal consistency, where the core issues is “how we ensure rigor so”

(Gasson, 2004). In addition to that, merriam said that the qualitative investigator’s

equivalent concept, i.e. credibility, deals with the question, “How congruent are the

findings with reality?” Moreover, Fenton and Mazuwelicz (2008) stated that credibility

addressed the questions of the whether the reconstruction arrived at through the study

are acceptable to the research participants.

Lincoln and Guba stated that in order for the researchers to promote confidence

that they have accurately recorder the phenomena under scrutiny, he or she should

have frequent debriefing session with his or her superior. This superior I can attribute to

my adviser as to the circumstances surrounding my study. Every question I asked my

adviser was well answer through back-up theories and evidences. She also used

comprehensive style in explaining the concept to me.

 Transferability (vs. external validity or generalizability, on the other hand, refers

to the extent to which the reader is able to generalize the findings of a study to her or

his own context for and addresses the core issue of “how far a researcher may make

claims for general application of their theory” (Gasson, 2004,).

To achieve this, I have provided an organization of the methods I used in the

studying the second chapter of the research. This will give the reader a comprehensive

and step-by-step information as to how the study develop.

Dependability (vs. reliability) deals with the core issue that “the way on which a

study is conducted should be consistent across time, researchers, and analysis

techniques” (Gasson, 2004 as cited by Shenton, 2004). It is also an assessment of the

quality of the integrated processes of the data collection, data analysis and theory

generation. On the other hand, confirmability (vs. objectivity) is based on the

acknowledgement that research is never objective. It addresses the core issue that

“findings should represent, as far as (humanly) possible, the situation being researched

rather than the beliefs, pet theories, or biases of the researcher” (Gasson, 2004 as cited

by Shenton, 2004). It is a measure of how well the inquiry’s finding are supported by the

data collected (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

 To achieve dependability, everything was done in black and white. A formal letter

was handed to the Chief of the Police personality by the researcher and written in the

said letter was the researcher’s commitment treat the data with utmost confidentiality

and for conformability. I did not scrutinize the data by myself; it was examined by my

adviser. All these are for the validation of the analysis, findings and discussion. Further,

all data were saved in a clean case and drive.

Ethical Considerations

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ethical behavior is conforming to

accepted standards of accepted standards of conduct. It represents a set of moral

principles, rules, or standards governing a person or a profession. I fully understand that

to be ethical is a moral responsibility and obligation of a person. And I as a moral

person uphold the ethical behavior that the society deems important.

In qualitative research or even in other designs of research, researchers are

responsible for ensuring that the participants are not harmed, privacy is maintained, and

the participants have provided informed consent. Mark, et al (2005) as cited by Arcenas

(2013) enumerated three core ethical principles of research- respect for persons,

beneficence and justice.

Before I went on with my data collection, I first made some critical researches as

to the nature of the document I will gather. Thinking that social media is an easy access

source, I still opt make things proper. I then i wrote a letter asking permission from the

Facebook users to allow me to conduct a study on their manners in posting on social

media with high sensitive and knowledge on the confidentiality considering the identity

of the said users.