GENDER AND LANGUAGE VARIATION ON THE COMMENTS OF VIRAL YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Abstract

This study aims at analyzing the language variations between female and male comments on YouTube viral videos as to abbreviations, emojis, laughter variants, and spelling variants of personal pronouns, utilizing a mixed-method design. This study revealed that males tend to use abbreviations in their comments in the leisure domain. Females used more abbreviations in the information and knowledge domains and emojis in the two domains. The female users used haha, hehe, and jaja more frequently than male users in the leisure domain. Male and female users used the laughter variant more often in the leisure domain than in the information and knowledge domain. Women preferred to write the standard spelling of the personal pronouns "I" and "you." Moreover, both men and women used abbreviations to express their views immediately to speed up the typing of messages. Women were more familiar with positive and negative emojis than men. Language varies according to YouTube users' preferences in using the language when posting comments online, and the core social attributes influencing language use are social class, social networks, sex and gender, ethnicity, and age. Thus, infographic material with meanings and examples can be distributed to students and teachers.