Jordanian Facebookers' attitudes: A speech act analysis

Abstract

Nowadays, Facebook is widely regarded as one of the most popular networking sites, enabling users to follow local and international pages for the latest news. Status updates on Facebook address various social aspects, prompting followers to comment and express their feelings and opinions. Motivated by an interest in studying the speech acts within these comments, the researchers aimed to identify the types of speech acts (Searle, 1969) that occur in the comments on Jordanian status updates. The researchers also analyzed the role played by the speech act sequence. Status updates covering social, economic, educational, and religious topics were collected from two of the most popular Facebook pages in Jordan: Al Mamlaka TV and Roya News. A total of 200 comments were analyzed under these updates. The analysis revealed the occurrence of most of Searle's speech acts, along with additional acts such as swearing, sarcasm, and accusation. Furthermore, no gender differences were observed in the use of speech acts, except in the case of swearing. The analysis of speech act sequences demonstrated how commenters establish interactions, whether in agreement or disagreement with one another. The findings spotlight how Jordanians deliver their thoughts on various social topics, reflecting different cultural aspects. This paper contributes to the limited body of literature examining comments on Facebook status updates, offering insights into the consequences of speech act sequences and illustrating how commenters use language to communicate their intentions.