Application of Sociolinguistics Network to Analysis of Social Media

Identifier:  TFG:1542

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFG1542

Authors:  Juan Escrihuela, Esther

Abstract:
This work is part of the field of sociolinguistics variationist. Given the efficacy demonstrated by the concept of social networking as sociolinguistic variation factor, the linguistic behavior of users of social media is studied through the analysis of their integration into networks of various kinds. Specifically, the model of Social Networks -proposed in 1987 by J. Milroy and L. Milroy- is applied to the analysis of linguistic interactions that happen in Facebook and Twitter, two social networks with a similar purpose but they behave in a different way and they provide different types of reticulated structures. One objective of this work was to determine whether the general principles defensed in the reticular studies applied to the linguistic variation are achieved in the language used in digital platforms, since due to in these new communication realities the limits between the orality and writing characteristics are not entirely defined. After characterizing the different network types that define the two platforms selected and doing the linguistically analyze the different interventions compiled in the corpus, the results we have obtained showed us that there is a big contrast between the linguistic characteristics that present the people who are part of a dense and multiple network –in this case Facebook- and ones we observed in those that take part in a relaxed and simple network –in this case Twitter-. Generally, these characteristics answer to the principles defended in sociolinguistic studies which use the concept of social network to characterize the oral interactions.