Sociopragmatic Analysis of Filipino Celebrities’ Posts and Fans’ Comments

Abstract

The phenomenon of hate speech occurring in one's nation and the relationship between social media celebrities and their audience is very interesting to draw. Social media has changed how people interact, comprehend, and respond to online discourse. This paper looks at the topics posted by celebrities as sources of information through the lens of the dimensions of online persona and hostile fan comments through impoliteness theory and Crystal's theory of language and technology, respectively. The data were collected from the leading social media platforms in the Philippines, namely, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The study shows that toxic online discourse was pervasive during the entire election period. Most celebrities use the public dimension (41%) and social media fans frequently on graphology (88%), bald-on record (33%), and sarcasm or mock politeness strategy (33%). The study also found two primary trigger mechanisms: the surrounding context of the social media celebrity's post and the social media fans' behavior in their use of language.