Speech Acts in Millennials’ Election-Related Posts and Tweets: A Sociopragmatic Analysis

Abstract

Language power is not only limited to in-person spoken discourses. As the world embraces digital platforms to communicate, the hidden power of mass media discourses cannot be ignored. This study attempts to analyze the posts and tweets of millennials during the May 2019 elections in the Philippines within the theory of Speech Acts to unravel their political agenda and movement. Specifically, it seeks to determine the directness and indirectness of the posts and tweets, their types of speech acts, and illocutionary forces using the qualitative type of research, with reference to the idea of sociopragmatics. The findings reveal that millennials are not all the time direct with their social media posts and tweets. It also became evident that despite their younger ages compared to other generations, they hold the authority to influence their followers to agree with them. They also assert their claims that indicate how persistent they are in voicing out their opinions. The results of the study practically imply that the posts and tweets of millennials contribute to the language power of mass media discourses and may have an influence on the users of such digital platforms. Additionally, their mass media discourses may have an indirect effect on the vital aspects of society, such as politics.