How does language we use affect us on
Twitter?
Ikki Ueda
Image: The visualisation of communication on Twitter
Language is one
of the most essential parts in our daily lives in order to communicate each
other. There is a certain possibility that we are not aware of how language
play an important role in our life. That is because it is universal to have language
to talk with other people. According to Tuan (1991, p. 684), it is impossible to
start creating ideas, having a discussion and translating them into action
without any language. Tuan (1991, p. 684) also mentioned that language create
space in different ways for better or for worse. For instance, if we have an
interesting and decent conversation, it affects our space or atmosphere
positively, and vice versa.
Nowadays, there
are so many words to describe things not only in the real world, but also in
the virtual world. That is, there were transitions in communication style from
orality to virtual network over a long time period (Kuttainen, 2017). One example
for this is cyber-bullying. This word reflects picking on somebody
psychologically in the virtual world by using offensive language. Importantly,
it is completely different way to bully somebody by using physical force. Even though I do not see cyber-bullying at this moment, imagining
about this word creates a visualization of the image of cyber-bulling in the
mind.
Language and
naming also have the ability to make place on the virtual world such as Twitter.
Naming is the ability to call something into being in a creative way in order
to change from invisibility to visibility (Tuan, 1991, p. 688). Actually, a
various type of words is created on Twitter, which are tweet, retweet, follow,
follower, and so on. For instance, the
word of ‘retweet’ allows users to spread information instantly on the virtual
space by naming the feature of this function. Retweet means sharing the post other
users tweeted again (retweet, 2017). What this phenomenon signifies is that using
language is correlated with making space.
The most
important aspect of language here is that language we use on Twitter has
impacted on our sense of self and community identity. One of the way to
identify the sense of self identity is our user name on Twitter. In fact, we
can create our own name, which indicate our self-identity. For instance, some
people use their real name, others use their nickname or fictional name. Both
of ways would reflect how we want to be recogonised from other users by naming their
account. On the other hand, the way to ascertain community identity is by using
hashtags. More specifically, when we put hashtags whose contents are the same
to other users, it enables us to feel closeness to them. The contents might be
the place where we visited, famous people, or famous fashion brands. Although,
we do not share the same thing physically, it is possible for us to feel the
sense of community identity psychologically just by language on Twitter. In
other words, sharing the same language on the virtual world enables us to feel
that we in the group or community.
Reference
Kuttainen,
V. (2017). BA1002: Our space: Networks,
narratives, and the making of place, lecture 5: Power. [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from https://learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
The
visualisation of communication on Twitter. [image] (2012). Retrieved from http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/another-top-communications-head-jim-prosser-quits-twitter-2955033/
Tuan, Y. F. (1991). Language and the making of place:
A narrative-descriptive approach. Association
of America Geographers, 81(4), 684-696. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2563430
Williams,
E. (2009, February). The voices of Twitter users [video file]. Retrieved from
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