A Case Study on an Emerging Commentary Style of Animal World, a CCTV Program: From the Perspective of Sociolinguistics
Ran Shaoqiang

Xi’an International Studies University, Shaanxi province, 710128;

Abstract: Through observation, many official and local media accounts on Chinese short video platforms lack the appeal to the younger generation. The present study, adopting qualitative analysis and following the third wave of language variation study in sociolinguistics, aims to explore the innovation and functional mechanisms of an emerging commentary style of Animal World, a CCTV program, through a representative case to implicate their video productions. Analysis reveals that the creative employment of an official broadcasting tone and specific constructional features helps construct the video producer's persona as an online trendsetter, which is well welcomed by young net users. This finding suggests that when interacting with young netizens on short video platforms, official and local media accounts should adaptively prioritize the construction of certain appealing personae welcomed by them.Keywords: sociolinguistics; language variation; style; persona; short video

Reference

[1]Boyd, Danah. (2014). It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens. New Haven: Yale University Press.

[2]Chambers J. K., Trudgill Peter, Schilling Estes Natalie. (2004). The Handbook of Language Variation and Change. doi:10.1002/9780470756591.

[3]D’Onofrio Annette. (2020). Personae in sociolinguistic variation. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science, (6), e1543-e1543.

[4]Sam Kirkham & Emma Moore. (2015). Constructing social meaning in political discourse: Phonetic variation and verb processes in Ed Miliband's speeches. Language in Society, (1), 87-111.

[5]Michael Silverstein. (2003). Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language and Communication, (3), 193-229.

[6]Mary Bucholtz. (2005). Identity and interaction: a sociocultural linguistic approach. Discourse Studies, (4-5), 585-614.

[7]Penelope Eckert. (2008). Variation and the indexical field. Journal of Sociolinguistics, (4), 453-476.

[8]Penelope Eckert. (2012). Three Waves of Variation Study: The Emergence of Meaning in the Study of Sociolinguistic Variation. Annual Review of Anthropology, (1), 87-100.

[9]Robert J. Podesva. (2007). Phonation type as a stylistic variable: The use of falsetto in constructing a persona. Journal of Sociolinguistics, (4), 478-504.

[10]Wang Yilei, Feng Dezheng (William). (2023). History, modernity, and city branding in China: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of Xian’s promotional videos on social media. Social Semiotics, (2), 402-425.

[11]Zhao Peng, Tian Hailong. (2022). New Developments in Variationist Sociolinguistics. Modern Foreign Languages, (01), 137-147.

[12]Hai Xiaopeng. (2024). Bao Bao is EMO, Bao Bao Exploded [Douyin Video]. Douyin Platform. June 6, 2024, https://v.douyin.com/oF7gWDeR6XA/ K@j.cN.