Cogent Arts & Humanities (Dec 2024)
Exploring flaming in the discourse of negative judgment: invoked strategies used by Indonesian netizens in Instagram comments
Abstract
Flaming discourse is becoming more prevalent worldwide, yet research in this domain is still limited. This study, grounded in Appraisal Theory (AT), aims to explore the strategies employed within flaming discourse, specifically focusing on categories such as social esteem and social sanction. The research is centered around analyzing the comments section of an Instagram account owned by an automotive company. Data were collected from comments related to two posts to clarify the quality of the company’s products. The findings show that social esteem is employed to offer critiques of the products, while social sanction is utilized to condemn the actions of the capitalist entity. Across both categories, the most commonly observed strategy is the strategy of affording, which primarily considers the illocutionary context. This is followed by the strategy of flagging, which involves connotation and idiom, and the strategy of provoking, which relies on metaphor. Acknowledging this trend, internet users leverage diverse source domains and readily available lexical elements in their environment. This highlights how the surroundings of Indonesian netizens shape their perspectives during engagement in flaming discourse, integrating multiple meanings. Furthermore, this research suggests further exploration into discussions concerning visual elements in flaming discourse.
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