‘Responding to “thank you” properly’: Mediated metapragmatic repertoires in an English language teaching YouTube video

Abstract

Digitally mediated communication has not only transformed the ways in which information is created, shared, and consumed, but it also has increased ordinary internet users’ understanding of and reflection on language and its use in the real world. Investigating the observable online interactions on social media platforms can shed light on sociolinguistic realities of language including the complexity and fluidity of everyday linguistic forms and communicative contexts. Drawing on mediated discourse analysis, this study explores the process of metapragmatic meaning making in a viral YouTube video from the channel “English with Lucy” that focuses on teaching English to speakers of other languages. In the video the channel host presents sociopragmatic knowledge and tips about appropriate responses to the speech act of thanking drawing on mediational means such as language (e.g., intonation, degrees of formality), social actors, communication contexts, and age in explaining different ways of responding to thanks. The metapragmatic commentary reveals alternative responses demonstrating variation across temporal, spatial and personal dimensions. The findings highlight the intricate nexus of divergent and shared metapragmatic repertoires associated with a simple everyday language form and the role of social media in mediating interactions between translocal content creators and their followers.