abstract: The aim in this sociopragmatic study was to identify the linguistic and nonlinguistic types of responses used by Saudi Facebook users in the comments of congratulations on the events of happy news status updates on Facebook. People usually express their feelings and emotions positively to others when they have happy occasions. However, the ways of expressing congratulation may vary because the expressive speech act “congratulations” is not the only way to express happiness and share others their happy news, especially on the new social media such as Facebook. The ways of expressing congratulation have been investigated widely in face-to-face communication in many languages. However, this has not yet been studied on Facebook, which lacks prosodic strategies and facial expressions that help to convey feelings, despite a few contributions on studying various expressive speech acts such as compliment, condolences, and wishing, among others. Therefore, a total of 1,721 comments of congratulation were collected from 61 different occasions and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by using the frame-based approach to understand the construction of politeness of congratulation on Facebook. The results showed 23 verbal types of responses used by the users; however, the use of “congratulations,” “offer of good wishes,” “praise,” and “statements indicating the situation was warranted” were the most frequently used strategies. The results also showed 100 patterns of verbal compound strategies, but the use of “congratulations” with “offer of good wishes” was the most frequently used compound strategy. In addition, 42 types of emojis were found in the comments and categorized into seven different functions. However, the function of expressing endearment was the most frequently used one. Finally, the results showed that the posts received 31 sharings and 3 types of emoji reactions, such as “like” (Thumbs up), “love” (Beating heart), and “wow” (Surprised face), but the use of “like” was the most frequent emoji reaction to the posts. The explored different ways of expressing congratulation and sharing with others their happy news indicated that the linguistic strategies are not the only way to express happiness on Facebook. Therefore, users employed nonlinguistic strategies to express happiness and intensify their congratulations. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2017

Magister Artium - MA / The central research question this thesis explores is whether or not the availability of new social media alters the concepts of gendered personhood in working-class neighbourhoods on the Cape Flats. The arguments I will present all speak to my central argument that there is not only a relationship between “good” daughterhood and new social media, but that this relationship consists of young women in Cape Town namely Eersteriver, using their internet enabled cell-phones as a means of exploring the social and virtual realm without putting their title of a “good” or “respectable” girl at risk. I will incorporate comparative arguments from different bodies of academic literature which speak to the key question and arguments presented in this thesis so as to provide a global perspective. A brief socioeconomic history of the area will also be included in this thesis so as to provide some social context for my research. This thesis shows how young women of Eersteriver use the freedom, privacy and anonymity that they believe the internet and social media freely offers, to push the boundaries of good daughterhood and respectability. This thesis further demonstrates how social media have changed young women’s understanding of what social interaction is as well as their “doing” intimacy. I further show that their very interaction via their internet enabled cell-phones is a social form of gift giving. This research is particularly important because it is located at the intersection between gender issues and the study of new social media. This study explores how new gendered subjectivities emerge from performances and representations of personhood in new social media such as WhatsApp and Facebook, and how understandings of “good” daughterhood and respectability are altered and thus crafted into these practices. Literature in this area of research is still on the rise, so I am confident that this study will make a valuable contribution to this growing body of literature which speaks to young women and new ICTs.

The study involved Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Alberta which are adversely impacted by industrial activities in their traditional territory. The overall goal of this study is: the assessment of social media in risk studies among Indigenous communities of western Canada. The methods used were: interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and net-mapping. Results showed that the majority of youths communicated around risk using new social media (NSM) in event of risk outbreak, while Indigenous Elders, communicated face-to-face and via cell-phone. Results also showed that youths use Traditional Knowledge learnt from the Elders to understand Chronic wasting disease (CWD) risk, interpret, communicate and mobilize around mitigation. The study concluded that the use of NSM is becoming increasingly important for scoping information around wildlife decline and emergency in these Indigenous communities.