This essay describes a case study of textual communication on the online social mediaplatform Tumblr. The aim of the research was to analyse the communicative functions and thestylistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic characteristics of textual discourse on Tumblr. Usingdata gathered on Tumblr, this essay analyses discursive aspects such as function, style, andpragmatics, relating the findings to literature on topics including relevance theory and theoriesof computer-mediated communication and cyberpragmatics. The research found thatdiscourse on Tumblr is largely phatic in nature, with an overwhelming focus on the discussionof shared interests. Such discussion on Tumblr appears to heavily depend on sharedbackground knowledge, which works as a barrier of in-group discursive solidarity andprovides and furthers feelings of connectedness. This study further found that alternative useof style and grammar on Tumblr appears to be largely uniform, suggesting that divergencesfrom standard norms are a way of displaying membership of a group and obtaining covertprestige, rather than a display of linguistic innovation.

Emojis can be ambiguous, even when used within one and the same language and geographic region, but they are also a globally accessible language in computer-mediated communication. This paper aims to examine if emoji usage across five different national varieties of English (American, English, Australian, Indian, and Nigerian), geographically located on five different continents, exhibits similar pragmatic functionality and sentiment. To achieve this aim, an analysis was made into the usage of three of the most frequently used emojis in tweets written by users from these five English-speaking countries. The number of tweets analyzed is 50 per selected emoji per selected variety of English, for a total of 750 tweets. The analytical process was to qualitatively determine the pragmatic function and sentiment the selected emoji exhibited in tweets. The results indicated that the pragmatic functionality and sentiment of the targeted emojis across the samples were generally similar, especially for Loudly Crying Face, but also for Face with Tears of Joy, whereas Sparkles showed more individual differences across the samples. A substantial finding was that it was possible to analyze facial and non-facial emojis in the same way. / Emojis kan vara tvetydliga, även inom samma språk och geografiska region, men de utgör också ett globalt tillgängligt språk inom datorförmedlad kommunikation. Syftet med uppsatsen är att fastställa om användningen av emojis inom fem olika nationella varianter av engelska (amerikansk, engelsk, australiensk, indisk, och nigeriansk), geografiskt lokaliserade på fem olika kontinenter, uppvisar liknande pragmatisk funktionalitet och attityd. För att uppnå syftet analyserades användningen av tre av de mest använda emojisarna i tweets skrivna av användare från dessa fem engelsktalande länder. Antalet tweets som har analyserats är 50 per utvald emoji per nationell variant av engelska, sammanlagt 750 tweets. Den analytiska processen var baserad kring att bestämma den pragmatiska funktionen och den attityd som de utvalda emojisarna uppvisade i tweets. Resultatet indikerade att den pragmatiska funktionaliteten och attityden hos de utvalda emojisarna var generellt sett snarlika över urvalen, speciellt för Ljudligt gråtande ansikte, men även för Ansikte med tårar av skratt, medan Glitter påvisade mer individuella skillnader över urvalen. En betydande upptäckt var att det var möjligt att analysera faciala och icke-faciala emojisar på samma sätt.