| Identity and identity construction have always been the hot spot of social science research.In recent years,more and more scholars have turned their attention to the dynamic identity construction in verbal communications,which are mainly on institutional discourses,such as the discourses of teachers,doctors,and TV hosts,but little researches on pragmatic identity are found in social media discourse.Social media has achieved unprecedented development,especially We Chat,which has gradually become a stage for people,college students in particular,to show themselves.Therefore,college students’ identity construction in social media enjoys both theoretical and practical significance.This research employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods,collecting 52 college students(26 boys and 26 girls)of 14 colleges in a Hunan university from June 1 to December 31,2019,with 1097 pieces of We Chat Moments totally.Based on discursive practices concerning identity construction,the thesis studies the types of college students’ pragmatic identities construction and the ways to construct the identities on We Chat Moments.The findings show that college students mainly construct three types of pragmatic identities,covering professional knowledge transmitter identity with 23.7%,culture participant identity with 11.1%,and quality life seeker identity with 60.2%.And there are other pragmatic identities with 5%.When constructing these three types of pragmatic identities,college students employ various discursive practices.Firstly,college students construct the pragmatic identity of professional knowledge transmitter mainly through evaluative and declarative speech acts.On the one hand,college students mainly employ evaluative speech act to forward related professional knowledge links through evaluative speech acts,among which sharing learning content through jargons and introducing learning methods through directdiscourse mode are included.On the other hand,college students majorly show professional expertise through declarative speech acts,among which presenting achievements and works through choice of professional words and attending professional activities through discourse content are included.Secondly,college students construct the pragmatic identity of culture participants mainly through praise and evaluative speech acts.On the one hand,college students are inclined to advocate dominant culture through praise speech acts,in which expressing the love for China through praise and kind salutation,interpreting friendliness with practical action through sincere mood and spreading social justice through opinion presupposition are covered.On the other hand,college students mainly spread mass culture through evaluative speech acts,where worshiping celebrities through informal remarks and commenting movies and music through evaluative speech acts are contained.Thirdly,college students construct the pragmatic identity of quality life seeker mainly through declarative and expressive speech acts.On the one hand,college students have the inclination to display a leisurely lifestyle through declarative speech acts,in which presenting multiple entertainment activities through viewpoints and topics and showing their love for various foods through reduplicative adverbs are included.On the other hand,college students advocate positive attitudes towards life through expressive speech acts,where humorously transforming negative energy into positive energy through buzzwords with emoticons,and maintain gratefulness to life through expressive speech acts,and encouraging self through quotation are covered.This research expands the study of identity to a certain extent,making up for the gap in the construction of pragmatic identity of college students on We Chat Moments and also contributes a lot for college students to construct better pragmatic identities and understand other people’s pragmatic identities constructed in social media. |
