A STUDY OF LANGUAGE REGISTER IN BILIBILI USER COMMENTS ON OVERSEAS VIDEO CREATORS’ CONTENT FROM A CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Guided by the theory of language register theory, this paper analyzes and discusses the comments of Chinese young internet users on overseas video creators' video works on the Bilibili website, aiming to explore the linguistic characteristics and emotional expressions in cross-cultural communication. The study selects comments from Chinese netizens under high-interaction works by overseas content makers as the main research objects. Through methods such as text analysis, discourse analysis, and specific case analysis, the paper reveals the commonalities and characteristics of comments in terms of “Field” (context), “Tenor” (speech intent), and “Mode”( speech style). The study finds that the existence of virtual space diminishes the differences in identity and cultural backgrounds between people in reality, making the communication between netizens and overseas influencers more equal.

The comments exhibit characteristics of colloquialism mixed with written language, with a rich variety of rhetorical devices including metaphor, contrast, personification, and exaggeration, making the comments more vivid and appealing. The research findings preliminarily summarize the language domain of Chinese Bilibili users' comments in a cross-cultural context and their general characteristics, providing new insights and inspirations for future studies on interactive text domains.