Strategies for Using Vocabulary in Food Reviews on the Kin Kub Ky Channel TikTok Application : A Pragmatics Perspective

Abstract

framework adapted from Fairclough (1995, as cited in Jantima Angkhapanichkit, 2018) and Jirattikan Boontor (2022). The most frequently found strategy was the use of positively connoted words, which appeared in 115 instances and could be categorized into five types. The highest frequency was the use of positively connoted taste-related words (52 instances), followed by positively connoted texture-related words (33 instances), positively connoted smell-related words (19 instances), positively connoted quantity-related words (6 instances), and the use of positive words to avoid negative meanings (5 instances). The next most common strategy was the use of Hashtag (#) words, found in 97 instances, followed using English words (9 instances), and onomatopoeic words, which were the least frequent, with only 3 instances. As for referential word strategies, they could be divided into two types: referring to the presenter of the food review videos where the first-person pronoun “Ky” (the presenter’s nickname) was used and referring to the viewers where the second-person pronoun “everyone” was employed to address the audience. The results of the analysis reflect linguistic dimensions that connect with the direction of social context, particularly the culture of consumption and communication in contemporary Thai society. It illustrates a shift in consumer behavior that relies on the language producers known as “reviewers” who use various lexical strategies to guide consumption and add marketing value to food-related businesses.