“High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse

Abstract In the digital era, bullet-screen comments have emerged as an innovative online communication method, serving as a vital bridge that connects young internet users, stimulates creative expression, and fosters cultural resonance. Particularly in China, bullet-screen video platforms, exemplifi...

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Main Author: Jue Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2025-02-01
Series:Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04475-x
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author Jue Wu
author_facet Jue Wu
author_sort Jue Wu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In the digital era, bullet-screen comments have emerged as an innovative online communication method, serving as a vital bridge that connects young internet users, stimulates creative expression, and fosters cultural resonance. Particularly in China, bullet-screen video platforms, exemplified by Bilibili, have quickly attracted a large youth audience due to their features of real-time interaction and deep engagement. As active communication participants in cyberspace, the online language features and identity construction characteristics of adolescents not only reflect the value orientations and behavioral patterns of contemporary youth but also play a significant role in the evolution and shaping of online social environments. This study, grounded in pragmatic identity theory, conducts an in-depth analysis of the pragmatic identity construction of Chinese adolescents in bullet-screen communication. By selecting Bilibili as the research site and carefully choosing six representative bullet-screen videos as analytical samples, the study examines the bullet-screen content in detail, revealing that adolescents can flexibly construct multiple pragmatic identities within this instant interactive discourse system. These identities include “commentators,” “passers-by,” “mockers,” “onlookers,” “questioners,” “knowledge sharers,” and “spoilers.” To meet diverse communicative needs and objectives, adolescents employ various discourse strategies to construct these diverse pragmatic identities, such as language style, speech acts, and vocabulary selection. The use of these discourse strategies not only aids bullet-screen senders in successfully constructing different pragmatic identities but also generates varied communicative effects, creating a dynamic interactive process.
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spelling doaj-art-ec1d7c3da48f4d2b9a3bfde260574fcd2025-02-09T12:26:04ZengSpringer NatureHumanities & Social Sciences Communications2662-99922025-02-0112111610.1057/s41599-025-04475-x“High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourseJue Wu0School of Foreign Languages, Changshu Institute of TechnologyAbstract In the digital era, bullet-screen comments have emerged as an innovative online communication method, serving as a vital bridge that connects young internet users, stimulates creative expression, and fosters cultural resonance. Particularly in China, bullet-screen video platforms, exemplified by Bilibili, have quickly attracted a large youth audience due to their features of real-time interaction and deep engagement. As active communication participants in cyberspace, the online language features and identity construction characteristics of adolescents not only reflect the value orientations and behavioral patterns of contemporary youth but also play a significant role in the evolution and shaping of online social environments. This study, grounded in pragmatic identity theory, conducts an in-depth analysis of the pragmatic identity construction of Chinese adolescents in bullet-screen communication. By selecting Bilibili as the research site and carefully choosing six representative bullet-screen videos as analytical samples, the study examines the bullet-screen content in detail, revealing that adolescents can flexibly construct multiple pragmatic identities within this instant interactive discourse system. These identities include “commentators,” “passers-by,” “mockers,” “onlookers,” “questioners,” “knowledge sharers,” and “spoilers.” To meet diverse communicative needs and objectives, adolescents employ various discourse strategies to construct these diverse pragmatic identities, such as language style, speech acts, and vocabulary selection. The use of these discourse strategies not only aids bullet-screen senders in successfully constructing different pragmatic identities but also generates varied communicative effects, creating a dynamic interactive process.https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04475-x
spellingShingle Jue Wu
“High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
title “High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
title_full “High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
title_fullStr “High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
title_full_unstemmed “High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
title_short “High energy ahead!”: exploring Chinese adolescents’ pragmatic identities in bullet-screen discourse
title_sort high energy ahead exploring chinese adolescents pragmatic identities in bullet screen discourse
url https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-025-04475-x
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