Utterances that Make Food Appealing: A Pragmatic Perspective on Thai Food Compliments on TikTok
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Abstract
This article aims to analyze the characteristics of utterances of food compliments on the TikTok platform from the perspective of pragmatics. It focuses on examining how language is used for narration, evaluation, and the construction of social meaning in digital contexts. The data were collected from clips tagged with #รีวิวของอร่อย, #ของอร่อยบอกต่อ, and #รีวิวอาหาร, with 100 clips selected from each hashtag, yielding a total of 300 clips. The findings reveal 2,136 utterances of food compliments, which can be categorized into six types: 1) descriptive compliments, 2) emotional compliments, 3) invitational compliments, 4) comparative compliments, 5) identity- and space-building compliments, and 6) mock-impoliteness compliments. The study highlights the dynamics of the Thai language as it adapts to social, cultural, and technological contexts. It also demonstrates that TikTok serves as an open space for experimentation, negotiation, and the creation of new meanings through language use, thereby underscoring the potential of applying modern linguistic frameworks to gain a deeper understanding of Thai in contemporary digital contexts.
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