The Use of Name as Self-reference in WhatsApp Chats: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

This sociolinguistic study investigates the phenomena of using names as self-references on the chats of WhatsApp. It specifically aims to figure out the social relationship where names are used for replacing first-person singular pronouns, the reasons behind the usage, as well as the ethnic backgrounds of the users. To achieve this purpose, nine participants of WhatsApp users were purposefully selected. The participants were selected because they frequently used their own names in addressing themselves when texting via WhatsApp. Based on the analyzed authentic data in Indonesian, the majority of phenomena of using names as self-references occurs mostly in communication between different social statuses. This linguistic strategy is mostly employed by an interlocutor with lower social status to the other one with higher social status. The most frequent reason for using a name as self-reference is due to the needs to establish politeness in one hand and to maintain closeness in another hand. Most of the participants who used their own names as self-references are originally from Sundanese culture. It is expected that the findings of this study provide insight into Indonesian communicative strategies in digital society including in the pedagogical context.