The Role of Emoji in Politeness Strategies in the Comments of Influencer TikTok

Radita Astried Rizkya; Trivera Hana; Reyhan Habib; Rahmadsyah Rangkuti

doi:10.55606/jurribah.v4i3.6922

Authors

Radita Astried Rizkya Universitas Sumatera Utara
Trivera Hana Universitas Sumatera Utara
Reyhan Habib Universitas Sumatera Utara
Rahmadsyah Rangkuti Universitas Sumatera Utara

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55606/jurribah.v4i3.6922

Keywords:

Digital Communication, Emoji, Politeness Strategies, Sociolinguistics, TikTok Comments

Abstract

Social media has transformed communication patterns, with TikTok emerging as a platform where interactions are highly expressive and multimodal. This study examines the role of emojis as politeness strategies in the comments section of TikTok influencers, focusing on how these visual symbols help maintain harmonious digital communication. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the researchers analyzed 20 emoji-containing comments from a high-engagement influencer video. The data were interpreted through Brown and Levinson’s (1987) politeness theory, supplemented by the concept of multimodality. The findings indicate that emojis significantly support both positive and negative politeness strategies. Positive politeness was dominant (around 70%), often realized through empathy, humor, and solidarity-building emojis, while negative politeness was achieved through hedging, apologies, and respectful cues. Emojis also frequently softened bald-on-record statements and enabled off-record indirectness. The study concludes that emojis are crucial in enhancing politeness, enriching emotional expression, and fostering a sense of community in TikTok interactions, highlighting their importance in the evolving landscape of digital sociolinguistics.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Arshad, S., Shabir, Z., Aslam, S., & Farid, S. (2025). The impact of social media on language use and identity: A sociolinguistic analysis. Journal of Arts, Languages, and Tourism, 1(1), 1–10.

Barta, K., & Andalibi, N. (2021). Constructing authenticity on TikTok: Social norms and social support on the “fun” platform. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CSCW2), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1145/3479574

Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage. Cambridge University Press.

Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, C., Sudhof, M., Jurafsky, D., Leskovec, J., & Potts, C. (2009). How polite is this post? Quantifying politeness using online language. In Proceedings of the ACL-IJCNLP.

Densu, J. A. (2025). Form and gender of language politeness in TikTok Densu comment column. ResearchGate.

Duffy, B. E. (2020). Social media influencers. In The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication (pp. 1–4). Wiley.

IEFLJ. (2022). Learning how to be polite through a movie: A case on Brown and Levinson’s politeness strategies. International E-Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2(1), 1–12. https://distantreader.org/stacks/journals/ieflj/ieflj-6438.pdf

Kress, G. (2010). Multimodality: A social semiotic approach to contemporary communication. Routledge.

Kurniawan, A. (2024). Understanding the function of emojis in TikTok comments for Prabowo Subianto. Kata Kita: Journal of Language, Literature, and Teaching, 12(1), 1–10. https://katakita.petra.ac.id/index.php/sastra-inggris/article/view/14419

Leech, G. (1996). Principles of pragmatics. Longman.

Micle, V. D., & Mudure-Iacob, I. (2024). Creating communicative context through the use of emoji and politeness in online academic written interactions. Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, 23, 47–59.

Ryabova, M. (2015, November 9–11). Politeness strategy in everyday communication. In Proceedings of the XV International Conference “Linguistic and Cultural Studies: Traditions and Innovations” (LKTI 2015) (pp. 1–5). Tomsk, Russia. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.10.033

Sholehah, S. A. (2023). Analysis of politeness strategies on comments in influencers’ Instagram account. Journalistics, 4(1), 1–9. https://journalistics.org/index.php/journalistics/article/view/31

Waziri, Z. Y. (2022). Politeness theory and resolution of misunderstandings in social media communication. Nigerian Social Scientist, 30(2), 61–70. https://doi.org/10.62250/nsuk.2022.30.2.61-70

Xie, Y. (2025). “This looks so good