Gender and Age Patterns on WhatsApp Statuses as Used by Jordanians: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the WhatsApp statuses as used by Jordanian people from a sociolinguistic point of view. It attempts to examine the use of the WhatsApp statuses in relation to the impact of gender and age on the topic being used. To achieve this goal, 400 statuses were collected from Jordanian males and females who are divided into two main age groups: the first one consists of participants whose age is above 30 years old, and the second group whose participants are under 30 years old. Then, the data were analyzed quantitatively and categorized based on the main following topics; religious, social, political, economic and fixed statuses. The results show that gender and age have essential impacts on the statuses being used. For example, the religious statuses are the most frequently used topic by Jordanian females whereas the social statuses are the most frequently used topic by Jordanian males. However, the political and economic statuses are the least frequent statuses used among Jordanian. Moreover, the results show that the most frequently used topic among males who are above 30 years old is the fixed statuses suggested by the mobile itself whereas the most frequently used topic among males who are under 30 years old is the social topic. On the other hand, the impact of age among females is clearly manifested in the use of the fixed statuses suggested by the mobile itself. For instance, the females who are above 30 years old use the fixed statuses more dramatic than the females who are under 30 years old. Also, the fixed statuses are the second frequently used topic by the females who are above 30 years old whereas they are the third frequently used topic by females who are under 30 years old.

Speech Act Analysis of Whatsapp Statuses Used by Jordanians

“…Additionally, as youth are always searching for their own personality and forming identity as the most of university students in their late adolescences which is a time period for identity information and the approval of other people signifies that the individual is accepted or rejected on the personal level. The results of this research question are consistent with the previous studies made by (Al-Smadi, 2017;Banikalef & Rababah, 2018) Question two: What types of speech acts of WhatsApp statuses are used by Jordanians?…”

“…To make their friends react to their statuses, the participants usually make use of this type of speech acts. The results also go in the same line of the previous studies which were carried out by (Al-Smadi, 2017;Jdaitawi et al, 2011).…”

“…It also investigates the types of speech acts used in these statuses. Studies dedicated to WhatsApp statuses are lacking in the region, specifically in the Jordanian context (Al-Smadi, 2017;Almwajeh & Rababah, 2019). Thus, this study is to fill the gap found in the previous literature.…”

Gender, education, and digital generations as determinants of attitudes toward health information for health workers in West Java, Indonesia

“…An earlier study by the same authors demonstrated that individuals from different age groups have different habits when using WA, when communicating in a private chat or group chat ( Rosenfeld et al., 2018 ). In another study, age was important in predicting use of WA, for example, how individuals create status ( Al-Smadi, 2017 ).…”

Informational features of WhatsApp in everyday life in Madrid: An exploratory study

“…For example, gender can affect the kind of information exchanged in MIM group chats. One study identified differences in the topics addressed in group chats formed by Jordanian women and group chats formed by Jordanian men [39]. Studies have also found that the older the user, the less they participate in WhatsApp group chats [40].…”