Digital Pragmatics on YouTube: Self-presentation and Performance of Stylized Affect

Jan Chovanec, Professor of English Linguistics, Masaryk University

Abstract:

The talk addresses the discursive construction of authenticity in reaction videos produced by micro-celebrities on their YouTube video-channels. Adopting a digital pragmatic perspective, the talk concentrates on the key multimodal features of self-presentation and the construction of identity in this innovative genre of communication in order to track how users perform affect for their followers. The YouTubers' identity construction is analysed in terms of their apparent 'authenticity', and interpreted in the context of a contrasting underlying aim – their self-promotion stemming from the 'attention economy' that has come to define many of the forms of the current monetised identity performances in digital contexts. In this talk, the strategic performance of digitised emotions is interpreted as a form of 'synthetic affect', i.e. a simulated form of interaction with the anonymous, mass audiences. As indicated by viewers' comments, the YouTubers' performances of emotions, particularly where they include features of hyperstylization, can be perceived negatively as inauthentic, with the result that the viewers can actually disaffiliate from such content producers.

Speaker Biography:

Jan Chovanec in Professor of English linguistics at Masaryk University in Brno, the Czech Republic, specializing in discourse analysis and socio-pragmatics. He has done research on the discursive processes of identity construction as well as humour in diverse media contexts. His current research deals with authenticity and identity stylisation. He is the author of Pragmatics of Tense and Time in News (John Benjamins, 2014), The Discourse of Online Sportscasting (John Benjamins, 2018) and co-editor of a number of publications, including The Dynamics of Interactional Humour (John Benjamins, 2018, with Villy Tsakona), Analyzing Digital Discourses: Between Convergence and Controversy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, with Marjut Johansson and Sanna-Kaisa Tanskanen) and most recently Experiencing Digital Discourses: Multimodality, Engagement, Activisim (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, with Camilla Vásquez). He is currently co-editor-in-chief of Discourse, Context & Media (with Carmen Lee) and serves on the editorial boards of several international journals, including Journal of Pragmatics; Internet Pragmatics and The European Journal of Humour Research.

當前語言科技在電腦輔助發音訓練與口說能力評量之應用

Berlin Chen (陳柏琳), Professor of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU)

Abstract:

近年來人工智慧(Artificial Intelligence, AI)的研究熱潮席捲全球，許多基於此研究熱潮下發展的深度學習(Deep Learning)與大型語言模型(Large Language Model, LLM)技術在各種多媒體處理與應用領域造成革命性的突破，也讓語音辨識(Automatic Speech Recognition, ASR)和自然語言處理(Natural Language Processing, NLP)相關的研究和應用有長足的進展。此次演講將簡介新穎的深度學習技術在語音辨識和自然語言處理相關任務上的應用現狀與趨勢。同時，此次演講也將說明如何使用語音辨識和自然語言處理等語言科技來發展電腦輔助語言學習(Computer-Assisted Language Learning, CALL)，尤其是電腦輔助發音訓練(Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training, CAPT)與口說能力評量(Speaking Proficiency Assessment, SPA)。

Speaker Biography:

Berlin Chen (陳柏琳) is a Professor of the Computer Science and Information Engineering Department at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), Taipei, Taiwan. He received his Ph.D. degree in computer science and information engineering from National Taiwan University (NTU) in June 2001, and then joined NTNU as an Assistant Professor in August 2002. He became a Professor in February 2010. Prof. Chen's research interests generally lie in the areas of speech recognition and natural language processing, multimedia information retrieval, computer-assisted language learning, and artificial intelligence.

感官詞彙與具身認知:兼談大語言模型衝擊下語言學研究如何安身立命

From Sensory Modalities to Embodied Cognition: How to Reconcile Linguistic Studies with Large Language Models

Chu-Ren Huang(黃居仁)，Chair Professor of Faculty of Humanities The Hong Kong Polytechnic University(PolyU)

Abstract:

Recent studies on the sensory lexicon and the sensorimotor norms enrich and empower language driven empirical approaches to embodied cognition, while, on the other hand, embodied intelligence emerges as a new frontier in AI. Based on recent studies on Mandarin sensory lexicon, including sensorimotor norms and Perceived Strength of Embodiment, I argue that embodied cognition is anchored by the unique function of language of sensory information driven conceptualization. And language driven approaches to embodied cognition could in term be our niche working with LLM and GenAI. Selectedf References
　Chersoni, E., & Huang, C. R. (2025). Linguistics in the Age of Large Language Models: Is A Reconciliation Possible?. In 21st International Congress of Linguists. Brill.
　Huang, C.-R., Zhao, Q., Ahrens, K., Wang, Z. & Long, Y. 2025. Linguistic synesthesia aembodiment: A study based on Mandarin modality exclusivity norms. Language Sciences. 109, 101715. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2025.101715
　Zhong, Y., Wan, M., Ahrens, K., & Huang, C. R. (2022). Sensorimotor norms for Chinese nouns and their relationship with orthographic and semantic variables. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 37(8), 1000-1022

Speaker Biography:

黃居仁,香港理工大學語言科學與科技學系講座教授. 美國康奈爾大學語言學博士.國際計算語言學委員會(ICCL)終身會士.曾任中華民國計算語言學會,台灣語言學會,亞洲辭典學會等理事長.共同創辦ROCLING,CLSW,PACLIC,ALR等會議.創建Sinica Corpus, Sinica Treebank, Hantology, Sinica BOW, Chinese WordNet 等中文語言資源.出版包括《Cambridge Handbook of Chinese Linguistics》《A Reference Grammar of Chinese》《Language and Ontology》《A Student Grammar of Chinese》等二十六本專書或期刊專號, 160篇期刊論文, 150篇專屬論文, 及600餘篇會議論文.論文见于Behavior Research Methods; BMC bioinformatics, Computational Linguistics; Cognitive Linguistics; Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theories; Database, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, Intercultural Pragmatics, Journal of Chinese Linguistics, Knowledge-based Systems; Language, Cognition and Neuroscience; Language cSiences; Language Resources and Evaluation; Linguistic Vanguard, Natural Language Processing; PLoS One; SageOpen等期刊. 2024 Stanford/Elsevier 全球前百分之二学者(AI 领域,生涯累计).