Date Approved
12-12-2012
Date Posted
4-24-2013
Degree Type
Open Access Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department or School
Communication, Media and Theatre Arts
Committee Member
Michael Tew, Ph.D., Chair
Committee Member
Doris Fields, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Jack Kay, Ph.D.
Abstract
This communication research study identifies the presence of the African-American rhetorical traditions of call-response, signification, tonal semantics, and narrative sequencing used in communication on the online social media network, Twitter. The objective of this study is to provide insight into the culture and community of Twitter. Additionally, the research demonstrates how traditional oral rhetorical traditions survive in the digital world. Over a 15-day period, tweets were collected by the author using a computer screenshot feature. Using a coding rubric, three coders, including the author, coded the collected tweets for the four rhetorical traditions. Resulting from this procedure, the coders concluded the presence of all four African-American rhetorical traditions used by Tweeters, as well as evolved forms of certain traditions. These findings provide evidence of a distinct Twitter community and prompt further research on the transfer of traditional oral rhetoric from offline communities to online communities.
Recommended Citation
Long, Tiffani, "As seen on twitter: African-American rhetorical traditions gone viral" (2012). Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations. 442.
https://commons.emich.edu/theses/442
Included in
Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons