Speaker
Description
This paper examines how textual-layer features in TikTok’s POV genre, specifically textual overlays and captions incorporating emojis and hashtags, function as metadiscursive cues that guide humorous interpretation. Following Hyland’s (2005) account of metadiscourse as discourse that frames interpretation and signals stance, these textual elements are treated as resources that organise how viewers are oriented toward the audiovisual scene rather than as part of its diegesis. In POV videos, textual cues operate extradiegetically to structure interpretation across the video, contributing both to the establishment of initial expectations and to the interpretation of humorous outcomes.
Textual overlays and captions perform distinct but coordinated functions within this process. Overlays pre-structure interpretation by assigning the viewer a role and delimiting a set of plausible expectations before the audiovisual action unfolds. In doing so, they activate genre expectations shaped by shared meme conventions and establish an interpretive baseline against which subsequent audiovisual cues can be evaluated as humorous deviations (Shifman, 2014). Captions containing text, hashtags and emojis, instead, operate retrospectively, shaping how viewers interpret and align with the humorous resolution once it becomes available. Drawing on Zappavigna and Logi’s (2024) account of emojis as paralinguistic resources, this study examines how these cues, alongside text and hashtags within captions, shape affective tone, signal stance, and position viewers toward an intended humorous reading.
Extending earlier work on how audiovisual modes construct humorous incongruity through modal interplay in the POV genre (Willoughby, forthcoming), this study examines how textual-layer features function as metadiscursive cues that further organise interpretation and render humorous intent legible within shared communicative norms. By analysing these cues alongside the organisation of audiovisual modes, the study offers a more integrated account of how humorous incongruity is coordinated across modes in short-form digital video.
References
Hyland, K. (2005). Metadiscourse. Continuum.
Shifman, L. (2014). Memes in digital culture. MIT Press.
Willoughby, A. (forthcoming). Humour and modal interplay in TikTok’s POV genre. In A. Beville, F. Ciambella, & J. Culpeper (Eds.), Bridging the gap between pragmatics and multimodality (Special issue). Lingue e Linguaggi.
Zappavigna, M., & Logi, L. (2024). Emoji and social media paralanguage. Cambridge University Press.