Literature Review: Implicature on Social Media Platforms of Al-Aqsa Flood Operation – A Critical Discourse (Thesis Sample)

Literature Review: Implicature on Social Media Platforms of Al-Aqsa Flood Operation – A Critical Discourse Student's First Name, Middle Initial(s), Last Name Institutional Affiliation Course Number and Name Instructor's Name and Title Assignment Due Date Literature Review: Implicature on Social Media Platforms of Al-Aqsa Flood Operation – A Critical Discourse Part 1: Implicature Theoretical Framework Implicature is a pragmatic concept in linguistics that seeks the meaning of a message beyond the directed, stated, or quoted words. Research states that there are two major types of implicature: conversational and conventional implicature (Franke et al., 2020). The concept was incepted by H.P. Grice, a renowned philosopher who posited that conversational implicature stems from the cooperative principle, which values the desire for participants in a specific conversation to want to be clear, honest, informative, and relevant to the matter at hand (Yulianti et al., 2022). Syafradin et al. (2020) state that conventional implicature heavily relies on contextualized utterances in between sentences. Cooperative Principle The cooperative principle of implicature states that during conversations, genuine participants anticipate cooperation and relevance when communicating. According to Lambrou (2023), the cooperative principle was pioneered by Grice in 1974, who insisted that four major maxims must be present for effective communication to take place. More evidence clarifies that the four core maxims of Grice’s implicature are manner, quality, relation, and quantity (Izar et al., 2021). Once any or all of these maxims are exploited, implications begin to emerge. Further research affirms that the cooperative principle forms the blueprint for comprehending linguistic literature in contrasting contexts (Langevin et al., 2021). Relevance Theory Relevance theory in linguistics states that implicature emerges as a result of searching for the most meaningful understanding or interpretation of utterances. Evidence clarifies that relevance theory was invented by Wilson and Sperber in 1986 (Wu, 2022). More studies ascertain that relevance theory focuses on the relevance of cognitive processes in facilitating effective communication (Sartika & Pranoto, 2021). Thus, the role of cognitive processes is to contextualize the meaningfulness of an utterance. Additional research clarifies that cognitive inferences are the founding principles of implicatures in relevance theory due to the ability to contextualize information (Khoshaba & Al-Sulaimaan, 2023). Previous Studies on Implicature According to Komninos (2023) and Salam-Salmaoui (2023), implicature has a massive role in conveying hidden political ideologies, concepts, and messages in social media, especially Twitter. The researchers agree that social media has been embraced by diverse political parties, administrations, and personnel to facilitate their manifestos and agendas for the people without violating community guidelines. The purpose of political ideologies and agendas is to foster solidarity and the dominance of a certain political perspective, party, or influential personality. In such cases, implicature is used to identify the similarity among supporters in various political contexts. Studies by Guido (2022) and Fitrayatra et al. (2023) assessed the purpose of implicature in environmental activism. Over the past two to three decades, environmental activism has risen in its influence as its role continues to gain ground due to deteriorating climatic conditions. The primary cause of the worsening extreme weather conditions was human actions depicted through industrialization and modernization, especially when using non-renewable sources of energy. The information sources suggest that the purpose of implicature in such stances is to shape public opinion and perceptions about the need to protect the environment using individual efforts while encouraging moral action and responsibility across all societies. Resounding research from Purnama (2023) and Baczkowska (2023) mutually agrees that online platforms maximize implicature to put across crucial messages. The studies argue that online platforms utilize implicature distribution to understand the difference in discourse among digital communities, their agendas, needs, and future expectations. This implicature is depicted in the form of communities, symbols, and messages that are never written but delivered in between the lines with each post or piece of content created. Computational designs help online platform users understand the sarcasm and irony of uttering certain messages directly and instead apply implicature to send the message home. According to Vladmirou & Hatipoglu (2020) and Seghers (2020), implicature is significant in comprehending feminist discourses in social media. The rise of feminism over the past few years has sparked several controversial claims and opinions on the argument that genetically proven facts indicate that males and females can never be literally the same. Thus, expecting fair and equal treatment in specific influential disciplines of life only favors feminism and diminishes masculinity, especially when taking on some of the world's most dangerous jobs that require pure muscle. Implicature challenges such dominant narratives by encouraging online and local communities to establish unwritten unity unlike ever before. Research from Hietanen (2023) and Quinci & Musacchio (2021) ascertains that implicature creates a cross-cultural socio-political meaning from memes. The studies agree that this explains why memes are perceived with extreme caution in some of the world’s most sensitive political regimes. For instance, cases of meme creators and sharers on social media platforms being accused of violating political freedoms and treason are common on social media sites due to the sensitivity associated with the implicature resulting from meme sharing. Different cultures perceive memes differently based on the implications created or associated with a certain stereotype or message being delivered by the meme. Evidence from Veldkamp & Szanto (2020) and Lomeli Hernandez (2024) posits that implicature is vital in averting public crises. The researchers prove that implicature is crucial in social media’s aversion to public dilemmas that are sensitive and bound to attract criticism or controversy from society. The objective of implicature in such scenarios is to establish the underlying fact that all crises, regardless of the cause and intensity, can be managed effectively when public opinion is shaped in favor of the solutions being recommended. Most humanitarian crises would have easily led to a wide-scale war if implicature had not been utilized to calm down the masses. According to Yang et al. (2020) and Mahmud et al. (2021), the brand value of corporate social responsibility properties is complemented by implicature. This explains why several modern companies are always willing to go above and beyond to enhance the image of their corporate social responsibility because they understand the implicit value of implicature in the company profile. The distinction and competitive advantage of the most powerful brand in the market are facilitated by a deep comprehension of the function of implicature in the industry. In most cases, the implicature is deployed on social media platforms to account for unwritten consumer needs and preferences. Abdel-Raheem (2022) and Gitonga (2022) equally agree that online campaigns would be inefficient in spreading their message without maximizing the functions of implicature in sharing the discourse with the world. For instance, during public campaigns and online contributions such as fundraising, one of the major reasons people willingly join the philanthropic party is due to positive implicature. This means that campaign organizers must spend a lot of time creating the perfect implicature to balance with the people’s views and expectations while still elucidating the perfect emotions and support required to gather the targeted amount of resources. Studies from Dambo et al. (2023) and Breeze (2020) indicate that social media platforms have varying meanings and impacts of implicature. For instance, Facebook and Twitter are primarily used for social and political discourse, unlike YouTube and Instagram, which are primarily used for cultural and social intentions. Specific online platforms have special features and capabilities, which users take advantage of when sharing their political perspectives. Comparative analysis between Twitter and Instagram reveals that political ideologies created by implicit cooperation create divides that would have otherwise been impossible to attain under typical social interactions and platforms. According to Clark (2020) and Tafran (2023), implicature has a massive role in shaping consumers’ perspectives, tastes, and preferences. The studies argue that when consumers are asked about their real tastes and desires, they fail to deliver what is in their hearts and instead focus on what their mouths can reveal. This means that what the mouth knows is not what the heart truly wants due to a lack of evidence-based implicature. The purchase intentions of consumers are also dictated by how producers, suppliers, and manufacturers establish the significance of the associated service or commodity. References Abdel-Raheem, A. (2022). Taboo metaphtonymy, gender, and impoliteness: how male and female Arab cartoonists think and draw. Social Semiotics, 1-37. Bączkowska, A. (2023). Implicit offensiveness from linguistic and computational perspectives: A study of irony and sarcasm. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 19(2), 353-383. Breeze, R. (2020). Angry tweets: A corpus-assisted study of anger in populist political discourse. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 8(1), 118-145. Clark, B. (2020)...