Blurred Lines
Gender Communication Styles of
Malaysian Millennials on Facebook
Kee-Man CHUAH &
Kirstie Tet-Mei FUNG
Faculty of Language & Communication
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
International Conference on Language Studies 2017

Language is evolving
rapidly scarily online.

TL;DR Too Long; Didn’t Read

Source: Global Web Index

Source: Global Web Index

TL;DR
Millennials refer to the group of people born from the 1980s until the start of the new millennium, Y2K
(Gibson & Sodemon, 2014).

Why do we study gender differences
in FB communication styles among
millennials?

1. Is there a difference between male and
female communicating styles among
Malaysian millennials via Facebook?
2. Why do both genders from Malaysian
millennials use certain language
features when interacting via
Facebook?
Research Questions

Herring’s (1994) model of communication styles:
Underlying theoretical foundations
Female Users
• hedging
• apologising
• asking more
questions
• form personal
bonds
(assertions)
Male Users
• put-downs
• strong and often
contentions
• self-promotion
• sarcasm
• having an
authoritative
tone
Bae?

70 Malaysian millennials (35 males and 35
females)
They were observed based on their interactions
in 5 public Facebook pages. Their comments
were analysed based on Herring’s framework
Interview sessions were conducted on 20
randomly selected participants (they were given
snippets of comments and were asked to
identify the gender and give their reasons)
Methodology
^^^

This is a very creative ad. Those who
commented lame or boring, i dare u to shoot a
better version and upload.
Judging from some of these comments, I think
we still have a long way to go as a nation if we
still can't chill about racial issues. Grow up
people!
IMHO, this is just too much. I mean why bother sendi
ng
kids to school when you don’t want to educate them a
t
home? Parenting is important too, right? Please lah…
reading this makes me angry.

Key Findings
Label Characteristics Male Female
F1 Hedging 2 -
F2 Apologizing - 1
F3 Asking questions 2 4
F4 Form personal bonds 9 14
M1 Put downs 7 4
M2 Strong/often contentions 5 4
M3 Self-promoting 1 1
M4 Sarcasm 11 8
M5 Authoritative tone 2 2
Note. F indicates female communication styles, M indicates male communication styles
Content analysis of their postings/comments on FB.
1st
1st
2nd
2nd

Key Findings
The interview data revealed that:
Male would tend to voice out their opinions
on realistic issues whereas females express
based on emotions and would be more likely
to talk and share about their personal
interests online or something that they are
very enthusiastic about.
Respondents unanimously agreed that
choice of words and the way an opinion is
expressed can determine the gender.

Interview Responses

Conclusion
A thin line separating Malaysian (millennials) male
and female styles of expressing their thoughts in a
digital platform.
Steinmetz (2017) mentioned, “the identity breakdown
seems newer to many people, and in some ways
tougher to unpack” (p. 38). – perhaps it’s time to just
stop unpacking “gendered language”
More “blurred lines” in gender communication styles
in the growing technological age.
^^^

Thank You
Question?
Contact
Email: kmchuah@unimas.my
Webpage: www.chuahkeeman.com