Abstract:
The primary objective of the study was to investigate the various ways
Ghanaian celebrities are represented on Twitter by a)exploring the dominant
linguistic features that characterise the tweets of Ghanaian celebrities,
b)ascertaining the different ways by which Ghanaian celebrities are
representing themselves, and c) examining how gender variation influences
the tweets. The study touches on how celebrities creatively bypass the
imposed 140 character limit to enhance expressivity and communicative
competence. Qualitative research paradigm was adopted for the study.
Purposive sampling method was used to select 50 Ghanaian celebrities with
Twitter accounts. Goffman‘s (1959) theoretical perspective of selfrepresentation
and Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA), as an
analytical framework, were adopted to provide answers to the research
questions of the study. Findings of the study revealed that Ghanaian celebrities
employed adverbials, pronouns, abbreviated forms, modal/semi-modal forms
tense, and aspect markers to project a good impression to their fans. The study
again found out that Ghanaian celebrities employed creativity, salutation,
ingratiation, damage control, and self–promotion to represent themselves on
twitter. Finally, the study discovered that gender variations influence the
tweets of Ghanaian celebrities although there are situations where male or
female celebrities construct opposite gender identities with the view of
impressing fans.
