A SEMANTICS ANALYSIS OF REFERENCE AND REFERENT FOUND IN INSTAGRAM CAPTIONS BY PUBLIC FIGURES
Keywords:
Reference, Referent, Semantic analysis, Instagram captions, Public figuresAbstract
This study analyzes reference and referent in Instagram captions uploaded by public figures. The background of this research is based on the phenomenon of public figures using short, concise, and often ambiguous language on social media, while research on the semantic analysis of reference and referent in the context of Instagram captions remains limited, particularly studies that systematically consider visual context. This study aims to identify the types of references, determine the referent of each reference, and describe the dominant patterns of reference and referent usage in those captions. This research employs a qualitative descriptive approach with data sources consisting of six Instagram captions from six public figures, namely Jennie (@jennierubyjane), Rose (@roses_are_rosie), Katarina Blue (@katarinabluu), Maudy Ayunda (@maudyayunda), Cinta Laura (@claurakiehl), and Hailey Bieber (@haileybieber). Data were collected using documentation techniques and analyzed through identification, classification, referent identification based on textual and visual context, and pattern description. The findings reveal that exophoric reference (54.55%) is more dominant than endophoric reference (45.45%), with person deixis as the most frequent type (31.82%), followed by time deixis (13.64%) and place deixis (9.09%). Visual context proved to be crucial in identifying referents, especially for place deixis. These findings enrich semantic studies on multimodal social media discourse and provide insights for both public figures and audiences in understanding Instagram captions
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