The LANGUAGE VARIATIONS OF FOOD VLOGGERS ON TIKTOK IN BUILDING AUDIENCE INTERACTION: A SOCIOLINGUISTIC STUDY

Abstract

The development of social media has encouraged the emergence of increasingly dynamic digital communication practices, including in culinary content published by food vloggers on the TikTok platform . In this context, language serves not only as a means of conveying information about food but also as a communication strategy to build rapport with the audience and shape the creator's digital identity. This study aims to describe the forms of language variation used by food bloggers. vlogger TikTok Indonesia and explains the communicative function of language in building interactions with viewers. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach with a sociolinguistic perspective. The research data consists of utterances taken from TikTok video content uploaded by three popular culinary creators in Indonesia, namely Farida Nurhan, Si Bung-Bung, and Nanakoot . Data collection was carried out through observation and documentation techniques, while data analysis used content analysis techniques to identify forms of language variation and their communicative functions. The results show that the speech used by the creators tends to display communicative, expressive, and persuasive language variations. The use of greetings such as "teman-teman" or "Kalian" indicates the creator's attempt to build closeness and create a more personal impression of interaction with the audience , while expressions such as "percaya deh " or " tidak dapat ketinggalan" function as persuasive strategies in recommending food to viewers. These findings indicate that language variation in food content vloggers not only reflect the creator's communication style, but also become a linguistic strategy in building audience engagement and representing digital identity practices in the social media space.