Global English in Action: Congratulatory Speech Acts on social media

Social media platforms have become central arenas for interpersonal communication, where followers frequently post congratulatory messages in response to personal or professional milestones shared by celebrities, sports figures and influencers. Despite the widespread occurrence of these expressions, the research on congratulations in public digital spaces remains limited.
This paper investigates congratulatory speech acts in English-language comments on public Instagram posts by British and American public figures. The study analyses 10 public posts of internationally followed public figures with a significant number of comments. The analysis focuses on both linguistic and multimodal realizations: the linguistic strategies used to convey congratulations including direct and indirect strategies, as well as mitigated forms; the use of multimodal resources such as emojis and gifs used to enhance meaning; and the patterns in the use of formulaic and non-formulaic expressions. Drawing on speech act theory and politeness theory, the paper examines how English, functioning as a global digital lingua franca, enables users from diverse linguistic and cultural background to establish interpersonal alignment with public figures.
Results reveal that users combine textual language, emojis and punctuations to express positive evaluation, solidarity and support. The findings highlight how these expressive speech acts are realized in digital communication. Also, by situating congratulatory comments within broader digital discourse, the paper will contribute to better understanding of online affective communication and uncover the pragmatics of English as a lingua franca in social media contexts.