Copyright is owned by the Author of the thesis.  Permission is given for 
a copy to be downloaded by an individual for the purpose of research and 
private study only.  The thesis may not be reproduced elsewhere without 
the permission of the Author. 
 



 

 

 

Stance, Same-Sex Marriage and Space: 

An Analysis of Self-Referencing on YouTube 

 

 

 

A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the 

degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics 

at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand. 

 

Victoria Jane Kerry 

2019



 

 



i 

 

AbstractAbstractAbstractAbstract    

By mid-2018, YouTube engagement reached 1.8 billion users per month, making it almost as big a 

platform as Facebook. Despite its popularity, little is understood about the user-generated 

comments written below the videos as a form of engagement on the site, with most linguistic 

research focusing on language found in the videos themselves. This study is a Mediated Discourse 

Analysis which explores what YouTubers say about themselves in textual responses posted under 

videos showing the passing of the same-sex marriage law in New Zealand. Using Du Bois’ (2007) 

Stance Triangle as its fork, it analyses the function of self-referencing stances and the sharing of 

personal information to a potentially large and unknown audience. 

 

In order to understand YouTube as a context for self-referencing, I propose a new framework called 

Participatory Spaces. The Participatory Spaces framework identifies three salient areas of YouTube 

interaction: the shared interest that brings a diverse group of participants together (the Membership 

Layer), the different members of the audience that are addressed (the Audience Layer), and the 

technical affordances and constraints of the Space (the Spatio-Temporal Layer). The three Layers of 

a Participatory Space outline the interactional practices within and provide key perspectives on the 

mechanics of stance. The Membership Layer focuses particularly on the centrality, weighting and 

interpretability of the discourses, Discourses and particular locations shared by a geographically 

dispersed, diverse, audience. Self-referencing is used to increase credibility of an argument, to 

warrant participation and to express the right to belong.  The Audience Layer reveals how 

commenters design their contribution for specific audiences. Here, examples of self-referencing can 

function as a means of (dis)aligning with other members on YouTube, and creating the Space itself. 

Finally, the Spatio-Temporal Layer uncovers the influences of time and space on participatory norms, 

including how participants’ histories and imagined futures are embedded in the Discourses they 



ii 

 

present. The participants’ self-referencing creates context and meaning for both their own, and the 

other participants’, interpretation of their comments.  

 

The Participatory Spaces framework also highlights the need for revisions to Du Bois’ Stance 

Triangle. Specifically, I argue that adapting the Triangle to include multiple objects of stance, 

segmenting the audience, and including participants’ histories, provides a tool for understanding 

YouTube interaction and the role self-referencing plays in these practices.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This project has been evaluated by peer review and judged to be low risk. Consequently, it has not 

been reviewed by one of the University’s Human Ethics Committees. The researcher named above is 

responsible for the ethical conduct of this research.  

If you have any concerns about the conduct of this research that you wish to raise with someone 

other than the researcher, please contact Professor John O’Neill, Director (Research Ethics), 

telephone 06 350 5249, email humanethics@massey.ac.nz 



iii 

 

I would like to thank the Massey University School of Humanities, and particularly the Head of 

School, Associate Professor Kerry Taylor, for providing me with the funding and resources for 

completing my PhD. The support I was given made a world of difference to my ability to achieve it. I 

am especially grateful for the opportunity that lecturing has provided for enriching my knowledge 

and understanding of linguistics. My thesis is all the better for what I have learnt while teaching.  

 

To my three supervisors: thank you for the many years of support, encouragement, knowledge, 

feedback and mentoring. I have been so grateful for the amount of time you have given me, and 

especially your willingness and unhesitating availability. You have all helped me in such very 

different ways, and I am so grateful to have been supported by such a fantastic team of talented 

linguists. 

 

To Dr David Ishii, thank you for your administrative organisation and especially for your collegial 

and moral support, and the kindness you showed me. You gave me confidence to get to where I am 

now as a lecturer.  

 

To Dr Tony Fisher, thank you for the laughs during our discussions, your professional mentoring, 

and for your keen eye when reading my work. I will forever hear “show me the evidence!” as a 

mantra to making my work more robust and credible. My written work has benefited immensely 

from your knowledge and rigour. 

 



iv 

 

To Dr Martin Paviour-Smith, thank you for inspiring me since undergrad, and sharing your love of 

linguistics with me, even from France. Learning Discourse Analysis from you changed the way I 

understand my world around me. Your thesis mentoring gave me the skills and confidence to work 

out new ideas for myself. Under your guidance, I have grown not only as a linguist, but also as a 

person. 

 

To my supporters: my A+graphia writing group, my fellow PhD student friends and colleagues, 

Mum - Diana Wood, and Dad - John Faris, Jennifer Hunt, Iggy Wood, and, of course, David and 

Sebastian Kerry. I am very lucky to have you all. Thank you for your love, support and 

encouragement.  

 

Finally, thank you to my participants – visible and invisible – who made up the Participatory 

Spaces I studied. Especially thank you to those who made this part of the Internet a positive place, 

and to those who celebrated a small, but significant, moment in time.  

 

 

 

 

 



v 

 

 

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..i 

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iii 

Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... v 

List of Figures and Tables ....................................................................................................................... ix 

 

Chapter 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 

 

Chapter 2. Literature Review on Computer-Mediated Communication, self-referencing, stance 

and same-sex marriage ........................................................................................................................... 9 

2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 9 

2.2 Computer-Mediated Communication ........................................................................... 10 

2.3 YouTube ........................................................................................................................ 14 

2.4 Self-disclosure and self-referencing .............................................................................. 17 

2.5 Stancetaking .................................................................................................................. 22 

2.6 Participatory Culture ..................................................................................................... 26 

2.7 Affinity Spaces ............................................................................................................... 30 

2.8 Same-sex marriage ........................................................................................................ 35 

2.9 Chapter summary .......................................................................................................... 40 

 



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Chapter 3. Investigating YouTube stratification and the formation of Participatory Spaces ......... 43 

3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 43 

3.2 The Membership Layer ................................................................................................. 44 

3.3 The Audience Layer ....................................................................................................... 55 

3.4 The Spatio-Temporal Layer ........................................................................................... 65 

3.5 Chapter summary .......................................................................................................... 76 

 

Chapter 4. Research outline ........................................................................................................... 79 

4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 79 

4.2 Stance as a framework .................................................................................................. 80 

4.3 Research questions ....................................................................................................... 84 

4.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 86 

4.5 Ethics ........................................................................................................................... 102 

4.6 Notes on conventions ................................................................................................. 105 

4.7 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................ 108 

 

 The Membership Layer, scales and positioning .......................................................... 111 

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 111 

5.2 Scales ........................................................................................................................... 113 

5.3 Local and global scales ................................................................................................ 115 

5.4 Polycentricity and Scales ............................................................................................. 121 

5.5 Polycentricity, shared interest and the focus of stance.............................................. 124 



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5.6 Scales and scale shifts/jumping .................................................................................. 128 

5.7 Scales beyond the local versus global ......................................................................... 129 

5.8 Warranting participation ............................................................................................ 136 

5.9 Second order self-referencing .................................................................................... 138 

5.10 Warranting stances as credible ................................................................................... 144 

5.11 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................ 147 

 

 Audience alignment, collaboration and the dynamic nature of the Space ................ 149 

6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 149 

6.2 Audience collaboration and alignment between participants ................................... 151 

6.3 Understanding the different roles of audience members .......................................... 161 

6.4 Adapting the Stance Triangle ...................................................................................... 170 

6.5 Stylistic stance and audience alignment ..................................................................... 176 

6.6 Shared understanding of the Space ............................................................................ 182 

6.7 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................ 186 

 

Chapter 7. The Spatio-Temporal Layer, chronotopes and Heterochronicity ............................... 189 

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 189 

7.2 The chronotope ........................................................................................................... 191 

7.3 Time-Space .................................................................................................................. 192 

7.4 Time ............................................................................................................................ 201 

7.5 Heterochronicity ......................................................................................................... 206 



viii 

 

7.6 Heterochronicity with historical stances .................................................................... 211 

7.7 Heterochronicity with future-looking stances ............................................................ 218 

7.8 Stance and meaning-making over time and space ..................................................... 226 

7.9 Chapter summary ........................................................................................................ 228 

 

Chapter 8. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 231 

8.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 231 

8.2 The Participatory Space Layers ................................................................................... 231 

8.3 Self-referencing ........................................................................................................... 237 

8.4 The Stance Triangle ..................................................................................................... 241 

8.5 Stancetaking in a Participatory Space ......................................................................... 246 

8.6 Limitations, mitigations and future directions ............................................................ 250 

8.7 Concluding remarks .................................................................................................... 254 

 

References ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….257 

 

Appendices ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….281 

 

 

  



ix 

 

Table 1: Playlist of YouTube videos for analysis ................................................................................... 88 

Table 2: Extracting self-referencing from the data ............................................................................... 98 

Table 3: Central and peripheral sexual categories from inthehouse [uploader] (2013) .................... 134 

 

Figure 1: The Membership Layer .......................................................................................................... 44 

Figure 2: The Audience Layer ................................................................................................................ 55 

Figure 3: The Spatio-Temporal Layer .................................................................................................... 66 

Figure 4: The Participatory Space Layers .............................................................................................. 77 

Figure 5: Du Bois’ (2007, p. 163) Stance Triangle ................................................................................. 81 

Figure 6: Evaluation and positioning on Du Bois’ (2007, p.163) Stance Triangle ............................... 111 

Figure 7: The Membership Layer ........................................................................................................ 112 

Figure 8: Du Bois’ (2007, p.163) Stance Triangle with Raz D / superkiwistar’s interaction ................ 126 

Figure 9: The Stance Triangle with multiple stance foci ..................................................................... 127 

Figure 10: Alignment on Du Bois’ (2007, p.163) Stance Triangle ....................................................... 149 

Figure 11: The Audience Layer ............................................................................................................ 150 

Figure 12: "Persons and roles in the speech situation" (Bell, 1984, p.159) ........................................ 164 

Figure 13: Adrian C* and kiwimarck – when Adrian C* responds ...................................................... 169 

Figure 14: The Stance Triangle for a polylogal audience .................................................................... 171 

Figure 15: The Stance Triangle for a polylogal audience with Grant L* ............................................. 173 

Figure 16: The Spatio-Temporal Layer ................................................................................................ 189 

Figure 17: The object of stance (or stance focus) on Du Bois’ (2007, p.163) Stance Triangle............ 190 

Figure 18: The Stance Triangle with chronotopes .............................................................................. 227 

Figure 19: The Participatory Space Layers .......................................................................................... 232 

Figure 20: Du Bois’ (2007, p.163) Stance Triangle with Raz D / superkiwistar’s interaction .............. 242 



x 

 

Figure 21: The Stance Triangle in a Participatory Space ..................................................................... 245 

Figure 22: Stancetaking in a Participatory Space ................................................................................ 247