The Use of Swear Words in an Influencer Doctor Health Communication: A Case Study of dr. Tirta
Abstract
This study examines how dr. Tirta, a prominent Indonesian doctor-influencer, uses swear words and what these expressions do in his communication. As social media continues to blur the line between formal expertise and casual interaction, professionals are increasingly adopting styles that would once have seemed out of place. This shift has given rise to “professional influencers” who connect with audiences in more direct and unconventional ways. Focusing on this phenomenon, the study explores swearing not as a lapse in professionalism but as a deliberate communicative strategy. The data consist of spoken utterances collected from videos on dr. Tirta’s YouTube channel that was published in May 2025. These were transcribed and analyzed using the qualitative framework of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña (2014), alongside Andersson and Trudgill’s sociolinguistic model of taboo language. The findings show that dr. Tirta employs swear words across a range of pragmatic functions. Expletive uses express spontaneous emotion, lending his speech a sense of immediacy and sincerity. Abusive forms, such as ‘cangkemmu’ (a coarse term for “mouth”), work less as outright insults and more as a way of flattening social distance. Most notably, the social function dominates, Javanese slang and profanity, are used to build rapport, signal shared identity, and generate what can be understood as covert prestige. Taking together, these patterns suggest that swearing, in this context, is not careless or incidental. It is a calculated stylistic choice that helps shape an approachable, credible, and distinctly modern form of professional communication.
References
Andersson, L., & Hirsch, R. (1985). Swearing and the Expression of the Emotion. In Swearing Reports: Vol. 2. Perspectives on Swearing (pp. 61–85). Göteborg: Department of Linguistics, University of Göteborg.
Andersson, L.-G., & Trudgill, P. (1990). Bad Language (Lars-Gunnar Andersson, Peter Trudgill). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
Anggana Raras Salsabil Suha & Emy Sudarwati. (2021). What You Are is What You Say’: An Analysis of Taboo Words on Tiktok. Jurnal Kata: Penelitian Tentang Ilmu Bahasa Dan Sastra, 5(2), 321–332. https://doi.org/10.22216/kata.v5i2.438
Aydın, A., Savaş, E. H., Bingöl, H., & Kebudi, R. (2024). Taboo words in pediatric oncology: Communication experiences of nurses and physicians with dying children and their families. European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejon.2023.102466
Gaidzimullah, G., S, D., Fauzan, D. A., Hasna, F., Aritonang, G. C. D., & Rizkyanfi, M. W. (2025). Bahasa Indonesia di Era Digital: Analisis Pengaruh Penggunaan Media Sosial Terhadap Komunikasi Formal di Lingkungan Perkantoran. Indo-MathEdu Intellectuals Journal, 6(3), 3355–3364. https://doi.org/10.54373/imeij.v6i3.3115
Karnowski, L. (2023). How Does Swearing Influence Impressions of Therapists? Exploring Who Swears First and (Theisi, Southern Illinois University). Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/openview/f126a244b6fb4992dd47530203f49a10/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
Kurniawanti, F., & Damanhuri, A. (2022). Female English Swearing on Whatsapp Communications: A Sociolinguistics perspective. Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.24036/JBS.V10I2.117609
Mejia, G. E. A., & Ngo, C. G. A. (2024). Profanity in Social Media: An Analysis of Pragmatic Functions and Politeness Maxims Violation. Journal Corner of Education, Linguistics, and Literature, 4(1), 92–117. https://doi.org/10.54012/jcell.v4i1.315
Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (Edition 3). Los Angeles London New Delhi Singapore Washington DC: Sage.
Ng, I. K., Thong, C., Tan, L. F., & Teo, D. B. (2024). The rise of medical influencers: The pros and the cons. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, 54(3), 231–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/14782715241261736
Nuriah Allailah, S., Febryanto, M., & Hasti, S. (2023). The Analysis of Swear Words in Instagram Comments Column of @lilnasx Account. Jurnal Bahasa Inggris Terapan, 9(2), 55–64. https://doi.org/10.35313/jbit.v9i2.5576
Pramana, C. C., & Hapsari, N. T. (2023). Swear Words in Gitlost’s Twitter Account: Kinds and Function. 19(1).
Rajput, A., & Gandhi, A. (2024). The branding power of social media influencers: An interactive marketing approach. Cogent Business & Management, 11(1), 2380807. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2380807
Sadasari, L. M. (2020). Micro-celebrity participation and risk communication in Indonesia: A content analysis of @dr.tirta and @rachelvennya Instagram posts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pacific Journalism Review : Te Koakoa, 26(2), 53–71. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v26i2.1135
Stapleton, K., Fägersten, K. B., Stephens, R., & Loveday, C. (2022). The power of swearing: What we know and what we don’t. Lingua, 277, 103406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2022.103406
Sulpizio, S., Günther, F., Badan, L., Basclain, B., Brysbaert, M., Chan, Y. L., … Marelli, M. (2024). Taboo language across the globe: A multi-lab study. Behavior Research Methods, 56(4), 3794–3813. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-024-02376-6
Trudgill, P. (2000). Sociolinguistics: An introduction to language and society (4. ed., [Nachdr.]). London: Penguin Books.
Ulandari, S., Adilla, A., Riyani, A. R., Ginting, N. B., Faiq, M. F., Diana Ferawati Situmorang, … Tiar Mayasari Sitanggang. (2025). Komunikasi Efektif dalam Dunia Kesehatan: Analisis Penggunaan Bahasa Antara Dokter dan Pasien. JIIC: Jurnal Intelek Insan Cendikia, 2, 6636–6640. Retrieved from https://jicnusantara.com/index.php/jiic/article/view/3013
Ünalmış, E., Dirsehan, T., & Erdoğmuş, İ. E. (2024). Consequences of influencer-created content on influencers’ authenticity in the beauty and personal care industry. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2024.2371833
Washmuth, N. B., Meakins, A., Trummer, G., & Stephens, R. (2024). Can Swearing Be Professional and Patient-Centered? Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation, 1–9. Retrieved from https://www.jhrehab.org/2024/04/12/can-swearing-be-professional-and-patient-centered/
Zhao, A. T., & Yu, Y. (2023). Employee online personal/professional boundary blurring and work engagement: Social media anxiety as a key contingency. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 9, 100265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2022.100265
Copyright (c) 2026 Deskripsi Bahasa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Deskripsi Bahasa applies the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, with the copyright on the published articles held by the journal. Authors are required to transmit the copyright to this journal once the articles are accepted. This journal is granted a non-exclusive license to publish the articles as the original publisher, along with the commercial right to publish printed issues for sale. Since this journal applies an open-access mode, authors may post articles published by this journal on personal websites or institutional repositories both prior to and after publication while providing bibliographic details that credit this journal.
By publishing with this journal, the copyright holder grants any third party the lawful right to use their published article to the extent provided by the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.
Subsequently, people are lawfully permitted to share, distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the published articles, even for commercial purposes, so long as they provide appropriate credit or attribution (Title, Author, Source, and License of the work), include a link to the license, indicate if any changes were made, and redistribute the derivative outputs under the same license (CC BY-SA 4.0).
