Purpose (illocutionary intent):
promotive, entertainment, expressive (repost from another instagramer and thereby showing admiration for their work)

Context relationship: minimal

Semiotic relationship: additive

Register: informal (incomplete sentences, use of punctuation but not withoug errors)

Lexico-grammatical choices: informal language (see above), incomplete sentences (see above), imperative, use of emojis to express feelings that should be conveyed ([excited] anticipation to relax in a bathroom as it is depicted after a long and exhausting workday), 'loaded' words (e.g. amazing, completely), proclamations

Rhetorical devices: personification ("Hello Monday"), analogy (in picture: "Butt naked is the new black" as analogy to series "Orange is the new black")

My analysis: The text-image relationship in this instagram post is successful due to the complex relationship between literal meanings by minimal and additive relation between text and image. There is an analogy drawn between the picture in the bathroom and the series "Orange is the new black" which conveys a humorous anecdote. Additionally, Monday is addressed as a person (= personification) in "Hello Monday!). By those rhetorical devices the audience can identify with the humour and the conveyed meaning and will more likely feel inspirated by the given post.


Post 3:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_R6QJygwhx/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

"Hello Wednesday! A little gold never hurts 🤩. A tough Pilea in a dinosaur pot! 🦕 What kind of pots do you have?"

Purpose (illocutionary intent):
promotive, entertainment, expressive (repost from another instagramer and thereby showing admiration for their work)

Context relationship: transcendent

Semiotic relationship: additive

Register: informal (incomplete sentences)

Lexico-grammatical choices:
informal language (see above), incomplete sentences (see above),  use of emojis to express feelings that should be conveyed (love/admiration for the depicted flower pot; dinosaur emoji as allusion to the flower pot), 'loaded' words (e.g. little, never, tough), proclamations

Rhetorical devices: personification ("Hello Wednesday"), open question for audience ("What kind of pots do you have?"), metaphor ("tough Pilea" in tough dinosaur pot)

My analysis: This post again uses personification for a weekday and proclamations which makes the message seem more dramatic. Informal language, incomplete language (sentence fragments) and emojis liven up this earnesty again. The metaphor creating a parallelism between the tough flower and the tough dinosaur, whose body functions as a flower pot here, creates a closer relationship between picture and image. This complexity is also created by a transcendent and addictive context and semiotic relationship. To sum up, this instagram post is a successful text-image relation and thereby manages to engage the audience's enthusiasm.

- Clara

Post 1: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2PYcYA3Jn/
"If I had backed up a little more to take this photo, you would’ve been able to see a mountain of dirty dishes to the right, and a pile of cleaning supplies to the left. I find that I’m having a harder time keeping up with housework during this quarantine. Probably because I’m spending more time with the plants. Maybe when I’m an adult I’ll learn how to balance my priorities better (I turn 31 in October). 🙃"

Purpose: Exhibitionist, Entertainment

Contextual relationship: Minimal 

Semiotic relationship: Additive

Register: Informal

Rhetorical devices: personal pronouns (I, you’ve been able), adverbials of probability (maybe, probably, if)

Analysis: The text-image relationship of this post is successful even though the contextual relationship is minimal. A broader insight into the home of the person is given as the messy and chaotic state of the surrounding of the image is described in the caption. This indicates that the perfection which is often shown in posts does not reflect reality. The use of adverbials of probability adds a humorous touch and personal pronouns creates emotional attachment with the followers. 

 

Post 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_LK5pkAcla/
"Treating some of the babies with fresh soil today which means my fresh manicure is effectively ruined. I don’t know why I even bother. 🤷🏻‍♀️"

Purpose: Expressive, Exhibitionist 

Contextual relationship: Close

Semiotic relationship: Additive

Register: Informal

Rhetorical devices: Personification (“Treating some of the babies”), loaded words (treating, ruined)

Analysis: As plants are seen as humans (“Treating some of the babies”) and their owner makes sacrifices for them (“my fresh manicure is effectively ruined”), emotional attachment to the plants is indicated. Loaded words such as “treating” and “ruined” intensify this relationship between the person and the plants.

Post 3: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ZjG_OAHs3/
"Just a few of the babies I’m #currentlypropagating 💚🌱"

Purpose: Informative, expressive

Contextual relationship: Close

Semiotic relationship: Parallel

Register: Informal

Rhetorical devices: use of emojis (💚🌱), personification 

Analysis: The relationship between image and caption is close and parallel as it literally describes what is depicted on the visual source. The use of emojis expresses emotional attachment to the subject on the image, which is intensified by the personification of the plants. 

Nina

“Reminscing those days when it would be bright when I get home - returned a bunch of foster plants back their foster father so it's looking a little less jungly than I like. BUT! That means I get to buy some MOAR PLANTS 😏 *cue evil laughter*”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BrBf1upA1s4/?igshid=ekrm3ar9sp4c

purpose: exhibitionist, entertainment

contextual relationship: transcendent

semiotic relationship: additive

register: informal

lexico-grammatical choices: use of 1^st person pronoun I, informal language (bunch), clitics, emojis, all caps (BUT), intentional misspelling (moar), asterisks used for bold text, informal, colloquial language

rhetorical devices: personification (foster father)

analysis: The relationship between the image and text is transcendent, as the text refers to the image of plants successfully but expands on its meaning by adding information. The post shows an additive semiotic relationship and contains typical ideograms (emoji) that are oftentimes used in Instagram posts. Houseplantgal creates a relationship with her audience by using informal and colloquial language and adds humor in order to engage and entertain her following.

Post 2: 

“Oh hey there flowers 😍😍 she's been blooming nonstop for the last 8 weeks. Not only that, I'm seeing some beautiful albino leaves disguised amongst the flowers. Some quick tips to help you get started:
 
 1) bright sky light, minimal to no sunlight if possible
 2) it's a thirsty plant, I find it's happier when the leaves get slightly droopier. So not completely wilted but half wilted.
 3) it's a heavy feeder too. For me I find periodically giving it 1/6-1/4 dose of balanced fertilizer helps the blooms and leaves a lot
 4) remember flowers are not forever. If they brown, that's totally normal!”

 

purpose: exhibitionist, informative, expressive

contextual relationship: transcendent

semiotic relationship: additive

register: informal, colloquial

lexico-grammatical choices: incomplete sentences, bullet-point style, 

rhetorical devices: personification (oh hey there flowers), 

analysis: The main purpose of this post is to share some tips with the reader/follower on how to take care of the specific plant presented in the image. Therefore, the relationship between is transcendent and additive since it expenses on the image itself. The plants are personified, as they are addressed with a form of greeting. This post contains the semantic field of gardening (fertilizer, plant, flowers, blooming). General the relationship between the image and the text is successful.

“Plant feature today is this gorgeous Griffin (?) Begonia who originally started as massive cuttings. I spent about 2 months rooting it in water before transplanting into soil. For those of you having trouble with transplanting from water propogations, the main thing is to keep the soil relatively moist upon initial transplant while the roots adjust to da soil life. #dasoillyfe 😂 the next thing is to be patient - it takes to for the roots to adjust so don't be surprised if your plants stall in growth.
Also question mark because I'm hoping you begonia experts will help me confirm 🙏 I think it's a Griffin but not sure 😂”

 

purpose: exhibitionist, informative

contextual relationship: transcendent

semiotic relationship: additive

register: informal, colloquial

lexico-grammatical choices: use of emojis, hashtags, clitics, 1^st person pronoun, incomplete phrases

analysis: This post shows a successful relationship between image and text. The contextual relationship is transcendent since its meaning expands. The semiotic relationship is additive. The informal and colloquial language in addition to typical features of an Instagram post (hashtags, emojis) create a sense of closeness to the reader. 

- Klaudia