Framing Intercultural Marriage on YouTube: A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study Using Frame Semantics

The current systematic study examines intercultural marriages portrayed by two YouTube vloggers through their content. A total of 25 videos were collected from each of the two selected YouTube channels, namely The Modern Singhs and Pakistani Korean. The analysis was carried out through corpus-assisted discourse analysis. Drawing on high-frequency semantic frames of nouns as quantitative data, the study employed Fillmore’s Frame Semantics theory to qualitatively analyze intercultural discourse, with particular focus on the frames of “marriage” and “culture.” The analysis reveals that both YouTube channels portray intercultural marriages in a positively, although within distinct marital contexts. The findings highlight how marriage and culture in both corpora symbolizes cultural union and personal struggle. Finding reflects marriage as different intercultural experiences and culture acting both as a barrier and a connection point. Furthermore, it indicates that the two channels present intercultural marriage in a dramatically different manner. Modern Singh focuses on tension between parents, humor and cultural integration, and it has been depicted through the scenes of exchanging their culture and handling clash of culture. The Pakistani Korean channel pays more attention to practical social pressures. They are associated with traveling, visa, immigration, and family pressure, in which the words “visa” and “hijab” denote more institutional and identity negotiations. Even though both portray marriages as emotionally satisfying, Pakistani Korean stories are more in touch with the real-life duties, whereas The Modern Singhs are more in touch with the symbolic unity and cultural accommodation.