Abstract This paper studies some pragmatic and discursive properties of hate words employed in the comment chains of two Italian right-wing politicians’ social media accounts. The analysis focuses on hate speech directed towards two ethnic groups – African migrants and the Chinese – and an individual, the former minister of Agriculture Teresa Bellanova. Hate words are divided into two macrocategories: slurs and insulting epithets. Slurs are expressions that are consistently associated with derogatory attitudes against a group of people based on their origin/descent; insulting epithets are either offensive terms that do not attack specific identity traits or neutral words that, in certain contexts, can be offensive. Data indicate that the use of hate words is guided by pragmatic factors and discursive elements, and it changes according to the individual(s) or the groups being attacked. Hate speech on social media occurs mainly through insulting epithets, thus allowing the authors to avoid moderation and any responsibility for their utterance. The results support the idea that hate speech is a complex speech act that aims not only at derogating or expressing negative emotions but works within the framework of racist discourses as a means of creating and reinforcing political polarisation and in-group values.
{"title":"A pragmatic and discourse analysis of hate words on social media","authors":"Mattia Retta","doi":"10.1075/ip.00096.ret","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00096.ret","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper studies some pragmatic and discursive properties of hate words employed in the comment chains of two Italian right-wing politicians’ social media accounts. The analysis focuses on hate speech directed towards two ethnic groups – African migrants and the Chinese – and an individual, the former minister of Agriculture Teresa Bellanova. Hate words are divided into two macrocategories: slurs and insulting epithets. Slurs are expressions that are consistently associated with derogatory attitudes against a group of people based on their origin/descent; insulting epithets are either offensive terms that do not attack specific identity traits or neutral words that, in certain contexts, can be offensive. Data indicate that the use of hate words is guided by pragmatic factors and discursive elements, and it changes according to the individual(s) or the groups being attacked. Hate speech on social media occurs mainly through insulting epithets, thus allowing the authors to avoid moderation and any responsibility for their utterance. The results support the idea that hate speech is a complex speech act that aims not only at derogating or expressing negative emotions but works within the framework of racist discourses as a means of creating and reinforcing political polarisation and in-group values.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135353089","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article explores the role of evaluative language in the identification of emotions in–and psychophysiological responses to–Twitter complaints and compliments by the readers of these messages. Three hypotheses were tested in this research. First, in line with recent experimental work in French, we expected the presence of negative evaluative language in complaints to increase perceived dissatisfaction, impoliteness, and offensiveness by the reader. Second, assuming the negativity bias hypothesis, stronger psychophysiological responses should be found in complaints compared to compliments. Third, readers’ psychophysiological responses should be stronger for complaints and compliments including evaluative language. To test these hypotheses, we used a reading task involving cardiovascular reactivity measurements and a questionnaire. We found that perceived customer dissatisfaction, impoliteness and offensiveness were higher in complaints with vs. without evaluative language. We did not find an effect of the negativity bias on cardiovascular reactivity. Rather, compliments with evaluative language elicited larger cardiac slowing compared to complaints (with or without evaluative language) and compliments without evaluative language. As the stimuli is our study concern a railway company (which is mostly the target of criticism and complaints on Twitter), participants may have reacted more to the sort of feedback they would not expect the company to receive. Future research will be necessary to establish whether our findings still hold in the case of companies that achieve a better balance between negative and positive feedback.
{"title":"Psychophysiological effects of evaluative language use on Twitter complaints and compliments","authors":"Nicolas Ruytenbeek, J. Allaert, M. Vanderhasselt","doi":"10.1075/ip.00092.ruy","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00092.ruy","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article explores the role of evaluative language in the identification of emotions in–and psychophysiological\u0000 responses to–Twitter complaints and compliments by the readers of these messages. Three hypotheses were tested in this research.\u0000 First, in line with recent experimental work in French, we expected the presence of negative evaluative language in complaints to\u0000 increase perceived dissatisfaction, impoliteness, and offensiveness by the reader. Second, assuming the negativity bias\u0000 hypothesis, stronger psychophysiological responses should be found in complaints compared to compliments. Third, readers’\u0000 psychophysiological responses should be stronger for complaints and compliments including evaluative language. To test these\u0000 hypotheses, we used a reading task involving cardiovascular reactivity measurements and a questionnaire. We found that perceived\u0000 customer dissatisfaction, impoliteness and offensiveness were higher in complaints with vs. without evaluative language. We did\u0000 not find an effect of the negativity bias on cardiovascular reactivity. Rather, compliments with evaluative language elicited\u0000 larger cardiac slowing compared to complaints (with or without evaluative language) and compliments without evaluative language.\u0000 As the stimuli is our study concern a railway company (which is mostly the target of criticism and complaints on Twitter),\u0000 participants may have reacted more to the sort of feedback they would not expect the company to receive. Future research will be\u0000 necessary to establish whether our findings still hold in the case of companies that achieve a better balance between negative and\u0000 positive feedback.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42420326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mohammed Nahar Al-Ali, Meera B. Sahawneh, Safaa M. Hamzeh
Abstract The study aims to examine how the interactional and interactive linguistic aspects are utilized to qualify the discoursal propositions of Arabic clickbaits to secure viewers’ responsive clicks to thumbnails. To this end, one hundred Arabic YouTube clickbait headlines were selected from five Arabic channels that are owned by independent unofficial entertainment institutions. The data came from a period of one year covering 2021. The data covered different domains such as crafts, sports, entertainment, and science. To examine how the headlines are constructed, we drew on two complementary theoretical frameworks, namely, Machin and Mayer’s (2012) framework of verbal processes and participants, and Hyland’s (2005) interactional and interactive meta-discourse framework. It was found that clickbait creators structured their texts interactionally using more enticing attitude and engagement markers, and self-mentions to emphasize a closer relationship with the viewers so as to persuade them to click the baits. This tendency was further heightened by the frequent use of interactive compositional selections attained by deliberately leaving parts of the headlines opaque realized by the frequent use of consecutive dots, cataphoric markers, and viewer-attitude connective signals. Likewise, the discoursal process selection has never been neutral, as clickbait writers frequently used negative mental and material processes to spark viewers’ curiosity to react and click the bait. YouTube clickbait headlines can have the effect of frustrating viewers and/or decreasing their satisfaction. Thus, this research will hopefully contribute to the detection and isolation of clickbaits as a step required to raise viewers’ awareness of the enticing headlines and as a further step to demote them.
{"title":"How to get more views","authors":"Mohammed Nahar Al-Ali, Meera B. Sahawneh, Safaa M. Hamzeh","doi":"10.1075/ip.00091.ala","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00091.ala","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study aims to examine how the interactional and interactive linguistic aspects are utilized to qualify the discoursal propositions of Arabic clickbaits to secure viewers’ responsive clicks to thumbnails. To this end, one hundred Arabic YouTube clickbait headlines were selected from five Arabic channels that are owned by independent unofficial entertainment institutions. The data came from a period of one year covering 2021. The data covered different domains such as crafts, sports, entertainment, and science. To examine how the headlines are constructed, we drew on two complementary theoretical frameworks, namely, Machin and Mayer’s (2012) framework of verbal processes and participants, and Hyland’s (2005) interactional and interactive meta-discourse framework. It was found that clickbait creators structured their texts interactionally using more enticing attitude and engagement markers, and self-mentions to emphasize a closer relationship with the viewers so as to persuade them to click the baits. This tendency was further heightened by the frequent use of interactive compositional selections attained by deliberately leaving parts of the headlines opaque realized by the frequent use of consecutive dots, cataphoric markers, and viewer-attitude connective signals. Likewise, the discoursal process selection has never been neutral, as clickbait writers frequently used negative mental and material processes to spark viewers’ curiosity to react and click the bait. YouTube clickbait headlines can have the effect of frustrating viewers and/or decreasing their satisfaction. Thus, this research will hopefully contribute to the detection and isolation of clickbaits as a step required to raise viewers’ awareness of the enticing headlines and as a further step to demote them.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135478383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Piazza (2021): The Discursive Construction of Identity and Space Among Mobile People","authors":"T. Chen, Yu Chen","doi":"10.1075/ip.00088.che","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00088.che","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-04-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45799858","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper examines the role of hashtags in the formation of affinity spaces linked to divergent linguistic cultures in the Canadian digital context. The linguistic cultures tend to accommodate certain language ideologies, which manifest through distinct forms of practical and discursive consciousness. The coexistence of divergent linguistic cultures that address shared topics in different ways is labelled “parallel digital monolingualism,” a form of multilingualism that has not been accounted for in previous research. This multilingualism exists because of the transfer of offline experiences (which, in Canada, are based on language and geography) into the affordances of digital contexts.
{"title":"Parallel digital monolingualism","authors":"Rachelle Vessey","doi":"10.1075/ip.00087.ves","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00087.ves","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper examines the role of hashtags in the formation of affinity spaces linked to divergent linguistic cultures in the Canadian digital context. The linguistic cultures tend to accommodate certain language ideologies, which manifest through distinct forms of practical and discursive consciousness. The coexistence of divergent linguistic cultures that address shared topics in different ways is labelled “parallel digital monolingualism,” a form of multilingualism that has not been accounted for in previous research. This multilingualism exists because of the transfer of offline experiences (which, in Canada, are based on language and geography) into the affordances of digital contexts.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46336180","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Review of Yus (2022): Smartphone Communication: Interactions in the App Ecosystem","authors":"Le Li","doi":"10.1075/ip.00086.li","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00086.li","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42264194","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While the MeToo Movement has generally been accepted as a legitimate response to what was considered endemic sexual harassment and discrimination in Hollywood, its goals and values have nonetheless been questioned and undermined. This study examines the comment sections of two YouTube videos produced by major broadcasting corporations in which the MeToo Movement in Europe is discussed. The comment sections are analysed in terms of expressions of attitude and evaluation, using the Appraisal framework. Through this analysis it is revealed that attitudes expressed in the comments legitimate and normalise anti-feminist ideologies through discursive construction of social norms. Conversely, feminism, as well as immigration, are delegitimated. Commenters delegitimate the MeToo Movement by construing its goals and values as misdirected or insincere. These attitudes are furthermore expressed through dialogically contractive comments, thus constructing them as accepted and matter-of-fact, rather than ideological.
{"title":"“Completely incapable of logical thought”","authors":"Kate O’Farrell","doi":"10.1075/ip.00082.far","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00082.far","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 While the MeToo Movement has generally been accepted as a legitimate response to what was considered endemic\u0000 sexual harassment and discrimination in Hollywood, its goals and values have nonetheless been questioned and undermined. This\u0000 study examines the comment sections of two YouTube videos produced by major broadcasting corporations in which the MeToo Movement\u0000 in Europe is discussed. The comment sections are analysed in terms of expressions of attitude and evaluation, using the Appraisal\u0000 framework. Through this analysis it is revealed that attitudes expressed in the comments legitimate and normalise anti-feminist\u0000 ideologies through discursive construction of social norms. Conversely, feminism, as well as immigration, are delegitimated.\u0000 Commenters delegitimate the MeToo Movement by construing its goals and values as misdirected or insincere. These attitudes are\u0000 furthermore expressed through dialogically contractive comments, thus constructing them as accepted and matter-of-fact, rather\u0000 than ideological.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48645529","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Smartphone ads compete for the user’s attention, which is initially intended to focus on other areas of the small screen of the device. Despite this competition, smartphone advertisements aim to produce as much cognitive reward as possible in exchange for the mental effort expended in their processing, that is, they aim at the audience’s relevance, as claimed by relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson 1995), a theory in which cyberpragmatics (Yus 2011) is rooted. This paper addresses several key qualities of effective smartphone advertising from a cyberpragmatics perspective that focuses on possible sources of relevance of online communication, and now applied to smartphone ads. Furthermore, it is claimed that today’s smartphone-based advertising cannot be accounted for pragmatically without the incorporation of key terms such as contextual constraint and non-propositional effect, which add to more traditional pragmatic accounts of online communication (Yus 2017a, 2021a).
{"title":"Finding relevance in smartphone advertising","authors":"Francisco Yus","doi":"10.1075/ip.00084.yu","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00084.yu","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Smartphone ads compete for the user’s attention, which is initially intended to focus on other areas of the small\u0000 screen of the device. Despite this competition, smartphone advertisements aim to produce as much cognitive reward as possible in\u0000 exchange for the mental effort expended in their processing, that is, they aim at the audience’s relevance, as claimed by\u0000 relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson 1995), a theory in which cyberpragmatics (Yus 2011) is rooted. This paper addresses several key qualities of effective smartphone\u0000 advertising from a cyberpragmatics perspective that focuses on possible sources of relevance of online communication, and now\u0000 applied to smartphone ads. Furthermore, it is claimed that today’s smartphone-based advertising cannot be accounted for\u0000 pragmatically without the incorporation of key terms such as contextual constraint and non-propositional\u0000 effect, which add to more traditional pragmatic accounts of online communication (Yus 2017a, 2021a).","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49014464","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper is an exploration of the variety of French-speaking cats on Twitter. Among the many creative phenomena that the internet has produced, animal-related language varieties, the language used by pets, have been explored as early as the 2000s, yet with a strong and almost exclusive focus on English. I first describe the shared repertoire of lexical, semantic, phonographic, and syntactic features used by French-speaking cats, and show how the simultaneous use of a childlike code and a formal register constructs the sociolinguistic persona of cats as ambivalent animals. I argue that the French variety has become “enregistered” (Squires 2010) insofar as it is perceived and ideologically constructed as a variety of its own while promoting a welcoming culture towards new members. In doing so, cats show that the belonging to a community of practice, notably by drawing on a common repertoire of resources, does not need to be linked with processes of exclusion.
{"title":"“I am a real cat”","authors":"Naomi Truan","doi":"10.1075/ip.00083.tru","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1075/ip.00083.tru","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This paper is an exploration of the variety of French-speaking cats on Twitter. Among the many creative phenomena that the internet has produced, animal-related language varieties, the language used by pets, have been explored as early as the 2000s, yet with a strong and almost exclusive focus on English. I first describe the shared repertoire of lexical, semantic, phonographic, and syntactic features used by French-speaking cats, and show how the simultaneous use of a childlike code and a formal register constructs the sociolinguistic persona of cats as ambivalent animals. I argue that the French variety has become “enregistered” (Squires 2010) insofar as it is perceived and ideologically constructed as a variety of its own while promoting a welcoming culture towards new members. In doing so, cats show that the belonging to a community of practice, notably by drawing on a common repertoire of resources, does not need to be linked with processes of exclusion.","PeriodicalId":36241,"journal":{"name":"Internet Pragmatics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2022-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48942921","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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