Internet Pragmatics - Online First

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.

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.