Cover not available
Article published In:
Discourses of aggression in Greek digitally-mediated communication
Edited by Ourania Hatzidaki and Ioannis E. Saridakis
[Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 8:2] 2020
► pp. 321–350

Aggression in media-sharing websites in the context of Greek political/parliamentary discourse in the years of the economic crisis

 | University of the Aegean, Greece
 | University of the Aegean, Greece
 | University of the Aegean, Greece
In the context of the Greek economic crisis during the years 2009–2019, the aim of the present study is to discuss language aggression and derogatory forms of speech attested in user polylogues commenting on instances of parliamentary discourse uploaded to computer mediated communication networks. Within the framework of (im)politeness research (Culpeper 2005, 2011; Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2010a; Haugh 2013; Lorenzo-Dus, et al. 2011; Mitchell and Haugh 2015), we investigate the correlation between impoliteness and abusive verbal discourse in both domains, i.e. parliamentary sittings and social media commentary. We explore their potential to establish a common ground in viewing political issues and determining ideological polarizations. We also attempt a preliminary analysis of swear words and derogatory references to Greek political personnel and their instrumentalisation for the division of the readership into those who support and those who oppose different political agendas.
Keywords: political discourse, on-line polylogues, (im)politeness, aggression, hate speech
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Impoliteness in off- and on-line discourse
  • 3.The historical/situational context of the study
    • 3.1Linguistic aggression in Greek parliamentary discourse
    • 3.2Greek political / parliamentary discourse and (social) media
  • 4.The data under scrutiny
  • 5.Analysis
    • 5.1Debates in the Hellenic Parliament and in media polylogues
    • 5.2Abusives in media polylogues
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 3 July 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00039.geo
References (49)
References
Androutsopoulos, Jannis. 2013. “Participatory Culture and Metalinguistic Discourse, Performing and Negotiating German Dialects on YouTube.” In Discourse 2.0. Language and New Media, ed. by Deborah Tannen and Anna Marie Trester, 47–71. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
. 2014. “Mediatization and Sociolinguistic Change: Key Concepts, Research Traditions, Open Issues.” In Mediatization and Sociolinguistic Change, ed. by Jannis Androutsopoulos, 3–48. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Archakis, Argiris, and Villy Tsakona. 2010. “‘The Wolf Wakes up inside them, Grows Werewolf Hair and Reveals all their Bullying’: The Representation of Parliamentary Discourse in Greek Newspapers.” Journal of Pragmatics 421: 912–923. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. “Informal Talk in Formal Settings: Humorous Narratives in Greek Parliamentary Debates.” In Studies in Political Humor, ed. by Villy Tsakona, and Diana Popa, 61–81. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arundale, Robert B. 2010. “Constituting Face in Conversation: Face, Facework and Interactional Achievement.” Journal of Pragmatics 421: 2078–2105. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia, Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich. 2012. “Social Interaction in YouTube Text-Based Polylogues: A Study of Coherence.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 171: 501–521. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia, and Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich. 2014a. “Conflict Management in Massive Polylogues: A Case Study from YouTube.” Journal of Pragmatics 731: 19–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bou-Franch, Patricia, and Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar. 2014b. “Gender Ideology and Social Identity Processes in Online Language Aggression against Women.” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 2(2): 226–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bousfield, Derek. 2008. Impoliteness in Interaction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope, and Stephen Levinson. 1987. Politeness, Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Culpeper, Jonathan. 2005. “Impoliteness and Entertainment in the Television Quiz Show: The Weakest Link .” Journal of Politeness Research 11: 35–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. Impoliteness: Using Language to Cause Offence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eelen, Gino. 2001. A Critique of Politeness Theories. Manchester: St Jerome Publishing.Google Scholar
Erjavec, Karmen, and Poler Melita Kovačič. 2012. ‘‘‘You Don’t Understand, This is a New War!’ Analysis of Hate Speech in News Web Sites’ Comments.” Mass Communication and Society 151: 899–920. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fouskas, Vassilis K., and Constantine Dimoulas (eds). 2018. Greece in the 21st Century: The Politics and Economics of a Crisis. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Frantzi, Katerina, Marianthi Georgalidou, and Giorgos Giakoumakis. 2019. “Greek Parliamentary Discourse in the Years of Economic Crisis: Investigating Aggression Using a Corpus-based Approach.” In Argumentation and Appraisal in Parliamentary Discourse. Hershey, PA IGI Global. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, Pilar. 2009. “Impoliteness and Identity in the American News Media: The Culture Wars.” Journal of Politeness Research 51: 273–304.Google Scholar
. 2010a. “Introduction: The Status-Quo and Quo Vadis of (Im)politeness Research.” Intercultural Pragmatics 7 (4): 535–559. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010b. “The YouTubification of Politics, Impoliteness and Polarization.” In Handbook of Research on Discourse Behavior and Digital Communication: Language Structures and Social Interaction, ed. by Rotimi Taiwo, 540–563. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010c. “A Genre Approach to the Study of Im-politeness”. International Review of Pragmatics 2(1): 46–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013. “Face, Identity, and Im/politeness: Looking backwards, Moving forward: From Goffman to Practice Theory”. Journal of Politeness Research 9 (1): 1–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra. 2013. “Small Stories and Social Media: The Role of Narrative Stancetaking in the Circulation of a Greek News Story.” Working Papers in Urban Language and Literacies, Paper 100.Google Scholar
. 2014. “Girlpower or Girl (in) Trouble?’: Identities and Discourses in the (New) Media Engagements of Adolescents’ School-based Interaction.” In Media and Sociolinguistic Change, ed. by Jannis Androutsopoulos, 217–244. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Georgalidou, Marianthi. 2011. “‘Stop Caressing the Ears of the Hooded’: Political Humor in Times of Conflict.” In Studies in Political Humor, ed. by Villy Tsakona, and Diana Popa, 83–108. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2016. “Addressing Women in the Greek Parliament: Institutionalized Confrontation or Sexist Aggression?”. In Exploring Language Aggression against Women, ed. by Patricia Bou-Franch, 127–154. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2017. “Addressing Women in the Greek Parliament: Institutionalized Confrontation or Sexist Aggression?” Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 5(1): 30–57. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Georgalidou, Marianthi, Katerina Frantzi, and Giorgos Giakoumakis. 2019. “Addressing Adversaries in the Greek Parliament: A Corpus-based Approach.” In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Greek Linguistics, ed. by Maria Chondrogianni, Simon Courtenage, Geoffrey Horrocks, Amalia Arvaniti and Ianthi Tsimpli, 106–116. London.Google Scholar
Harris, Sandra. 2001. “Being Politically Impolite: Extending Politeness Theory to Adversarial Political Discourse.” Discourse & Society 12 (4): 451–472. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hatzidaki, Ourania. 2017. “The ‘Theory of Two Extremes’: A Rhetorical Topography for Self- and Other-identification across the Greek Political Spectrum.” In Greece in Crisis: Combining Critical Discourse and Corpus Linguistics Perspectives, ed. by Ourania Hatzidaki, and Dionysis Goutsos, 151–189. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haugh, Michael. 2013. “Disentangling Face, Facework and Im/politeness.” Sociocultural Pragmatics 11: 46–73.Google Scholar
Herring, Susan C. 2004. “Computer-mediated Discourse Analysis: An Approach to Researching Online Behavior”. In Designing for Virtual Communities in the Service of Learning, ed. by Sasha A. Barab, Rob Kling, and James H. Gray, 338–376. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jane, Emma A. 2017. Misogyny Online: A Short (and Brutish) History. California: Sage Publications. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Karachaliou, Rania, and Argiris Archakis. 2015. “Identity Construction Patterns via Swearing: Evidence from Greek Storytelling.” Pragmatics and Society 6(3): 421–443. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kerbrat-Orecchioni, Catherine. 2004. “Introducing Polylogue.” Journal of Pragmatics 36(1): 1–24. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lange, Patricia G. 2007. “Publicly Private and Privately Public: Social Networking on YouTube.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(1): article 18. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014. “Commenting on YouTube Rants: Perceptions of Inappropriateness or Civic Engagement?” Journal of Pragmatics 731: 53–65. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lorenzo-Dus, Nuria, Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich, and Patricia Bou-Franch. 2011. “On-line Polylogues and Impoliteness: The case of Postings Sent in Response to the Obama Reggaeton YouTube Video.” Journal of Pragmatics 431: 2578–2593. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mitchell, Nathaniel, and Michael Haugh. 2015. “Agency, Accountability and Evaluations of Impoliteness.” Journal of Politeness Research 11(2): 207–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moore, Matthew. 2008. September 2. “YouTube’s Worst Comments Blocked by Filter.” The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group.Google Scholar
Reicher, Steve, Russell Spears, and Tom Postmes. 1995. “A Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Phenomena.” European Review of Social Psychology 61: 161–198. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on Conversation, Volume 1. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sifianou, Maria. 2019. “Im/politeness and In/civility: A Neglected Relationship?” Journal of Pragmatics 1471: 49–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soler, Pardo B. 2015. On the Translation of Swearing into Spanish: Quentin Tarantino from Reservoir Dogs to Inglourious Basterds. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.Google Scholar
Tsakona, Villy. 2009. “Humour and Image Politics in Parliamentary Discourse: A Greek Case Study.” Text and Talk 291: 219–237. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. “Irony beyond Criticism: Evidence from Greek Parliamentary Discourse.” Pragmatics and Society 2 (1): 57–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2012. “Linguistic Creativity and Institutional Design: The Case of Greek Parliamentary Discourse.” Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 36 (1): 91–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Dijk, Teun A. 1998. “Editorial: Discourse and Ideology.” Discourse and Society, 9(3): 307–308. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006. “Discourse, Context and Cognition.” Discourse Studies 8(1): 159–177. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watts, Richard J. 2010. “Linguistic Politeness Theory and its Aftermath: Recent Research Trails.” In Interpersonal Pragmatics, ed. by Miriam A. Locher, and Sage L. Graham, 43–70. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Cooper, Paul & Sofia Lampropoulou
2024. China Virus, Kung Flu, and MAGA: Countervalues and sociological fractionation on Twitter as evidenced by pro- and anti-Trump discourses in relation to Covid-19. Discourse, Context & Media 57 ► pp. 100758 ff. DOI logo
Chovanec, Jan & Villy Tsakona
2023. “The girl is on fire!”. In The Pragmatics of Humour in Interactive Contexts [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 335], ► pp. 87 ff. DOI logo
Georgalidou, Marianthi
2023. Greek Political Discourse, 2019–2022: Instrumentalizing Impoliteness and Aggression. In Political Debasement, ► pp. 173 ff. DOI logo
Georgalidou, Marianthi
2024. Humorous Genres and Modes in Greek Political Discourse. In Political Humor Worldwide [The Language of Politics, ], ► pp. 49 ff. DOI logo
Kostopoulos, Christos
2023. Constructing Political Adversaries Through Debasement Language: A Framing Analysis of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ Greek Speeches in 2020. In Debasing Political Rhetoric, ► pp. 143 ff. DOI logo
Vasilenko, Ekaterina
2021. Online hate speech in Belarus: Highlighting the topical issues. Zeitschrift für Slawistik 66:4 ► pp. 558 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 january 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.