Punctuating the other: Graphic cues, voice, and positioning in digital discourse

IF 1.3 2区文学 Q2 COMMUNICATION

Language & Communication Pub Date : 2023-01-01 DOI:10.1016/j.langcom.2022.11.004

Jannis Androutsopoulos

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

This article investigates the nested relationship between graphic cues, voice, and positioning in digital discourse. The focus is on the ‘indignation mark’, or <!!1!>, an allographic sign used in German-language discussion boards on Reddit. The study's theoretical backdrop brings research on graphic practices in digitally-mediated communication into dialogue with sociolinguistic approaches to the enactment of group relations in discourse, in particular double-voicing, stylization, and positioning, thereby aiming to foster theory-building on both sides. Data is extracted from a large German-language forum (‘subreddit’) on Reddit and subjected to computational, sequential, and microlinguistic analysis. The findings show how participants in public online discussions use punctuation signs and other graphic cues to animate voices, i.e. ways of speaking that index recognizable social positions and ideologies; how these stylized voices provide a resource for positioning; and how participants display recognition of and alignment to this feature's indexical meaning. The findings also suggest that the ‘indignation mark’ is part of a wider ecology of graphic cues, which evolve constantly to enable multi-voicedness in public digital discourse. Overall, this paper aims to advance our understanding about how graphic elements of digital discourse are indexically and ideologically connected with positioning activities in online communities of practice.

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标点符号：数字话语中的图形提示、声音和定位

本文研究了数字话语中图形线索、声音和定位之间的嵌套关系。重点是“愤慨标记”，或者<；！！1>；，Reddit上德语讨论板上使用的一种同种文字符号。本研究的理论背景将数字媒介传播中的图形实践研究与社会语言学方法进行对话，以在话语中建立群体关系，特别是双重发声、风格化和定位，从而促进双方的理论建设。数据是从Reddit上的一个大型德语论坛（“subreddit”）中提取的，并经过计算、序列和微观语言分析。研究结果显示，公众在线讨论的参与者如何使用标点符号和其他图形提示来激活声音，即反映可识别的社会立场和意识形态的说话方式；这些风格化的声音如何提供定位资源；以及参与者如何表现出对该特征的索引意义的识别和对齐。研究结果还表明，“愤怒标记”是更广泛的图形线索生态的一部分，图形线索不断进化，以实现公共数字话语中的多声部。总的来说，本文旨在加深我们对数字话语的图形元素如何在指数和意识形态上与在线实践社区中的定位活动相联系的理解。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Language & Communication Multiple-

CiteScore

3.40

自引率

6.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： This journal is unique in that it provides a forum devoted to the interdisciplinary study of language and communication. The investigation of language and its communicational functions is treated as a concern shared in common by those working in applied linguistics, child development, cultural studies, discourse analysis, intellectual history, legal studies, language evolution, linguistic anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, the politics of language, pragmatics, psychology, rhetoric, semiotics, and sociolinguistics. The journal invites contributions which explore the implications of current research for establishing common theoretical frameworks within which findings from different areas of study may be accommodated and interrelated. By focusing attention on the many ways in which language is integrated with other forms of communicational activity and interactional behaviour, it is intended to encourage approaches to the study of language and communication which are not restricted by existing disciplinary boundaries.