Discourse & Society最新文献

{"title":"The Islamic State’s use of the Qur’an in its Magazines, Dabiq and Rumiyah","authors":"Tim Jacoby","doi":"10.1177/09579265231208660","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231208660","url":null,"abstract":"This paper looks at the verses of the Qur’an that are most heavily cited by the Islamic State across all 28 editions of its magazines, Dabiq and Rumiyah. Published from July 2014 to September 2017, covering both the organisation’s rise to power and subsequent decline, these contain around 1500 references to the Qur’an. Here, the five verses that appear most often are considered. While all quotations are necessarily discerning (and it is no surprise to see that the Islamic State’s authors relay the scriptural extracts that best suit their purposes), it is, nonetheless, valuable to trace out the contours of, and reasons behind, such selectivity. To this end, it is argued that these five verses are firstly used to support notions of loyalty and disavowal, and, secondly, to justify its use of violence. Together, it is further concluded, they act in concert to serve the Islamic State’s primary imperatives of recruitment, power projection and mobilisation.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"28 3","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135390098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pro-vaccination personal narratives in response to online hesitancy about the HPV vaccine: The challenge of tellability.","authors":"Elena Semino, Tara Coltman-Patel, William Dance, Zsófia Demjén, Claire Hardaker","doi":"10.1177/09579265231181075","DOIUrl":"10.1177/09579265231181075","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Experimental studies have shown that narratives can be effective persuasive tools in addressing vaccine hesitancy, including regarding the vaccine against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is transmitted via sexual contact and can cause cervical cancer. This paper presents an analysis of a thread from the online parenting forum Mumsnet Talk where an initially undecided Original Poster is persuaded to vaccinate their child against HPV by a respondent's narrative of cervical cancer that they describe as difficult to share. This paper considers this particular narrative alongside all other narratives that precede the decision announced on the Mumsnet thread. It shows how producing pro-vaccination narratives about HPV involves challenges regarding 'tellability' - what makes the events in a narrative reportable or worth telling. We suggest that this has implications for the context-dependent nature of tellability, the role of parenting forums in vaccination-related discussions, and narrative-based communication about vaccinations more generally.</p>","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"34 6","pages":"752-771"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10572096/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41239811","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Racist discourse in a German far-right blog: A corpus-driven approach using word embeddings","authors":"Simon Meier-Vieracker","doi":"10.1177/09579265231204510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231204510","url":null,"abstract":"Newer forms of racism in the context of right-wing extremism are characterised by an apparent distancing from overt racist devaluations. In addition or even beyond biological features, it is now cultural characteristics attributed to social groups which serve as grounds for practices of othering and social exclusion. This paper analyses racist discourse in the comment sections of the influential far-right blog pi-news.com where these practices can be observed in detail. With reference to discourse analytical approaches to racism and using corpus-linguistic, data-driven methods, especially word embeddings and collocations, it is shown how racism is linguistically and discursively expressed. Next to both overt and more implicit racist nominations and predications, the notion of Heimat (‘homeland’) is analysed; it is used to draw racist demarcations without relying on overtly racialising terms.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136034040","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"You’re a murderer: Critical discourse analysis of conversations around abortions in the Russian talk show","authors":"Alina Kamalova","doi":"10.1177/09579265231198142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231198142","url":null,"abstract":"Today in Russia, there is a growing number of anti-abortion policies even though the birth rate is not a key factor affecting the demographic situation in the country. In this article, I investigate how the anti-abortion discourse is constructed in the media. For this purpose, I analyse a dataset of 5 hour-long episodes of the tabloid talk show Pust’ Govoriat. More specifically, the aim of this article is twofold. I seek to demonstrate to what extent the discourse displayed in the show is shaped and shapes by the Russian government’s family policies and, consequently, public opinion. On the other side, I aim to understand how speakers verbally and non-verbally negotiate morality, norms, gender roles and identities to negotiate if abortion is acceptable or not. I advocate that the tabloid talk show, like many other state-funded media products in Russia, is utilised as a government’s tool for anti-abortion propaganda and depoliticisation of social problems.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135480680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Antisemitism in contemporary Türkiye: Discourses on Turkish Jews on Twitter","authors":"Melis Öneren-Özbek","doi":"10.1177/09579265231195461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231195461","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines antisemitism in Türkiye within the framework of the new media landscape. The objective of this study is twofold: firstly, to investigate antisemitic discourses on Twitter within the cultural and political context in contemporary Türkiye and, secondly, to scrutinize the role of Twitter in this context. The study centers on the tweets and replies of five Turkish-Jewish writers that were collected between 5 November 2021 and 30 January 2022, a period coinciding with the airing of the Netflix original series The Club, during which antisemitic discourses intensified. Finally, this study posits that despite a favorable portrayal of Jewish individuals in the series, the discourse surrounding the historical and political incidents targeting minorities, mainly Jews, that were depicted in the series gave rise to antisemitism. This was expressed on Twitter largely through rhetoric that reinforces the marginalization of the Jewish community in Türkiye.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135435848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘Please don’t insult Dog. He is a loyal friend!’ The use of animal metaphors for evaluation and positioning on a Chinese Political Web Forum","authors":"Long Li, Shoshana Dreyfus","doi":"10.1177/09579265231202619","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231202619","url":null,"abstract":"This study focuses on how animal metaphors are deployed by Chinese social media users to evaluate others and negotiate social positioning in online grassroots political discourse. Animal metaphors are important devices for expressing judgement of human behaviour. This is due, first, to perceived similarities and differences between humans and (other) animals and, second, due to the ‘Great Chain’ idea of human superiority and dominance over animals. Animal metaphors are commonly deployed in communication that is interpersonally volatile, such as on social media, regardless of what language this occurs in. Through an analysis of the interpersonal systems of appraisal and involvement, we found that contributors often adopt highly charged animal metaphors to negatively evaluate each other and to create and maintain a left-right political division.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"135 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135591495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A discourse analysis of critical commenting online: A study of comments on a self-mockery event","authors":"Xiaoyi Bi","doi":"10.1177/09579265231199260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231199260","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines critical comments hidden behind the humorous topic of self-mockery. Based on a discourse analysis of 51 critical comments identified by GooSeeker of a self-mockery event from Weibo, this paper aims to unpack how the commenters actively exploit the relevancy of a topic to fulfill socio-political functions. Three strategies are found to be key in enabling them to accomplish socio-political functions: immoralizing the peripheral party, deauthorizing privilege and irrationalizing competitiveness, the meanings of which are discursively constructed across the critical comments. In this process, the self-mockery event serves as a weapon of social power to formulate critique and articulate discontent without breaking a consistent performance. The creative (re)appropriation in use is believed to be triggered by the policy of the platform and user’s self-motivated interactional practice. These findings are expected to have implications for understanding comments as a social behavior at the nexus of language and social power.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"88 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135537443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"‘It will never be well with SARS’: A discourse analytic study of the #EndSARS protests on social media","authors":"Sopuruchi Christian Aboh","doi":"10.1177/09579265231200994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231200994","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses the discursive strategies used by #EndSARS protesters in their tweets and Facebook comments to construct SARS officers, hold the Nigerian government accountable and demand social change. Informed by social media critical discourse analysis (SMCDA) and social movement theory, the analysis revealed three strategies: constructing SARS as oppressors, representing the Nigerian government as insensitive and issuing a clarion call for action. The analysis shows that these strategies enabled the protesters to construct the victim-aggressor categorisation, thereby legitimising their resistance to police brutality and demand for change. The study also highlights how the protesters deployed local linguistic resources and ideologies to appeal to the emotions of other Nigerians to join the protest. The study demonstrates how digital political mobilisation can galvanise reform in Nigeria, where leaders and law enforcement agencies are held accountable for their (in)actions. This study contributes to the developing interdisciplinary studies on SMCDA and digital activism.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135816337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Music as symbolic action","authors":"Phil Graham, Andy Ward","doi":"10.1177/09579265231195713","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265231195713","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to describe and exemplify a theoretical perspective for the analysis of music as symbolic action in critical studies of discourse. We use deployments of music by legislatures in Australia, the UK, and the USA as exemplar cases to develop foundations for a critical, non-semiotic perspective that sees music work as gestalt complexes of physical and cultural forces that move people towards or away from specific actions and attitudes. In presenting our perspective we critique some semiotic assertions about music that are commonplaces in discourse studies and elsewhere. Our cases draw on news reports and scholarly discourse about the use of music as a means of torture in warfare and as a means of purifying urban public spaces by keeping youth and homeless people out of them at night.","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"200 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135015088","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Book review: Theo van Leeuwen, Multimodality and Identity","authors":"Nuo Chen, D. Machin","doi":"10.1177/09579265221134443","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09579265221134443","url":null,"abstract":"Since the publication of Reading Images (RI) by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen kick-started the study of multimodality in the 1990s, the field has grown and flourished. It is now common to find multimodality addressed in research across discourse studies, and van Leeuwen’s latest book Multimodality and Identity, provides a particularly important and exciting resource for this maturing scholarship. The huge breakthrough and sheer wealth of ideas which RI brought has meant that, for many, the systems and models it developed have remained the go-to model for working with multimodality. Perhaps because of this impact, subsequent work by Kress and Van Leeuwen involving a more social application of multimodality has received less attention. In this book, van Leeuwen brings together the toolkit qualities offered by multimodality and a foregrounding how and why texts they must be understood in their social and political contexts. Multimodality and Identity, provides a model for researchers to be mindful both of the social and systemic parts of multimodality. The book credits two intellectuals in the acknowledgements, M.A.K. Halliday and the semiotician Roland Barthes, who was interested in how power, identities and mythologies are coded into everyday communication, mundane practices and objects. Multimodality and Identity, like van Leeuwen’s earlier work in Critical Discourse Analysis, is indebted to the project of showing how concealed ideology can be revealed. Multimodality can be used to reveal the more buried myths, expectations, power relations and ideologies which shape our lives and societies. There is much that is familiar from Van Leeuwen’s groundbreaking work over the past few decades in the chapters of Multimodality and Identity. There are about colour, textures, typography, shape and movement. But this book is so much more than inventories for documenting the semiotics of these things. This is not a book about the systems themselves, but is rather concerned, in the fashion of Barthes, with how the meanings 1134443 DAS0010.1177/09579265221134443Discourse & SocietyBook reviews book-review2022","PeriodicalId":47965,"journal":{"name":"Discourse & Society","volume":"34 1","pages":"666 - 668"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2023-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47530042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}