From expressing solidarity to mocking on Twitter: pragmatic functions of hashtags starting with #jesuis across languages
(2018) Language in Society — Vol. 47, n° 2, p. 197-217 (2018)
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- Abstract
- In this paper, we show how the hashtag #jesuisCharlie, created following the attack on Charlie Hebdo, gave rise to the use of many other hashtags starting by #jesuis, across languages. Through a corpus-based analysis, we show how the meaning of #jesuis broadened from expressing condolence and support following terrorist attacks over expressing condolence for other (violent) deaths to a more general marker of solidarity and alignment. This broadening of meaning is parallel to a formal evolution of the stem jesuis. Moreover, these hashtags have become emblematic of a particular kind of Twitter user. Furthermore, disaligning uses developed, including mocking uses, which disalign both with certain causes (disalignment de re) and with the process of using jesuis as a means of expressing solidarity (disalignment de dicto). Thus, this variety of uses shows that Twitter users exploit the interpersonal possibilities of hashtags to express alignment and disalignment, creating ambient affiliation.
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De Cock, B., & Pizarro Pedraza, A. (2018). From expressing solidarity to mocking on Twitter: pragmatic functions of hashtags starting with #jesuis across languages. Language in Society, 47(2), 197-217. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404518000052 (Original work published 2018)