From expressing solidarity to mocking on Twitter: Pragmatic functions of hashtags starting with #jesuisacross languages
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: In this article, we show how the hashtag#jesuisCharlie, created following the attack onCharlie Hebdo, gave rise to the use of many other hashtags starting with#jesuis, across languages. Through a corpus-based analysis, we show how the meaning of#jesuisbroadened 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 stemjesuis. 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 (disalignmentde re) and with the process of usingjesuisas a means of expressing solidarity (disalignmentde dicto). Thus, this variety of uses shows that Twitter users exploit the interpersonal possibilities of hashtags to express alignment and disalignment, creating ambient affiliation. (Hashtag,#jesuisCharlie, solidarity, alignment, emblem, mocking, pragmatic functions)*
Source: Language in Society
Authors: Barbara De Cock, Andrea Pizarro Pedraza
Institutions: UCLouvain, KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Human-Computer Interaction
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2781571007