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From expressing solidarity to mocking on Twitter: pragmatic functions of hashtags starting with #jesuis across languages

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De Cock, Barbara [UCL] Pizarro Pedraza, Andrea [UCL]

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.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article) – Article de recherche
Publication date 2018
Language Anglais
Journal information "Language in Society" - Vol. 47, no. 2, p. 197-217 (2018)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Cambridge University Press (Cambridge)
issn 0047-4045
e-issn 1469-8013
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SSH/ILC/PLIN - Pôle de recherche en linguistique
Keywords hashtag ; #jesuisCharlie ; solidarity ; alignment ; emblem ; mocking ; pragmatic functions
Links
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Bibliographic reference De Cock, Barbara ; Pizarro Pedraza, Andrea. From expressing solidarity to mocking on Twitter: pragmatic functions of hashtags starting with #jesuis across languages. In: Language in Society, Vol. 47, no. 2, p. 197-217 (2018)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/191480