Previous research on extremist discourse has revealed that racism is linguistically shaped by its socio-cultural
context. For instance, a comparison between Greek Cypriot and Greek online data indicated that the two communities use different
linguistic means and strategies to express their aversion to the Other, and that Greek comments are more overtly insulting than
Greek Cypriot comments (Baider and Constantinou 2017a; Assimakopoulos and Baider 2019). The present study focuses on how irony is used to disseminate hate
speech, albeit covertly. Our dataset comprises online Greek and Greek Cypriot comments posted on social media and collected during
the same period of time (2015- 2016) within an EU project. We use concepts such as verisimilitude and overt untruthfulness to
deconstruct ironic racist comments. We conclude that irony in both datasets fulfils three socio-pragmatic functions: it serves to
insult or humiliate members of groups targeted for their ethnic identity; it creates or reinforces negative feelings against such
groups; it promotes beliefs that could be used to legitimate their mistreatment. Regarding socio-cultural differences, it emerges
that the use of the Greek Cypriot vernacular and the appeal to indigenous in-group social stereotypes influence the way irony
shapes racist comments and reinforces in-group membership.
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
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