Article published in:
Discourses of aggression in Greek digitally-mediated communication
Edited by Ourania Hatzidaki and Ioannis E. Saridakis
[Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict 8:2] 2020
► pp. 262–287

Covert hate speech

A contrastive study of Greek and Greek Cypriot online discussions with an emphasis on irony

| University of Cyprus
| University of Cyprus
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.
Keywords: covert hate speech, irony, verisimilitude, overt untruthfulness, Greek and Greek-Cypriot contexts, online commenting
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Hate speech and irony
    • 2.1Covert hate speech
    • 2.2Socio-pragmatic functions of irony
    • 2.3Interpretation of data and context
  • 3.Data and methodology
    • 3.1Corpus collection and annotation scheme
    • 3.2Specificities for the Greek and Greek Cypriot teams
    • 3.3Quantitative results for Greece and Cyprus
  • 4.Conveying racism with irony
    • 4.1An overview of our findings
    • 4.2Irony and echoic mention of the ‘doxa’, overt truthfulness
    • 4.3Ironic references to the Self and overt untruthfulness
    • 4.4Ironic fictionalisation
  • 5.Concluding remarks
    • 5.1Covert racism and ironic hate speech
    • 5.2Cross-cultural dimensions of irony
  • Notes
  • References
  • Sitography
Published online: 15 July 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00040.bai
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Newsbeast, 5.01.2015. Κλίμα ξενοφοβίας στην Κολωνία – https://​www​.newsbeast​.gr​/world​/arthro​/2087993​/klima​-xenofovias​-stin​-kolonia

Protothema , 16. 05. 2015.Έτσι θα αποκτούν ιθαγένεια τα παιδιά των μεταναστών http://​www​.protothema​.gr​/greece​/article​/476159​/ti​-provlepei​-o​-nomos​-gia​-tin​-apoktisi​-ithageneias​-apo​-paidia​-metanaston/

Protothema , 27 05. 2015. Πυροβολήθηκε, έμεινε ανάπηρος, αλλά οι φίλοι του τον έβγαλαν από τη Συρία http://​www​.protothema​.gr​/greece​/article​/479109​/purovolithike​-emeine​-anapiros​-alla​-oi​-filoi​-tou​-ton​-evgalan​-apo​-ti​-suria/

Protothema, 08.01.2016. Σεξουαλικές επιθέσεις από «μελαμψούς» άντρες σε Ζυρίχη και Ελσίνκι την Πρωτοχρονιά! http://​www​.protothema​.gr​/world​/article​/542646​/sexoualikes​-parenohliseis​-apo​-melampsous​-adres​-se​-zurihi​-kai​-elsinki​-tin​-protohronia/".

Sigmalive. 19.04. 2015. Νέο πολύνεκρο ναυάγιο με μετανάστες στη Μεσόγειο- LIVE https://​www​.sigmalive​.com​/news​/international​/224981​/neo​-polynekro​-navagio​-me​-metanastes​-sti​-mesogeio​-live

Sigmalive, 22.12.2015. Bild: Αναζητούνται πρόσφυγες με τα πλαστά διαβατήρια ISIS. http://​www​.sigmalive​.com​/news​/international​/294391​/bild​-anazitountai​-prosfyges​-me​-ta​-plasta​-diavatiria​-isi

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