Article In:
Journal of Language and Politics: Online-First Articles

How quotation marks do mockery in online politicized discourse

ORCID logo | Loughborough University
ORCID logo | University of Auckland

This article analyzes online comments responding to viral sociopolitical events in different languages, across different social media platforms. We use discourse analytic methods to inspect how quotation marks are systematically deployed to intensify denigrations of opposing political identities and positions in the context of political disagreements. We show how quotation marks are used in situated online interactions to convey a skeptical, derisive stance toward quoted content while positioning one’s reasonable perspective against an unreasonable, illegitimate other. This online discursive practice provides insights into how ordinary politics are engaged (or rather, not seriously engaged) when people participate in mockery in disputative online discourse.

Keywords: quotation marks, reported speech, mockery, politics, social media, discourse analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Quotation in contentious online politicalized discourse
    • 2.1What is political discourse?
    • 2.2What is the role of quotation?
    • 2.3How are political disputes accomplished?
  • 3.Methods
  • 4.Analysis of quotation and mockery online
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
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