Hate Speech in the Discourse of Russian-Ukrainian Conflict: A Pragma-Stylistic Analysis of Selected Effective Accounts on X.com

Abstract

Hate speech is that speech which incorporates expressions that instigate people to hate targeted parties and incite them to act violently against them based on some inherent attributes such as ethnicity, religion, race, etc. Hate speech is internationally and legislatively prohibited because it intimidates social peace, leads to social segregation, and fuels international conflicts. Drawing on Leech and Short’s checklist of linguistic and stylistic categories (2007), Grice’s four conversational maxims (1989), and Joos’ scale of formality (1962), this paper is an attempt to examine hate speech about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. The dataset that is wholeheartedly pragmatically analyzed is the posts of selected influential accounts on X.com. The ultimate aim of this study is to examine the hate speech functions such influencers aim at in their posts. The hate speech that influencers target in their posts is found to have uncharted inconsistency in hate speech research. For obtaining comprehensive results, a sequential explanatory mixed method is used. The results reveal that X.com influencers put much focus on some hate speech functions such as inciting people to violence, dehumanizing and demonizing people, and reinforcing in-group identity. These influencers zoom in on using an intimate and casual style of formality in their posts to suit their readers’ mentalities.