Linguistic Analysis of the Language of Stereotype in the Kenyan Social Media
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Date
2024-07
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Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
This study is an exploration of language of hate speech used online in the Kenyan realm. The motivation of this study springs from the political turmoil of the Kenya’s 2007 interethnic post-election violence. At this time, facebook users from different political divide were posting hate stereotype texts that had polarized the harmonious communication of the nation. The study identified hate texts used online after which their speech acts and grammatical features were explained. The theories used in the study were Benesch Model of identifying hate speech, Halliday Systemic Functional Grammar and speech Act Theory where the expressions were analyzed based on the nature of the verb they exhibited and the attitude inferred towards the targeted audience. With regard to language of stereotype, the study focused on only texts selected using the Benesch Model criterion. Twenty five texts were obtained from the online sources. These are facebook sites were namely: Pwani si Kenya and Cord Effect. In some case, the researcher presented the findings using tables and some cases some examples were listed before analysis base on the study’s objective. The main objectives of this study are: to describe the selected facebook stereotype texts by use of Halliday Systemic Functional Theory, to analyze the facebook selected stereotype texts using Speech Act Theory and to establish the connection the hate texts speech acts and the Benesch Model of identifying hate speech. In the findings, the study noted that the Systemic Halliday Functional Grammar theory was applicable in the analysis and description of hate speech texts in terms of their grammatical features. The analysis was done by placing the sampled texts into categories like material, mental and relational processes. These categories were drawn based on the nature of the verbs exhibited on the text. This is the principle that governs the SFL theory. The study also noted that usingthe Speech Act Theory, Searle’s categories were further applicable in analysis of hate speech texts. Searle’s categories were drawn using the speech acts exhibited in the texts. Finally, the study noted that for ease of sampling of the hate speech texts from a group of online texts, the Benesch model criterion was applicable. Using this model, categories were further drawn based on the nature of the stereotype exhibited towards the target group. This is the principle that govern the Benesch Model of identifying dangerous speech further drawing for analysis. The study is intended to contribute to the development of the corpus necessary for defining and analyzing of hate speech in the Kenyan context.
Description
A Project Submitted to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Masters of Arts of Kenyatta University, July 2024.
Supervisor
Emily A. Ogutu