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Abstract
This study examines the features of stance in tweets downloaded from the English Twitter accounts of Boko Haram and Al Shabaab, referred to as ‘radicalist discourse’. Stance, referred to as ‘positioning’ or point of views of tweeters, is defined in terms of features such as hedges, boosters, attitude markers, self-mention and threats. These express commitment, attitude and judgement of writers on the issues being discussed. Applying mostly qualitative analysis, the study shows that self-mention and attitude markers are the most prevalent features of stance in radicalist discourse. Thus, stance is used to express triumph, satisfaction, anger and hate by the radical groups under study. The various expressions of attitude and self-mention in the data portray positive construction of in-group and negative evaluation of others (i.e. governments and institutions) referred to as infidels and apostates.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes on contributor
Innocent Chiluwa (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor (Language and Communication) in the Department of Languages, Covenant University, Ota (Nigeria). His research interest focuses on pragmatics and discourse studies, particularly the investigation of social crisis/conflict, ideology, identity and activism in (New) Media and CMCs, as well as in social, political and religious discourses. He has published scholarly articles in Discourse and Society, Discourse Studies, Discourse and Communication, Journal of Multicultural Discourses, Journal of Language and Politics, Africa Today, etc. ([email protected]).