Colloquium: Joseph Patrick comps defense "Social Semiotic Construction of Montenegrin Style in Online Discourse"

April 9, 2021 - 3:30pm to 5:00pm

Abstract

Social Semiotic Construction of Montenegrin Style in Online Discourse 

Abstract 

The role of stance and style in creating discursive identity has long been investigated (e.g., see Johnstone, 2007 and Kiesling, 2013). With new forums for communicating, like social media and arguably the internet itself, speakers have access to domains that are more interactive and public to construct complex identities crossing political, ethnic, national, and religious boundaries. In this presentation I consider the intersection of stance, style, and identity in internet discourse in a Montenegrin language context. American linguist Kenneth Naylor once described language in the post-WWII Balkans as a ‘flag’ representing identity and establishing a speaker’s local and national loyalties to a region or nation (Friedman, 1999). Montenegrin is a Balkan language historically considered a dialect of Serbo-Croatian—now an anachronous label representing a complex language system in the Western Balkans. After achieving independence in 2006, Montenegro underwent intense standardization efforts to bolster the claim of Montenegrin national identity through linguistic legitimacy. Recently, Montenegro experienced major political changes in leadership, resulting in a largely Serbian-allied government, which led to a public discourse of resistance through social media, such as popular microblogging site Twitter. Users of the site circulate salient features from the standardization efforts as tools in constructing a pro-Montenegrin identity online. These features have come to index a pro-Montenegrin stance and through their repeated use and legitimation by government and academic institutions, have become affiliated with a style of ‘Montenegrin Twitter Speech’ indexing pro-Montenegrin identity and independence. By using specialized graphemes and culturally marked emojis, Montenegrins on Twitter construct a pro-Montenegrin speaker style through interactional stance acts signaling affiliation, independence, or other pro-Montenegro stances. 

      Keywords: stance, style, Twitter, discourse, Montenegro, identity, the internet

 

 

 

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Meeting ID: 961 9430 5072
Passcode: colloq21
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