This study is a sociolinguistic investigation of digital comments located on news reporting websites on the subject of rape and compares American and Polish comments. The analysis of the discourse investigates representations of victims, offenders, and the act of rape itself and questions the cultural significance of victim-blaming.

Language can never be seen as separate from social phenomena. With the rise of the internet and the changes that have taken place as far as sites in which interaction occurs, new types of discourses surrounding sexual assault have emerged. As a result, victim-blaming as a discursive action has become more anonymous. This study investigates digital comments located on news reporting websites on the subject of rape and compares American and Polish comments. The linguistic analysis of the discourse on rape and the actors involved investigates representations of victims, offenders, and the act of rape itself and questions the cultural significance of victim-blaming. The [...] work is an excellent example of methodological triangulation. The author has decided to combine the potential of CDA and pragmatics to gain a better understanding of the ideologies revealed in the linguistic layer of the researched material and the process of their influencethrough languageon the attitudes of discourse participants. The theoretical (conceptual) and methodological circumstances of the relevant research have been developed extremely broadly. One could say that a reader learning about research competencies has been provided with a complete and rich set of tools, both those chosen by the author of the work and alternative ones, to consider alternative research paths. Professor Agnieszka Kiekiewicz-Janowiak, Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna This work is a highly valuable academic study that develops both a critical analysis of discourse and enriches knowledge about attitudes and evaluations of rape and its perpetrators and victims. [...] On an academic level, the work provides a comprehensive and original solution to the research problem. Professor Andrzej yda, University of Silesia in Katowice

Autorentext

Olga O'Toole , linguist and sociologist, completed her PhD at the Jagiellonian University. She works at the Institute of English Studies of the Jagiellonian University. Her areas of research include language and gender, language and sexuality, the sociology of sexuality, and critical discourse analysis.

Inhalt

Table of contents Chapter One Critical discourse analysis and the problem of rape Chapter Two Implications for rape The intersection of ideology, gender and sexuality Chapter Three Implications for discourse The intersection of ideology, gender and sexuality Chapter four Critical discourse analysis and digital comments in computer-mediated communication Chapter Five Materials and methods Chapter Six Analysis of (implicit) evaluation in the structure of digital comments in American and Polish online discourses on rape Chapter Seven Analysis of the evaluation in socio-semantic representations of actors and events of digital comments in American and Polish online media communication Chapter Eight Conclusions