Developing a Resource Model of Power and Authority in Anonymous Online Criminal Interactions
Keywords:
forensic linguistics, language and power, anonymous discussion fora, pragmatics, compuer mediated communicationAbstract
The purpose of this paper is to provide both a theoretical foundation and a practical framework for analysing power and authority in online interactions, for application in forensic linguistic contexts. In online discussion fora differences in institutional or social power are often obscure and posters may be anonymous. This lack of contextual knowledge can create a challenge for the analyst in finding a framework to theorise, explore, and describe these sorts of power performance. In this paper, we provide a framework to describe the basis on which individuals make claims to power and use this framework to explore the nature and distribution of power across different fora of both criminal and benign intent. This is developed through an analysis of three online discussion fora, of approximately 160,000 words, resulting in a framework of eight main categories of power resource. This allows us to contrast the three fora, showing differences in the nature and distribution of power resource, and also enables description of individuals as high-resource or low-resource with regards to their claims to power. This theory and framework can also be productive in the analysis of language and power in computer mediated communication (CMC) more widely.
References
Ainsworth-Vaughn, N. (1998). Claiming Power in Doctor-Patient Talk, Oxford University Press
Blankenship, K. L. and T. Y. Craig. (2007). 'Language and persuasion: Tag questions as powerless speech or as interpreted in context,' Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43/1: 112- 118.
Blum-Kulka, S. (1990). 'You don't touch lettuce with your fingers: parental politeness in family discourse', Journal of Pragmatics 14 (2): 259-288.
Bousfield, D. and M. A. Locher. (eds.). (2008). Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, Mouton de Gruyter
Bordieu, P. (1991). Language and Symbolic Power, Harvard University Press
Brown, P. and S.C. Levinson. (1978). 'Universals in language usage: Politeness phenomena.' In: Goody, E. N. (ed.), Questions and Politeness, Cambridge University Press, pp. 56-289.
Brown, P. and S.C. Levinson. (1987). Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage, Cambridge University Press
Cialdini, R. B. (2001). 'The science of persuasion', Scientific American 284/2, 76-81.
Conley, J., W. M. O'Barr, and E. A. Lind. (1978). 'The Power of Language: Presentational Style in the courtroom,' Duke Law Journal 6: 1375-1399.
Coulthard, M. and A. Johnson. (2010). Routledge handbook of forensic linguistics. Routledge.
Craig, D. and M. K. Pitts. (1990). 'The dynamics of dominance in tutorial discussions,' Linguistics 28: 125-138.
Culpeper, J. (2008). 'Chapter 2: Reflections on impoliteness, relational work and power', In: Bousfield, D. and M. A. Locher. (eds.). Impoliteness in Language: Studies on its Interplay with Power in Theory and Practice, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 17-44.
Darics, E. (2020). 'E-leadership or “How to be boss in Instant Messaging?” The role of nonverbal communication,' International Journal of Business Communication 57/1: 3-29.
Fairclough, N. (1984). Language and Power, SAGE Publications
Haworth, K. (2010). 'Police interviews in the judicial process: Police interviews as evidence' in Coulthard and Johnson (eds.).
Kacewicz, E. et al. (2014). 'Pronoun Use Reflects Standings in Social Hierarchies,' Journal of Language and Social Psychology 33/2: 125-143.
Johnstone, B. (2009). Stance, style and the linguistic individual. In A. Jaffe (ed.) Sociolinguistic Perspectives on Stance. Oxford University Press
Lakoff, R. T. (1973). 'Language and Woman's Place', Language in Society 2(1): 45-80
Leech. G. N. (1983). Principles of Pragmatics, Longman
Locher, M. A. (2004). Power and Politeness in Action: Disagreements in Oral Communication, Mouton de Gruyter.
Perkins, R. (2021). 'Power and Influence: Understanding Linguistic Markers of Power in Criminal Persuasive Contexts,' Conference Presentation at 'Influence, Manipulation, Seduction - Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Persuasive Language' Conference, 20-21 November 2021, University of Basel
Sillence, E. (2013). ‘Giving and receiving peer advice in an online breast cancer support group,’ Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 16/4: 480-485
Watts, R. J. (2003). Politeness, Cambridge University Press.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Helen Newsome, Professor Tim Grant
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Este trabalho está licenciado com uma Licença Creative Commons - Atribuição-NãoComercial 4.0 Internacional.
