Linguistic Discrimination Against the Roma in the Polish-Language Web 2.0 Discourse

Keywords: language, pragmatics, critical discourse analysis, mediatization, social media, Web 2.0, Roma, antigypsyism, discrimination

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss the results of studies about the scale of verbal discrimination against the Roma in the Web 2.0 discourse held in Polish. These studies have helped in specifying the scale of not only intentional antigypsyism exhibited by the participants to the discourse but also highlight culture-specific habits perpetuated in the language, which unintentionally foster discrimination against the Roma. In addition, results that have been obtained and interpreted help in clarifying the phenomena in question as components of mediatization of discrimination, developing primarily on the Internet, and above all in the area defined as Web 2.0, and particularly visible in social media.

References

A persisting concern: anti-Gypsyism as a barrier to Roma inclusion (2018), FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

Athens: This is not a protest. This as a pogrom (2017), ERRC (European Roma Right Centre), http://www.errc.org/press-releases/athens-this-is-not-a-protest.-this-as-a-pogrom.

Awdiejew A. (1994), Wartościowanie wymuszone a szacunek dla odbiorcy w dyskursie politycznym, [in:] J. Anusiewicz & B. Siciński (eds.), Język polityki a współczesna kultura polityczna, Wrocław: Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Polonistyki Wrocławskiej, pp. 49-56.

Barański D. (2013), Cygan czy Rom? Oto jest pytanie, Gazeta Wyborcza, July 6, 2013, https://gorzow.wyborcza.pl/gorzow/1,36844,14234030,Cygan_czy_Rom__Oto_jest_pytanie.html.

Bartmiński J. (2007), Stereotypy mieszkają w języku. Studia etnolingwistyczne, Lublin: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Marie Curie-Skłodowskiej.

Boroditsky L. (2001), Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakers’ conceptions of time, Cognitive Psychology, no. 43 (1), pp. 1-22, doi: 10.1006/cogp.2001.0748.

Catalano T. & Waugh L.R. (2020), Critical Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Studies and Beyond, Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology 26, Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-49379-0_6.

Coynash H. (2018), Ukrainian neo-Nazi C14 vigilantes drive out Roma families, burn their camp, The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, April 23, 2018, http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=15244412 20.

Czachur W. (2020), Lingwistyka dyskursu jako integrujący program badawczy, Wrocław: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT – Wrocławskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe.

Dam-Jensen H. & Zethsen K.K. (2007), Pragmatic patterns and the lexical system — A reassessment of evaluation in language, Journal of Pragmatics, no. 39 (9), pp. 1608-1623.

Data collection and research activities on racism and xenophobia by the EUMC. Working Paper (2007), FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/218-eumc_methodology_paper_en.pdf.

DiNucci D. (1999), Fragmented future, Print, no. 53 (4), pp. 32, 221-222.

Ervin-Tripp S. (1967), An Issei learns English, Journal of Social Issues, no. 23 (2), pp. 78-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1967.tb00577.x.

Essed P. (1991), Understanding everyday racism. An interdisciplinary theory, London: Sage Publications, doi: 10.4135/9781483345239.

Fact sheet “Hate speech against Roma in the media” (2015), ERIO (European Roma Information Office).

Fairclough N.L. (1993), Critical discourse analysis and the marketisation of public discourse: The Universities, Discourse & Society, no. 4 (2), pp. 133-168, doi: 10.1177/0957926593004002002.

Fraser A. (1995), The Gypsies, 2nd ed., Oxford, UK, Cambridge, USA: Blackwell, doi: 10.2307/2799403.

Gera V. (2020), Auschwitz survivor draws praise, but also criticism in Poland with WWII speech, Get The Times of Israel, January 29, 2020, https://www.timesofisrael.com/auschwitz-survivor-draws-praise-but-also-criticism-in-poland-with-wwii-speech.

Girard R. (1986), The Scapegoat, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.

Guet M. (2008), What is anti-Gypsyism/anti-Tsiganism/romaphobia?, [in:] Anti-discrimination workshop under the Hungarian presidency of the Decade for Roma Inclusion, Budapest, 16 April 2008, Budapest: Decade for Roma Inclusion.

Halliday M.A.K. (1973), Explorations in the functions of language, London: Edward Arnold Ltd.

Hamelmann M., Lhopitault C. & Schadauer A. (2017), Manifestations of online hate speech. Reports on antisemitic, antiziganistic, homophobic and anti-Muslim hate speech, Amsterdam: International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH).

Hansen M.-B.M. (2012), The semantics of pragmatic expressions, [in:] H.-J. Schmid (ed.), Cognitive Pragmatics. Handbook of Pragmatics, vol. 4, Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton, pp. 587-611.

Hastrup K. (2002), Introduction, [in:] K. Hastrup & G. Ulrich (eds.), Discrimination and toleration: New perspectives. (International Studies in Human Rights), The Hague: Kluwer Law International, p. 1-21.

Hepp A., Hjarvard S. & Lundby K. (2010), Mediatization – Empirical perspectives: An introduction to the special issue, Communications, no. 35 (3), pp. 223-228, doi: 10.1515/comm.2010.012.

Herring S.C. (2013), Discourse in Web 2.0: Familiar, reconfigured, and emergent, [in:] D. Tannen & A.M. Trester (eds.), Discourse 2.0: language and new media, Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, pp. 1-25.

Hess L. (2019), Expressive meanings and expressive commitments. A case of meaning as use, [in:] P. Stalmaszczyk (ed.), Philosophical Insights into Pragmatics, Berlin–Munich–Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 193-224, doi: 10.1515/9783110628937-010.

Horváth B. (2016), Életfogytiglant kaptak a romagyilkosságok vádlottjai, !!444!!! January 12, 2016, https://444.hu/2016/01/12/eletfogytiglant-kaptak-a-romagyilkossagok-vadlottjai.

Kahneman D. (2011), Thinking, fast and slow, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Kashima Y., Fiedler K. & Freytag P. (eds.) (2008), Stereotype dynamics. Language-based approaches to the formation, maintenance, and transformation of stereotypes, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Taylor & Francis Group.

KhosraviNik M. (2020), Digital meaning-making across content and practice in social media critical discourse studies, Critical Discourse Studies, November 2020, pp. 119-123, doi: 10.1080/17405904.2020.1835683.

Klebaniuk J. (2012), Rola języka w postrzeganiu procesów społecznych, Nierówności Społeczne a Wzrost Gospodarczy, no. 24, pp. 268-279.

Kondzioła-Pich K. (2018), Charakterystyka dyrektywnych aktów mowy występujących w hejcie internetowym, Socjolingwistyka, no. 32, pp. 163-174, doi: 10.17651/SOCJOLING.32.10.

Kozakiewicz J. (2016), Językowe środki wykluczania. Obraz Romów we współczesnej prasie węgierskiej z perspektywy Krytycznej Analizy Dyskursu, Poznań: Wydział Neofilologii UAM w Poznaniu.

Larson N. (2017), In a landmark ruling, a Swiss court has fined a man for ‘liking’ defamatory comments on Facebook, Business Insider, May 30, 2017, http://businessinsider.com/afp-man-guilty-of-libel-over-facebook-likes-swiss-court-2017-5.

Lewis L. (2019), This is what happens in an internet minute, All Access, March 5, 2019, https://www.allaccess.com/merge/archive/29580/2019-this-is-what-happens-in-an-internet-minute.

Lipiński A. (2020), Podejścia jakościowe w badaniach nad populizmem: analiza ideologii, teoria dyskursu i podejście dyskursywno-historyczne, [in:] A. Stępińska & A. Lipiński (eds.), Badania nad dyskursem populistycznym: wybrane podejścia, Poznań: Wydawnictwo UAM, pp. 49-70.

Mazzoleni G. & Schulz W. (1999), “Mediatization” of politics: A challenge for democracy?, Political Communication, no. 16 (3), pp. 247-261.

McGarry A. (2017), Romaphobia. The last acceptable form of racism, London: Zed Books.

Minorities in selected newspapers of six EU Member States: a pilot project. Working paper (2012), FRA (Fundamental Rights Agency), https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/1926-FRA-2011-Media-pilot-project_EN.pdf.

Nicolae V. (2004), Romaphobia – Europe’s acceptable racism, European Roma Information Centre, http://www.mediawise.org.uk/diversity/roma-gypsies-travellers.

Odrzywołek K. (2015), Mowa nienawiści wobec społeczności romskiej na podstawie memów internetowych, Studia Romologica, no. 8, pp. 187-199.

Ogden C.K. & Richards I.A. (1989), The meaning of meaning, SanDiego: Harvest/Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Papacharissi Z. (2002), The virtual sphere: the internet as a public sphere, New Media & Society, no. 4 (1), pp. 9-27, doi: 10.1177/14614440222226244.

Patzak G. (1982), Kreatives Denken im Rahmen des Problemlösungsprozesses, [in:] Systemtechnik – Planung komplexer innovativer Systeme, Berlin–Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 108-127.

Payal A. (2012), Typology of Web 2.0 spheres: Understanding the cultural dimensions of social media spaces, Current Sociology, no. 60 (5), pp. 599-618.

Pickering M. (2001), Stereotyping: The politics of representation, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Plascencia R.D. (2017), Refugee crisis representation on German online press: The case of Aylan Kurdi, REMHU: Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana, no. 25 (51), pp. 95-108.

Polscy internauci w czerwcu 2019 (2019b), PBI Polskie Badanie Internetu, http://pbi.org.pl/ raporty/polscy-internauci-w-czerwcu-2019.

Polscy internauci w marcu 2019 (2019a), PBI Polskie Badanie Internetu, http://pbi.org.pl/ raporty/polscy-internauci-w-marcu-2019.

Prywatność w sieci (2017), IAB Polska, https://www.iab.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/IAB_ Polska_Prywatnosc_w_sieci_2016_2017_raport.pdf.

Saunders R.A. (2011), Ethnopolitics in cyberspace: Tthe Internet, minority nationalism, and the web of identity, Lanham: Lexington Books.

Sąd Najwyższy: kasacja RPO zasadna – internet jest „miejscem publicznym” (2018), RPO (Commissioner for Human Rights), https://www.rpo.gov.pl/pl/content/sad-najwyzszy-zbada-kasacje-rpo-w-sprawie-lidera-dumy-i-nowoczesnosci.

Schulz W. (2004), Reconstructing mediatization as an analytical concept, European Journal of Communication, no. 19 (1), pp. 87-101, doi: 10.1177/0267323104040696.

Silva L., Mondal M., Correa D., Benevenuto F. & Weber I. (2016), Analyzing the targets of hate in online social media, [in:] Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM 2016), Cologne: AAAI Press, pp. 687-690.

Slavíčková T. & Zvagulis P. (2014), Monitoring anti-minority rhetoric in the Czech print media: A critical discourse analysis, Journal of Language & Politics, no. 13 (1), pp. 152-170, doi: 10.1075/jlp.13.1.07sla.

Szewczyk M. (2016), Unia Europejska i Romowie. System wobec kultury etnicznej, 2nd ed., Rzeszów: WSIiZ, https://depot.ceon.pl/handle/123456789/11117.

Szymańska A. & Hess A. (2014), Mniejszości narodowe, etniczne i religijne w przekazie mediów, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.

Treichler D.G. (1967), Are you missing the boat in training aids? Film and Audio-Visual Communications, no. 1, pp. 14-16, 29-30, 48.

van Dijk T.A. (1987), Communicating racism: Ethnic prejudice in thought and talk, Newbury Park, California: Sage Publications.

van Dijk T.A. (1993c), Critical discourse analysis, [in:] D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen & H.E. Hamilton (eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, pp. 352-371.

van Dijk T.A. (1997), Discourse as interaction in society, [in:] T.A. van Dijk (ed.), Discourse studies: A multidisciplinary introduction. Discourse as social interaction, vol. II, London: Sage Publications, pp. 1-37.

van Dijk T.A. (2009), Critical discourse studies: A sociocognitive approach, [in:] R. Wodak & M. Meyer (eds.), Methods for Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Sage Publications, pp. 62-86.

van Dijk T.A. (1993b), Elite discourse and racism, London: Sage Publications.

van Dijk T.A. (1998), Ideology: a multidisciplinary approach, London: Sage Publications.

van Dijk T.A. (1993a), Principles of critical discourse analysis, Discourse & Society, no. l4 (2), pp. 249-283.

van Dijk T.A. (2016), Racism in the press, [in:] N. Bonvillain (ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Linguistic Anthropology, New York: Routledge, pp. 384-392.

Whorf B.L., Carroll J.B., Levinson S.C. & Lee P. (eds.) (2012), Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf, Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: MIT Press, doi:10.2307/j.ctt5hhbx2.

Wodak R. (2021), Re/nationalising EU-rope. National Identities, Right-Wing Populism, and Border- and Body-Politics, [in:] J. Barkhoff & J. Leerssen (eds.), National Stereotyping, Identity Politics, European Crises, Leiden: Brill, pp. 95-121, doi: 10.1163/9789004436107_007.

Yong C. (2011), Does freedom of speech include hate speech?, Res Publica, no. 17 (4), pp. 385-403, doi: 10.1007/s11158-011-9158-y.

Published
2022-06-30
Section
Articles