Verbal violence in readers’ comments published in news’ websites

Abstract

The aim of this paper is twofold: It analyzes the way verbal violence works in readers’ comments posted on news websites; and demonstrate that the point of view expressed therein is constituted dialogically. The paper argues that verbal violence cannot be defined from a strictly lexical perspective, given that it is within a particular context that words used in discourse are made fully meaningful. The analysis of the corpus suggests that verbal abuse on the part of readers on the web can be explained in terms of their political standing and prejudice and function in discourse as a vector of discrimination and stigmatization. These discursive practices call into question the ethical dimension of discourse, and point to the need for educational work that promotes a discussion of a better citizenship over the web.

Key words: verbal violence, point of view, readers’ comments.