Hashtag Campaigning as an Act of Resistance: A Micro-linguistic Analysis of Eleven Twitter Hashtag Campaigns

Abstract

Abstract Investigating the micro-linguistic patterns of the discourse of the internet helps in understanding how users employ certain linguistic conventions to deliver their messages. However, no research has been conducted to analyze Twitter hashtag campaigning as a distinctive genre with definite micro-linguistic features (i.e., the morphological and syntactic levels). Thus, it was significant to investigate how this genre enables and enhances collective action through the choice of certain linguistic features. This study utilized Casan-Pitarch’s new multi-model of genre analysis (2017) to analyze the micro-linguistic features of hashtag campaigning that qualify it to be a distinctive genre. Through employing this model, the study adopted a mixed method approach to analyze a corpus of 33,000 tweets written in English from top trending hashtag campaigns during 2016-2018. These hashtags included #BlackLivesMatter, #NeverTrump, #TimesUp, #Metoo, #NetNeutrality, #SaveAleppo, #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, #YemenInquiryNow, #FeelTheBern, #InternationalWomensDay, and #NeverHillary. Using manual analysis and methods of corpus linguistics, a genre analysis was conducted in terms of the morphological features of these hashtags. The analysis showed that the hashtags campaigns varied in the choice and the frequency of the morphological features used in each campaign. Although the selected hashtag campaigns belonged to the same genre and had one communicative purpose, this purpose was achieved through reporting information only or interaction with the readers.