“Those promoting and practising homosexuality are worse than pigs and dogs”: Linguistic assault on homosexuals in Malawi

Abstract

abstractHomosexuality is a social taboo and crime in Malawi and other African countries. To this end, one finds linguistic expressions that attack homosexuals and homosexuality. In this briefing such expressions have been called linguistic assaults. With the use of readers' comments drawn from a Malawian online newspaper, this briefing illustrates how the dominant voices attack homosexuals and homosexuality. Using the notion of face to analyse readers' comments on homosexuality, it is shown how the positive face and the negative face of homosexuals come under attack. The briefing is thus constructed within the face-saving view of linguistic politeness.