Linguistic and Discursive Properties of Hate Speech and Speech Facilitating the Expression of Hatred: Evidence from Finnish and French Online Discussion Boards

Examples of posts from three Finnish (236 posts) and one French (410 posts) discussion threads are analyzed with regard to lexicon, grammar, speech acts, and topoi. The aim is to illustrate the different means used to express hatred or speech pertaining to ideological and thematic spaces in which the expression of hatred may be legitimized. The examples represent everyday discourse, which is an influential arena for the materialization of ideologies. Given the lack of linguistic and discursive tools used exclusively to express or legitimize hatred, doing research on hate speech always entails taking a specific ideological stance: neither linguistics nor pragmatics or discourse studies can provide a definition of hate speech that is valid in all contexts. Triangulating different methodological and theoretical perspectives is necessary to produce convincing research results.