An Analysis On Intertextuality In The Cyber-Bullying Discourses

Internet technology has provided a convenient platform for online media and the public to interact with each other.However,the large-scale use of the Internet leads to various discourses with uneven quality on the Internet.Some online media often cater to public opinion when reporting hot social events,thus making the reporting process lose objectivity.The lack of objectivity may lead to the cyber-bullying by the uninformed public against people involved in the event.The spread of cyber-bullying is mainly in the form of discourses,so it is necessary to study the cyber-bullying discourses from the perspective of linguistics.There are many studies that analyze cyber-bullying discourses from the perspective of linguistics,but few studies analyze cyber-bullying discourses from the perspective of intertextuality.Therefore,this study analyzed such discourses from the perspective of intertextuality,taking some discourses posted by online media that trigger cyber-bullying discourses as the data of study.In conclusion,this study analyzed the distribution characteristics of intertextuality in cyber-bullying discourses and the pragmatic functions it performs.Xin Bin divided intertextuality into specific intertextuality and generic intertextuality.Specific intertextuality refers to intertextuality in terms of words and sentences,while generic intertextuality refers to the genre and style of discourses and the different registers involved in the discourses.For specific intertextuality,this study used the research instrument AntConc to mark and count different specific intertextuality categories from three perspectives: reporting verbs,reporting modes and source origin,so as to summarize the distribution characteristics of different specific intertextuality in the relevant discourse.For generic intertextuality,this study combines Xin Bin’s analysis of generic intertextuality in new media discourse,and classified the genres of the discourse in this study into speech of different registers,hypertext,and processed pictures or videos.Based on the characteristics of intertextuality,this study further analyzed the pragmatic functions performed by specific and generic intertextuality in the cyber-bullying discourses.A total of 120 discourses from Sina Weibo and Toutiao were collected,with the events focusing on four hot social events.This study showed the following results: 1.The distribution of intertextuality in cyber-bullying discourses is characterized by the highest proportion of neutral reporting verbs,followed by negative reporting verbs.In terms of reporting modes,the media made greater use of indirect speech,followed by narrative report of speech act.These two forms of reporting reflect the high degree to which the medias intervene in their attitudes towards events in the discourses.In the reporting process,in most cases the medias did not indicate the explicit source of the information and report the speech vaguely.The different genres included in the cyber-bullying discourse are: buzzwords,news reporting speech and speech of other registers.These genres are applied by the media to reflect the negative image of the victims in a variety of forms.In this study,five pragmatic functions were identified: presupposing the following content,recreating the context,expressing the ideas of online medias,increasing the credibility of the discourses,promoting the dissemination of the cyber-bullying discourses.Both the specific intertextuality and the generic intertextuality embodied in the above-mentioned pragmatic functions offer the possibility of cyber-bullying.Improper intertextuality will lead to cyber-bullying discourses,so this study provided a new perspective for the study of cyber-bullying discourses and has certain reference value for the prevention and control of cyber-bullying and the purification of cyberspace.