UDC

811.134.2+81’27

DOI

10.37482/2687-1505-V180

Authors

Yuliya A. Gornostaeva
Siberian Federal University; prosp. Svobodnyy 82a, Krasnoyarsk, 660018, Russian Federation;
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6233-4995 e-mail: yulyatald@yandex.ru

Abstract

This article studies the means of representation of burning social issues on social media. It focuses on the means of actualizing the Us/Them and Self/identity binary oppositions in Spanish-language Instagram blogging of body positive activists, which are investigated using the discursive, lexico-semantic, and multimodal analyses. Social polarization, manifested in the division of society into supporters and opponents of this ideology, is achieved through the actualization of the Us/Them binary opposition and is enhanced by the verbalization of the Self/identity opposition, which, in turn, manifests itself in including the recipient in the group of Us based on the principle of identity (sameness) and in opposing the recipient to Them through the expression of the Self (individuality) of body positive persons. At the text level, these binary oppositions are represented by the following linguistic means: possessive pronouns, pronouns as direct and indirect objects, verb forms, negative names for Them, as well as vocabulary with the semes “exclude/discriminate” and “imposing an opinion”. In addition, non-verbal visual elements of a creolized polylingual textual post semantically related to the oppositions were identified; these elements reinforce the key strategy – polarization – verbalized through showing Them in a bad light and Us in a good light. Communicating body positive ideas, Spanish-language Instagram bloggers frequently use words describing the human body (somatic naming units) and the attitude of Us and Them to the body. Verbalization of corporeality and perception of the body is of fundamental importance for the representation of body positive ideas and can strengthen the Us/Them and Self/identity oppositions in the type of discourse under study.

Keywords

social media discourse, Spanish-language social networking services, Instagram, body positivity, binary opposition, Us/Them, Self/identity, corporeality

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