Trolling Call-Outs as Communicative Acts

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Published: Dec 30, 2022
Keywords:
trolling, Reddit, CMC Acts, deception, transgression
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Heidi Vepsäläinen
Henna Paakki
Antti Salovaara

Abstract

This study analyzes cases where participants in Reddit’s advice-seeking forums are called out for trolling. The data consists of 217 call-out messages, in which other participants point out that the advice-seeker may be trolling them with a deceiving post. We analyze the call-out messages as Communicative Acts and introduce 1) a classification of trolling call-out acts and 2) an analysis of the functions of trolling call-outs. We used a CMC act classification and found five types of trolling call-outs: claim, desire, react, inquire, and direct. The call-out messages have two primary functions: They orient to either dealing with the deception or dealing with the transgression. This division of orientation can be seen in the format of the call-out message: call-outs can be used for different functions depending on whether the call-out message contains only the call-out or also other activities.

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How to Cite
Vepsäläinen, H., Paakki , H., & Salovaara , A. (2022). Trolling Call-Outs as Communicative Acts. Language@Internet, 20, 23–42. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/li/article/view/37458
Author Biographies

Heidi Vepsäläinen

Heidi Vepsäläinen is a Postdoctoral Researcher at University of Helsinki. She specializes in interactional linguistics, and her research interests include digitally mediated conversations and human-machine interaction.  

Henna Paakki

Henna Paakki is a Doctoral candidate in Computer Science at Aalto University with a background in linguistics. Her research interests include digital methods in the study of disruptive online interaction like trolling and disinformation dissemination.

Antti Salovaara

Antti Salovaara is a Senior University Lecturer at Aalto University, Department of Design. He studies online trolling, users’ creative technology appropriations, human-AI interaction, and developers’ new future foresight methods for human-computer interaction research.

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