Chapter 2. Personal conviction against general knowledge
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Ylva Biri
Abstract
This study analyses the functions of I know and we know in online discussions of climate change. These phrases locate the writer through the first-person pronouns and indicate epistemic certainty through the private verb know. The constructions are analysed in a corpus of climate change-related posts on the social media sites Twitter (currently X) and Reddit. As the writers discuss and argue for or against climate change being an environmental threat, I know and we know mark the writer’s subjective evaluation and how they position themselves with a like-minded audience: I know has interpersonal functions and we know is used to emphasise certainty by attributing knowledge to a larger epistemic community. This construction of knowledge situates the writer in the broader ideological climate debate.
Abstract
This study analyses the functions of I know and we know in online discussions of climate change. These phrases locate the writer through the first-person pronouns and indicate epistemic certainty through the private verb know. The constructions are analysed in a corpus of climate change-related posts on the social media sites Twitter (currently X) and Reddit. As the writers discuss and argue for or against climate change being an environmental threat, I know and we know mark the writer’s subjective evaluation and how they position themselves with a like-minded audience: I know has interpersonal functions and we know is used to emphasise certainty by attributing knowledge to a larger epistemic community. This construction of knowledge situates the writer in the broader ideological climate debate.
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Self- and other-reference in social contexts 1
- Chapter 2. Personal conviction against general knowledge 14
- Chapter 3. Self-reference as an argumentative tool 39
- Chapter 4. The European Union as an in-group in British press and parliamentary debates 62
- Chapter 5. Self- and other-positioning in eighteenth‑century newspapers 89
- Chapter 6. Intragroup marginalization in social media 114
- Chapter 7. The communicative functions of third-person singular pronouns 138
- Chapter 8. Positioning the self and other in English lingua franca interactions 166
- Index 193
Chapters in this book
- 日本言語政策学会 / Japan Association for Language Policy. 言語政策 / Language Policy 10. 2014 i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Self- and other-reference in social contexts 1
- Chapter 2. Personal conviction against general knowledge 14
- Chapter 3. Self-reference as an argumentative tool 39
- Chapter 4. The European Union as an in-group in British press and parliamentary debates 62
- Chapter 5. Self- and other-positioning in eighteenth‑century newspapers 89
- Chapter 6. Intragroup marginalization in social media 114
- Chapter 7. The communicative functions of third-person singular pronouns 138
- Chapter 8. Positioning the self and other in English lingua franca interactions 166
- Index 193
