Analysis of the Protest Movement of African Americans in the United States through Denotative and Connotative Meanings of Hashtags

Aleksandr V. Alekseev, Yuri K. Yazov, Artem M. Sychev, Mikhail G. Bich, Vladimir Yu. Skiba

Abstract


The study investigates the main hashtags used in the African American protest movement in the United States. The relevance of the study is determined by the need to recognise the tendencies of the protest movement due to the fact that, having originated several years ago, it continues to play a huge role in the life of society, reaching a higher level today, which is confirmed by the statistics provided in this study. Special attention is paid to a single denotation and a variety of connotations of lexical units, expressed in graphic form with hashtags. It is emphasised that in the study of a specific social phenomenon, an expanded base of lexemes should be considered, which allows to examine the socio-political phenomenon as a multifaceted and ambivalent one. Quantitative analysis identifies the culminating moments in the diachrony of this process and the specific sub-regions where this phenomenon is most common. The novelty of the study is considered in the fact that this socio-political phenomenon is considered from a linguistic standpoint.


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