ABSTRACT
YouTube comment sections are rich sources of data, particularly for researchers interested in studying discourse and disinformation. This chapter will outline an approach grounded in systemic functional linguistics, the study of language in its social context, for identifying discursive personae in YouTube comment sections. Discursive personae refers to how persons and personalities commune in discourse and is realised linguistically. Furthermore, discursive personae can be realised by understanding the values that commenters bond around and whether these values align or dis-align with others. These ideas will be explored by applying the appraisal and affiliation frameworks. The specific focus for this chapter is on how the linguistic identification of discursive personae can help us to understand commenters’ attitudes towards issues of propaganda and disinformation. In order to illustrate these ideas, YouTube comments on RT (formerly Russia Today) videos about the Skripal Poisoning will be analysed. RT, a news channel funded by the Russian government, is one of the most viewed news channels on YouTube and has been described as an organisation that engages in disinformation and conspiracist strategies. The comments that will be analysed will show the linguistic differences in discursive personae that are pro-Russia versus anti-Russia, their attitudes towards propaganda by various governments, and what they consider to be “fake news”, as expressed in the values they bond around. The methodology and results of this research will be useful in understanding highly polarised discourse and visually mapping out the different values that emerge when YouTube commenters are engaging with state propaganda and other forms of disinformation.
