ABSTRACT
Data are derived from a corpus of 2500 tweets and 2500 Facebook posts comprising 24,983 words. A keyword analysis of the corpus was carried out using Wordsmith to determine the key lexical components of the corpus, especially key lexical items that express evaluation and affective stance. In the appraisal of Boko Haram (BH) and their actions, certain evaluations are explicitly stated, for instance, referring to them as ‘terrorists’, ‘kidnappers’, ‘rapists’ or ‘murderers’, which are based on the general knowledge of the Islamist group and their activities. Some of the evaluations are implicit, again reflecting an invoked evaluation. Most of the representations of the Nigerian government involve the use of highly emotional evaluative words, many of them depicting disdain, anger and hate. Since the BH problem was viewed as a global ‘tragedy’, which is beyond what Nigeria alone can handle, the campaigners began to expect some decisive interventions by nations of the world regardless of some diplomatic or legal implications.
