TY - JOUR

T1 - Human trafficking in nairaland digital community

T2 - A corpus-assisted critical discourse study

AU - Osisanwo, Ayo

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - Human trafficking in Nigeria as a topical issue has enjoyed more sociological interrogation with very scant attention in linguistics and discourse. This paper applies a corpus-assisted critical discourse study to examine representative posts on human trafficking in Nigeria (2019 to 2022) retrieved from the Nairaland digital community. Using the Sketch Engine corpus tool and social actors representation model, this paper investigates how different constructions were deployed by participants to represent human trafficking, human traffickers and traffick victims in Nigeria. Findings suggest four constructions oriented to negativity: prostitution/commodification of sex, abuse of underage for sexual satisfaction, maltreatment of others for huge labour, dismembering of humans for occultism and health-assurance. Participants deployed role allocation, nominalisation, and others to negatively evaluate human traffickers, especially as economic usurpers, exploiters, and fraudsters, while the traffick-victims were represented as naïve, non-violent, armless, defenceless and (in)active recipients of the activities of the human traffickers. The dominant negative constructs manifested implicitly and explicitly through tagging, negative comparison, appeal to sentimentalities, and expression of detest, while the positive constructs of victims manifested through pity and appeal to humanity. Online participants attack the political class, and declare their ideological stances on human traffickers in Nigeria, making efforts to project suppressed stances.

AB - Human trafficking in Nigeria as a topical issue has enjoyed more sociological interrogation with very scant attention in linguistics and discourse. This paper applies a corpus-assisted critical discourse study to examine representative posts on human trafficking in Nigeria (2019 to 2022) retrieved from the Nairaland digital community. Using the Sketch Engine corpus tool and social actors representation model, this paper investigates how different constructions were deployed by participants to represent human trafficking, human traffickers and traffick victims in Nigeria. Findings suggest four constructions oriented to negativity: prostitution/commodification of sex, abuse of underage for sexual satisfaction, maltreatment of others for huge labour, dismembering of humans for occultism and health-assurance. Participants deployed role allocation, nominalisation, and others to negatively evaluate human traffickers, especially as economic usurpers, exploiters, and fraudsters, while the traffick-victims were represented as naïve, non-violent, armless, defenceless and (in)active recipients of the activities of the human traffickers. The dominant negative constructs manifested implicitly and explicitly through tagging, negative comparison, appeal to sentimentalities, and expression of detest, while the positive constructs of victims manifested through pity and appeal to humanity. Online participants attack the political class, and declare their ideological stances on human traffickers in Nigeria, making efforts to project suppressed stances.

KW - Corpus-assisted critical discourse study

KW - digital communities

KW - discourse construction

KW - human traffickers

KW - human trafficking

KW - victims of trafficking in Nigeria

KW - Literature studies

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85206448842&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/14614456241282869

DO - 10.1177/14614456241282869

M3 - Journal articles

AN - SCOPUS:85206448842

JO - Discourse Studies

JF - Discourse Studies

SN - 1461-4456

ER -