Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai

Paraphrasing Spivak’s essay, “Can the subaltern speak?” (1988), this paper will discuss how blogs can be manipulated by corporate media at both a linguistic and multimodal level, analysing Malala Yousafzai’s 2009 blog. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and is known for her activism in women’s...

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Main Author: Maria Sindoni
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2014-12-01
Series:Lea
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-lea/article/view/7644
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author Maria Sindoni
author_facet Maria Sindoni
author_sort Maria Sindoni
collection DOAJ
description Paraphrasing Spivak’s essay, “Can the subaltern speak?” (1988), this paper will discuss how blogs can be manipulated by corporate media at both a linguistic and multimodal level, analysing Malala Yousafzai’s 2009 blog. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and is known for her activism in women’s rights, but critics have questioned the authenticity of her voice, maintaining that her language is not likely to be produced by a child. This paper will address the question as to whether her blog has been manipulated, analysing linguistic features - such as lexical density, readability, keyness, modality markers in English, and multimodal resources. Linguistic and visual data will be discussed to see how multimodal approaches to communication can disentangle corporate mass media manipulation.
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spelling doaj.art-ee3de81b6198407b8d892674eecd3f162022-12-22T00:24:34ZengFirenze University PressLea1824-484X2014-12-013310.13128/LEA-1824-484x-1519712788Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala YousafzaiMaria Sindoni0Università degli Studi di MessinaParaphrasing Spivak’s essay, “Can the subaltern speak?” (1988), this paper will discuss how blogs can be manipulated by corporate media at both a linguistic and multimodal level, analysing Malala Yousafzai’s 2009 blog. Malala won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and is known for her activism in women’s rights, but critics have questioned the authenticity of her voice, maintaining that her language is not likely to be produced by a child. This paper will address the question as to whether her blog has been manipulated, analysing linguistic features - such as lexical density, readability, keyness, modality markers in English, and multimodal resources. Linguistic and visual data will be discussed to see how multimodal approaches to communication can disentangle corporate mass media manipulation.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-lea/article/view/7644Blogscorporate mediaMalala Yousafzaimedia manipulation
spellingShingle Maria Sindoni
Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
Lea
Blogs
corporate media
Malala Yousafzai
media manipulation
title Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
title_full Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
title_fullStr Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
title_full_unstemmed Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
title_short Can the Powerless Speak? Linguistic and Multimodal Corporate Media Manipulation in Digital Environments: the Case of Malala Yousafzai
title_sort can the powerless speak linguistic and multimodal corporate media manipulation in digital environments the case of malala yousafzai
topic Blogs
corporate media
Malala Yousafzai
media manipulation
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-lea/article/view/7644
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