Abstract
Hate speech is on the increase, especially with the rise of radical voices who use migrants and Muslims as fodder for their debates and speeches, inciting the stigmatization and exclusion of these minorities. This article examines the linguistic hallmarks of hate speech on social networks, including X, following the events of Nanterre in 2023. It involves a pragmatic-linguistic analysis of the linguistic processes used by Twitter users to express their hatred of the Other. We are interested in the mechanisms used by these speakers to propagate feelings of hatred and contempt on social networks. The results show that hate speech is based on contempt for the Other and disgust, which leads to acts of condemnation such as insults and incitement to annihilate the target by calling for violence and war. These are all explicit expressions of hatred, while others, such as irony and humor, serve to conceal hatred in the discourse so that it is latent and far removed from any accusation.