VOICE WITHOUT VISIBILITY: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF ANONYMOUS ENGLISH DISCOURSE ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS

Abstract

Anonymous English digital platforms discourse involves text-based communication whereby users communicate without expressing their own identities, and as a result, it redefines the traditional standards of voice, authority as well as social responsibility. This paper examines changes in meaning, identity, and ideology brought about by anonymity in online communication through a linguistic perspective, discursive practices, and social environment using the Critical Discourse Analysis by Fairclough (1995).  Qualitative method is used  based on the analysis of publicly available forums, comment sections, and the question-answer sites and are based on the language use, grammar structures, modality, evaluative language, and interactional strategies. The analysis shows that anonymity compounds use of language in affirming voice, negotiate position and asserting power, as well as facilitation of reproduction of dominant ideologies and development of counter-discourses. The discursive actions of intertextuality, recontextualization, and platform mechanisms of circulating texts further influence the norms of interaction and ideological location. The results show that the anonymity of discourse is a socially and ideologically embedded practice in terms of the coexistence of power and resistance and the linguistic decisions play the central role in the meaning mediation with no visible identity. The research is relevant to the knowledge on digital communication, sociolinguistics and online interaction providing insights into platform design, moderation, and responsible use of an anonymous space.