Rhetoric of oppression – linguistic maps and semantic classifications

ABSTRACT Language gives rise to consciousness and consciousness gives rise to reality. In 2018 we are more aware of the existence of oppressive language than we have been in recent decades, perhaps in part due to the reach of social media and the 24/7 coverage of events and discourse in the public space. In reality, oppressive language has been with us for centuries. This poster represents an effort to map and document the characteristics of the rhetoric of war, economic, cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender oppression, social alienation, extremism, anti‐immigration, and political language. The poster presents the results a map of rhetorical elements, describes its application to the language of the ten areas noted above, and the model's translation into an early stage semantic profile for detection of oppressive language in written text or transcribed speech. The poster will also include test results generated prior to the ASIST Conference.