The Role of Previous Discourse in Identifying Public Textual Cyberbullying

[EN] In this paper we investigate the contribution of previous discourse in identifying elements that are key to detecting public textual cyberbullying. Based on the analysis of our dataset, we first discuss the missing cyberbullying elements and the grammatical structures representative of discourse-dependent cyberbullying discourse. Then we identify four types of discourse dependent cyberbullying constructions: (1) fully inferable constructions, (2) personal marker and cyberbullying link inferable constructions, (3) dysphemistic element and cyberbullying link inferable constructions, and (4) dysphemistic element inferable constructions. Finally, we formalise a framework to resolve the missing cyberbullying elements that proposes several resolution algorithms. The resolution algorithms target the following discourse dependent message types: (1) polarity answers, (2) contradictory statements, (3) explicit ellipsis, (4) implicit affirmative answers, and (5) statements that use indefinite pronouns as placeholders for thedysphemistic element. Power, A.; Keane, A.; Nolan, B.; O'neill, B. (2019). The Role of Previous Discourse in Identifying Public Textual Cyberbullying. Journal of Computer-Assisted Linguistic Research. 3(3):1-20. https://doi.org/10.4995/jclr.2019.11013 Agne, R.R., and Tracy, K. (2009). "Conversation, Dialogue, and Discourse". In 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook, edited by W.F. Eadie, 177 - 185. Sage Publications Inc. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964005.n20 Al-garadi, M.A., Varathan, K.D. and Ravana S.D. 2016. "Cybercrime Detection in Online Communications: The Experimental Case of Cyberbullying Detection in the Twitter Network." Computers in Human Behaviour, 63: 433 - 443. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.051 Allan, K. and Burridge, K. 2006. Forbidden Words: Taboo and Censoring of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511617881 Boyd, D. 2007. "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life." In MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Learning, Youth, Identity, and Digital Media, edited by David Buckingham, 1 - 26. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Chatzakou, D., Kourtellis, N., Blackburn, J., De Cristofaro, E., Stringhini, G., and Vakali, A. 2017. "Mean Birds: Detecting Aggression and Bullying on Twitter." Cornell University Library: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.06877. https://doi.org/10.1145/3091478.3091487 Chen, Y., Zhou, Y., Zhu, S. and Xu, H