Words that matter: The use of language with hate purposes

This chapter introduces the rationale behind the volume and the main topics discussed in the various chapters. It surveys the difficulties surrounding the definition of hate speech and singles out the main issues that are relevant for its linguistic investigation: besides the lexical elements (slurs, insults, derogatory epithets), more hidden pragmatic and grammatical strategies are also argued to characterise hate speech and aggressive language. In this respect, a rigorous evaluation of the contextual conditions by means of the tools provided by linguistics helps towards establishing a more precise identification of types of hate speech in conversational dynamics (explicit and implicit hate speech, intensity and degree of offensiveness, intentions, and effects).