The language of bullying: Social issues on Chinese websites

The growing use of information and communication technology has led to the development of the global phenomenon of cyberbullying. Causes and consequences of cyberbullying, and the detection and prevention of it have been widely analysed in the fields of psychology and computer science. However, research on cyberbullying in China to date has been extremely limited, despite its recent growth in significance. As such, this research seeks to use the principles of semantics and pragmatics, and language policy and planning to analyse cyberbullying through the content analysis method. This research focuses primarily on cyberbullying word categories, the relationship between word use and forms of cyberbullying, the consequences of cyberbullying, and potential protocols for addressing this phenomenon. The primary findings reveal that internet users prefer strong or directly offensive words to mild or indirectly offensive language when the intention is to attack others or to express anger online. Contextual factors are primary and influential elements which may enable detection and/or prevention of cyberbullying. Informed by these findings, this paper considers the potential social problems caused by word usage in cyberbullying, and contributes to the development and refinement of media regulation and governance guidelines.