Stance-taking on brexit in small stories on facebook

Abstract

This paper looks at how the stance of English-speaking Facebook users towards Brexit is actualized in their comments to posts addressing this issue. By using a mixed research approach, which combines narratological analysis of small stories (Georgakopoulou, 2007) with stance-taking theory (Du Bois, 2007), this paper puts to scrutiny 187 small stories which appeared online in January-June 2021. In the focus of attention are verbal and non-verbal stance-taking devices which are analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. It is shown that both rational and affective stance of anglophone tellers of small stories about Brexit is mostly negative, which can be accounted for by fears and worries caused by the negative trends in home and foreign affairs in the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit period.