A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL MEDIA BULLYING BETWEEN FEMALE- FEMALE IRAQI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

The current research investigates the phenomena of online verbal bullying in social media performed by Iraqi students at the University of Mosul at the first level. Who used the informal Arabic language.Verbal bullying has been extensively investigated, yet from a linguistic perspective has not been given due interest in the Iraqi context before at the university institution.The common expressions used by female-female students that have not been linguistically, or socially analyzed at least. To address this, gap the study employs a critical discourse analysis approach to analyze the content messages to identify the common expression of verbal bullying delivered by female bullies against the female target. The data were collected from the official students' chat in the forms of screenshots and messages Several research questions are sought to discover the linguistic realization of bullying and whether these types of bullying expressions are frequently used by female student groups in Telegram chat. Certain hypotheses are raised such as the most frequent expressions used in bullying refer to physical traits, gossiping, cursing, slander, and sarcasm bullying expressions. Various results were gained and approved the hypothesis raised.The outcomes of this research provide valuable insights into the linguistic aspects of social media bullying among Iraqi university students, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of this prevalent issue within the cultural and educational context in  Iraq.