Discourse &Communication, Volume 18, Issue 1, Page 146-149, February 2024.
Category Archives: SAGE Publications: Discourse & Communication
Book review: Anaïs Augé, Metaphor and Argumentation in Climate Crisis Discourse
Discourse &Communication, Volume 18, Issue 1, Page 139-143, February 2024.
Aircraft accident reports: A corpus-based genre analysis
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Based on a corpus of ‘Aircraft Accident Reports’ (AARs) collected from the official website of The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), issued during the years 2000–2021, this study used Bhatia’s Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) framework to examine how this type of techno-professional discourse is recognized by considering the text, the genre, the professional practice, and the professional culture of the corpus. It was found that (1) textually, both Move2 collecting information, and Move3 Analyzing Information are the lengthiest moves within the corpus regarding the number of tokens, while Move1 Summarizing the Accident, Move4 Reaching Conclusion, Move5 Sharing Recommendations, and Move6 Board Member Statement are the shortest in length; (2) the generic move structure of the corpus contained six-move pattern (five of them are obligatory, and only one is optional), 11 steps, and 40 sub-steps; (3) the professional practice of the corpus is expressed through two types of discursive processes, they are: genre-mixing, and genre-embedding; and (4) the professional culture is presented through a set of professional values imbedded in the corpus, they are: embracing change and learn from mistakes, and maintaining objectivity and impartiality. The results of this study contribute in understanding the realization of professional discourse and expand the application of CGA in professional practices.
Based on a corpus of ‘Aircraft Accident Reports’ (AARs) collected from the official website of The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), issued during the years 2000–2021, this study used Bhatia’s Critical Genre Analysis (CGA) framework to examine how this type of techno-professional discourse is recognized by considering the text, the genre, the professional practice, and the professional culture of the corpus. It was found that (1) textually, both Move2 collecting information, and Move3 Analyzing Information are the lengthiest moves within the corpus regarding the number of tokens, while Move1 Summarizing the Accident, Move4 Reaching Conclusion, Move5 Sharing Recommendations, and Move6 Board Member Statement are the shortest in length; (2) the generic move structure of the corpus contained six-move pattern (five of them are obligatory, and only one is optional), 11 steps, and 40 sub-steps; (3) the professional practice of the corpus is expressed through two types of discursive processes, they are: genre-mixing, and genre-embedding; and (4) the professional culture is presented through a set of professional values imbedded in the corpus, they are: embracing change and learn from mistakes, and maintaining objectivity and impartiality. The results of this study contribute in understanding the realization of professional discourse and expand the application of CGA in professional practices.
Book review: María José Luzón and Carmen Pérez-Llantada, Digital genres in Academic Knowledge Production and Communication: Perspectives and Practices
Discourse &Communication, Volume 18, Issue 1, Page 149-152, February 2024.
Book review: Alla Tovares and Cynthia Gordon (eds), Identity and Ideology in Digital Food Discourse: Social Media Interactions Across Cultural Contexts
Discourse &Communication, Volume 18, Issue 1, Page 143-146, February 2024.
Constructing ambivalent masculinity and constant femininity in interracial families: Media representations of African-Chinese marriage on Xiaohongshu
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Interracial marriage has increasingly gained visibility on Chinese social media platforms, especially African-Chinese marriage which has been popularly represented, sparking heated discussions publically. However, although several studies have touched upon interracial marriage with analyses through political and geographical lenses, few studies investigated the media representations and mediated comments towards African-Chinese marriage in China as it has become a hot topic on Chinese social media platforms recently. To fill this niche, this study explores how African-Chinese marriage is represented on Chinese social media through mediated public comments, and what ideological implication of represented subjectivity of male and female in African-Chinese marriage. Through feminist critical discourse analysis and intersectional perspective, it found that ambivalent masculinity and constant femininity are constructed in African-Chinese marriage through comments where Chinese males are predominantly represented as positive figures, while African men are greatly dehumanised and criticised. As for women, although public attitudes are distinctive towards Chinese and African women, they, sharing the collective identity of females, are restricted in the traditional conception of gender dichotomy. Finally, the social contextualisation of such representations and potential ideological implications will be generally discussed.
Interracial marriage has increasingly gained visibility on Chinese social media platforms, especially African-Chinese marriage which has been popularly represented, sparking heated discussions publically. However, although several studies have touched upon interracial marriage with analyses through political and geographical lenses, few studies investigated the media representations and mediated comments towards African-Chinese marriage in China as it has become a hot topic on Chinese social media platforms recently. To fill this niche, this study explores how African-Chinese marriage is represented on Chinese social media through mediated public comments, and what ideological implication of represented subjectivity of male and female in African-Chinese marriage. Through feminist critical discourse analysis and intersectional perspective, it found that ambivalent masculinity and constant femininity are constructed in African-Chinese marriage through comments where Chinese males are predominantly represented as positive figures, while African men are greatly dehumanised and criticised. As for women, although public attitudes are distinctive towards Chinese and African women, they, sharing the collective identity of females, are restricted in the traditional conception of gender dichotomy. Finally, the social contextualisation of such representations and potential ideological implications will be generally discussed.
‘Arm your community’: Ideology in vaccine advertising campaigns across countries
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This paper represents a comparative study that explores the governmental vaccine advertising campaigns that were authorised by two English-speaking and two German-speaking countries – namely Australia, Britain, Austria and Germany – within the context of the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The data set in question comprises 40 vaccination posters issued by each country’s respective government between January 2021 and July 2022, all of which were displayed in public spaces. The study aims to explore how national governments use their ideological foothold to persuade their respective populations to take action against the virus by getting vaccinated, thus demonstrating how ideology and persuasion are interrelated in governmental vaccine campaigns across countries. In terms of methodology, this comparative study employs primarily methods of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA). The strategies identified in the four countries under investigation concentrate largely on two key strategies: (1) providing a sense of community and solidarity; (2) issuing warnings and eliciting a sense of fear. The discourses of the German-speaking countries gravitate towards the discursive strategy of community, with Austria constituting a notable exception. In contrast, the Anglophone discourse in Britain and Australia employs strategies involving fear and warning, although their campaigns differ in terms of the intensity of the discourse they employ.
This paper represents a comparative study that explores the governmental vaccine advertising campaigns that were authorised by two English-speaking and two German-speaking countries – namely Australia, Britain, Austria and Germany – within the context of the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The data set in question comprises 40 vaccination posters issued by each country’s respective government between January 2021 and July 2022, all of which were displayed in public spaces. The study aims to explore how national governments use their ideological foothold to persuade their respective populations to take action against the virus by getting vaccinated, thus demonstrating how ideology and persuasion are interrelated in governmental vaccine campaigns across countries. In terms of methodology, this comparative study employs primarily methods of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA). The strategies identified in the four countries under investigation concentrate largely on two key strategies: (1) providing a sense of community and solidarity; (2) issuing warnings and eliciting a sense of fear. The discourses of the German-speaking countries gravitate towards the discursive strategy of community, with Austria constituting a notable exception. In contrast, the Anglophone discourse in Britain and Australia employs strategies involving fear and warning, although their campaigns differ in terms of the intensity of the discourse they employ.
Representation of social actors in economic and financial crimes reports in selected Nigerian newspapers
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This paper investigates the representation of social actors in news reports on economic and financial crimes in four Nigerian newspapers: Punch, The Guardian, The Nation and ThisDay. Theo van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic inventory for the representation of social actors and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) served as the theoretical framework. Five socio-semantic categories were applied in the news reports: functionalisation, backgrounding and suppression, activation and passivation, personalisation and impersonalisation and nomination and categorisation. Only the accused were both nominated and categorised. They were nominated when the reference is to people of high status and categorised when the reference is to ordinary or middle-class people. All the other social actors were nominated because of their roles in the fight against economic and financial crimes. The study shows that language is a medium for hidden meaning in the reportage of economic and financial crimes.
This paper investigates the representation of social actors in news reports on economic and financial crimes in four Nigerian newspapers: Punch, The Guardian, The Nation and ThisDay. Theo van Leeuwen’s socio-semantic inventory for the representation of social actors and Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) served as the theoretical framework. Five socio-semantic categories were applied in the news reports: functionalisation, backgrounding and suppression, activation and passivation, personalisation and impersonalisation and nomination and categorisation. Only the accused were both nominated and categorised. They were nominated when the reference is to people of high status and categorised when the reference is to ordinary or middle-class people. All the other social actors were nominated because of their roles in the fight against economic and financial crimes. The study shows that language is a medium for hidden meaning in the reportage of economic and financial crimes.
Book review: Berta García-Orosa, Sara Pérez-Seijo and Ángel Vizoso, Emerging Practices in the Age of Automated Digital Journalism: Models, Languages, and Storytelling
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
The discursive construction of organizational legitimacy in higher education: Multimodal discourse analysis on Chinese business schools
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Applying a Multimodal Discourse Analysis framework, this study focuses on university websites to explore how organizational legitimacy is constructed through discursive strategies. Our findings show that under authoritative administrative logic and market logic, universities construct two organizational identities: policy followers and product/service suppliers, and use exemplification and authorization strategies respectively through visual discourse to legitimate the identities. To avoid potential conflicts between the legitimacy claims associated with these two identities, universities apply a decoupling strategy to isolate the two identities, along with both explicit and implicit expressions, through the intertextuality between visual and verbal discourses. The constitutive characteristics of universities’ website discourse reveal the complexity of Chinese institutional context in higher education field and the constitutive influence of the institutional background on organizational discourse and legitimation strategies.
Applying a Multimodal Discourse Analysis framework, this study focuses on university websites to explore how organizational legitimacy is constructed through discursive strategies. Our findings show that under authoritative administrative logic and market logic, universities construct two organizational identities: policy followers and product/service suppliers, and use exemplification and authorization strategies respectively through visual discourse to legitimate the identities. To avoid potential conflicts between the legitimacy claims associated with these two identities, universities apply a decoupling strategy to isolate the two identities, along with both explicit and implicit expressions, through the intertextuality between visual and verbal discourses. The constitutive characteristics of universities’ website discourse reveal the complexity of Chinese institutional context in higher education field and the constitutive influence of the institutional background on organizational discourse and legitimation strategies.