Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This article focuses on migrant workers (MWs) during Covid-19 in Singapore. A second wave of Covid-19 transmissions in MW dormitories in 2020 had cast a spotlight on this vulnerable population, amidst inter/national criticisms of the national government for oversight. From a critical discourse studies perspective, we examine how the national newspaper attempted to restore a positive self-image of the Singapore government, through the discursive mobilization of ‘ideological circles’. These ideological circles involve, variously, positive and negative discursive presentational strategies of the Singapore government, its MWs, selected regional governments, and their MWs. The study unpacks the ideological mechanisms at work in the restoration of the government’s reputation as well as examines the implications for MWs in Singapore as perpetual ‘others’.
Category Archives: SAGE Publications: Discourse & Communication
Book review: Nicole Mockler, Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and Their Work
Discourse &Communication, Volume 17, Issue 5, Page 691-694, October 2023.
Book review: Arnulf Deppermann and Michael Haugh (eds), Action Ascription in Interaction
Discourse &Communication, Volume 17, Issue 5, Page 695-697, October 2023.
Extra cues extra views: A multimodal detection of Arabic clickbait thumbnail verbo-visual cues
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
In this article, we investigate how the visual, interactional, and interactive verbo-visual selections are utilized to qualify Arabic clickbait thumbnails to get extra views. To this end, we drew upon Kress and Van Leeuwen’s multimodal analysis and Hyland’s meta-discourse framework. The data comprised 100 Arabic YouTube clickbait thumbnails selected from five Arabic channels. Our analysis revealed that a fake clickbait is an ensemble of collaborative modes, each of which reflects an interplay of interactional, compositional, and representational strategic selections. Thumbnail creators tend to structure their thumbnails visually by frequently selecting negative representational actional and reactional processes to induce viewers to click the videos for further information. To accentuate the representational metafunction, the content creators opted for enticing engagement markers and interactive linguistic cataphoric cues that lead the viewers to search for the referents disguised in the videos associated with thumbnails. Emojis, sequences of exclamation marks, and consecutive dots were also used as pressure tactics to click the videos. Such results will hopefully contribute to recognizing fake visual media and raise vulnerable viewers’ awareness against such fake videos.
In this article, we investigate how the visual, interactional, and interactive verbo-visual selections are utilized to qualify Arabic clickbait thumbnails to get extra views. To this end, we drew upon Kress and Van Leeuwen’s multimodal analysis and Hyland’s meta-discourse framework. The data comprised 100 Arabic YouTube clickbait thumbnails selected from five Arabic channels. Our analysis revealed that a fake clickbait is an ensemble of collaborative modes, each of which reflects an interplay of interactional, compositional, and representational strategic selections. Thumbnail creators tend to structure their thumbnails visually by frequently selecting negative representational actional and reactional processes to induce viewers to click the videos for further information. To accentuate the representational metafunction, the content creators opted for enticing engagement markers and interactive linguistic cataphoric cues that lead the viewers to search for the referents disguised in the videos associated with thumbnails. Emojis, sequences of exclamation marks, and consecutive dots were also used as pressure tactics to click the videos. Such results will hopefully contribute to recognizing fake visual media and raise vulnerable viewers’ awareness against such fake videos.
Book review: Tan S and Marissa KL.E (eds), Discourses, Modes, Media and Meaning in an Era of Pandemic: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Approach
Discourse &Communication, Volume 17, Issue 5, Page 685-687, October 2023.
Book review: Grace Qiao Zhang and Ming-Yu Tseng, Elasticity in Healthcare Communication
Discourse &Communication, Volume 17, Issue 5, Page 688-691, October 2023.
‘She is not a virgin so why refuse the lecturer sex?’: An appraisal of cyberspace discourse of sexual harassment in Nigerian tertiary institutions
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
This study argues that online discourse about female victims of sexual harassment contain stances and stereotypical assumptions that portray negative attitudes towards the victims. Using Martin and White’s Appraisal Theory aided by Lazar’s Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, it analyses the attitudes and opinions of Nigerian online participants about the victims, and discusses the ideological perceptions about them in order to explicate the nature of discursivity and stance-taking in online discussions on sexual harassment cases in Nigerian Universities. The data comprise 500 readers’ comments on online narrations about sexual harassment in five Nigerian universities downloaded from Nairaland.com. Findings reveal the use of negative affect and judgement expressed towards victims of sexual harassment present them as liars and willing accomplices in the harassment situation. Also, dimensions of ideological perceptions of females portray them as guilty victims whose behaviours and actions instigated the harassment.
This study argues that online discourse about female victims of sexual harassment contain stances and stereotypical assumptions that portray negative attitudes towards the victims. Using Martin and White’s Appraisal Theory aided by Lazar’s Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis, it analyses the attitudes and opinions of Nigerian online participants about the victims, and discusses the ideological perceptions about them in order to explicate the nature of discursivity and stance-taking in online discussions on sexual harassment cases in Nigerian Universities. The data comprise 500 readers’ comments on online narrations about sexual harassment in five Nigerian universities downloaded from Nairaland.com. Findings reveal the use of negative affect and judgement expressed towards victims of sexual harassment present them as liars and willing accomplices in the harassment situation. Also, dimensions of ideological perceptions of females portray them as guilty victims whose behaviours and actions instigated the harassment.
Public discourse on refugees in social media: A case study of the Netherlands
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are starting to become places where people present and evaluate various events. Moreover, these websites influence value perception of their users and readers. The article discusses the refugee crisis in Europe and initiatives like ‘Refugees Welcome Netherlands’ and ‘Refugees Not Welcome Netherlands’ that have been launched to help or oppose refugees. It aims to analyse the formation of the discourse on refugee integration in social media in the Netherlands and its impact on individuals’ attitudes towards refugees. The article uses statistics, images and social media posts to provide deeper insights on the topic. The study also highlights Dutch government’s approach to refugees and their integration and Government’s concern about growing intolerance towards immigrants. The study is relevant to shed light on how political decisions and public opinion condition refugee integration processes in the host society.
Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are starting to become places where people present and evaluate various events. Moreover, these websites influence value perception of their users and readers. The article discusses the refugee crisis in Europe and initiatives like ‘Refugees Welcome Netherlands’ and ‘Refugees Not Welcome Netherlands’ that have been launched to help or oppose refugees. It aims to analyse the formation of the discourse on refugee integration in social media in the Netherlands and its impact on individuals’ attitudes towards refugees. The article uses statistics, images and social media posts to provide deeper insights on the topic. The study also highlights Dutch government’s approach to refugees and their integration and Government’s concern about growing intolerance towards immigrants. The study is relevant to shed light on how political decisions and public opinion condition refugee integration processes in the host society.
The medium is accountable: Metacommunication and media ideologies about voice messages in WhatsApp chats
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Voice messages (VMs), which allow users to send recorded messages to other contacts, are a popular feature of instant messaging applications. Despite their popularity, linguistic research on VMs is still in its infancy. This study analyses metacommunication around VMs in mobile messaging conversations among WhatsApp users in Germany and Spain. It focuses on participants’ metacommunicative accounts (such as references, explanations, or motivations) of their preference for audio posting over other forms of communication (e.g. texting). Drawing on recent advances in digital conversation analysis, we examine how accounts placed in different sequential positions in messenger chats (preceding a VM, at the beginning or end of a VM, or after it has been sent) address diverse aspects of voice messaging (from either the sender’s or recipient’s perspective). We demonstrate that accounting accomplishes different social actions, such as framing a VM as something outstanding or worth apologising for. We argue that a sequential analysis of accounting and metacommunication offers rich insights into users’ media ideologies concerning the appropriateness and timing of text and voice messaging. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the growing importance of voice in mobile communication.
Voice messages (VMs), which allow users to send recorded messages to other contacts, are a popular feature of instant messaging applications. Despite their popularity, linguistic research on VMs is still in its infancy. This study analyses metacommunication around VMs in mobile messaging conversations among WhatsApp users in Germany and Spain. It focuses on participants’ metacommunicative accounts (such as references, explanations, or motivations) of their preference for audio posting over other forms of communication (e.g. texting). Drawing on recent advances in digital conversation analysis, we examine how accounts placed in different sequential positions in messenger chats (preceding a VM, at the beginning or end of a VM, or after it has been sent) address diverse aspects of voice messaging (from either the sender’s or recipient’s perspective). We demonstrate that accounting accomplishes different social actions, such as framing a VM as something outstanding or worth apologising for. We argue that a sequential analysis of accounting and metacommunication offers rich insights into users’ media ideologies concerning the appropriateness and timing of text and voice messaging. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the growing importance of voice in mobile communication.
Public communication of technoscience in the news: A cross-linguistic Multidimensional analysis of English and Italian newspapers
Discourse &Communication, Ahead of Print.
Technoscience has historically been endowed by modern societies with cultural authority, which has undergone significant questioning since the end of WWII. In this study, we consider technoscience communication in online newspapers to test whether its linguistic and communicative features differentiate it from other types of news, possibly reflecting greater cultural authority. Focusing on news in English versus Italian, we apply Multidimensional analysis to a comparable English-Italian online news corpus comparing technoscience-related articles with all remaining articles. Results indicate overall linguistic and communicative homogeneity between science and other domains. Nevertheless, small differences seem to suggest an effort to make technoscience accessible and engaging in English, whereas Italian technoscience-related news tends to be more formal and richer in specialised information.
Technoscience has historically been endowed by modern societies with cultural authority, which has undergone significant questioning since the end of WWII. In this study, we consider technoscience communication in online newspapers to test whether its linguistic and communicative features differentiate it from other types of news, possibly reflecting greater cultural authority. Focusing on news in English versus Italian, we apply Multidimensional analysis to a comparable English-Italian online news corpus comparing technoscience-related articles with all remaining articles. Results indicate overall linguistic and communicative homogeneity between science and other domains. Nevertheless, small differences seem to suggest an effort to make technoscience accessible and engaging in English, whereas Italian technoscience-related news tends to be more formal and richer in specialised information.