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In:Representing the Other in European Media Discourses
Edited by Jan Chovanec and Katarzyna Molek-Kozakowska
[Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture 74] 2017
► pp. 81–102

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Chapter 3
The European “stranger” in Le Monde’s headline discourse

Published online: 23 November 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.74.04le
Abstract
Using systemic functional grammar, a qualitative/quantitative, top-down/bottom-up, three-pronged approach of Le Monde’s print and online headline discourse on “Europe” during 2014 revealed the existence of three groups of “Other Europeans”: non-EU member states, “visible” because of their political, economic or strategic weight, “quasi-invisible” States who joined the EU in 2004 or later, and non-EU members, invisible for their lack of political, economic or strategic weight. These various degrees of visibility, combined with the foregrounding of the European Union, point to the construction of “strangers within”, whose quasi-invisibility and quality of “neither foe nor friend” may result in them being perceived as potentially “dangerous”.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Polysemy of “Europe / European” in official designations
  • 3.Methodology
    • 3.1Corpus
    • 3.2A three-pronged approach
    • 3.3Systemic functional grammar
  • 4.First step: Polysemic use of “Europe” / “Européens” in Le Monde ’s headlines
    • 4.1Functions of “Europe”
      • 4.1.1 “Europe” as part of a designation (in LM: 1.99%; in LM.fr: 3.67%)
      • 4.1.2 “Europe” as an entity (in LM: 31.07%; in LM.fr: 27.75%)
      • 4.1.3“Europe” as a participant
        • 4.1.3.1 “Europe” as an agent (in LM: 22.8%; in LM.fr: 18.29%)
        • 4.1.3.2 “Europe” as a patient (in LM: 15.13%; in LM.fr: 14.28%)
        • 4.1.3.3 “Europe” as a beneficiary (in LM: 3.98%; in LM.fr: 4.89%)
      • 4.1.4 “Europe” as a circumstantial other than place (in LM: 3.98%; in LM.fr: 4.89%)
      • 4.1.5 “Europe” as a place circumstantial (in LM: 21.11%; in LM.fr: 26.12%)
    • 4.2“Europeans”: Inhabitants of which Europe?
  • 5.Second step: Foregrounding of the European Union
  • 6.Third step: Various degrees of visibility of individual States
  • 7.Discussion: Three categories of “Other Europeans”
  • 8.Conclusion: The quasi-invisibility of the “stranger within”
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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