Article published In: Corpus studies of language through time: Special issue of the International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 27:4 (2022)
Edited by Tony McEnery, Gavin Brookes and Isobelle Clarke
[International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 27:4] 2022
► pp. 399–427
Keywords through time
Tracking changes in press discourses of Islam
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.
Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Lancaster University.
Published online: 29 August 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22011.cla
https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.22011.cla
Abstract
This paper applies a new approach to the identification of discourses, based on Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), to the study of discourse variation over time. The MCA approach to keywords deals with a major issue with the use of keywords to identify discourses: the allocation of individual keywords to multiple discourses. Yet, as this paper demonstrates, the approach also allows us to observe variation in the prevalence of discourses over time. The MCA approach to keywords allows the allocation of individual texts to multiple discourses based on patterns of keyword co-occurrence. Metadata in the corpus data analysed (here, UK newspaper articles about Islam) can then be used to map those discourses over time, resulting in a clear view of how the discourses vary relative to one another as time progresses. The paper argues that the drivers for these fluctuations are language external; the real-world events reported on in the newspapers.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Islam in the press: Change over time
- 3.Keywords and time
- 4.Data and approach
- 4.1The corpus
- 4.2The MCA approach to keywords
- 4.3Using keyword co-occurrence to explore changing discourse through time
- 5.Results
- 5.1Dimension 2: War, terrorism, and conflict vs. everyday life
- 5.2Dimension 3: Foreign affairs vs. domestic affairs
- 5.3Dimension 4: Western political conflict vs. overseas conflict
- 5.4Dimension 5: UK vs. US policy
- 5.5Dimension 6: Globalisation vs. tribalism
- 5.6Dimension 7: Corruption and human rights vs. the aftermath of terror attacks
- 5.7Dimension 8: The rise of the far-right vs. rhe radicalisation of Muslims
- 5.8Dimension 9: Political processes related to elections vs. security threats
- 5.9Broad trends influencing multiple dimensions
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
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