Edited by Gema Alcaraz-Mármol & Jorge Soto-Almela

The general objective of this special issue is to explore the extent to which Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) and corpus-driven methodologies can be instrumental in facilitating an in-depth examination of the discursive framing of social phenomena within the contexts of mass and social media in English.

Description:

Over the past three decades, Corpus Linguistics has emerged as a significant paradigm in language studies. The interdisciplinary nature of this framework allows it to effectively underpin research across a wide array of linguistic domains including, but not limited to, lexicography (McEnery et al. 2006), translation studies (Bolaños 2007), literary analysis (Bianchi 2018), and language pedagogy (Lee & Lin 2019).

Simultaneously, the nature of our contemporary society, marked by rapid transformations and hyper-connectivity, sees an incessant and widespread dissemination of diverse information through the media and social networks, profoundly shaping our quotidian existence. Historically, social phenomena have been subjected to scholarly investigation from a multitude of disciplines, including linguistics. The predominant linguistic subfield that has consistently focused on such matters is Critical Discourse Analysis, which predominantly employs a qualitative approach (Hart 2017, Sengul 2019, Lomotey & Chachu 2020).

This special issue, however, seeks to emphasize the utility of a corpus-based methodology, situated within a quantitative framework, specifically in the realms of mass and social media (Salahshour 2016, Baker & McEnery 2015). Indeed, when it comes to studying social phenomena, corpora serve as critical instruments for discerning the ways in which language mirrors, informs, and shapes various aspects of society, consequently providing insights into the symbiotic relationship between language and social phenomena.

We are inviting original contributions that delve into the discourse of mass and social media, leveraging a representative corpus of English language and rigorous quantitative analysis, either from a synchronic or diachronic standpoint. The topics include but are not limited to the representation of:

- Women in the media or social media

- LGBTQ+ community in the media or social media

- Migration in the media or social media

- Environmental issues in the media or social media

- Politics in the media or social media

Each submission should ideally aim to illuminate the ways in which language in mass and social media constructs, deconstructs, or reconstructs the aforementioned societal phenomena and more.

Important deadlines:

• Submission of proposals (October 15, 2023): approx. 250-300 words. Please email your proposals to gema.alcaraz@uclm.es and jorge.sotoalmela@ua.es
• Acceptance of proposals (November 15, 2023)
• Submission of manuscripts (February 15, 2024): to submit your manuscript (once your proposal is accepted), go to https://raei.ua.es/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions. Please make sure your manuscript conforms to the Author Guidelines. Should you have any trouble submitting your paper, please contact jasanchez@ua.es or reme.perni@ua.es.
• Acceptance of manuscripts (April 15, 2024)
• Copyediting & typesetting (May-June)
• Publication of special issue (July 2024)

 

References:

Baker, P., and McEnery, T. (2015). Corpora and discourse studies: Integrating discourse and corpora. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bianchi, F. (2018). Rewriting Romeo and Juliet for a young audience: A corpus-assisted case study of adaptation techniques. Lingue e Linguaggi, 27, 43–65.

Bolaños, S. (2007). Source language text, parallel text, and model translated text: A pilot study in teaching translation. Forma y Función, 20, 225–252.

Hart, C. (2017) ‘Riots engulfed the city’: An experimental study investigating the legitimating effects of fire metaphors in discourses of disorder. Discourse & Society, 29(3), 279–298.

Lee, P., and Li, H. (2019). The effect of the inductive and deductive data-driven learning (DDL) on vocabulary acquisition and retention. System, 81, 14–25.

Lomotey B.A., and Chachu, S. (2020). Gender ideologies and power relations in proverbs: A crosscultural study. Journal of Pragmatics, 168(10), 69–80.

Salahshour, N. (2016). Liquid metaphors as positive evaluations: A corpus-assisted discourse analysis of the representation of migrants in a daily New Zealand newspaper. Discourse, Context & Media, 13, 73–81.

Sengul, K. (2019). Critical discourse analysis in political communication research: A case study of rightwing populist discourse in Australia. Communication Research and Practice, 5(4), 376–392.