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Journal of English Linguistics
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Fleeing, Sneaking, Flooding

A Corpus Analysis of Discursive Constructions of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK Press, 1996-2005

Costas Gabrielatos

Lancaster University, UK

Paul Baker

Lancaster University, UK

This paper examines the discursive construction of refugees and asylum seekers (and to a lesser extent immigrants and migrants) in a 140-million-word corpus of UK press articles published between 1996 and 2005. Taking a corpus-based approach, the data were analyzed not only as a whole, but also with regard to synchronic variation, by carrying out concordance analyses of keywords which occurred within tabloid and broad-sheet newspapers, and diachronic change, albeit mainly approached from an unusual angle, by investigating consistent collocates and frequencies of specific terms over time. The analyses point to a number of (mainly negative) categories of representation, the existence and development of nonsensical terms (e.g., illegal refugee), and media confusion and conflation of definitions of the four terms under examination. The paper concludes by critically discussing the extent to which a corpus-based methodological stance can inform critical discourse analysis.1

Key Words: asylum • collocates • corpus • discourse • keywords • newspapers • refugees

Journal of English Linguistics, Vol. 36, No. 1, 5-38 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0075424207311247
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This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Discourse SocietyHome page
P. Baker, C. Gabrielatos, M. KhosraviNik, M. Krzyzanowski, T. McEnery, and R. Wodak
A useful methodological synergy? Combining critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics to examine discourses of refugees and asylum seekers in the UK press
Discourse Society, May 1, 2008; 19(3): 273 - 306.
[Abstract] [PDF]