Computer-assisted digital text analysis for journalism and communications research: introducing corpus linguistic techniques that do not require programming

2020 ◽  
pp. 1329878X2094712
Author(s):  
Monika Bednarek ◽  
Georgia Carr
Keyword(s):  
Computational Methods ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Technical Expertise ◽  
Digital Text ◽  
Health News ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Digital Methods

Digital methods are becoming more and more important for text analysis in communications research. However, many computational methods require either relevant technical expertise or multi-disciplinary collaboration, which has impeded their uptake. This article introduces an alternative: computer-assisted linguistic analysis (corpus linguistics), an approach that is increasingly being used outside linguistics and requires less expertise. The article uses a dataset of almost 700 items of health news to demonstrate how such techniques can aid the analysis of (dis)preferred language, sources, stigma and responsibility, framing, and project-specific text analysis. We conclude with an evaluation of the key advantages and limitations of corpus linguistic analysis.

scholarly journals The Coevolutionary Process of Maritime Management of Shipping Industry in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1293
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Zhikuan Sun
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Shipping Industry ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Member States ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Naturally Occurring

This study investigates how international organizations, International Maritime Organization (IMO) member states, and associate members have embarked on maritime management (MM) measures to address dire situations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the evolution of MM practices from international organizations, IMO member states, and associate members to ensure the resilience and sustainability of the shipping industry. Corpus linguistics was employed as a computer-assisted method to assess a large number of naturally occurring texts. Circular letters from international organizations and member states listed on the IMO website from January 2020 to July 2021 were curated and built into three corpora. Through corpus linguistic analysis of circulars from three different crisis phases (Pre-/early-crisis, Crisis in progress, Post-COVID-19 crisis phase), we discovered an MM progression mechanism developed between stakeholders in conjunction with the post-crisis period. The study presented the “MM-as-process” vision to emphasize the time-varying dynamic nature of MM development during the disruption.

1970s Drought, State Crisis, and Opportunities for Transnational River Development in the Senegal Basin

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Rebecca E. Wall
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
West African ◽  
Political Capacity ◽  
Digital Text ◽  
Senegal River ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
State Organization ◽  
Senegal River Basin

Abstract During the early 1970s, the Sahel suffered from drought and famine. Previous research has emphasized how these factors weakened West African states. The drought, however, provided an opportunity for a transnational river organization in the Senegal River basin (the OMVS) to obtain financing for an integrated development program. Wall shows how the OMVS leveraged concern about famine to obtain funding. She uses digital text analysis to demonstrate institutional priorities shifting to focus on agriculture. This combination of document analysis with digital methods demonstrates how famine strengthened a multi-state organization, requiring a revision of how this event affected African political capacity.

scholarly journals Fundamentalist and tolerant islamic discourse in john updike’s terrorist and jonathan wright’s translation the televangelist: a corpus-based critical discourse analysis of semantic prosody

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahlam Ahmed Mohamed Othman
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Linguistic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Data Selection ◽  
Corpus Linguistic ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Semantic Prosody

Corpus-based critical discourse analysis studies have gained momentum in the last decade. Corpus Linguistics allowed critical discourse analysts to avoid bias in data selection and enlarge their samples for more representative findings. Critical Discourse Analysis, on the other hand, gave depth to corpus linguistic analysis by contextualizing it. The present study combines the two approaches to analyze the semantic prosody of Islamic keywords common to John Updike's Terrorist published in 2006 and Jonathan Wright’s translation The Televangelist published in 2016. The results of the corpus-based analysis show that while the semantic prosody of Islamic keywords is negative in Updike’s novel, it is highly positive in the translated novel. The conclusion is that Van Dijk’s proposition of the polarized representation of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ holds for Updike’s fundamentalist Islamic discourse which negatively represents Islam and Muslims. However, Van Dijk’s proposition holds only partially for Wright's tolerant Islamic discourse which positively represents Islam and Muslims without misrepresenting the other.

Analyzing Language in Suicide Notes and Legacy Tokens

Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Egnoto ◽  
Darrin J. Griffin
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Automated Identification ◽  
Completed Suicide ◽  
Suicide Notes ◽  
Self Harm ◽  
Harm To Others

Abstract. Background: Identifying precursors that will aid in the discovery of individuals who may harm themselves or others has long been a focus of scholarly research. Aim: This work set out to determine if it is possible to use the legacy tokens of active shooters and notes left from individuals who completed suicide to uncover signals that foreshadow their behavior. Method: A total of 25 suicide notes and 21 legacy tokens were compared with a sample of over 20,000 student writings for a preliminary computer-assisted text analysis to determine what differences can be coded with existing computer software to better identify students who may commit self-harm or harm to others. Results: The results support that text analysis techniques with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool are effective for identifying suicidal or homicidal writings as distinct from each other and from a variety of student writings in an automated fashion. Conclusion: Findings indicate support for automated identification of writings that were associated with harm to self, harm to others, and various other student writing products. This work begins to uncover the viability or larger scale, low cost methods of automatic detection for individuals suffering from harmful ideation.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED TEXT-ANALYSIS FOR ESL STUDENTS

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 40-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Reid ◽  
Peggy Lindstrom, ◽  
Maggie McCaffrey ◽  
Doug Larson
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
Esl Students

scholarly journals Chinese views on nuclear weapons: Evidence from an online survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316802110328
Author(s):  
Naomi Egel ◽  
R. Lincoln Hines
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Text Analysis ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Computer Assisted ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Defense ◽  
Public Views ◽  
Chinese Public

What are Chinese public attitudes regarding nuclear weapons? Although scholars have studied Chinese elites’ views on nuclear weapons, surprisingly little is known about the views of China’s public. To understand Chinese public views on nuclear weapons, we conduct an online survey ( N = 1066) of Chinese respondents. This is, to our knowledge, the first survey of Chinese public attitudes towards nuclear weapons. We find that although Chinese citizens view the possession of nuclear weapons as important for their country’s security, they strongly oppose the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances. We also provide respondents an opportunity to describe their views on nuclear weapons in their own words. Using computer-assisted text analysis, we assess patterns in these open-ended responses and compare across age groups. We find that younger respondents emphasize non-material factors such as having a greater voice internationally, whereas older respondents emphasize self-defense. Overall, this analysis sheds light on the public attitudes that may shape China’s evolving approach to nuclear weapons.

USING CORPUS LINGUISTICS TO DESCRIBE CORPORATIONS’ IDEOLOGIES

2006 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-24
Author(s):  
Renata Fox
Keyword(s):  
Text Analysis ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Mission Statements ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Quantitative Methodology ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Symbolic Universe

This article applies corpus linguistics to research the ideologies of Fortune 500 corporations as institutionalised through those corporations’ mission statements. The methodology used is both qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative methodology relates to the semantics of corporations’ ideologies. More precisely, it explains the ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts found in corporations’ mission statements, the relation between those ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts and society, and what makes those ideas, beliefs, meanings, and concepts meaningful. Quantitative methodology relates to the description and comparison of corporations’ ideologies based on a corpus-driven approach and computational text analysis of a corpus of corporations’ mission statements. Ultimately, through its ideology a corporation creates a symbolic universe: “a matrix of all social and individual meanings” that determines the significance of the corporation and its stakeholders.

scholarly journals Making corpus data visible: visualising text with research intermediaries

Corpora ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Allen
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Technical Aspects ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Practical Factors ◽  
Project Objectives

Researchers using corpora can visualise their data and analyses using a growing number of tools. Visualisations are especially valuable in environments where researchers communicate and work with public-facing partners under the auspices of ‘knowledge exchange’ or ‘impact’, and corpus data are more available thanks to digital methods. However, although the field of corpus linguistics continues to generate its own range of techniques, it largely remains orientated towards finding ways for academics to communicate results directly with other academics rather than with or through groups outside universities. Also, there is a lack of discussion about how communication, motivations and values also feature in the process of making corpus data visible. My argument is that these sociocultural and practical factors also influence visualisation outputs alongside technical aspects. I draw upon two corpus-based projects about press portrayal of migrants, conducted by an intermediary organisation that links university researchers with users outside academia. Analysing these projects' visualisation outputs in their organisational and communication contexts produces key lessons for researchers wanting to visualise text; consider the aims and values of partners; develop communication strategies that acknowledge different areas of expertise; and link visualisation choices with wider project objectives.

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