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The Crisis in Discourse: As an Event, a Discursive Semantics, and a Culture
1EA 7345 Clesthia, Language, Systems, Discourse, University Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France.
Zeitschrift Fur Literaturwissenschaft Und Linguistik
|April 16, 2024
Summary
The 2020 health crisis spurred significant linguistic innovation in French media. This study analyzes neologisms and naming conventions, exploring discourse analysis and lexical creativity in institutional and public spheres.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Discourse Analysis
- Sociolinguistics
Background:
- The 2020 health crisis (crise sanitaire) significantly impacted societal discourse, generating numerous lexical creations.
- Analysis focuses on the French print news corpus from Factiva and Europresse databases.
- Key linguistic issues include the gender of "covid-19", crisis terminology (pandemic, health crisis), and distancing terms (social vs. physical).
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the event and naming processes using discourse analysis concepts and discursive semantics.
- To investigate lexical creativity, differentiating between institutional and ordinary people's discourse.
- To examine the spread and dictionary inclusion of neologisms.
Main Methods:
- Discourse analysis applied to the concept of "crisis" and its naming.
- Discursive semantics framework for analyzing linguistic phenomena.
- Lexical creativity study focusing on neologisms in different discourse spheres.
Main Results:
- Identified numerous lexical creations and discourse shifts related to the health crisis.
- Observed competition and evolution in terminology, such as "social distancing" vs. "physical distancing".
- Documented the emergence and adoption of neologisms in French dictionaries and common usage.
Conclusions:
- The health crisis has demonstrably influenced language, fostering significant lexical innovation.
- Discourse analysis provides valuable insights into how societal events shape language use.
- Further contrastive discourse analysis considering multiple languages and cultures is warranted.
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