A corpus-assisted analysis of the discursive construction of LGBT Singaporeans in media coverage of Pink Dot
Beginning in spring 2009 and continuing annually since, members of Singapore’s LGBT communities have assembled at Hong Lim
Park at an event dubbed Pink Dot. The original goal of the gathering was to help build a more inclusive nation by standing up to
discrimination faced by LGBT Singaporeans. While the early Pink Dot events were all but ignored by the mainstream state-run press, the
change in tone, the increasing number of attendees, and the participation by members of the ruling People’s Action Party and their families
made the gathering impossible to ignore. This paper uses a corpus-based keywords analysis to evaluate the main lexical differences between
the media coverage of Pink Dot by the state-run press and that of the sociopolitical blog
The Online Citizen. Two separate
language corpora (State Media and Online Citizen), each containing approximately 111,000 words, were compiled from available coverage of
Pink Dot dating from 2009 to 2018. Using SketchEngine (
Kilgarriff et al. 2004,
2014), top keywords and phrases were identified by comparing these corpora to each other. Through a
preliminary exploration of the collocational environments and the concordance lines adjoining these keywords, this paper sheds light on how
language is being deployed in an attempt to sway a debate of great national and regional significance.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background
- 3.Method and data
- 4.Results
- 4.1Keywords and semantic mapping
- 4.2Concordance and collocation
- 4.3
Homosexuality/homosexual
- 4.4
Gay
- 5.Discussion
- 5.1The state and the status quo
- 5.2Civil society and change
- 6.Concluding remarks
- Notes
-
References
References (44)
References
Ang, Peng Hwa & Nadarajan, Berlinda. 1996. Censorship and the internet: A Singapore perspective. Communications of the ACM 39(6): 72–78. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Anthony, Laurence. 2011. AntConc. Tokyo: Waseda University. <[URL]>
Baker, Paul. 2004. ‘Unnatural acts’: Discourses of homosexuality within the House of Lords debates on gay male law reform. Journal of Sociolinguistics 8(1): 88–106. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Paul, Gabrielatos, Costas & Khosravinik, Majid. 2008. 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 19(3): 273–306. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Paul. 2010. Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baker, Paul. 2014. ‘Bad wigs and screaming mimis’: Using corpus-assisted techniques to carry out critical discourse analysis of the representation of trans people in the British press. In Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies, Christopher Hart & Piotr Cap (eds), 211–235. London: Bloomsbury.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Channel News Asia. 2008. 31 registrations at Speakers’ Corner one month after relaxed rules. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
Chua, Lynette. 2012. Pragmatic resistance, law, and social movements in authoritarian states: The case of gay collective action in Singapore. Law & Society Review 46(4): 713–748. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chua, Lynette. 2014. Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights and Resistance in an Authoritarian State. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gabrielatos, Costas. 2018. Keyness analysis: Nature, metrics and techniques. In Corpus Approaches to Discourse: A Critical Review. Charlotte Taylor & Anna Marchi (eds), 225–258. Oxford: Routledge. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gellner, Ernst. 1959. Words and Things. London: Routledge.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
George, Cherian. 2007. Consolidating authoritarian rule: Calibrated coercion in Singapore. The Pacific Review 20(2): 127–145. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
The Guardian. 2019. Star Wars: Lesbian Kiss Cut from the Rise of Skywalker in Singapore. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
The Independent. 2019. ST edits out portion of Pink Dot story that said LHY and family had attended the rally. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
Kilgarriff, Adam, Rychlý, Pavel, Smrž, Pavel & Tugwell, David. 2004. The Sketch Engine. 2004. Information Technology (ITRI) 81: 105–116.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Kilgarriff, Adam, Baisa, Vít, Bušta, Jan, Jakubíček, Miloš, Kovář, Vojtěch, Michelfeit, Jan, Pavel, Rychlý & Suchomel, Vít. 2014. The Sketch Engine: Ten years on. Lexicography 11: 7–36. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, Terence. 2005. Gestural politics: Civil society in “new” Singapore. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 20(2): 132–154. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Liu, Xi. forthcoming. ‘But if Taiwan legalizes same-sex marriage…’: Discourses of homophobia and nationalism in a Chinese antigay community online. Critical Discourse Studies. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Loh, Chee Kong. 2011. Investigative journalism in Singapore. In The AWARE Saga: Civil Society and Public Morality in Singapore, Terence Chong (ed), 96–105. Singapore: NUS Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Mothership. 2019. Lee Hsien Yang attends Pink Dot for first time with Li Huanwu & Heng Yirui. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
Ooi, Can-Seng. 2010. Political pragmatism and the creative economy: Singapore as a city for the arts. International Journal of Cultural Policy 16(4): 403–417. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Phillips, Robert. 2020. Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
PinkDot.sg. 2020. FAQ: Things to know about Pink Dot. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
POFMA Office. 2019. Regulations. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
Rodan, Garry. 2003. Embracing electronic media but suppressing civil society: Authoritarian consolidation in Singapore. The Pacific Review 16(4): 503–524. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Santonocito, Carmen S. 2019. LGBT people in the speeches of Italian and British PMs: A corpus-assisted critical discourse analysis. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines 11(2): 187–212.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sinclair, John. 1991. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Singapore Department of Statistics. 2010. Census of Population 2010. <[URL][URL]>
The Straits Times. 2016. Blogger Amos Lee Arrested Again. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
The Straits Times. 2017. Pink Dot Rally to have Barricades, Security Officers, as well as Checks of Bags and ID. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
The Straits Times. 2019. Fake News Law Invoked for the First Time over Facebook Post. [URL] (October 12, 2020)
Stubbs, Michael. 1996. Text and Corpus Analysis. Oxford: Blackwell.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stubbs, Michael. 2010. Three concepts of keywords. In Keyness in Texts, Marina Bondi & Mike Scott (eds), 21–42. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tan, Chris. 2015. Pink Dot: Cultural and sexual citizenship in gay Singapore. Anthropological Quarterly 88(4): 969–996. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Thio, Li-Ann. 2003. Singapore: Regulating political speech and the commitment ‘to build a democratic society.’ International Constitutional Law Journal 1(3): 516–524. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Today Online. 2017. Only Singaporeans and PRs allowed to attend Pink Dot 2017: Organisers. <[URL]> (October 12, 2020)
Wang, Guofeng & Ma, Xueqin. 2021. Representations of LGBTQ+ issues in China in its official English-language media: A corpus-assisted critical discourse study. Critical Discourse Studies 18(2): 188–206. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Wilkinson, Mark. 2019. ‘Bisexual oysters’: A diachronic corpus-based critical discourse analysis of critical representation of bisexuals in The Times between 1957 and 2017. Discourse & Communication 13(2): 249–267. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yanita, Selly Rizki & Suhardijanto, Totok. 2020. Corpus-based analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender representations in Republika. Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities 28(1): 143–160.![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Jetubhai, Khuman Bhagirath
2024.
“Dressed like boys, hair trimmed, a nalla kutti otherwise”: construction of queer suicide in Indian online news media.
Frontiers in Sociology 9
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
García León, Javier E. & Mónica Rodríguez-Castro
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.