Article published in:
Anglo-German Discourse Crossings and Contrasts
Edited by Sylvia Jaworska and Torsten Leuschner
[Pragmatics and Society 9:1] 2018
► pp. 52–74

Conflicts in comparison

Scottish and German discursive perspectives on the Scottish independence referendum

| University of Heidelberg
In a globalised world, national discourses are also perceived and commented on in other countries and languages. This paper focuses on newspaper coverage of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum in both Scotland and Germany, comparing two print media corpora in two languages. The linguistic depiction of the arguments and conflicts in Scottish newspapers is compared to the discussion of Scottish independence in German newspapers. In order to find conflictive ‘hotspots’ in both corpora, adversative and concessive connectors of both languages are taken as a starting point for a comparative conflict-oriented discourse analysis in seven steps. Differences and similarities of the most important conflicting concepts as well as the role of stereotypes and language difference are then compared and discussed.
Keywords: linguistic discourse analysis, comparative discourse analysis, concessive/adversative connectives, agonality, qualitative and quantitative methods, conflict analysis, discourse grammar, media discourse
Published online: 26 March 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.16023.mat
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The following articles from the corpora were quoted directly

Edinburgh Evening News
18 March 2014 “Scottish Independence: 20 questions answered.”Google Scholar
25 August 2014 “Scottish Independence debate: Salmond needs win.”Google Scholar
22 September 2014 “David Cameron hosts Tory summit over Scotland.”Google Scholar
Scotsman
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17 September 2014 “Scottish independence: Military warning over Yes.”Google Scholar
Spiegel Online
8 September 2014 “Camerons riskanter Schottenpoker.”Google Scholar
14 September 2014 “ ‘Sorgfältig über die Zukunft nachdenken.’”Google Scholar
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19 September 2014 “Noch mal davongekommen.”Google Scholar
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