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Article published In:
Register Studies
Vol. 3:1 (2021) ► pp.144–171

Multiple Correspondence Analysis, newspaper discourse and subregister

A case study of discourses of Islam in the British press

| Lancaster University
ORCID logo | Lancaster University | Xi’an Jiaotong University
ORCID logo | Lancaster University

This article introduces a new method for grouping keywords and examines the extent to which it also allows analysts to explore the interaction of discourse and subregister. It uses the multivariate statistical technique, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, to reveal dimensions of keywords which co-occur across the texts of a corpus. These dimensions are then interpreted in terms of the discourses to which they contribute within the data, thus forming the basis of a corpus-assisted discourse analysis. The approach is demonstrated through analysis of the discourses that are used to represent Muslims and Islam in a corpus of UK national newspaper articles published on these topics spanning 2010–2019. The approach reveals an interaction between discourse and subregister, hence this article argues for the need for (corpus-assisted) discourse analysts to account for subregister as a level of meaningful variation when analysing press discourse.

Keywords: keyword analysis, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, newspaper discourse, Islam
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Islam in the press: Existing research and the recent context
  • 3.Approach: Data, keyword co-occurrence and MCA
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Dimension 2: War, conflict and terrorism vs. reporting of everyday life and events (link to subregister: Yes)
    • 4.2Dimension 3: Foreign Affairs vs. domestic affairs (link to subregister: No)
    • 4.3Dimension 4: Western political conflict vs. overseas conflict (link to subregister: Yes)
    • 4.4Dimension 5: UK Policy versus US Policy (link to subregister: No)
    • 4.5Dimension 6: Globalisation vs. Tribalism
    • 4.6Dimension 7: Corruption and human rights vs. The aftermath of terror attacks (link to subregister: Yes)
    • 4.7Dimension 8: The rise of the far right vs. the radicalisation of British Muslims (link to subregister: No)
    • 4.8Dimension 9: Political processes and elections vs. political processes and security threats (link to subregister: No)
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 25 May 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/rs.20024.cla
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