Corpus-Based Critical Discourse Analysis of Political Themes in Pakistani English Print Media

Abstract

This study investigates the complex relationship between language, media, and politics through a
comprehensive corpus-based critical discourse analysis of political themes in the Pakistani
English newspaper Dawn from 2018 to 2020. The research uses James Paul Gee’s discourse
analysis framework and corpus linguistics tool AntConc to explore how governance, justice,
opposition, and public issues are linguistically constructed and framed. The compiled corpus of
275 articles, encompassing over 200,000 words, was analyzed for collocations, concordance
patterns, and thematic structures to uncover how specific linguistic choices reflect and reinforce
socio-political ideologies and power relations. Key findings reveal the media’s strategic use of
language to shape public narratives, emphasizing governance and accountability while reflecting
contentious political dynamics. Gee’s tools, including the Situated Meaning and Big ―D‖
Discourse, were pivotal in identifying how language operates within social contexts to construct
broader narratives that resonate with public opinion and influence political discourse. This study
addresses significant gaps in discourse analysis by integrating qualitative and quantitative
methodologies to provide a nuanced understanding of the media’s role in shaping political
realities in Pakistan. The research contributes to media studies, political communication, and
discourse analysis by offering empirical insights into how language functions as a descriptive
and constitutive force. This work lays the foundation for future research to extend these
methodologies to other media outlets and linguistic contexts, further illuminating the interplay
between language, media, and politics.