Subject Discourse Research Articles

Crisis and extended realities: remote presence in the time of COVID-19

The transformative influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on remote forms of communication has been a frequent theme in popular discourse during 2020, but any lingering transformation of what we do at a distance will rely on convincing and accessible forms of remote presence and interaction. Embodied communication is difficult to simulate, and this discussion examines current and emerging extended reality (XR)–based communication tools in a range of contexts to discover what role they may play in a future where crises of mobility are likely to grow more frequent and protracted. We define XR and its current uses, then examine key terms used to conceptualise it such as ‘presence’ and ‘social presence’, before highlighting social challenges of remote presence and ethical considerations that accompany its use, particularly how the technology might (or fail to) address important social problems, support education and have relevance to the future of work.

La visita infantil a la unidad de cuidados intensivos pediátricos desde la experiencia de las enfermeras

BackgroundFamily process disruption is one of the main consequences of the hospitalization of a critically ill child in a Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Children's visits to PICU may help improve family coping. However, this is not a standard practice and nurses’ experiences in facilitating children's visits to units where it is encouraged is unknown. AimTo explore nurses’ experience related to promoting the visits of siblings to PICU. MethodsAn interpretative phenomenological study was carried out through in-depth interviews in two PICUs belonging to third level public hospitals in Madrid. Twelve nurses with more than two years of experience in PICU were interviewed. They all were working in PICU during the study. Furthermore, a PICU psychologist with an experience of four years was interviewed and this was considered shadowed data. Data analysis followed a thematic discourse analysis. ResultsNurses’ experience of facilitating children's visits to PICU can be condensed into four themes: emerging demand for visits, progressive preparation, decision-making through common consensus and creating intimate spaces. ConclusionsThe experience of nurses in facilitating visits is mainly in response to the demand of families going through prolonged hospitalisation or end-of-life situations. The role of the nurse is one of accompaniment, recognising the major role of parents in the preparation of children and in developing the visit. Nurses feel insecure and lack resources for emotional support and demand action protocols to guide intervention and decision making.

Promoting and Hindering Health and Well-Being in Firefighter Discourse

The aim of this critical discourse analysis is to identify and discuss dominant and recurrent themes in firefighter discourse that promote and hinder firefighters’ health and well-being. Using critical discourse analysis, the focus is directed toward routine work culture at the station, as well as how firefighters deal with extraordinary events. The empirical material was collected from rescue services in Sweden representing different geographical areas. In total, 28 firefighters participated in focus group discussions or individual interviews. We identified dominant themes in the discourse that promoted firefighters’ health and well-being. We also identified recurrent themes that may serve as hindrances to health and well-being. We note that themes in the latter category also relate to changes in the profession and work culture, expressing external pressures on the rescue service. One reason for resistance toward change might be the health benefits that the current order of firefighter discourse brings.

The Legitimacy of International Institutions among Rising and Established Powers

AbstractThe expectation that state voice drives perceptions of the legitimacy of international institutions is a common theme in academic scholarship and policy discourse on global power shifts. This article tests this expectation empirically, using novel and unique survey data on legitimacy perceptions toward eight international institutions among political and societal elites in six countries, comprising both rising and established powers. The article finds only limited support for a link between a state’s voice in an international institution and elite perceptions of legitimacy. Differences in formal state representation are only partly reflected in patterns of perceived legitimacy across the six countries. In addition, there is no evidence at the individual level that assessments of state voice shape elites’ perceptions of institutional legitimacy. Instead, considerations of good governance best predict whether elites perceive of international institutions as more or less legitimate. These findings suggest that only institutional reforms which are seen to favor general qualities of good governance, and not narrow demands for state voice, are likely to be rewarded with greater legitimacy.

Understanding how the Australian vaccine-refusal movement perceives itself.

Public health responses to the vaccine-refusal (VR) movement are hindered by inadequate research about the movement's aims, identity and perceived value for its members. This study examined how members of the VR movement in Australia described the movement and what being part of it meant to them. Descriptions of the VR movement by 696 members from across Australia were collected between January and May in 2017 via an online survey. The data were analysed using thematic discourse analysis. Members' understandings of the movement and the beliefs underpinning these understandings were examined. Vaccine refusal was underpinned by distinct epistemic beliefs. Participants believed that mainstream vaccine promotion relies on dishonest communication of compromised research. They saw the VR movement as a science-based movement, researching both 'mainstream' and 'hidden' knowledge, promoting scientific values and advocating for better vaccine studies. Participants believed responsible parenting requires personally researching healthcare choices. Participants constructed the movement's identity in relation to common criticisms of vaccine refusal. These were discredited and repurposed to portray the movement as being brave and righteous. Participants believed people in the movement are astute, informed, responsible and courageous. They believed many members were impacted by vaccine-related harms, from which the movement now saves others. They saw themselves as fighting for an inconvenient truth that the mainstream ignores. Vaccine promotion needs to address the epistemic beliefs associated with vaccine refusal, yet these have been inadequately understood. Our findings contribute to understanding these beliefs. Furthermore, our findings suggest what messages targeting vaccine-refusing people should focus on. This may include acknowledging the significant effort that vaccine-refusing people invest in trying to protect their children, catering to vaccine-refusing people's high engagement and desire for detailed information, and avoiding stigmatising or confrontational vaccine-promotion strategies.

Managing ethical aspects of advance directives in emergency care services.

In Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services professionals experience situations in which they face difficulties or barriers to know patient's advance directives and implement them. To analyse the barriers, facilitators, and ethical conflicts perceived by health professionals derived from the management of advance directives in emergency services. This is a qualitative phenomenological study conducted with purposive sampling including a population of nursing and medical professionals linked to Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services. Three focus groups were formed, totalling 24 participants. We performed an inductive-type thematic discourse analysis. This study was approved by ethical committees of Ethical Commitee of Clínic Hospital (Barcelona) and Comittee of Emergency Medical Services (Barcelona). The participants received information about the purpose of the study. Patients' anonymity and willingness to participate in the study were guaranteed. There were four types of barriers that hindered the proper management of patients' advance directives in Hospital Emergency Department and Emergency Medical Services: personal and professional, family members, organisational and structural, and those derived from the health system. These barriers caused ethical conflicts and hindered professionals' decision-making. These results are in line with those of previous studies and indicate that factors such as gender, professional category, and years of experience, in addition to professionals' beliefs and the opinions of colleagues and family members, can also influence the professionals' final decisions. The different strategies described in this study can contribute to the development of health policies and action protocols to help reduce both the barriers that hinder the correct management and implementation of advance directives and the ethical conflicts generated.

Cognitions toward black bear hunting in Maine: a quantitative content analysis of the print news media surrounding hunting referendums

ABSTRACT Media plays an integral role in informing the public of wildlife management decisions and stakeholder perceptions. We analyzed the presence of different cognitions via a quantitative content analysis (QCA) of print news media surrounding Maine’s bear hunting referendums. In Maine, there were two referendums to ban baiting, hounding, and trapping that narrowly failed. This article investigated the representation of debate themes in public discourse. We examined key cognitions toward baiting, hounding, and trapping in 247 newspaper articles concerning the referendums. Results showed that pro-referendum entities frequently express negative attitudes toward baiting, hounding, and trapping, while, conversely, anti-referendum entities argue Maine needs these methods to control the population and that they benefit humans. Results suggested implications for future black bear hunting policy and represented a critical step toward developing communication strategies among government officials, animal welfare advocates, and the hunting community.

Metelkova as Autonomous Heterotopia

AbstractThis article examines conflicts concerning urban space, focusing on relationships between autonomous space and neoliberal urbanism through the empirical example of the cultural centre AKC Metelkova Mesto in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Through a thematic discourse analysis of activist interviews and collective statements by activist groups connected to Metelkova, research questions concern how urban conflict is constructed from the vantage point of autonomous space; what role autonomous space is assigned in relation to such conflict; and how tensions and antagonisms within the autonomous space can be understood. Theoretically we engage in a reinterpretation of the notion of heterotopia in conjunction with critical urban theory, analysing Metelkova as an autonomous heterotopia. Further, we argue that theoretisations of autonomous spaces need to consider experiences from Central and Eastern Europe, in which the conditions are shaped and constructed in conjunction with particular configurations of abruptly implemented neoliberal governance and the rise of the authoritarianism.

ЛЕКСИКО-СЕМАНТИЧЕСКАЯ СПЕЦИФИКА ТАБЛОИДНЫХ МЕДИА НА ПРИМЕРЕ БРИТАНСКОГО ИЗДАНИЯ “THE SUN”

Our article is devoted to one of the most discussed topics in the modern mass media discourse – the problem of the tabloid press, which differs significantly from the quality press in terms of content; Political discourse within the «Sun» Tabloid represents a special lexical and semantic field with a number of features that are unacceptable in other types of press

More than a medical condition: Qualitative analysis of media representations of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract The aim of our research is to explore how Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are represented in the Slovak media. Data consisted of text documents from the Newton media database. Search criteria included TV, radio, print and web sources that mentioned the words “Alzheimer” and “dementia” between 2015 and 2018. A thematic discourse analysis was applied in order to identify the themes and their mutual semantic relations. The analysis was focused primarily on the headlines (n = 227). The results show that the biomedical perspective currently dominates at the expense of a socio-psychological one. Persons with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are represented as tragic cases and victims of a cruel disease. Responsibility for care and prevention is individualized. Our findings suggest that a new perspective is needed. Such an approach should recognize the dignity and humanity of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia despite their cognitive deficits and respect their socio-psychological needs.

An assessment of the impact of human activities on wild birds and fishes in Dagona Waterfowl Sanctuary, Nigeria

Natural resources management and conservation has been a persistent theme in discourse of human survival and environmental development. Conservation means the sustainable use and protection of natural resources. It is also seen as the process through which natural resources are managed to allow partial or total exploitation for individual, community, or commercial use without jeopardizing the long-term ability of the resource base for future generations with minimal environmental damages. The study employed systematic sampling techniques in selecting the respondents for the interview. The selection was based on the settlement arrangement in the study site as sampling frame. The structured questionnaires were administered to the respondents with aid of research assistant for proper interpretation of the questionnaire to local language (Bade). The study found that there were different bird species both native and migratory birds from Europe and other parts of the world. The use of these birds includes tourism, source of meat, income and beautification of the natural environment. Farming hunting and fishing remain the dominant economic activities that provide income, food and tourism in the area. Hunting and fishing reduces the number as well as the composition of birds and fish species in the area. Protopterrus annectens and Egretta garzetta were the dominant fish and bird species respectively. A lot of efforts were made to conserve and protect the waterfowl against natural and anthropogenic effects from national and international environmental concern organizations.
 Key words: natural resource, human activities impact, wild birds, fishes, Dagona Waterfowl Sanctuary

Authoritarian media and diversionary threats: lessons from 30 years of Syrian state discourse

AbstractScholars have long argued that leaders manipulate foreign policy, sometimes even initiating wars in order to enhance their domestic political position. But diversionary wars are relatively rare given the high costs of conflict. In this project, we examine data from major Syrian daily newspapers over a 30-year period (1987–2018) to explore how autocratic regimes use diversionary rhetoric. We find that before the 2011 Arab Uprisings, Syria's state-controlled media concentrated on Israel as a security and political threat. Emphasis on Israel as a diversionary threat decreased during peace negotiations between Syria and Israel, probably in a bid to prepare the Syrian public for normalization of bilateral relations. After 2011, scrutiny of Israel—and other long-standing topics of state discourse—was displaced by discussion of foreign plots and conspiracies against the Syrian state. Our analysis illustrates how authoritarian regimes make use of diversionary strategies as well as how political shocks generate discontinuities in authoritarian rhetoric.

Функции языковой игры в парфюмерном дискурсе

The article considers language game in perfume lovers’ Internet commentaries as a form of linguistic creativity in the thematic discourse. The research objective includes identifying specificity of using language game techniques in this genre of perfumery discourse. Scientific originality of the paper lies in the fact that functions of language game are analysed from the viewpoint of their role in achieving authors’ basic communicative purposes: to transfer olfactory impressions and to express personal attitude to an aroma. The research findings are as follows: the authors identify the basic and additional functions of language game in the perfumery discourse, describe means and techniques for their realization in the sphere of Internet communication.

Time of Your Hate: The Challenge of Time in Hate Speech Detection on Social Media

The availability of large annotated corpora from social media and the development of powerful classification approaches have contributed in an unprecedented way to tackle the challenge of monitoring users’ opinions and sentiments in online social platforms across time. Such linguistic data are strongly affected by events and topic discourse, and this aspect is crucial when detecting phenomena such as hate speech, especially from a diachronic perspective. We address this challenge by focusing on a real case study: the “Contro l’odio” platform for monitoring hate speech against immigrants in the Italian Twittersphere. We explored the temporal robustness of a BERT model for Italian (AlBERTo), the current benchmark on non-diachronic detection settings. We tested different training strategies to evaluate how the classification performance is affected by adding more data temporally distant from the test set and hence potentially different in terms of topic and language use. Our analysis points out the limits that a supervised classification model encounters on data that are heavily influenced by events. Our results show how AlBERTo is highly sensitive to the temporal distance of the fine-tuning set. However, with an adequate time window, the performance increases, while requiring less annotated data than a traditional classifier.

“Só isso que é meu ideia”: fórmulas de fechamento como uma particularidade discursivo-interacional do Português Kaxinawá

Nos limites deste artigo, analisamos uma provável particularidade da etiqueta interacional dos Kaxinawá (povo da família etnolinguística Pano, que habita 12 Terras Indígenas no Acre) em interações transculturais, ou seja, aquelas envolvendo a participação de não-indígenas. Dessa maneira, nosso objeto de estudo consiste em construções que denominamos de fórmulas de fechamento, bastante similares a estruturas formulaicas recorrentes em narrativas em Kaxinawá e (ao que nossas observações vêm indicando) sem paralelo no Português (L1) do Alto Juruá. Descrevemos a sua configuração estrutural, assim como a sua função no desenvolvimento da interação. Contendo os operadores “isso” e/ou “assim”, essas fórmulas de fechamento funcionam, no Português Kaxinawá, como sinalizadoras do encerramento de tópicos (ou subtópicos) discursivos e de turnos de fala.

Author Correction: Prejudice and Victimization Themes in New York Times Discourse: a Chronological Analysis

The original version of this article unfortunately contained three mistakes in wording and sentence structure that could lead to a misunderstanding of the text. Specifically

The discursive construction of the moral and legal statuses of fansubbers in the Chinese press 2006–2018

Fansubbers (short for “fan subtitlers”) are confronted with a moral-legal dilemma in China. On the one hand, they are highly appreciated by the general public because they work without pay and altruistically provide free access to subtitled audiovisual contents that are otherwise unavailable. On the other hand, they distribute unlicensed contents and violate the copyright law in China. Their practices cause damages to copyright holders and thus call for legal actions. Given the conflicting moral and legal statuses, it is necessary to understand how the Chinese press frame and represent fansubbers, as the media play a crucial role in shaping people’s opinions. Drawing on a one-million-word corpus of news reports between 2006 and 2018, this study examines the media frames, discourse topics, and representations about fansubbers in China. Based on keyword, collocation, and concordance analyses, four discourse topics were identified: sharing, volunteerism, copyright, and commercialization. The former two pointed to a moral frame, while the latter two fed into a legal frame. The diachronic analysis demonstrated that the topic of sharing was most prominent in eight of 13 years, while the topic of copyright spiked about every five years. The corpus findings also unravel the complexities of discursive strategies in two aspects: (a) representational strategies work in combination to selectively frame fansubbers and (b) the same discursive strategies can simultaneously moralize and delegitimize fansubbers. This study sheds light on the multifaceted, dynamic, and complex nature of media representations about fansubbers with a conflicting social position.

Discourse topics and digressive markers

The article aims to clarify some of the theoretical orientations underlying the linguistic studies on topics of discourse and digressive markers. The notion of discourse topic (DT) introduced by van Dijk in the 1970s has no place in the models developed since the 1980s by Hobbs, Mann and Thompson, Asher and Lascarides and others. These models do without DT, for the reason that the rhetorical relations they advocate were sufficient to explain common sense intuitions on (dis)continuity and (in)coherence of discourse, although, at the same time, van Kuppevelt advocates model based solely on DT relations. With the development of systematic annotations of corpora, studies on discourse markers have increased, including markers of topic shifts. The last part of the paper deals with d'ailleurs and par ailleurs French adverbials, which are commonly used as a marker of digression. The analysis of these two DMs show that they are polyfunctional and involve both rhetorical relationships (addition, justification) that make the link with the previous utterances, and framing relationships indexing the incoming discourse (announcing of a topic shift, or a return to a previous DT).

Russian musical “Petersburgiana”: a historical journey

The article considers one of the most important topics of Russian discourse - the issue of St.Petersburg, particularly the understanding of the phenomenon of Petersburg in the works of composers. The purpose of the research is to trace back the process of formation of Russian musical “Petersburgiana”. The main task is to reconstruct segmentary materials related to the aspects of manifestation of Petersburg in the works of Russian composers. The research methods are determined by the interdisciplinary nature which synthesizes the approaches of comparative history, culturology, and music theory. As the key works, the author chooses the works related to the “Petersburg text”, particularly the work by V.Toporov who was the first to introduce this term into the literature studies. It serves as a basis for the understanding of the phenomenon of Petersburg in other forms of art. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that it is the first to study the evolution of Russian musical “Petersburgiana”, which started in the 18th century and during its 300-year history produced more than 800 opuses. The author outlines the key topics and images of Petersburg embodiment using the examples of the works of the composers of the 18th - 21st centuries, organized according to their genre and chronologically. These materials are the result of the research work; they outline promising concepts and aspects for the further comprehensive analysis of Petersburg in Russian music culture in terms of the works of its creators.

North Korea’s emerging martial arts tourism: a Taekwon-Do case study

PurposeThis descriptive, non-experiment case study addresses the little-studied topic of martial arts tourism within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; i.e., North Korea) to determine if it is a form of non-entertainment tourism.Design/methodology/approachThe current research focusses on a single subject (Singaporean female; 36 years of age (at time of interview); Taekwon-Do 4th degree black belt) who travelled to the DPRK three times to practice the Korean martial art Taekwon-Do. After the initial contact, a questionnaire was used and direct interviews via Skype and Facebook were performed. A broad thematic discourse, as well as analysis of the subject’s travel and practice notes and photographs from her stay in the DPRK, were also incorporated into the findings.FindingsThe subject developed new Taekwon-Do skills, which permitted her to obtain higher Taekwon-Do ranks as well as enriched her personality and changed certain conceptions. Self-realization and self-improvement through martial arts are the dominant motives of martial arts tourism. Therefore, the subject’s motivation confirms martial arts tourism can be a variation of non-entertainment tourism.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is hindered by the standard case study limitations: it is difficult to generalize this study’s results to the wider DPRK population, the interviewee’s and researchers’ subjective feelings may have influenced the findings, and selection bias is definitely a factor because of the study’s population being a single female of non-DPRK origin.Originality/valueAs one of the first studies on DPRK martial arts tourism and practice, this research examines where research on the DPRK and martial arts tourism intersect. It is thusly unique in providing new insights into the DPRK’s intention for its tourism industry, as well as Taekwon-Do, arguably its most marketable cultural asset.