How is Brexit Linguistically-Constructed? A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Speeches by David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson

Denis Jamet (1, 2) , Pauline Rodet (1, 2)

1 CEL - Centre d'Études Linguistiques - Corpus, Discours et Sociétés
2 UJML - Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3

Brexit as such existed linguistically before existing politically, as it has been the subject of various controversies and heated debates. From David Cameron, through Theresa May, to Boris Johnson, the conceptualization of Brexit certainly evolved. Thanks to corpus linguistics software tools together with cognitive linguistics and discourse analysis, this article seeks to study the perception of Brexit by Tories through an analysis of 45 speeches delivered by Tory Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Following a quantitative approach, lexical frequencies as well as positive and negative keywords used by each Prime Minister are analysed and compared thanks to the use of linguistic tools, such as AntConc® and #LancsBox®. The paper concludes on a more qualitative approach by highlighting the semantic / notional domains the three Prime Ministers most frequently resort to, so as to show that Brexit is not constructed identically, at least linguistically-speaking, by the three Conservative Prime Ministers.

Mots clés: Brexit; Cameron (David); May (Theresa); Johnson (Boris); corpus linguistics; cognitive linguistics; discourse analysis; Brexit Cameron May Johnson corpus linguistics cognitive linguistics discourse analysis; Brexit; Cameron; May; Johnson

Domaines: Linguistique

Denis Jamet, Pauline Rodet. How is Brexit Linguistically-Constructed? A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Speeches by David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson. Observatoire de la société britannique, 2021, 27, ⟨10.4000/osb.5290⟩. ⟨hal-03494600⟩