Hong Kong identity and the press–politics dynamics: a corpus-assisted discourse study

This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article submitted for consideration in the Asian Journal of Communication [Taylor and Francis © AMIC/SCI-NTU]. Asian Journal of Communication is available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/ and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01292986.2012.701315This article uses corpus-assisted discourse studies to examine the discursive construction of collective identity in the Hong Kong press, particularly with regard to its relationship with mainland China. Drawing on critical discourse analysis and collective identity theory, it develops a set of analytical techniques amenable to quantification, and applies it to a corpus of newspaper coverage of the 2005 Hong Kong Chief Executive election. The article uses these techniques not only to develop a representative description and interpretation of discursive patterns, but also to offer an explanatory account of the discursive construction of Hong Kong identity. It shows that the discursive patterns vary systematically depending on newspaper ownership, commercial imperatives, and newspaper type