IREELL
Indonesian Review of English Education.
Linguistics, and Literature P-ISSN:3025-2369 I E-ISSN:3021-8101 https://jurnalfaktarbiyah.
id/index.
php/ireel/index Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers:
A Corpus Linguistic Analysis Hasan Shaikh* Khulna University hasanshaikhrampal@gmail.
Md.
Obaidullah Ahsania Mission University of Science and Technology ABSTRACT As climate vulnerability intensifies and environmental debates become increasingly politicized.
Bangladeshi national newspapers assume a pivotal role as discursive arenas where climate change is articulated through the socio-political idioms of the nation-state.
To investigate how this articulation takes shape, the study applies corpus linguistic methods to a purposefully compiled dataset comprising nearly 350 opinion essays and news reports, amounting to approximately 400,000 tokens, published across three leading Bangla dailies between 2020 and 2025.
The analysis reveals a hybridized discursive framework in which scientific credibility is interwoven with emotive resonance, temporal urgency, and developmental-nationalist logic.
Rather than foregrounding global mitigation policies, newspapers localize the discourse centering lived vulnerability, infrastructural resilience, and collective agency to foster a participatory, if elite-mediated, climate consciousness.
Keyword and concordance patterns further expose an economic framing that underscores aid dependency, financial risk, and global injustice, while simultaneously promoting Bangladesh as a resilient, technologically optimistic, and morally authoritative actor.
The discourse privileges policy and academic voices, often marginalizing grassroots and ecological perspectives in favor of narratives that align with neoliberal development agendas.
Ultimately, the study argues that Bangladeshi media reconfigures climate change as both an existential peril and a developmental opportunity functioning less as neutral chroniclers and more as discursive architects of a climate-resilient nationalism embedded in global political ecologies.
Keywords: climate change, corpus linguistics, developmental nationalism, environmental communication, media discourse Copyright: A 2025 by Authors.
Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons AttributionShareAlike 4.
0 International (CC BY SA) license .
ttps://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by-sa/4.
0/).
49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
Introduction Climate change is no longer a distant threat confined to scientific projections.
it is an ongoing, multifaceted crisis unfolding globally.
Its impacts are increasingly visible in extreme weather events, rising sea levels, biodiversity loss, and social dislocations.
But beyond melting glaciers and surging temperatures, there lies another, subtler realm in which the climate crisis is shaped and understood: the realm of language.
Language is not merely a passive medium through which knowledge is transmitted, it is an active agent that shapes perception, constructs reality, and governs public discourse (Fairclough, 2.
In this context, the way climate change is linguistically constructed in the media, for instance what is said, what is omitted, which metaphors are employed, and whose voices are amplified, plays a crucial role in framing public understanding, political urgency, and policy responses.
In nations, particularly vulnerable to climate change, such as Bangladesh, this linguistic framing becomes even more critical.
Bangladesh is routinely described as Auground zeroAy for climate-related threats, a country at the nexus of environmental precarity and socio-economic vulnerability (Huq & Rabbani, 2.
While global reports highlight its susceptibility to floods, cyclones, salinity intrusion, and displacement, the way these risks are communicated within national boundaries, particularly through mainstream news media, has received limited scholarly attention.
Yet, the media holds immense sway in shaping the contours of national climate discourse.
Newspapers, especially in countries where digital access is stratified by class, serve as important mediators of knowledge.
In Bangladesh, national Bangla dailies such as The Prothom Alo.
The Daily Janakantha, and The Daily Ittefaq remain central to the information They function not only as news providers but arenas where social problems get arbitrated, political narratives get crafted, and scientific facts get transformed into mass media Hence, the reporting on climate change by the Bangladeshi newspapers cannot merely reflect global environmental issues.
it is framed within the specific context of Bangladeshi politics, donor politics, development discourse, and nationalism.
Climate change discourse in Bangladesh is complex, given the countryAos status as both highly affected by and Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
actively engaged in climate issues.
Analyzing the vocabulary, word frequency, and patterns in this discourse can reveal underlying cultural and ideological perspectives.
To gain these insights, a corpus-based approach is essential.
A burgeoning, albeit diffuse, body of literature exists on the communication of climate change in Bangladesh.
This literature, however, predominantly addresses issues of communication and awareness strategy development (Kabir et al.
Again, a corpusbased, linguistically oriented analysis of reporting on environmental issues by media outlets from Bangladesh is virtually non-existent.
This absence is not trivial.
As climate discourse increasingly becomes a site of ideological contestation, between development and environment, between vulnerability and resilience, between science and politics, the need for methodologically rigorous, linguistically grounded analysis becomes urgent.
Thus, without understanding how climate change is talked about in the Bangladeshi press, we risk misunderstanding how it is thought about by its citizens, policymakers, and civil society actors.
Therefore, this study undertakes a systematic exploration of the lexical landscape of climate change discourse as represented in The Prothom Alo.
The Daily Janakantha, and The Daily Ittefaq, three leading Bangladeshi national newspapers, by analyzing a corpus constructed from op-ed articles and news reports published over a five-year period.
Literature Review The discourse on climate change has been extensively analyzed across various media and corporate contexts, yet regional perspectives, particularly from countries like Bangladesh, remain underexplored.
The study of Collins .
utilized semantic annotation tools like WMatrix to analyze online user comments on climate change in The Guardian, identifying key semantic domains such as AuscienceAy.
AuweatherAy, and AuevaluationAy.
Whereas this research concentrates on the function of online media in establishing public debate, it overlooks how national newspapers in climate-risk countries may frame climate change differently, more specifically on the matter of urgency and local effect.
Likewise.
Nhung .
used critical discourse analysis (CDA) in comparing developing and developed nationsAo coverage in The Independent and The New York Times, where a binary is revealed in which the developed world Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
is portrayed as unwilling actors and the developing world is depicted as relying on outside This study emphasizes Western mediaAos ideological biases but fails to discuss how national media in developing nations may deconstruct or reinforce such discourses.
Nonetheless.
Kapranov .
examined the application of discourse markers in BP and ShellAos corporate discourses, showing how linguistic elements like AuandAy and AuasAy create authoritative and formal discourses regarding climate change.
Although this research offers an insight into corporate framing practices, it does not examine how media in nations such as Bangladesh that are existentially susceptible to climate change may use lexical choices to prioritize vulnerability, adaptation, or responsibility.
Research on media discourse of climate change has proliferated, especially within the framework of how lexical choice influences public opinion and policy priorities.
An analysis of tweets by Spanish politicians (Ghoraba, 2.
revealed that there are certain words framing climate change as a AuvillainAy and human beings as AusaviorsAy.
War metaphors and the magic of language to affect individuals were revealed in the research.
Similarly.
AwalAos .
content analysis on English secondary-level textbooks used in Bangladesh reveals that climate change and renewable energy are dominating keywords, which restricts studentsAo ecological literacy.
This confirms ZhouAos .
intuition that ecolinguistics offers a mediating platform between nature and language use to facilitate the smoothness of sustainability speech.
Meanwhile, corpus linguistic research on climate change communication is gaining Fatima and Arslan .
have done an eco-linguistic examination of the PakistanAos DAWN newspaper with the aim of finding a stark lack of concern for environmental issues in political and economic discourse.
Their corpus analysis showed that extremely common words are social issues such as power and economy, while environmental vocabulary was scarce.
This role of media legitimized ideologies and excluded environmental issues.
Ghosh and Boykoff .
contrasted Indian vernacular and English-language reporting on climate change, which identified local versus elite frames.
The findings explained how Bengali media built socio-economic exposures, while English media emphasized biodiversity and Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
international debate, thus illustrating how climate discourse is framed within linguistic and cultural contexts.
Bangladeshi national press lexis of climate change can be explained by reference to three trailblazing investigations into the language use, media framing, and sociolinguistic accommodation in South Asian contexts.
Firstly.
Ikram et al.
use CDA to investigate the ideological framing of BangladeshAos political crisis in international print media, and how language such as polarity, metaphor, and labeling construct narratives .
AuautocratAy vs.
Aufreedom fightersA.
Against this backdrop.
Ali and Abdulhaleem .
have used BiberAos Multidimensional Analysis to explore the lexico-grammar of crime reporting in South Asian Englishes, including Bangladesh.
The study identified typical linguistic variation in the Bangladeshi media outlets, such as informational and explicit discourse involving nominalizations and phrasal coordination.
While their focus was on the reporting of crime, their method, corpus linguistics with register analysis is a helpful model for an analysis of climate change communication.
Mokal and HalimAos .
corpus-based analysis of Pakistani English newspapers demonstrates, secondly, how lexico-semantic variation (AuJihadi outfitsAy.
Aulota cultureA.
reflects local socio-cultural identities.
This parallels BangladeshAos possible lexical innovations in climate language, in which AumongaAy .
or Auchar landsAy .
iverine island.
can have localized connotations.
Last but not least.
Mostafa and JamilaAos .
investigation of Bangladeshi social media neologisms .
AuselfieAy as N) provides an example of how international terms are incorporated into Bangla script, showing technological and cultural changes.
Their lexico-semantic methodology, with frequency analysis through WebCorp, provides a research guide to monitoring climate neologisms .
Auclimate refugeeAy in uA suA) in the media.
The study of lexical patterns in media discourse has also been at the heart of public language usage research, especially under crisis conditions.
Orts and Vargas-Sierra .
investigated The Guardian and El Pays newspaper coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic through Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) techniques in order to demonstrate how governments employed lexical manipulation, utilizing fear-based implicatures, epistemic Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
asymmetry, and ontological metaphors, to shape behavior.
The research presents evidence on the crucial role of media in enforcing authority via words related to limitations and crisismotivated rhetoric.
however, positive words .
AusupportAy.
AutrustA.
were rarely used.
AbbasAos .
cross-national research into Iraqi and Jordanian COVID-19 coverage similarly identifies a correlation between politicized media framings and the subsequent distortion of public These studies indicate influence regarding word choice in shaping ideological narratives amidst times of crisis.
A sophisticated conceptualization of climate rhetoric demands comparative and context-sensitive studies.
Huang and Che .
illustrate the ideological foundations underlying Chinese and US news accounts of climate, showing how national identity is reasserted through lexis and modality in news stories.
Their use of FaircloughAos ThreeDimensional Model and synthesis of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis (CDA) offers a fruitful approach to investigating linguistic features characteristic of national However, research on climate change discourse in South Asian contexts like Bangladesh remains sparse.
This study addresses that gap by applying similar analytical tools to Bangladeshi newspapers, contextualizing the local mediaAos lexical landscape within global paradigms, thereby contributing to a more inclusive understanding of climate change The theoretical framework for this study situates the research within the intersection of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Corpus Linguistics (CL), using frequency, keyness, and concordance as primary tools to explore the lexical landscape of climate change discourse in Bangladeshi national newspapers.
To illustrate, corpus linguistics is not merely a methodology but a paradigm shift in the way linguistic phenomena are studied.
It employs computational tools to uncover patterns in large text corpora, supporting both inductive discovery and deductive hypothesis testing (McEnery & Hardie, 2.
Unlike introspective or anecdotal analyses, corpus-based studies ground linguistic inquiry in empirical evidence.
To anchor this investigation in meaning and power.
CL is coupled with Critical Discourse Analysis.
Discourse posits that language is a social practice imbued with ideology.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
and texts are sites where power relations are enacted (Fairclough, 1.
Media discourse in particular reflects and shapes public perceptions through its framing of issues like climate Dijk .
underscores that ideological square operation, what is emphasized or suppressed in discourse, can be revealed through patterns of word choice, thematic emphasis, and attribution.
Hence, a corpus-based analysis can complement CDA by exposing recurrent lexical items that reflect dominant ideologies, silences, or biases in climate discourse.
Frequency analysis is foundational in corpus linguistics and offers insights into the salience of linguistic items.
According to Biber et al.
, high-frequency words are central to understanding the lexical norms of a discourse community.
In this study, frequency analysis identifies top ten dominant lexical items and assesses their ideological, and cultural implications in the society.
Importantly, frequency is not just a quantitative count but a sociolinguistic signal.
High frequency may indicate a reactive frame, while low frequency may point to an adaptive, solution-oriented narrative.
While frequency reveals what is common, keyness reveals what is remarkably frequent in a given corpus compared to a reference Keyness analysis helps in identifying terms that are statistically overused in climate change texts relative to general newspaper content, thereby isolating discourse-specific In this study, keyness analysis not only maps specialized vocabulary but also detects emerging or neglected climate narratives in Bangladeshi media.
While frequency and keyness provide quantitative overviews, concordance analysis allows researchers to examine how words are contextualized in their immediate textual Concordancing involves retrieving all instances of a word .
r phras.
along with its surrounding words, enabling the analysis of collocations, semantic prosody, and ideological framing (Hunston, 2.
In climate discourse, such contextual insights are essential to understand whether newspapers present climate change as a catastrophe, a development challenge, or a moral obligation.
As Stubbs .
emphasizes, concordance analysis bridges the gap between surface patterns and deeper semantic structures.
The lexicon AuuAAy .
is chosen for the concordance analysis of this study.
Therefore, the Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
corpus linguistic approach, in this study, is appropriate not only to uncover linguistic patterns but also to highlight the mediaAos role in shaping environmental knowledge and action.
Methods This study employed a purposive textual sampling strategy to investigate the linguistic construction of climate change discourse in Bangla-language media.
The data were sourced from three of the most prominent Bangla newspapers in Bangladesh, namely the Prothom Alo.
The Daily Janakantha, and The Daily Ittefaq, selected on the basis of their national circulation, editorial influence, and sustained publication of both op-ed articles and news These platforms were chosen to ensure both breadth and depth of discourse, capturing formal reporting alongside interpretive, opinion-driven narratives.
The temporal scope of data collection extended from 1 January 2020 to 31 May 2025, a critical period marked by intensified global and regional dialogues surrounding environmental sustainability, policy shifts, and climate resilience.
In this case, articles were queried with the Bangla keyword AuuA sAy (Auclimate changeA.
, which also acted as a thematically targeted filter for semantic appropriateness of retrieved texts.
The initial collection yielded a large volume of content, which was then filtered out to produce a cleaned-up corpus consisting of 337 articles amounting to about four hundred thousand tokens .
of natural language text.
The corpus was cleaned manually to remove unwanted content like commercials, editorials outside the scope of climate, nonclimate mentions, and duplicate entries.
This was done not just to provide textual clarity but also to preserve analytical precision in the process of corpus-based analysis.
After the data cleaning process, the corpus was uploaded to Sketch Engine, a cutting-edge corpus analysis To calculate comparative baseline lexical salience, the research used the reference corpus titled Bengali Web 2021 in order to gather standardized figures for Bangla lexical usage.
The analysis was organized into three main procedures: first, frequency analysis was done to get the top ten most frequent lexical items, offering a window into prevailing semantic fields.
second, keyness analysis was done to find the top ten statistically key words that rendered the climate discourse corpus distinct from the general Bangla corpus.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
uncovering thematic density and uniqueness of language used.
and third, concordance analysis was conducted on the lemma AuuAAy (AuclimateA.
, following its collocational pattern and discursive presence in sentences and narrative forms.
Together, they enabled a comprehensive linguistic mapping of the manner in which climate change is discursively framed, prioritized, and contested in Bangla media, offering an empirical basis for understanding the socio-political and rhetorical contours of environmental communication in the country.
Result and Discussion A corpus-based linguistic examination of Bangladeshi national newspaper coverage on climate change reveals a systematically constructed lexicon that foregrounds environmental concerns within the frame of national priorities.
Frequency Analysis Top ten most frequent lemma Ni (In combatin.
i (Globa.
iN (Carbo.
N (Talen.
(Environmen.
sC (Percen.
Frequency CN (Banglades.
s (Impac.
sN (Change.
uA (Climat.
Figure 1 Top ten most frequent lemma Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
Among the most frequent terms.
AuclimateAy emerges as the most dominant lexical item, occurring 1,338 times.
This prominence indicates a strong thematic centering around the concept of climate as the primary subject of the discourse.
The term AuchangedAy, appearing 1,186 times, clearly suggests that these articles consistently refer to Auclimate changeAy as a combined noun phrase.
This common collocation is in line with previous linguistic tendencies in global climate discourse study (Carvalho, 2.
, in which AuclimateAy and AuchangeAy constituted the linguistic core of media framing.
In the Bangladeshi setting, the recurrent evocation of this term most probably signifies a discursive normalization of climate change as an omnipresent environmental reality.
Most strikingly, the third most common term.
AuimpactAy, with a frequency of 569, points to a discourse permeated with the consequences and effects of climate change-induced changes instead of mitigation measures or global policy-making processes.
This finding concurs with Huq and Ayers .
, who asserted that the climate change discourse in Bangladesh concentrates more on vulnerability and adaptation outcomes because of the nationAos geographical as well as socio-economic susceptibility to climate impacts.
Complementing this.
AuBangladeshAy and AuenvironmentAy appear 529 and 370 times respectively indicating a localized and environment-focused discourse.
The repetitive reference to the country strengthens the observation that climate change discourse within the country is strongly rooted in national self-image and conception as victim and stakeholder.
In addition, the repetition of AupercentAy which appears 389 times indicates strong focus on numerical representation and data validity.
The predominance of percentages herein signifies a rhetorical strategy for conveying objectivity and scientific accuracy.
Climate news in the statistical source has a tendency to be utilized for the legitimization of claims and instigating a perception of urgency.
Statistics in Bangladeshi newspapers can play the critical function of convincing individuals of the actual impacts of climate change, thereby elevating public awareness and concern.
Another notable observation is the comparatively high incidence of the term AutalentAy, which appears 368 times.
At first sight, this lexical element appears incongruous in an Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
environmental text.
Nevertheless, its frequency is probably indicative of a metaphorical application, where AutalentAy is used to represent human capital, innovation, and adaptability, the characteristics that are perceived as required to counter climate-related adversity.
This discursive shift to intellectual or emotional appeal prioritizes the motivational framing employed in media for climate action.
In the case of Bangladesh, the mention of AutalentAy can be utilized as a rhetorical tool for highlighting national competence and collective intelligence as embedded within climate resilience initiatives.
Closely associated with this is the phrase Auin combatingAy, appearing 325 times, which is a discursive indicator of agency and action.
This frequency recognizes a movement away from vulnerability discourse in favor of active agency.
Instead of simply portraying Bangladesh as a passive victim of climate change, these data portray the country as a participant in climate change mitigation.
On the one hand, developing countries previously were presented in the media discourse as passive and On the other hand, recent coverage reveals a significant departure from this Because Schyfer and Painter .
claim that media coverage progressively depicts the Global South as an active participant who has started shaping mitigation and adaptation This signals a reconfiguration of media agendas and a redistribution of agency in global climate discourse.
In Bangladeshi national dailies, the lexical choices like AucarbonAy .
and AuglobalAy .
appear frequently but remain overshadowed by locally framed environmental terms.
This strategic narration reflects recognition of environmental issues as transboundary, yet with priorities rooted in local concerns, contrasting Western mediaAos stronger emphasis on carbon discourse, global summits, and UNFc negotiations.
The Bangladeshi mediaAos climate discourse is best seen as hybrid: it mirrors global narratives through scientific terms like AucarbonAy.
AuglobalAy, and AupercentAy, yet reframes them within a national context that asserts impact, agency, and authority.
This twofold function is especially suited to the Bangladeshi situation, where the urgency of climate change effects demands national response with a need for engagement in international discussion.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
This strategy has several implications.
For media practitioners, it highlights the challenge of balancing scientific credibility and cultural popularity.
Terms such as AuTalentAy and Auin combatingAy indicate that journalists are already adopting new rhetorical devices to render climate messaging more accessible and interesting.
For communication policymakers, the prevalence of AuimpactAy-focused terminology requires public communication to persist in presenting climate change as an experiential, rather than purely scientific, reality.
Since a single term, phrase, or even syntactic structure may articulate a different discourse (Baker, 2.
, the heavy reliance on percentages happens to suggest that policymakers and NGOs utilize multimodal statistics, and quantified risks to explicitly engage the public.
While outlets from Western world emphasize policy tools and global solutions, the national newspapers of Bangladeshi exclusively foreground adaptation, resilience, and nationhood.
This localization strategy may be a reflection of underlying epistemic structures in Bangladeshi society, where climate change is not a future danger but an existential emergency that cannot be separated from development, migration, and survival.
By presenting climate change as a national challenge addressed with resilience and creativity, these newspapers redefine citizenship and duty, thereby fostering an emergent ecological public sphere.
Social change in this context occurs incrementally, shaped by routine meaning-making, calibrated responses to urgency, and appeals to established norms.
Furthermore, by translating abstract climate threats into familiar local terms, newspapers localize global crises and position the nation-state as both stage and actor in the climate Through these strategies, newspapers influence power relations among the state, citizens, and the environment.
Their language choices play a central role in reshaping how Bangladesh positions itself within the global climate crisis.
This narrative both reflects societal anxieties and outlines potential pathways for transformation.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
Keyness Analysis INsN (One of the Ii (Professo.
s (Ga.
IuN (Achievemen.
N (Proble.
is (Recor.
Is ( Mone.
i (Talksho.
Numeral = Score NsA N (Ne.
(Endin.
Figure 2 Top 10 keywords in reference to Bengali Web 2021 corpus The most striking keyword in the corpus is AuMoneyAy, with a normalized score of 697.
substantially higher than the rest.
This underscores the strong economic framing of climate discourse in Bangladeshi media.
This indicates that Bangladeshi media predominantly links climate vulnerability to financial loss, funding requirements, and international aid The keyword AumoneyAy appearing most frequently suggests a discourse heavily focused on the economic consequences and negotiations around climate change rather than on ecological or scientific dimensions.
Such economic centrality contrasts with more mitigation- or adaptation-centered narratives found in Western media.
For example.
Collins and Nerlich .
found that UK newspapers often framed climate change through risk communication and individual behavioral responsibility.
The Bangladeshi press, by contrast, centers collective vulnerability and resource deficits, reflecting a dependence on external climate finance and aid-based climate justice discourses.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
The second-highest keyword.
AuTalkshowAy with a score of 634.
6, suggests that climate change has been a popular theme in media panel discussions and televised dialogues.
This emphasis on mediated discussions likely reflects the popularization and politicization of the topic in Bangladesh.
This implies that newspaper reporting in Bangladesh often blurs boundaries between journalistic neutrality and performative debate, especially in the coverage of humanitarian or political crises.
Moreover, the high frequency of AutalkshowAy indicates the discursive democratization of climate knowledge where experts, politicians, and the public engage in televised dialogues.
However, this also hints at discursive superficiality, as such platforms often prioritize drama over depth, specifically.
NGO-led climate adaptation discourses in the country.
The prominence of the word AuNewAy .
and AuEndingAy .
indicates a transitional narrative structure.
This can be called temporal framing, where newspapers chronicle shifts from disaster to recovery, from ignorance to awareness, and from old policies to new The high presence of AunewAy suggests a focus on technological innovation, policy reform, and fresh environmental challenges, aligning with emerging modernization narratives.
In contrast.
AuendingAy denotes a sense of urgency or finality, likely referring to vanishing ecological resources, expiry of environmental treaties, or fatalistic representations of climate These lexemes reveal how temporal binaries .
eginning vs.
ending, old vs.
are linguistically deployed to frame climate change as a defining moment in national history.
The keyword AuRecordAy .
signals the data-driven aspect of climate discourse.
the analyzed texts.
AurecordAy may refer to temperature extremes, cyclone intensities, or unprecedented flooding, as well as carbon emissions and economic damage.
The recurrence of this term underlines the quantification of climate change, where Bangladeshi newspapers often employ numerical intensification to dramatize environmental events.
Furthermore, the term AurecordAy resonates with Baker and McEneryAos .
observation that corpora help identify discursive tendencies toward hyperbole or precision.
Therefore, in BangladeshAos case.
AurecordAy seems to serve both: it dramatizes disasters and simultaneously legitimizes the discourse through reference to empirical benchmarks.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
AuProblemAy .
represents a broad but critical keyword, suggesting a general discourse of crisis, dysfunction, and intractability.
The recurrence of this word denotes a problem-oriented narrative structure, consistent with the disaster nationalism genre, wherein national identity is consolidated through shared environmental suffering.
This termAos generic nature, however, points to discursive vagueness.
While AuproblemAy signals distress, its frequent usage may contribute to linguistic dilution, where repetitive general terms lose analytical This suggests that Bangladeshi newspapers use vague signifiers like AuproblemAy or AuchallengeAy without engaging in detailed policy critique.
Conversely.
AuAchievementAy .
provides a counter-narrative of resiliency, innovation, and national success in adaptation or diplomacy.
The token presents positive framing that could be alluding to BangladeshAos international acclaim for climate negotiations or effective local mitigation action.
The result is an exception to the prevailing victimhood narrative for Global South countries.
This ambivalent, positive and negative, lexical field exists together to convey hope while considering the adversity.
In the Bangladeshi context.
AuachievementAy is probably serving the same purpose: providing rhetorical counterweight and national pride in the face of widespread climate vulnerability.
The term AuGasAy .
points to a central theme of energy rhetoric within climate It could indicate that gas exploration and energy costs are habitually implicated in climate policy and popular interest in Bangladesh.
The frequent appearance of AugasAy indicates material reliance on fossil fuels alongside political struggles around subsidy reform and energy equity.
This keyword is also critical in linking climate discourse with industrial lobbying, international investment, and domestic policy friction.
Compared to global climate discourse, which more frequently mention AucoalAy and Aurenewable energyAy.
Bangladeshi newspapers appear particularly preoccupied with Augas,Ay indicating a resource-specific environmental lexicon.
The appearance of AuProfessorAy .
reveals an effort to legitimize narratives through academic authority.
In corpus linguistics, such terms are considered intertextual devices that enhance rhetorical ethos by embedding expert opinions.
This aligns with observations by Bye Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
, who found that AuscientistAy was common collocate in climate reporting in The Guardian, used to anchor complex claims in perceived objectivity.
In Bangladeshi newspapers, the prevalence of AuprofessorAy suggests a reliance on university academics to comment on technical or theoretical dimensions of climate change.
However, this may also reflect limited institutional diversity, where academic voices dominate due to the relative absence of independent think tanks or civic science communicators.
Lastly.
AuOne of the mostAy .
serves as a linguistic intensifier, contributing to emotive amplification and evaluative framing.
This term is likely collocated with superlative structures .
Auone of the most vulnerable,Ay Auone of the worst cyclonesA.
and thus plays a crucial discursive role in heightening urgency.
Its recurrence is symptomatic of alarmist or catastrophizing discourses, consistent with the climate emergency rhetoric increasingly popular in Bangladeshi press.
Even as they receive publicity, these intensifiers may also cause discursive inflation or emotional exhaustion.
All must thus be careful not to overdo rhetorical intensification without policy justification.
To understand the attitudes and ideologies of the Bangladeshi outlets, we have to know the political and economic state of the country.
These media institutions cannot operate independently because they are influenced by the state authority, corporate power, sociocultural norms, and so on.
During this study period, purely ecological issues are hardly addressed in their reporting of these media outlets.
Instead, they covered global warming in terms of economic opportunities, international relief, or even green diplomacy.
This may lead to assume that the countryAos ecological struggles are ways of getting international attention and support.
Furthermore.
Scientific and academic voices, mostly from elite urban institutions (AuProfessorA.
, are foregrounded, while grassroots perspectives are marginalized.
This perpetuates a top-down flow of information, where expert discourse is privileged, and vernacular knowledge systems are filtered or appropriated through institutional lenses.
As a result, the media performs a gatekeeping role in environmental knowledge, shaping public Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
understanding in ways that align more closely with national policy goals and international development frameworks than with everyday lived experiences.
Therefore, journalism becomes instrumental.
On the one hand, they are operated as stateAos mouth piece to spread stateAos global agendas rather than being functioned as a space for oppositional civic discourse.
In this context, these newspapers depict the nation simultaneously as a scapegoat of global carbon emission as well as a self-capable development agent.
These hybrid narratives warn of the environmental disaster and imply the economic opportunities that may come to light from this concerning issue reinforcing hegemonic ideology where the victimhood can be turned into commodification to gain sympathy, aid, and political advantages.
Concordance Analysis Table 1 Top ten concordances for the lemma AuuA (Climat.
Ay Left Context
KWIC
ii sA a iss iu i?</s><s>Ao ss Cs e (Why are you still pursuing dead sus ya i sNAo N IAss u uA (Climat.
sus ya i sN' N IAss uA (Climat.
sus iss N IA s N uA (Climat.
s NNA N NNAu aN NNA uA (Climat.
s is s si Cs Isu ais O (Bangladesh coal-based power plants?" AoSmart Bangladesh an.
NisN (I.
Cs Ni OsA Aoss Cs eA (Under the initiative of engineers (I.
Bangladesh Section.
AoSmart Bangladesh and.
sAis-Is is Ci Nu N s s u</s><s>i (He said, to build an inclusive society through technology.
Global A) INNAo N Nssi siA suAA i suA , (Engineer Manjurul Haque Manju, the General Secretary of IEB, said.
is u</s><s> IAi .
</s><s>N u , (We must engage in afforestation.
Ay u</s><s>sAisi A iN (We must become smart through forestation and greening.
Ay AuOnly by using technology.
aisiOss N (He became the executive at the seminar titled AoSmart Bangladesh and Climate Change-Induced Risk.
uu</s><s> N (The seminar titled AoSmart Bangladesh and Climate Change-Induced RisksAo was In the semina.
aisu siEsi (To mitigate climate changeinduced losses, in the coming days we must rely on solar energy or natural alternative.
N is Is (The problem of climate change is a global issue.
To solve this problem, it is ranks right at the top among the countries most affected by the impacts of climate change.
AuProfessor Dr.
Silya Shahnaz said,) e A Is ss s Right Context uA (Climat.
uA (Climat.
s iss i is u</s><s>In Cs (We must tackle the damages caused.
Ay AuIe Bangladesh.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
si ss i u</s><s>Ao Nsi uA (A commemorative token was presented.
Ay AuDue to the recent disaster.
i u</s><s>Ao Nsi uA uA s sA (It was done.
Ay AuClimate change is responsible for the recent disaster.
OsA ou u</s><s>a siss ss ONu, a os uA (Initiatives are underway.
Ay AuIn such a context, the question has arisen: who is responsible for such incidents?) ssuA-O O i i A ii i (Based on the data and evidence, researchers have attributed it to human activities.
uA (Climat.
s sA uA s iN uAN uA (Climat.
s iN uAN N NO o uA (Climat.
s iss sA?</s><s> o uA (Climat.
siN a uA sA N NO (Climate change is responsibleAidue to climate change, in the month of July.
Western Europe.
sn u (Due to climate change.
Western Europe experienced severe disasters in the month of July.
u u</s><s>a (How responsible is change?Ay AuResearch was conducted.
Ay AuBased on this.
iuu</s><s>Ao A (They have held climate change solely responsible for such disasters.
Ay AuAoChild marriage.
A recurring pattern in the corpus is the association of climate change discourse with phrases such as AuSmart BangladeshAy and Autechnology-driven societyAy.
The alignment of environmental vulnerability with technologically driven nationalism reveals a strategic narrative in which the climate crisis is not only a threat but an opportunity for national For instance, one concordance line reads:
AuWhy are you still pursuing dead coal-based power plants?Ay AoSmart Bangladesh and Climate Change-Induced RisksAo seminar.
This framing reflects a techno-optimistic ideology, positioning Bangladesh as a proactive, modernizing state.
This discursive strategy implies that in Bangladeshi media, climate change is frequently instrumentalized to project a competent, progressive image of the government on global platforms.
The co-occurrence of Auclimate changeAy with AuSmart BangladeshAy further emphasizes a techno-developmental meta-narrative.
Alternatively, this excerpt exemplifies the newspapersAo positioning as critical yet nationalistic watchdogs.
On the surface, the headline appears to critique outdated energy policies, particularly the continued investment in coal.
However, the juxtaposition of the critique with a state-led seminar on AuSmart BangladeshAy signals a dual agenda.
On one hand, the newspaper projects its autonomy by questioning policy choices.
on the other, it amplifies government narratives about modernization and technological advancement.
This discursive strategy aligns with development journalism, wherein critique is acceptable only when wrapped in constructive Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
The newspaperAos interest lies in aligning with state goals while preserving its image of civic responsibility.
The semantic field of climate change carries positive connotations of existential threat and loss.
Phrases such as Aumitigating lossAy and Ausevere disasterAy imply crisis rhetoric.
For To mitigate climate change-induced losses, in the coming days we must rely on solar energy or natural alternatives.
This is an expression of a developmentalist agenda veiled in environmental discourse.
The advancement of Ausolar energyAy and Aunatural alternativesAy indicates a discursive alignment with state-sanctioned renewable energy policy.
In espousing specific mitigation strategies, newspapers are not merely disseminating information but endorsing state policy and legitimizing its environmental governance model.
This has a dual objective: one, of projecting an image of Bangladesh as a climate-resilient country.
and two, of fostering acceptance of techno-centric development agendas, which are usually driven by foreign investment and aid.
In doing so, newspapers act as intermediaries of state narratives, instrumentalizing climate discourse to sustain public support for infrastructural investments in renewable technologies.
Therefore, this study asserts that disaster framing dominates climate coverage in Bangladeshi newspapers, with stories focusing on damage, vulnerability, and helplessness.
The recurrence of loss-related lexemes indicates a strong risk-oriented framing, characteristic of developing nationsAo media that often narrate climate change as externally induced suffering, that positions Western nations as the agent.
The statement AuBangladesh ranks right at the top among affected countriesAy constructs a rhetoric of victimhood.
By positioning Bangladesh as a frontline nation, the discourse invites international moral accountability.
As Authe concordance lines indicates an awareness of the well-worn paths of language useAy (Partington et al.
, 2013, p.
, this linguistic pattern illustrates that Bangladeshi media frequently articulate climate change through SouthAeNorth asymmetries, often invoking vulnerability to demand global justice.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
Concordance patterns such as:
Based on the data and evidence, researchers have attributed it to human activitiesA climate change has been held responsible for such disasters.
illustrate explicit anthropogenic attribution.
The text places humans not nature at the heart of causality, which is indicative of scientifically literate climate discourse.
This discursive shift refers to that scientific accuracy increasingly infiltrates media texts via corpus-assisted communicative framing.
In broader context, this concordance clearly reflects the newspaperAos strategic alignment with scientific rationalism, portraying climate change as a direct consequence of human behavior.
The repeated reference to AudataAy.
AuevidenceAy, and AuresearchersAy suggests an agenda that seeks to legitimize environmental awareness through The likely intention here is twofold: first, to educate the public in a developing country context where scientific literacy may still be emerging.
and second, to delegate moral accountability, urging both policymakers and citizens to re-evaluate unsustainable practices.
This type of discourse positions the newspaper not as a passive chronicler of disasters, but as an active agent of environmental enlightenment, leveraging the authority of science to shape national behavior and political accountability.
It also insulates the media from blame by showcasing its role as a conveyor of AuneutralAy knowledge, while actually steering public sentiment towards a progressive and eco-conscious worldview.
The repetition of phrases like Ausmart BangladeshAy and Autechnology-basedAy suggests lexical borrowing and adaptation.
These are not traditional Bangla words but transliterated imports shaped by contemporary policy discourses.
Thus, one can argue that media hybridize English lexical items in South Asian contexts to attain communicative economy and modernity Since Fulton .
states that Auin a world dominated by print and electronic media, our sense of reality is increasingly structured by narrativeAy .
, therefore, by mixing Bangla idioms with English words, newspapers create a style that speaks to city elites but also connects with wider readers.
This mix promotes both climate awareness and linguistic hybridity as persuasive tools.
Because, linking climate action with the idea of a AuSmart BangladeshAy blurs the line between environmental concern and national development.
Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
making state-led modernization seem natural.
Here.
Authe AorealityAo we are shown is itself constructedAy (Fulton, 2005, p.
The coverage also shows how closely media and government work together, with journalism used to back policies and present climate action as a hightech, hopeful future.
This mirrors the argument Herman and Chomsky .
made in their propaganda model.
Moreover, beyond gaining local support, the aim is to show Bangladesh as forward-looking in global debates.
This blending of local and global language helps newspapers mobilize people at home while gaining credibility abroad.
Thus, this Audenotative level is also connotative, persuading us that we need to change in order to match up to the reality around usAy (Fulton, 2005, p.
Phrases like Auwe must engage in afforestation.
must tackle the damages caused, we must rely on solar energy or natural alternativesAy, have strong modal constructions such as Aumust engageAy.
Aumust tackleAy, and Aumust rely onAy.
Here, prescriptive modes signal an indicator of moral necessity.
that is, they imply moral imperatives instead of voluntary policy proposals.
The recurrence of these forms signifies a performative function for discourse signaling agency and commitment, although the patterns are lexical rather than policy based.
The newspapers adopt an authoritative and normative stance here using imperative modal constructions which call for civic participation.
These do not serve as descriptions but instead shout from the rooftops, pleading to be acted upon with embedded moral obligations.
This prescriptive writing reveals media suggests a strategic orientation: to foster climate-responsible citizens and partner with government initiatives aimed towards sustainable development.
AuNews reporting mythologizes, and therefore normalizes, the existence of universal truths and an objective reality that can be retrieved and represented without ideological mediationAy (Fulton, 2005, p.
Consequently, far from featuring the public as victims or spectators, these texts remake them as agents of change charged with building a AusmartAy and AugreenAy Bangladesh.
This parallels with BoykoffAos .
claim that mass people Aurely upon media representations to help interpret and make sense of the many complexities relating to climate science and governanceAy .
I).
The media thus act as cultural intermediaries, translating policy ideals into consumable public demands.
Because AuA dynamic mix of influences shapes what Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
becomes climate AonewsAo or AoinformationAoAy (Boykoff, 2011, p.
I).
As a result, this also allows them to assert editorial control over national consciousness-formation, re-establishing the press as a norm-setting institution and not merely a spectator.
The use of AumustAy indicates an editorial voice that is moralizing and pedagogic framing public behavior not through threat, but responsibility and optimism because Aucorpus linguistics were involved in lexicography and grammar, aiming to discover and quantify patterns in ever-larger corporaAy (Mautner, 2018, p.
A further interesting development is the incorporation of climate change discussion into wider social justice and sustainable development narratives.
These are:
AuTo build an inclusive society through technology.
Ay AuWe must become smart through forestation and greeningAy Fulton .
asserts that Aunarrative in the media becomes simply a way of selling somethingAy .
In Bangladesh, the way climate change is discussed by the outlets is rarely separated from bigger national questions such as development, social inclusion, and even the project of nation-building itself.
This way media spread their agendas.
AuSince audience sectors are defined and distinguished on the basis of their assumed VALS .
alues and lifestyl.
, narratives have to display and reinforce the same sets of VALS as the desired audienceAy (Fulton, 2005, p.
Hence, media reports, as found in the corpus, often connect climate policy to those wider issues, turning it into a story of collective progress rather than a narrow technical debate.
In doing so, newspapers try to make environmental concerns relevant to groups that might otherwise feel left out of elite policy discussionsAifor instance, rural populations, young people, and marginalized communities, because Authere is nothing natural or universal about narrativeAy (Fulton, 2005, p.
Instead of only talking about glaciers melting or abstract global warming, the news often frames the matter around work opportunities, fairness, and the countryAos shared future.
This approach seems especially effective in Bangladesh, where people are generally more responsive to messages about development than to faraway threats.
As Fulton .
argues that Auit is historically and culturally positioned to turn information and events into structures that are already meaningful to their audiencesAy Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
, newspapers seem to recognize this and deliberately align climate policy with the national aspiration for development.
By doing so, they reposition environmental questions at the center of collective prosperity and reaffirm their own role as agents of social and civic transformation, using language as a cognitive scaffold for shared experience (Fowler, 1.
Conclusion To conclude, the lexical landscape of climate change discourse in Bangladeshi national newspapers are depicted in such a strategic way that stretches beyond the environmental Based on an examination of news reports and opinion pieces from three major Bangla outlets, this study asserts that the issue is framed not merely as an ecological threat but equally as something intertwined with politics, economic development, and national identity.
This mirrors the propaganda model which Ausuggests that the Ausocietal purposeAy of the media is to inculcate and defend the economic, social, and political agenda of privileged groups that dominate the domestic society and the stateAy (Herman & Chomsky, 1988, p.
In this framing, the countryAos future is imagined as inseparable from how it responds to climate However, this paper recognizes its limitations.
Firstly, the time period .
0Ae2.
is a dynamic but limited slice of BangladeshAos changing climate discourse, which may not be able to provide a picture of historical trends and newly unfolding changes.
Secondly, the research was limited to just three leading national dailies, which might fail to reflect the range of editorial ideologies, local perspectives, or bottom-up narratives.
Third, the research only considered written texts and not richer multimodal genres like infographic and visual media that are also implicated in making meaning in journalism practice.
Therefore, future study should focuses on these issues.
Ultimately, this study highlights that climate narrative in Bangladesh is not ideologically neutral or lexically arbitrary.
Instead, as Lukin .
so aptly puts it.
Aulanguage is always ideological, and ideology depends on languageAy .
The media, through lexical and narrative means, plays a role in the constitution of a reality in which national aggrievement is described as resilience and global peripherality is reimagined as moral high Shaikh & Obaidulla.
Lexical Landscape of Climate Change Discourse in Bangladeshi National Newspapers: A Corpus Linguistic Analysis 49-74 IREELL (Indonesian Review of English Education and Linguistic.
Vol.
4 No.
As Liao .
and Bhatia .
argue in different but complementary ways, strategic narratives and linguistic colonization are important tools of ideological projection and identity-construction.
Therefore, these outlets transcend mere narration in their coverage of environmental crisis rather they actively architect aspirational modernity by channeling urgency, diplomacy, and development into a coherent vision of sustainable nationhood.
References