Investigating Texts about Environmental Degradation Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Corpus Linguistic Techniques

This chapter questions the ideologies underpinning unsustainable neoliberal economic processes and challenges activities that cause ecological degradation. Critical discourse analysis and corpus linguistics are employed to scrutinize companies’ websites on the environment. Capitalistic practices are examined that represent things as ‘natural’ or ‘inevitable’ when multinational corporations discoursally shape the environmental state of the world. Computer-generated concordances reveal specific linguistic features that uphold larger discourse processes. A case study of Coca-Cola and its partner the WWF discussing water conservation and use illustrates the method. Ecolinguists can play a significant role in showcasing examples of actors responsible for damaging environmental activities.