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Title: Exploring linguistic representations of Brexiters vs. Remainers’ identities in an online media text.

 

Vol. 13(1), 2025, pp. 27-40.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46687/TULR8026.

 

Author: Crina-Oana Gociu

About the author: Crina-Oana Gociu is a PhD student at the School of Doctoral Studies of “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania. She is conducting her doctoral research on Brexit-generated identity crises reflected across text varieties under the supervision of Associate Professor Nadia-Nicoleta Morăraşu and has already published some articles based on her research in reputed journals.

E-mail: oanagociu3@gmail.com                          

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9753-5505

 

Author: Nadia-Nicoleta Morăraşu

About the author: Nadia-Nicoleta Morăraşu is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Letters of “Vasile Alecsandri” University of Bacau, Romania. She holds a BA in Philology, an MA in Sciences of Languages and Communication and a PhD in Philology. In addition to teaching courses related to different branches of Linguistics, she is involved in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research activities on onomastics, translation and identity studies. She has become a doctoral supervisor in 2021 and the head of the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department in 2023. She is the co-editor of Cultural Perspectives Journal and the executive manager of CETAL Research Centre.

E-mail: morarasu.nadia@ub.ro                    

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5308-8438

        

Link: http://silc.fhn-shu.com/issues/2025-1/SILC_2025_Vol_13_Issue_1_027-040_14.pdf

 

Citation (APA): Gociu, C. O., & Morăraşu, N. N. (2025). Exploring linguistic representations of Brexiters vs. Remainers’ identities in an online media text. Studies in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT, 13(1), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.46687/TULR8026

 

Abstract: This paper provides an empirical analysis of the way in which the opposing political roles and identities assumed by the British citizens in the context of the EU Referendum in the UK – Brexiters vs. Remainers – were linguistically represented in a media text published in the pre-Brexit period. Our study explores the connections between language and identity and reflects on how media texts contributed to the construction of two opposing identities in the UK at a time of great national divides and personal anxieties.

The study is structured into two sections, of which the former examines the linguistic representation of the divergent British identities generated by Brexit by applying Gee’s discourse analytical framework to an online published media text, while the latter employs the scrutinising lens of CDA to consider two relevant aspects: the tense relation between the UK and the EU and the issue of immigration. The article brings conclusive evidence that the two contrastive identities were constructed and represented in the selected media text according to the subjective perspective of an author who was guided by strong ideological views and supported by effectively employed linguistic means.

Key words: linguistic identity, Brexiters, Remainers, discourse analysis toolkit, CDA

 

References:

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Source of text:

Associated Newspapers. (2016, June 22). Daily Mail comment: If you believe in Britain, vote leave. Lies, greedy elites and a divided, dying Europe - why we could have a great future outside a broken EU . Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3653385/Lies-greedy-elites-divided-dying-Europe-Britain-great-future-outside-broken-EU.html