Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach

This paper explores the usage of two morphologically related words, foreign and foreigner, in two major daily English-language newspapers circulated widely in Malaysia. On the basis of 285 tokens, the study shows a striking tendency indicating that they do not share exactly the same semantic conte...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Toshiko Yamaguchi, Huixin Yeo
Format:	Article
Language:	English
Published:	Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2015
Online Access:	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/1/8819-25691-1-PB.pdf

id	ukm-8863
recordtype	eprints
spelling	ukm-88632016-12-14T06:48:15Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/ Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach Toshiko Yamaguchi, Huixin Yeo, This paper explores the usage of two morphologically related words, foreign and foreigner, in two major daily English-language newspapers circulated widely in Malaysia. On the basis of 285 tokens, the study shows a striking tendency indicating that they do not share exactly the same semantic content. While foreign is used neutrally to modify things or people from a country other than Malaysia, foreigner is found frequently in four negative contexts (running illegal businesses, entering Malaysia illegally, bringing diseases to Malaysia, and misusing marriage in Malaysia). Using Fillmore’s frame as a theoretical construct, the study seeks to explain why foreigner tends to correlate with negative connotations, while foreign does not. The central idea is that the PERSON attribute attached to foreigner invokes positive/neutral and negative values, and that the semantics of foreigner and foreign incorporates our schematic knowledge about everyday life. In conclusion, these results are stated to shed light on ‘the changing tenor of English’ in Malaysia. Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM 2015 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/1/8819-25691-1-PB.pdf Toshiko Yamaguchi, and Huixin Yeo, (2015) Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach. 3L; Language,Linguistics and Literature,The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies., 21 (2). pp. 103-114. ISSN 0128-5157 http://ejournals.ukm.my/3l/issue/view/638
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Local University
institution	Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building	UKM Institutional Repository
collection	Online Access
language	English
description	This paper explores the usage of two morphologically related words, foreign and foreigner, in two major daily English-language newspapers circulated widely in Malaysia. On the basis of 285 tokens, the study shows a striking tendency indicating that they do not share exactly the same semantic content. While foreign is used neutrally to modify things or people from a country other than Malaysia, foreigner is found frequently in four negative contexts (running illegal businesses, entering Malaysia illegally, bringing diseases to Malaysia, and misusing marriage in Malaysia). Using Fillmore’s frame as a theoretical construct, the study seeks to explain why foreigner tends to correlate with negative connotations, while foreign does not. The central idea is that the PERSON attribute attached to foreigner invokes positive/neutral and negative values, and that the semantics of foreigner and foreign incorporates our schematic knowledge about everyday life. In conclusion, these results are stated to shed light on ‘the changing tenor of English’ in Malaysia.
format	Article
author	Toshiko Yamaguchi, Huixin Yeo,
spellingShingle	Toshiko Yamaguchi, Huixin Yeo, Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
author_facet	Toshiko Yamaguchi, Huixin Yeo,
author_sort	Toshiko Yamaguchi,
title	Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
title_short	Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
title_full	Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
title_fullStr	Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
title_full_unstemmed	Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach
title_sort	foreigner and foreign in english-language newspapers in malaysia: a framesemantic approach
publisher	Pusat Pengajian Bahasa dan Linguistik, FSSK, UKM
publishDate	2015
url	http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/ http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8863/1/8819-25691-1-PB.pdf
first_indexed	2023-09-18T19:53:19Z
last_indexed	2023-09-18T19:53:19Z
_version_	1777406364718465024

Foreigner and foreign in English-language newspapers in Malaysia: A framesemantic approach

Similar Items