The Relationship between Linguistic Devices and Representation of Misbehaving Monks in Online News Discourse : A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This article aims at analyzing the relationship between linguistic devices and representation of misbehaving monks in online news discourse by adopting the framework of Critical Discourse Analysis (Fairclough, 1992, 1995a, 1995b). The analysis reveals that various linguistic devices are used for constructing the representation of misbehaving monks, including the usage of referring terms, verb phrases, lexical selection, narratives, presupposition, intertextuality, and rhetorical questions. The three main representations of misbehaving monks constructed by these devices include 1) misbehaving monks as persons whose behaviors are inappropriate for being a monk, 2) misbehaving monks as a disgrace to the society and the religion, and 3) misbehaving monks as persons who deserve to be condemned and expelled from Buddhist institute and monk society. The social factors that are related to the representations of misbehaving monks are laws, Buddhist discipline or Vinaya, monk’s regulation, and the concept about the roles of monks. It is found that the press uses the news discourse of misbehaving monks as a selling point. Moreover, it seems that they attempt to eliminate the shameful monks from the Buddhist institutes by severely condemning these misbehaving monks. However, it appears that the press has not addressed the causes of the problems and proposed any sustainable solutions. Ultimately, the problems have persisted and still occurred repeatedly as found in the news.