We Reduce, We Achieve, We Commit
A Corpus-assisted Discourse Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2026.i28.1764Parole chiave:
Corporate discourse, Critical Genre Analysis, Corpus-based Discourse Analysis, Sustainability reporting, Narrative identityAbstract
This study explores how sustainability reports construct persuasive corporate identities that promote environmental and social responsibility. The analysis draws on a 455,000-token corpus of nine 2023 reports from companies listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), compiled and processed via Sketch Engine (Kilgarriff, et al. 2014; 2004). Methodologically, this research integrates Corpus-Based Discourse Analysis (Baker 2023; 2014; Egbert and Baker 2020), the Appraisal Framework (Martin and White 2005) and Critical Genre Analysis (Bhatia 2017; 2014; 2008) to uncover both quantitative patterns and qualitative discursive strategies. Findings reveal that sustainability reports give rise to a coherent and future-oriented narrative identity (McAdams and McLean 2013), in which the corporation emerges as an ethical, proactive and people-centred actor. First-person plural forms (i.e., we, our and us) dominate the corpus, thereby pointing to categories such as agency, collective responsibility and ownership. These frequently co-occur with material process verbs that project transformative intent (Halliday and Matthiessen 2013) and with adjectives portraying the company as sustainable, inclusive and innovative (Stibbe 2015). The discursive interplay of these features builds an ethotic argument that positions the company as trustworthy and committed. Additionally, frequent references to ‘science-based’ goals serve to contract dialogic space and reinforce corporate credibility and ethical alignment, thus reducing interpretive openness (Fuoli 2018; Martin and White 2005). While such reports are framed as informative, this analysis suggests they increasingly adopt persuasive strategies typical of promotional genres. In line with Critical Genre Analysis, they exemplify genre bending (Bhatia 2008), revealing how corporate sustainability discourse functions as a tool for identity negotiation and reputational management.
Riferimenti bibliografici
Alexander, Richard J. Framing Discourse on the Environment: A Critical Discourse Approach. London: Routledge, 2010.
Baker, Paul. Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis. London: Bloomsbury, 2023.
---. Using Corpora to Analyze Gender. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Bednarek, Monika. Emotion Talk Across Corpora. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
Bhatia, Vijay. “A Generic View of Academic Discourse.” Academic Discourse. Edited by John Flowerdew. London: Routledge, 2014. 31-49.
---. Analysing Genre: Language Use in Professional Settings. London: Longman, 1993.
---. Critical Genre Analysis: Investigating Interdiscursive Performance in Professional Practice. London: Routledge, 2017.
---. “Genre Analysis, ESP and Professional Practice.” English for Specific Purposes 27.2 (2008): 161-174.
Biber, Douglas. Variation Across Speech and Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Biber, Douglas, et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English. London: Longman, 2002.
Castagnoli, Sara. “Conveying Companies’ Socially Responsible Image Across Languages: Cultural Differences and Their Implications for Translation.” I Linguaggi dell’Impresa: Dialogo tra la Ricerca Scientifica e il Mondo Imprenditoriale. Edited by Antonella Nardi and Natascia Leonardi. Rome: Aracne, 2021a. 73-91.
---. “Discursive Differences in Native and Translated Corporate Social Responsibility Reports: A Corpus-Based Comparison of Stance.” Recent Trends in Translation Studies: An Anglo-Italian Perspective. Edited by Sara Laviosa, Giovanni Iamartino and Eileen Mulligan. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021b. 179-201.
Castagnoli, Sara and Elena Magistro. “Translating (Im)personalisation in Corporate Discourse: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports in English and Italian.” Lingue e Linguaggi 29 (2019): 205-224.
Catenaccio, Paola. “Ethics and Legitimacy in the Discourse of Agri-Biotechnology: A Study in Argumentation.” Anglistica AION 23.1 (2019): 195-216.
De Fina, Anna. Identity in Narrative: A Study of Immigrant Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003.
Egbert, Jesse and Paul Baker, edited by. Using Corpus Methods to Triangulate Linguistic Analysis. New York: Routledge, 2020.
Fairclough, Norman. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. London: Routledge, 2003.
Fill, Alwin F. and Peter Mühlhäusler, edited by. The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment. London: Continuum, 2001.
Fischer, Daniel, et al. “Sustainable Consumption Communication: A Review of an Emerging Field of Research.” Journal of Cleaner Production 300 (2021): 1-13.
Fuoli, Matteo. “Building a Trustworthy Corporate Identity: A Corpus-Based Analysis of Stance in Annual and Corporate Social Responsibility Reports.” Applied Linguistics 39.6 (2018): 846-885.
Godemann, Jasmin and Gerd Michelsen, edited by. Sustainability Communication: An Introduction. Dordrecht: Springer, 2011.
Grice, H. Paul. “Logic and Conversation.” Syntax and Semantics 3 (1975): 41-58.
---. Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989.
Hajer, Maarten A. and Wytske Versteeg. “A Decade of Discourse Analysis of Environmental Politics: Achievements, Challenges, Perspectives.” Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning 7.3 (2005): 175-184.
Halliday, M. A. K. and Christian M. I. M. Matthiessen. An Introduction to Functional Grammar. 3rd ed. London: Arnold, 2013.
Higgins, Colin and Brian Coffey. “Improving How Sustainability Reports Drive Change: A Critical Discourse Analysis.” Journal of Cleaner Production 136 (2016): 18-29.
Hunston, Susan and Geoff Thompson, edited by. Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Hyland, Ken. “Authority and Invisibility: Authorial Identity in Academic Writing.” Journal of Pragmatics 34.8 (2002): 1091-1112.
---. “Humble Servants of the Discipline? Self-Mention in Research Articles.” English for Specific Purposes 20.3 (2001): 207-226.
Lee, Seung-Hee. “Evaluative Stances in Persuasive Essays by Undergraduate Students: Focusing on Appreciation Resources.” Text & Talk 35.1 (2015): 49-76.
Kilgarriff, Adam, et al. “The Sketch Engine.” Proceedings of Euralex (2004): 105-116.
Kilgarriff, Adam, et al. “The Sketch Engine: Ten Years On.” Lexicography 1 (2014): 7-36.
Koller, Veronika. Metaphor and Gender in Business Media Discourse: A Critical Cognitive Study. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Krieg, Christian and Reetta Toivanen, edited by. Situating Sustainability: A Handbook of Contexts and Concepts. Helsinki: Helsinki University Press, 2021.
Martin, J. R. and Peter R. R. White. The Language of Evaluation: Appraisal in English. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
McAdams, Dan P. and Kate C. McLean. “Narrative Identity.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 22.3 (2013): 233-238.
Meyer, John W. and Brian Rowan. “Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony.” American Journal of Sociology 83.2 (1977): 340-363.
Partington, Alan, Alison Duguid and Charlotte Taylor.
“Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (MD-CADS) 1: Comparisons over Time in Lexical Grammar and Discourse Practices.” Patterns and Meanings in Discourse. Edited by Alan Partington, Alison Duguid and Charlotte Taylor. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2013. 265-282.
Poole, Robert. Corpus-Assisted Ecolinguistics. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
---. “Ecolinguistics, GIS, and Corpus Linguistics for the Analysis of the Rosemont Copper Mine Debate.” Environmental Communication 12.4 (2017): 525-540.
Sinclair, John. Corpus, Concordance, Collocation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Stibbe, Arran. Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By. London: Routledge, 2015.
---. Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live By. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2021.
Stubbs, Michael. Text and Corpus Analysis: Computer-Assisted Studies of Language and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
Suchman, Mark C. “Managing Legitimacy: Strategic and Institutional Approaches.” Academy of Management Review 20.3 (1995): 571-610.
Thompson, Geoff. Introducing Functional Grammar. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2014.
Thompson, Geoff and Susan Hunston. “Evaluation: An Introduction.” Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Edited by Susan Hunston and Geoff Thompson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 1-27.
Wodak, Ruth. “Recontextualisation and the Transformation of Meanings.” Discourse and Social Life. Edited by Srikant Sarangi and Malcolm Coulthard. London: Longman, 2000. 185-206.
Wright, Christopher and Daniel Nyberg. Climate Change, Capitalism and Corporations: Processes of Creative Self-Destruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Dowloads
Pubblicato
Fascicolo
Sezione
Licenza
Copyright (c) 2026 Fabio Cangero
Questo volume è pubblicato con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale.
Iperstoria è una rivista accademica ad accesso libero.
a. Gli autori e le autrici detengono il copyright e danno alla rivista il diritto per la prima pubblicazione con il contributo sotto licenza Creative Commons BY (4.0) che permette di condividere l’articolo con il riconoscimento della prima pubblicazione su questa rivista.
b. Gli autori e le autrici possono inoltre stabilire ulteriori direttive contrattuali per la distribuzione non esclusiva della versione del contributo pubblicata sulla rivista (es. ripubblicarlo in archivi istituzionali o in un volume), con uno specifico riconoscimento della prima pubblicazione su questa rivista. Chiediamo pertanto agli autori e autrici di contattarci nel caso di eventuali ripubblicazioni.
