n f .

C o
r s e
of u
Representations o
in the Greekis c refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants

in D press (2010-2016): a critical corpus-driven study

o p e gs 7 )
Ioannis E. Saridakis, Effie Mouka

r
Eu eedin ng 20 1 National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

c i n f .
r o
p t hc m
ABSTRACT

o C o
s e
The aim of this paper is to analyse the variation of main descriptors and qualifiers, and to present the dis -

r
u
course topics identified in Greek mainstream media with regard to refugees, asylum seekers and immig-

(fo r o
rants. The underlying hypothesis is that how the issue of migration is presented by the media reflects and/or

c
is
triggers social attitudes and mainstream stances, in terms of solidarity and/or racism, and that such attitudes

D
and stances may be subject to marked shifts, or changes, consistent with the development and escalation of

n
the migrant crisis. To the extent that they can be observed, such variations merit attention and critical ana-

e i
lysis, considering both the importance and the scale of the crisis, on a national, regional and European

p n gs )
7
level. The critical explanatory frame used in this study draws on detailed corpus-driven findings.

r o 1
Eu eedi ng 20
Keywords: immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, migration crisis, corpus linguistics, critical discourse

.
analysis

o c i o n f
r
1. INTRODUCTION:
p thco
METHODOLOGY m BACKGROUND,

s e C RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND

o r o u r
The examination of discursive representations of refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants and migrants in

( f is c
various genres has long attracted research interest. Seminal work in the field is by van Dijk (1991) on ra-

D
cism in the press, and by Reisigl & Wodak (2001) on discourse and discrimination. Such studies are under-

n
pinned by a critical, discourse-driven understanding of the various structures and strategies of the different

p e i
levels of text and talk (van Dijk, 2008, qt. in Baker et al., 2008, p. 280), are informed by social theory

)
s
and view discursive and linguistic data as a social practice, both reflecting and producing ideologies in so-

r o g 1 7
ciety (Baker et al., ibid.). Even though it has long been suggested that CDA approaches to language would

u in 0
2
benefit significantly from corpus-driven approaches (Stubbs, 1994), traditionally CDA studies making use

E e e d ng nf .
of corpora have, in general, tended to avoid carrying out quantitative analysis, preferring to employ con-

c i
cordance analysis (Baker et al., 2008, p. 275). A pioneering empirical study in the field, combining corpus

r o m C o
linguistics and critical discourse analysis, is the ESRC RAS project 1 (see Baker et al., 2008; Gabrielatos &

p thco e
Baker, 2008), which contrastively examines, both synchronically and diachronically, the linguistic defini-

r s
tions and constructions of RASIM2, the frequent topics raised in articles relating to RASIM, and the atti-

r u
o o
tudes towards RASIM that emerge from the body of UK newspapers as a whole (Baker et al., 2008, p.

( f i s c
276). This study has been methodologically replicated by Taylor (2009), who examines the representation
of RASIM in the Italian press. A more recent corpus-based study on the discourse of migration is that by

in D
the Migration Observatory of the University of Oxford, which aimed at developing a clearer understand-
ing of the language that [Britains national newspapers] use to discuss migrants and migration (Allen &
Blinder, 2013, p. 2)3.

o p e g s 7 )
1
2
u r in 0 1
Discourses of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the UK press 1996-2006.

E d 2
RASIM: Acronym used in Baker et al. (2008) to collectively designate Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Immigrants

c e e i n g
and Migrants. This acronym has been used also in our paper.
Note that this report has recently been updated to include data until 2016 (Allen, 2016).

pro thcom 1

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Arguably, an analysis of this type stems from and is catalysed by sensitive social and political issues, and

r s
the traits of such discursive representations are reasonably expected to be modulated by multiple conjunc-

u
tural facts and events. As posited already, during the last decades, Greece, together with Italy and Spain

i s c o
have progressively seen large irregular immigration flows from non-European states, as [these] countries
are key entry-points to Europe (Mouka et al., 2015, p. 43). In addition, Europes recent (and still rampant)

in D
migration crisis, in other words the inflow of refugees into EU territory, mostly from Turkey and mainly as
a result of the war in Syria and the turbulence in the Middle East, has radically changed the backdrop of

o e
p n gs 7)
perceptions and stance-taking vis--vis RASIM. Even though in 2013, non-European RASIM in Greece

1
represented 5.96 percent of the total population4 and the 2015-2016 RASIM inflows are not expected to

r
Eu eedi ng 20
significantly change this proportion, considering that until now Greece is only an interim station for the

.
vast majority of RASIM who ultimately find their way to other EU countries 5. Therefore, what is of partic-

o c n f
ular interest here, is not a perception of the living conditions and social inclusion of RASIM (as is mostly

i o
m
the case in previous studies), but how the migration crisis progressively changes the perceptions of and

r
p t hc o e C
about RASIM. What is more, the migration crisis has coincided with a radical political change in Greece,

s
r
a country already amidst a rampant economic crisis. In January 2015, a coalition government was formed

r u
by the leftist SYRIZA6 and the populist right-wing ANEL 7, replacing the two parties 8 that had interchange-

(fo c o
ably been in power since 1974 and in a coalition government from May 2012 to January 2015. This marked

is
also a radical change in Greeces migration policy, and the abolishment of the dogma of closed borders

in D
and of minimal tolerance to illegal and clandestine immigrants. What is more, this change of attitude
and the concurrent surge of RASIM flows from Turkey into Greece and then into other EU countries, has

e
boosted the blame game in Greek politics: opposition parties are blaming the new coalition government

r o p n gs 7 )
for opening Greeces sea borders and thus tolerating illegal immigration as well as for inadequately treating

1
Eu eedi ng 20
those that are really in need of humanitarian support. On the other hand, SYRIZA and government officials

.
are accusing former governments (of New Democracy and PASOK) for blind-eyeing of the Syrian war and

o i o n f
the refugee crisis, and EU institutions (as well as other EU countries, especially in the Balkan peninsula)

c
for creating Fortress Europe and violating international humanitarian law and principles.

r
p thco m e C
Such changes and stances are arguably expected to cause marked shifts in related discourse patterns. Indic-

s
r
atively, Al Jazeera devoted an article on why the use of the words migrant and migrant crisis are not fit

( o r o u
for describing the current situation and the persons involved: For reasons of accuracy, the director of news

f c
is
at Al Jazeera English, Salah Negm, has decided that we will no longer use the word migrant in this context.
We will instead, where appropriate, say refugee9. Also, in April 2015, the then President of the Greek Par-

i n D
liament, Zoe Konstantopoulou, banned the use in parliament of the term clandestine
immigrant, for being racist and derogatory10. It is noted that international organisations and fora (e.g., the

o p e g s 7 )
Council of Europe11, the EU12, the IOM13, the European Commission 14) have long opted for, as well as re-

r 1
commended, the use of the qualifier irregular in lieu of illegal when referring to migrants.

E u e i
d ngn 2 0 .
o c e i o nf
r m
4 See: Eurostat 2014 data <http://goo.gl/hbouLx>. For a detailed analysis also Afouxenidis et al., 2012.
5

p thco C
Based on recent estimates by the Greek Ministry for the Interior (31 January 2017), the number of (migrant crisis)

s e
RASIM currently staying in Greece, i.e. hosted in accommodation camps, is 62,401; see: <https://goo.gl/eIQByx>.

r u r
Note that the total number of RASIM arrivals in Greece during the 2015-2016 migrant crisis is estimated to more

o o
f
than one million. See UNHCR data: <https://goo.gl/zkGW59>.
6
(
Coalition of the Radical Left.

i s c
D
7 Independent Greeks.

n
8 The conservative New Democracy and the centre-left PASOK [Panhellenic Socialist Movement].
9
10
i
See: <https://goo.gl/byBhZf>.

e
See: <https://goo.gl/O7v7SD>.

p )
11

o g s 7
See Resolution 1509 (2006) of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.

r n 0 1
u i
12 See the definition of illegal stay, in article 3 of Directive 2008/115/EC (the Return Directive).
13
14
E e e d g 2
See the IOM Glossary on Migration, 2nd ed. 2011 <https://goo.gl/mnpMxE>.
See the European Migration Network (EMN) Glossary on Asylum and Migration (version 3, October 2014), esp.
172.

c i n
pro thcom 2

(for
 n f .
C o
e
With this in mind, a diachronic study of the linguistic variation of the representations of RASIM in the

r s
Greek press is a research topic that merits special attention. In this context and more in particular, this study

u
exploits the useful synergy of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis (Baker et al., 2008), in or-

c o
der to tentatively investigate:

i s
D
(a) the diachronic variation in the linguistic definitions and constructions of RASIM in the Greek

in
press, before and during the crisis;

o e
p n gs )
(b) the frequent topics raised in relation to RASIM during the crisis; and

7
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
(c) the stances taken by the Greek press vis--vis RASIM, also during the crisis.

f .
What is noteworthy (and challenging) about this study in relation to previous work in the field is that it at-

c i n
tempts to grasp and evaluate linguistic and behavioural change during the development of the social and

r o
p t hc m o
political phenomenon, in other words to investigate the issue at hand as it develops.

o C
s e
This paper therefore reports on the first findings of our on-going research effort, which more specifically

r
u
has been articulated as follows:

(fo r c o
(a) Manual compilation of a corpus of thematically selected opinion articles from mainstream Greek

D is
newspapers (Kathimerini, To Vima and Efimerida ton Syntakton). The study corpus size is 2,110 articles
(1,208,389 tokens) and spans a period from 2010 to date15, and the sampling frame practically includes all

in
relevant articles published in the three newspapers, which represent the entire political/ideological spec-

e )
trum. This corpus has been cautiously divided into subcorpora, so as to adequately correspond to social and

o p n gs 7
political milestones that (may) point to change and variation.

r 1
Eu eedi ng 20
(b) Triangulated investigation16 of the semantics and prosodies of key discourse elements (lexemes), i.e.

c i n f .
combining two different, yet complementary approaches to corpus data: one that is based on the quantitat-

o
ive analysis and critical examination of the linguistic variation of pre-selected key lexemes (sections 3.1

r o m C
and 3.2), and one that focuses on a three-dimensional analysis of collocation, being also both statistical

p thco e
and qualitative, by using state-of-the art corpus linguistics tools and analytical methods (section 3.3). Cor-

r s
pus findings are then critically linked to milestones and analysed in the relevant sections, to the extent per-

r u
o o
mitted by the length of this paper. Where appropriate, and considering also space limitations, such a discus-

( f is c
sion is exemplified by resorting to salient concordances from the newspaper corpus.

i n D
2. KEY LEXICAL FINDINGS AND STATISTICS

o p e g s 7 )
In terms of the sheer number and time distribution of the articles culled, it is clear the migration crisis has

E u r i
d ngn 2 0 1
triggered significant attention from the media, in a pattern consistent with its escalation. This is schematic-
ally depicted (per year) in Fig. 1 below (for Kathimerini and To Vima) and in Fig. 2, representing the total

e e f .
number of articles in relation to the number of migrant arrivals (per sub-period). The peaks of all newspa-

c i n
o
per trends coincide with the peak of RASIM arrivals, i.e. somewhere around September and October 2015.

r o
p thco m e C
Following this, the marked drop of arrivals, starting in late October 2015 after the first meeting between the

s
German Chancellor and Turkeys President in Ankara (18 October) and continuing consistently until the

o r o r
end of the study period, i.e. approximately when the EU-Turkey statement on the migrant crisis was issued

u
(18 March 2016), is followed, until the end of 2015, by an analogous drop in the number of related articles.

( f i s c
However, this correlation is reversed in early 2016: this can perhaps be attributed to an increase of focus on

D
the medium- and long-term effects of the closure of the Balkan route and on the consequent entrapment

n
of RASIM on Greek territory, and therefore to the realisation that the migrant crisis would soon become an

p e i )
r o n g s 0 1 7
u i
15 For Efimerida ton Syntakton, corpus data includes texts dating from the second semester of 2014, when the news -

E e e d g 2
paper was first published online. This is shown in more detail in the plots and tables that follow.
16 On the concept of methodological triangulation in corpus linguistics, see: Baker & Levon, 2015, p. 3-5; Baker &

c i n
Egbert, 2016 [1]; Saridakis, 2016, p. 226.

pro thcom 3

(for
 n f .
C o
e
acute problem, one of permanent social integration of RASIM, and not just a simple matter of manage -

r s
ment of RASIM flows17.

u
i s c o
in D
o e
p n gs 7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p t hc o m C o
r s e
(fo r c o u
is
Fig. 1. Total number of articles (Kathimerini, To Vima), 2010-2015.

D
e in
r o p n gs 1 7 )
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p thco r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u i
d ngn 2 0
Fig. 2. Newspaper articles vs RASIM arrivals (sourced and adapted from the UNHCR18).

e .
o c e i nf
Between 2010 and 2014, the total content of articles related to migration (represented as total article word

o
m
counts) varies somewhat insignificantly, while after 2015, it surges: e.g., in 2010, in the two mainstream

r
p thco e C
newspapers analysed, the total word count of articles was 14,881, while in 2015, this figure rises to 350,712

s
r
words, for Kathimerini and To Vima and to 622,766 words, including also Efimerida ton Syntakton. This is

r u
shown in Fig. 3 below.

( f o i s c o
in D
o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 0 1
17 This is of course a tentative finding, pointing to the need for a more extensive and deeper lexico-semantic analysis.

2
Such an analysis is however beyond the focus of this paper.

c e e i n g
18 See UNHCR 2016. This is practically the only reliable source of data on RASIM arrivals, yet sometimes internally
inconsistent because of frequent revisions (made based on primary data provided by the Greek authorities).

pro thcom 4

(for
 n f .
C o
r s e
c o u
D i s
e in
r o p n gs 1 7)
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p t hc o r s e
(fo r c o u
is
Fig. 3. Article content (word count, distributed by newspaper and by subcorpus).

D
n
Of the three newspapers analysed, the articles of Efimerida ton Syntakton are consistently lengthier (see

e
p n gsi
Fig. 4): this finding is indicative of the newspapers preference for more opinionated articles, and is corrob-

)
orated by its overtly humanistic approach, in terms of the special topics related to the migrant crisis (see

r o
section 3.3 below).
1 7
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p thco r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u e i
d ngn 2 0 .
o c e i o nf
r
p thco m s e C
Fig. 4. Average article length (word count), distributed by newspaper and by subcorpus.

o r o u r
( f
3. ANALYSIS OF KEY LEXEMES
i s c
in D
Lexically-wise, our primary aim was to determine the corpus distribution and variation of key lexemes re -
lated to RASIM. In other words, we purport to determine the referential/nomination categories that are used

o e g s 7 )
as discursive constructions (Wodak, 2015, p. 8) of the outgroups, in this case case non-Greeks living or

p
arriving on Greek territory. For van Leeuwen (1996, p. 52, emphasis in the original) social actors can be

E u r d i n 0 1
represented either in terms of their unique identity, by being nominated, or in terms of identities and func-

2
tions they share with others (categorisation). Hence, we analyse the most significant descriptors used as

c e e i n g
categorisations of the outgroups. Even though this approach is only a starting point of research, such gen-

pro thcom 5

(for
 n f .
C o
e
eral categories are more than insignificant: because of the descriptive quality of such referential categor -

r s
isations, linguistic identification is already related to strategic predication and thus very often involves

u
evaluation (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001, p. 46).

i s c o
Our focus is, therefore, on lexical differentiations and variations through time and by newspaper. Such phe-

D
nomena point to changing stances and, hence, to specific social and political approaches vis--vis RASIM

in
and migration in general. The key lexemes (lemmatised tokens) selected for quantitative analysis and

e
presentation, as discourse elements with an evaluative load, are:

r o p n gs

1 7)
immigrant, together with its common qualifiers ( illegal, ir-

Eu eedi ng 20
regular economic, / without papers/documents) and the

.
compound term clandestine immigrant, a term with a now marked negative

o c i
semantic stress19;

o n f
r
p t hc o

m refugee;

s e C
r
foreigner;

(fo r
o u
asylum seeker.

c
D is
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of RASIM descriptors. Other frequently occurring relevant lexemes
include prosodically neutral designators of ethnicity or origin (e.g. Syrian, Afghan, etc.). Other

in
descriptors attested are people/humans and persons. Macroscopically, these two cat-

e )
egorisations point to a more neutral perception of these individuals, in other words are a referential

o p n gs 7
strategy that is not based on the individuals status as RASIM, but rather on their status as human beings.

r 1
Eu eedi ng 20
The actual use of these descriptors is examined in more detail in the Topics section (3.3).

c i n f .
o
3.1. RASIM descriptors and qualifiers

r o
p thco m e C
s
3.1.1. Kathimerini

r o u r
Analysis of the KATH corpus affords the following distributions:

o
( f is c
i n D
o p e g s 7 )
E u r i
d ngn 2 0 1
c e e i nf .
r o
p thco m C o
r s e
( f o r c o u
D i s
e in
Fig. 5. Distribution and variation of RASIM descriptors (Kathimerini).

o p g s 1 7 )
In Kathimerini, references to refugees exceed references to immigrants as the humanitarian crisis escalates.

r
u i n 0
In addition, immigrant is used without significant variation during the study period. In other words, the

E e d 2
c e
immigrant, emigrant.

i n g
19 Note that in Greek, in relation to RASIM, a single term, , corresponds to the English terms migrant,

pro thcom 6

(for
 n f .
C o
e
newspaper tends to adopt a more humanitarian stance vis--vis RASIM, as Greek society starts to associ-

r s
ate the migration crisis with the Syrian civil war. Actually, the point of quantitative convergence of the two

u
lexemes coincides with the peak of the crisis, i.e. during the summer of 2015. In early 2016, i.e. after the

i s c o
start of the EU-Turkey talks on an agreement to mitigate and contain the crisis, the similar upwards trend of
the two curves (respectively for immigrants and refugees) is a clear indication of the newspapers

in D
alignment with the stance of the conservative party of New Democracy, when it comes to clearly distin -
guishing between the two categories of RASIM and applying international law in terms of asylum, de-

o e
p n gs 7)
portation, resettlement and relocation policies20. The paratactic relation, i.e. the clustering of the two terms

1
in discourse is clearly a relation of categorisation: both refugees and immig-

r
Eu eedi ng 20
rants and immigrants and refugees are purposefully distinctive/classificatory

.
devices and it is therefore appropriate to depict their co-occurrence in the texts with the two principal

o c n f
descriptors (immigrant and refugee). The rising trend in the use of these clusters after 2015 is indicative

i o
m
of the newspapers gradually adopted stance, i.e. the need to clearly distinguish between the two, as the

r
p t hc o e C
crisis escalates and it becomes gradually clear that dealing with migration will remain high on the Greek

s
r
and European political agendas. Remarkably, at the end of the study period (i.e. during the two last inter-

r u
vals), the use of refugee is almost double that of the use of immigrant (TPT: 12.06 vs 6.38). Almost half

(fo c o
of the later period uses of the lemma immigrant account for the clustered use (refugees and immigrants,

is
immigrants and refugees) (TPT: 2.90). Compared to the start of the study period (2010-2011), this picture

in D
is totally reversed (TPT: 0.52 vs 9.44).

o e
p n gs 7 )
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p thco m C o
r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
u in 2 0
Fig. 6. Co-occurrence of immigrants and refugees (Kathimerini).

E e d ng .
o c e i o
the start and at the end of the study period, is as follows:
nf
In sum, in Kathimerini the cumulative (and distinctive) use of the two descriptors vs. their single uses, at

r
p thco m Single uses

s e C Single uses Clustered uses

r
Kathimerini
refugee immigrant refugees and immigrants
Data

( f o r TPT avg.

c o
%
u TPT avg. % TPT avg. %
2010-2011 0.52

D i s 5.22 9.44 94.78 0 0

in
2016 9.16 58.94 3.48 22.39 2.90 18.67

e
Table 1. Clustered and single uses of RASIM descriptors (Kathimerini).

r o p g s 1 7 )
Last but not least, corpus findings show a marked use of the otherwise distant or neutral term foreign-

E u e d i n 2 0
ers (or aliens), especially in 2012 (Fig. 5). During that time, Greece was governed by a coalition of the

c e i n g
20 See, e.g., the statement of the opposition leader, K. Mitsotakis on 15 March 2016 <https://goo.gl/CVXJ19>.

pro thcom 7

(for
 n f .
C o
e
conservative New Democracy and the centre-left PASOK, and the issue of tackling with irregular migra-

r s
tion, mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan via Greeces land border with Turkey 21, was high on the political

u
agenda. The construction of a 12 km fence was then decided, perhaps also in light of the electoral threat

i s c o
of Golden Dawn, an extreme right organisation for which foreigners were among the principal ones to
blame for Greeces crisis and decline (see Saridakis, 2017). In the KATH_2012 subcorpus, foreigners are

in D
mostly foreign students, deported immigrants, or imprisoned individuals. In most concordances, foreign-
ers seems to be adopted in lieu of illegal immigrants, as a more distant or neutral term.

o e
p n gs 7)
The variation of the qualifiers of immigrants, in clusters with adjectives ( illegal,

r 1
irregular, economic), in the compound clandestine immigrant or in the

Eu eedi ng 20
phrasal variant / without papers/documents is presented below in Fig. 7.

c i n f .
r o
p t hc o m C o
r s e
(fo r c o u
D is
e in
r o p n gs 1 7 )
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i
Fig. 7. Common RASIM qualifiers in Kathimerini.

C o
p thco e
No single qualifier presents a stable frequency of usage during the study period. This obviously points to a

r u r s
varying stance of the newspaper, perhaps one that tries to adapt to conjunctural reasoning, including both
the perceptions of RASIM on the part of society, and the attitude of EU bodies on the issue of migration.

( f o c o
More specifically, the first descriptor that stands out is clandestine immigrant, during 2011. However, all

is
2011 occurrences of the descriptor are distributed in a single opinion article related to the US concerns

i n D
about migration, and its instantiations are mostly translations that are used rather as synonyms of illegal.
This can be clearly seen in the concordances22 below.

p e s )
(1) (kath_old014, 2011) 11.000

o g 7
r 1
,

u
.

E e i
d ngn 2 0 .
f
During only that year, more than 11,000 clandestine immigrants had arrived in Greece, and the countrys

o c e m i o n
Ministry for the Marine needed help, wrote the attach of the embassy Thomas Countryman.

r
p thco C
Indeed, after 2011, the descriptor reappears very rarely. Interestingly, in a 2015 article, the descriptor is

s e
somewhat defended by contrasting it to irregular and refugee, in order to criticise the migration policy

r
of the governing SYRIZA:

o o u r
( f i s c
(2) (kath074, 2015) , .
.

n D
, . ,

i
, .

o p e g s 7 )
21 See, e.g., a report on the Eastern Mediterranean route by Frontex <https://goo.gl/pMNzu1>.

E u r d i n 0 1
22 Fairclough (1992, p. 196) rightly objects to the use of translated texts for performing discourse analysis. Despite

2
some added difficulty for readers (and some extra article space), our analysis has been performed on the original

c e e i n g
Greek data (in terms of lexemes, concordances and collocates), and English translations have been included where
appropriate for the sake of clarity and reference.

pro thcom 8

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Second, [the Ministry for Migration Policy] has banned the use of the term clandestine immigrant. It re-

r s
named them irregular immigrants and refugees and left them sunbathe on Victoria sq. [in central

u
Athens]. It was an unfortunate statement [by the Minister], and still, it is indicative of the attitude of a Left

c o
for which policy making is renaming the troika as institutions, in other words it just plays with words.

i s
D
However, despite this initial criticism, the newspaper seems to gradually vary its perception: until around

in
the end of 2014, the most common descriptor is illegal, and then irregular, until the peak of the migrant

e
crisis (mid-2015). For example, in a 2013 article entitled The identification card of the legal immigrant

r o p n gs 7)
the newspaper distinguishes between legal and illegal migration23:

1
Eu eedi ng 20
(3) (kath_old037, 2013) .

.
() 500.000 2 . . ,

o c i n f
. ,

o
m
..

r
p t hc o e C
The number of illegal immigrants in Greece is unknown. There are only estimates and (arbitrary) calcula-

s
r
tions, speaking of something in-between 500,000 and 2 million persons. At least we know the number of

r u
legal immigrants from non-EU countries, based on the latest official figures of the Ministry for the Interior.

(fo is c o
This is evidence of a gradual move towards adapting more politically correct descriptors, in line with EU

D
recommendations and policies (see e.g. European Commission, 2015), however sometimes in a confusing

n
way. E.g., in example 4 (2015), the descriptors irregular immigrants and refugees are used interchange -

e i
ably, in a single argument:

p n gs )
o 7
(4) (kath033, 2015)

r 1
Eu eedi ng 20
-

.
2015 60.000 40.000 . , ,

o i o n f
2,5

c
.

r
p thco m C
[Coastguard officers] attribute the escalation of the phenomenon to the continuing Syrian crisis and estim-

s e
ate that the arrests of irregular immigrants on the sea borders between Greece and Turkey will rise to

r u r
60,000 in 2015, from 40,000 last year. Indeed, they add that there is information that on the Turkish shores,

o o
f c
2,5 million refugees have been gathered, and are waiting to enter Greece and the EU irregularly.

( D is
After the peak of the migration crisis, all qualifiers of RASIM are virtually eliminated. In sum, no single

n
qualifier can be considered a consistent collocate (c-collocate; see Baker et al., 2008, p. 286).

p e i )
s
3.1.2. To Vima

u r o in g 0 1 7
To Vima, a centre-left mainstream newspaper, presents a similar pattern of variation, yet somewhat steeper,

E e e d ng 2 .
compared to Kathimerini. The use of immigrant peaks around the same period, i.e. March-April 2015,

f
n
and drops sharply thereafter, being replaced by refugee. In early 2015, the newspaper seems somewhat

o c i o
hesitant to use the descriptor refugee. However, this changes radically thereafter, and, especially after

r m C
p thco
2015, the trend of the use of immigrants is almost a straight line with relatively low values. Compared to

r s e
Kathimerini, the overall use of the term immigrant is much lower. Finally, the neutral designator of

r u
RASIM as foreigners is almost null after September 2015.

( f o i s c o
in D
o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
23 NB: This was then, the official distinction made by Greek authorities, as attested also in our corpus data.

pro thcom 9

(for
 n f .
C o
r s e
c o u
D i s
e in
r o p n gs 1 7)
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p t hc o r s e
(fo r c o u
Fig. 8. Distribution and variation of RASIM descriptors (To Vima).

D is
In To Vima, as is also the case with Kathimerini, the two descriptors co-occur, albeit less frequently. Here,

n
too, clustering the two descriptors means in fact distinguishing between them. However, especially after

e
p n gsi
September-October 2015, RASIM are described mostly as refugees.

)
r o 1 7
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p thco r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u e i
d ngn 2 0 .
c e i o nf
Fig. 9. Co-occurrence of immigrants and refugees (To Vima).

o
r
p thco m e C
The cumulative (and distinctive) use of the two descriptors vs. their single uses in To Vima, respectively at

s
r
the start and at the end of the study period, is as follows:
To Vima

( f o r Single uses

c o u Single uses Clustered uses

Data TPT avg.

refugee

D i s % TPT avg.
immigrant
%
refugees and immigrants
TPT avg. %
2010-2011 1.58

e in 18.39 7.01 81.61 0 0

2016

r o p
9.67

g s
73.15

1 7
2.18
) 16.49 1.37 10.36

u i n 0
Table 2. Clustered and single uses of RASIM descriptors (To Vima).

E e d 2
g
The variation of the qualifiers of RASIM is as follows:

c e i n
pro thcom 10

(for
 n f .
C o
r s e
c o u
D i s
e in
r o p n gs 1 7)
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p t hc o
Fig. 10. Common RASIM qualifiers in To Vima.

r s e
In To Vima, contrary to Kathimerini, the descriptors illegal and clandestine fluctuate together and are

(fo r o u
used simultaneously, until 2013. In addition, these descriptors can be considered c-collocates during this

c
is
period. A closer examination of their concordances (i.e. by focusing on the possible prosodic differenti-
ations of their occurrences) shows that they are used mostly as synonyms, particularly during 2012 (an

n D
electoral year), when the issue of illegal immigration and the need to distinguish between new migrants

i
and old ones, i.e. those who had already been integrated socially, was high on the Greek political agenda.

e
p n gs )
This partly explains also the high occurrence of the two descriptors during 2012. Immigration is seen as a

o 7
r 1
problem that must be addressed, with (some) urgency at times.

Eu eedi ng 20 .
(5) (vima_old036, 2012) .

o c i o n f
, . ,
, ,

r
p thco m C
.

s e
Consequently, the governments plan should not fail this time. And in order for it not to fail, the plan aims

r u r
to address the problem at its root. Firstly, so as to immediately reduce the number of illegal immigrants in

o o
f
Greece and, secondly, so as to send a strong message deterring new clandestine immigrants from entering

(the country.

is c
i n D
(6) (vima_old109, 2013)

o p e g s 7 )
...

1
We should finally make clear, that we are addressing two different problems: one related to illegal immig-

E u r in 0
rants, and one related to the ones that have demonstrably been integrated into Greek society and perceive

d ng 2
e .
our country as their only homeland...

c e i o nf
Throughout 2014 and until April 2015, the most common c-collocate is illegal. During March-April 2015,

o
r
p thco m s e C
irregular appears also as a significant qualifier (13 occurrences, in 4 texts), but still lags behind illegal in
terms of distribution in the subcorpus of 29 texts (i.e. the number of articles where the term is identified -

o r o r
frequency: 20; distribution: 7). This finding is similar to the pattern identified in Kathimerini, and reflects

u
the newspapers effort to partially adapt to the official language, as recommended by the European Com-

( f i s c
mission (2015). However, this effort is not consistent: the use of irregular is negligible thereafter, and un-

D
til the end of the study period: practically all qualifiers disappear, as in Kathimerini, yet somewhat earlier,

n
in May-June 2015.

p e i )
3.1.3. Efimerida ton Syntakton

r o n g s 0 1 7
u i 2
The leftist Efimerida ton Syntakton consistently prefers to use refugees throughout the study period. In

E e e d n g
early 2016 the frequency gap between the two descriptors (refugees and immigrants) maximises, and in-

c i
deed is the widest of all the three newspapers analysed. Thus, the main concern for Efimerida ton Syntak-

pro thcom 11

(for
 n f .
C o
e
ton is the situation in relation to refugees, not immigrants. The use of foreigner is almost null, through-

r
out the study period.

u s
i s c o
in D
o e
p n gs 7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p t hc o m C o
r s e
(fo r c o u
D is
Fig. 11. Distribution and variation of RASIM descriptors (Efimerida ton Syntakton).

e in
Further, by examining the relative co-occurrence of the two descriptors, a remarkable finding is that to-

r o p n gs 1 )
wards the end of the study period (i.e. in early 2016), the relative frequency of the descriptor immigrant is

7
almost equal to the frequency of co-occurrence of the two terms, while the refugee-to-immigrant ratio is

Eu eedi ng 20
almost seven to one (6.67).

c i n f .
r o
p thco m C o
r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u e i
d ngn 2 0 .
o c e i o nf
r
p thco m s e C
r u r
Fig. 12. Co-occurrence of immigrants and refugees (Efimerida ton Syntakton).

o o
( f s c
The cumulative (and distinctive) use of the two descriptors vs. their single uses in Efimerida ton Syntakton

i
D
is as follows:
Efimerida ton

e in
Single uses Single uses Clustered uses

p )
Syntakton refugee immigrant refugees and immigrants
Data

r o
TPT avg.

n g s %

0 1 7
TPT avg. % TPT avg. %
2016

E u 11.34

e d i 77.68

g 2 1.70 11.64 1.56 10.68

e n
Table 3. Clustered and single uses of RASIM descriptors (Efimerida ton Syntakton).

c i
pro thcom 12

(for
 n f .
C o
e
The variation of the qualifiers of immigrants in Efimerida ton Syntakton, is as follows:

u r s
i s c o
in D
o e
p n gs 7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p t hc o m C o
r s e
Fig. 13. Common RASIM qualifiers in Efimerida ton Syntakton.

(fo r c o u
Considering that, in Efimerida ton Syntakton, the overall use of immigrants is the lowest of all the three

is
newspapers scrutinised (cmp. the data in Tables 1, 2 and 3 above), it is not surprising that the cumulative

in D
use of RASIM qualifiers is very low. Among the qualifiers used, the neutral variant without papers/docu-
ments has a relatively high frequency at the start of the study period (January-February 2015). However,

e
with only 4 hits in only 3 texts, this does not designate a significant pattern. The only qualifier that the

r o p n gs 7 )
newspaper seems to consider acceptable is economic and, to a lesser extent irregular.

1
Eu eedi ng 20
(7) (efsyn_339, 2015) , ,

c i n f .
3.825 , 1.200
, , ,

r o
.

p thco m C o
e
According to the latest official data, on Saturday morning, the camp hosted 3,825 refugees, while approx-

r s
imately 1,200 economic immigrants were denied entrance into FYROM, because they are not Syrians,

r u
o
Afghans and Iraqis: for them, passage continues normally.

( f o is c
On the other hand, the frequent occurrences of illegal and clandestine, especially in March-April 2015,

D
are all meta-discoursal uses with a marked ideological focus or are negatively criticised citations by politi-

i n
cians.

o p e g s 7 )
(8) (efsyn_201, 2015)

r 1
.

E u e i
d ngn 2 0
.

.
f
, .

c e i n
Starting with the first lines of the article, there is a clear ideological correlation between pollutants and

o m o
r
refugees. The terms illegal immigrants and waste, together with photos of plastic boats on the shore,

p thco e C
prejudice the research ideological context. The existence of refugees is perceived in terms of filthiness and

s
r
lawlessness: these lives are abnormal and staining.

o r o u
(9) (efsyn_259, 2015) .

( f c
i s
, .

D
( ),

n
,

e i
.

p )
s 7
No human being is clandestine. The term illegal immigrants is racist and disorienting, while it does not

r o n g 1
correspond to the ideas and values of the Left. It has been imposed and is used as a communicative device

u i 2 0
E d
(unfortunately, with the responsibility of a large part of the mass media), so as to target people who left

c e e i n g
their homes, hunted either by wild regional wars or by extreme poverty.

pro thcom 13

(for
 n f .
C o
e
(10) (efsyn_481, 2016) H . ..

r s
- -

u
[...]

i s c o
The xenophobia of Mr. Georgiadis24, as MP of New Democracy, is monumental more specifically, he uses
the word clandestine immigrant profusely and, honestly, we do not know how this complies with a pro-

in D
European political party [...]

o e
p n gs
3.2. Summary of findings

7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
3.2.1. Shift of stance (descriptors)

c i n f .
Summarising the above data on the use of key RASIM descriptors in the three newspapers, it is clear that

r o
p t hc o m C o
Kathimerini presents the sharpest shift of stance from the start to the end of the study period, to the extent

e
that RASIM descriptors can be considered pertinent indicators of the newspapers attitude vis--vis

r r s
RASIM. On the other hand, at the end of the study period, the centre-left To Vima is actually placed quite

u
o o
close to the leftist Efimerida ton Syntakton, as regards the use of refugee and the clustered use of

(f is c
refugee with immigrant. Finally, it is placed in the middle of the scale, between Kathimerini and
Efimerida ton Syntakton, as regards the use of immigrant.

in D
o e
p n gs 7 )
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p thco m C o
r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
p s )
Fig. 14. Variation of key descriptors, at the start and at the end of the study period.

u r o in g 0 1 7
As the refugee crisis develops, all qualifiers of immigrants practically disappear in all three newspapers,

E d ng 2 .
and the only distinction made is between immigrants and refugees. Of the three newspapers, Kathimer-

e e f
n
ini focuses more consistently on this distinction.

r o c m i C o
p thco r s e
( f o r c o u
D i s
e in
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u e d i n 2 0
c e i
24 N.B.: New Democracys vice-president.
n g
pro thcom 14

(for
 n f .
C o
e
3.2.2. Asylum seekers

u r s
i s c o
in D
o e
p n gs 7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p t hc o m C o
r s e
(fo r c o u
D is
in
Fig. 15. Variation of asylum (seekers) in the newspaper corpus.

e
r o p n gs 1 )
In the entire corpus, asylum seeker is used rather neutrally and in a non-opinionated manner. Quite expec-

7
tedly, the term asylum is used mostly in an administrative sense, and refers to asylum seekers directly or

Eu eedi ng 20
indirectly, when relating to refugees and/or immigrants applying for asylum. The relative frequency of the

c i n f .
descriptor is low during the study period (with the exception of To Vima, during 2011), when comparing its

o
TPT values with the corresponding values of refugees and immigrants.

r o
p thco m C
Kathimerini and To Vima address asylum seekers mostly neutrally, by mentioning facts and policies de-

e
s
cided by the Greek authorities and the EU, and by gradually focusing on the long-term challenges for tack -

r
ling the stated problem:

o o u r
( f is c
(11) (kath_370, 2015) 1,09

D
. , .

n
2014, 200.000 .

p e i
From early January, until the end of December, Germany welcomed 1.09 million refugees, writes the

)
s
Dresden newspaper. This is five times more compared to 2016, when the country had registered a bit more

r o g
than 200,000 asylum seekers.

u in 0 1 7
E d ng 2 .
(12) (kath_414, 2015)

e e f
n
,

o c
.

r m i C o
p thco
Effort is being made so as to urgently accommodate in subsidised apartments, both asylum seekers and

s e
refugees who will stay in Greece, considering that the borders to Europe are being closed.

r
o r o u
(13) (vima_129, 2015) hot spot , ,

( f c
s
, ,
.

D i
At the hot spots, the registration, identification and fingerprinting of those arriving will take place, as well

in
as the provision of information to them, together with the determination of their status as refugees or im-

e
p )
migrants, as well as asylum seekers.

r o n g s 0 1 7
(14) (vima_326, 2016)

E u
.

e d i g 2
e
Asylum seekers are not entitled to select the member-state where they will apply for asylum.

c i n
pro thcom 15

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Finally, compared to Kathimerini and To Vima, Efimerida ton Syntakton focuses more on the inefficiency

r s
of asylum services, both in Greece and in other EU countries:

u
i s o
(15) (efsyn_475, 2016)

c
,

D
, ,

in
.

e
Let us not discuss the lack of any provision for the necessary legal support for asylum applications, consid-

r o p n gs 1 7)
ering the financial insufficiency of the vast majority of immigrants to resort to the services of a private law-
yer, and that are thus forced to apply for asylum in Greece.

Eu eedi ng 20 .
(16) (efsyn_535, 2016) 66.400 -

n f
c i
2015, 615 -

r o
p t hc o m C o
, 12 .

e
From a total of 66,400 asylum seekers, for whom the relocation from Greece had been resolved for

r u r s
September 2015, only 615 have been transferred to other EU member-states, based on information pub-
lished by the European Commission on April 12.

(fo is c o
D
3.3. Categorisation and focus of topics

in
Two-way collocation analysis, i.e. the examination of a lexical nodes company; sensu Firth (1957, p. 11)

e )
has been traditionally used for semantically profiling and prosodically evaluating the traits of co-selection,

o p n gs 7
i.e. the use of words in context, so as to gain insight into the opinions and beliefs of the text producer (see

r 1
Eu eedi ng 20
Morley & Partington, 2009, p. 141). This is done by measuring the strength of association between words

.
(e.g. Stubbs, 1995). More recently, the introduction of concepts from graph theory into corpus analysis of

o i o n f
collocation [permits] a more sophisticated understanding of the company that words keep (Baker, 2016, p.

c
139), so as to explore lexical networks (Phillips, 1983) into more depth. Essentially, this understanding

r
p thco m C
means tracing the semantic and prosodic affinity of key lexemes in a corpus, starting from an elaborate

s e
quantitative approach, particularly when it may be difficult to manually examine all concordance lines of a

r u r
given node when dealing with large amounts of data (cf. Taylor, 2009, p. 8), as in this scenario. Such an ap-

o o
f c
proach allows for a deeper, and more CDA-oriented analysis of lexical and textual patterns, so as to better

( is
identify and evaluate the topics that a corpus (or a part of it) relates to.

D
n
In this study, we have used GraphColl (Brezina et al., 2015)25, by plotting multiple collocational networks

p e i
between such key keywords, in this case refugee and immigrant in all three

)
s
subcorpora, from May 2015, i.e. from the start of the current migration crisis (see Fig. 2), to the end of

r o g 1 7
study period, when the distinctive use of the two key lemmas tends to be more stabilised (see Figs. 5, 8 and

u in 0
2
11). The statistical measure used here is MI3 (statistic value: 12, collocation frequency: 5; Daille, 1995 in

E e e d ng nf .
Brezina et al., 2015, p. 159). Subsequently, the lexical (or content word) collocates were filtered (i.e. by

c i
leaving out grammar and function words) and their interrelations in the corpus were grouped manually into

r o m C o
topics or areas of focus. As in Baker et al. (2008, p. 286), the categorisation of prominent collocates was

p thco e
carried out by resorting also to concordance analysis and was refined further to take account of the CDA

r u r s
notions of topoi and topics (Reisigl & Wodak, 2001; cf. also the discussion of these notions in Saridakis et
al., 2016, p. 130-131). The way each newspaper perceives and presents the migration crisis is then critically

( f o
presented, by comparing such topics.

i s c o
D
Indicatively, the collocation graph for Efimerida ton Syntakton, adapted from the GraphColl output, is

in
shown in Fig. 16. This is the most complex of the three plots analysed.

o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
25 Tool available in LancsBox (University of Lancaster), <http://corpora.lancs.ac.uk/lancsbox/>.

pro thcom 16

(for
 n f .
C o
r s e
c o u
D i s
e in
r o p n gs 1 7)
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p t hc o r s e
(fo r c o u
D is
e in
r o p n gs 1 7 )
Eu eedi ng 20 n f .
r o c m i C o
p thco
Fig. 16. Thematic grouping of prominent collocates (collocational networks), e.g. in Efimerida ton Syntak-

s e
ton (edited and annotated GraphColl output).

r
( f o r c u
In Tables 4-6 below, the prominent collocates have been grouped by topic for each newspaper.

o
is
Topics Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

i n D immigrant refugee collocates

e
The wave of RASIM at least wave, in daily,

r o p g s 7 )
() large total, massive,

1
number of,

n 0
number of, inflow million, more than, al-

E u e i
d ng 2
this year; and nu-

f .
merical references, e.g.
most, arrivals,
flow,

o c e m i n
10,000

o
dozens, hun-

r C
dreds, thou-

p thco e
sands; and numerical refer-

r s
ences, e.g. 1,000, 2,000

f o r
RASIM are... (qualifiers

( c o u
irregular, ( ) (from) -
of RASIM)

D i s illegal, Syria, Syrians,

economic () asylum

n
seekers

p e i )
r o n g s 0 1 7
E u e d i g 2
c e i n
pro thcom 17

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Topics Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

u r s immigrant refugee collocates

Passage
RASIM
i s c
and
o routes of Italy, ship,
are found,
cross,
borders, pas-
arrive,
transportation,

in D are transported
on,
sage, Eido-
meni, Turkey
are located at,
port, Piraeus,

e )
Victoria square, Athens,

r o p n gs 1 7
remain at Greek islands,

Eu eedi ng 20
Lesvos,
Mytilene, entry,

c i n f . countries,

o
Greece

r o
p t hc o m e C
Reception, treatment and registration, reception, accom-

r
relocation of RASIM

u r s
feeding

temporary, modation centre,
accommoda- to be hosted

(fo is c o tion, stay,

reloca-

D
tion, UNHCR,

in
UN, /

e
Europe/EU,

p n gs )
Berlin, Ger-

r o 1 7 many

Eu eedi ng 20
Migration is a humanit- -

n f .
conditions, -

c i
arian problem are en-

r o
p thco m C o trapped, aid

s e
Table 4. Collocates grouped by topic in Kathimerini.

r
( f o r Topics

c o u
Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

is
immigrant refugee collocates

i n
The wave of RASIM
D - wave,
massive,




number of,
hundreds,

o p e g s 7 )
daily, in total,
almost,
thousands,
more (than),

E u r i
d ngn 2 0 1 / () 2,000

.
more than,

c e e i o nf
dozens (of); and numer-
ical references, e.g. 200,

r o
p thco m e C
3,000, 50,000

r s
RASIM are... (qualifiers second ( ) (from) () asylum

r u
o o
of RASIM) generation, ir- Syria, Syrians seekers

( f c
regular, il-

i s
legal, eco-

in D
nomic

o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
pro thcom 18

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Topics Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

u r s immigrant refugee collocates

Passage
RASIM
i s c
and
o routes of Kos, island ( ) cross
(the border), Tur-
Mytilene,
islands,

in D key, Eidomeni,
borders,
buses, port,
transportation,

e )
Lesvos, Pir- arrive

r o p n gs 1 7
aeus, ship, entry, inflow

Eu eedi ng 20
to transport

c i n f .
Reception, treatment and readmission temporary, accommodation,

o
relocation of RASIM housing, hot spot, stay (at)

r o
p t hc o m e C
registration,
reception,

r u r s centre,
camp, set-

(fo is c o tlement,
relocation,

D
Greece, countries,

in
/ Europe/EU,

e
distribution,

p n gs )
OHE UN, territ-

r o 1 7 ory

Eu eedi ng 20
Migration is a humanit- -

n f .
families, children

c i
arian problem entrapped,

r o
p thco m C o conditions

s e
Table 5. Collocates grouped by topic in To Vima.

r
( f o r Topics

c o u
Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

is
immigrant refugee collocates

i n
The wave of RASIM
D - wave, flow,
arrivals,
inflow,
number (of),

o p e g s 7 )
entry, daily,
() amount to
hundreds, thou-
sands, ()

E u r i
d ngn 2 0 1 in total, more than

.
group of,

c e e i o nf
dozens, mil-
lions; and numerical refer-

r o
p thco m e C
ences, e.g. 100, 2,500,
160,000

r u r s
o o
RASIM are... (qualifiers irregular, ( ) (from) () asylum

(
of RASIM)
f

i s c
economic,
illegal, ()
Syria, Syrians, seekers
Afghans ( )

in D

papers/documents
(without from Afgh-
anistan

o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
pro thcom 19

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Topics Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

u r s immigrant refugee collocates

Passage
RASIM
i s c
and
o routes of Mediterranean,
Moria, ship
Eidomeni,
FYROM,
island,
sea, transporta-

in D Elaionas,
borders,
tion, port,
Turkey, Greece,

e )
to transport, country

r o p n gs 1 7
Piraeus,

Eu eedi ng 20
buses, station,
Lesvos,

c i n f . Mytilene, Chios,

o
Kos, Aegean

r o
p t hc o m e C
(sea), passage,
shores,

r u r s boat, cross,
/ ar-

(fo is c o rive, Hungary

D
Reception, treatment and detention housing, stay at,

in
relocation of RASIM reception, accommodation,

e
identification, /

p n gs )
() rescue/to rescue

r o 1 7 (temporary) accommoda-

Eu eedi ng 20
tion, to host,

.
area,

o c i o n f centre,
/

r
p thco m s e C camp, set-
tlement,

o r o u r resettlement,
reloca-

( f is c tion,

tents,
police,

i n D UNHCR,
/ Europe/EU,

e
Germany,

r o p g s 1 7 ) distribution,

n 0
territory

E u e i
d ng 2 f .
o c e m i o n
r
p thco s e C
o r o u r
( f i s c
in D
o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
pro thcom 20

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Topics Prominent collocates Prominent collocates Prominent common

u r s immigrant refugee collocates

i s c
arian problemo
Migration is a humanit- - dead, -
war, protec-

in D tion, testimony,
basic

e )
necessities,

r o p n gs 1 7
solidarity,

Eu eedi ng 20
right, tragedy,
aid, to live,

c i n f . conditions,

o
humans,

r o
p t hc o m e C
life, en-
trapped, in-

r u r s cident, wait for,

to confront,

(fo is c o
children
families,

n D
Table 6. Collocates grouped by topic in Efimerida ton Syntakton.

i
e )
A detailed analysis of the prominent collocates brings to surface some common patterns for the three news-

o p n gs 7
papers. However, there are also significant differences. These, too, are indicative of the stance of each

r 1
Eu eedi ng 20
newspaper and corroborate the findings from the analysis of RASIM descriptors and qualifiers (sections 3.1

.
and 3.2).

c i o n f
A salient common feature is that all newspapers put emphasis on the numbers of immigrants and refugees,

o
r m C
using many relevant collocates. What is more, the collocate wave is prominent in all three newspapers.

p thco r s e
Most such numerical references aim to present the numbers of daily arrivals of RASIM in Greece, reported
on the basis of police and asylum services data during the migrant crisis, or are official estimates about the

( o r o u
possible number of future arrivals. In addition, this stress, i.e. what Reisigl and Wodak (2001, p. 74-75) call

f c
is
the topos of numbers, is an indirect indicator of lack of control, perhaps suggesting that specific action
should be taken to address the situation (cf. Taylor, 2009, p. 16). All newspapers identify refugees as Syri-

i n D
ans, while Efimerida ton Syntakton adds the designation Afghans as well. In relation to the migration
routes and passages, all newspapers focus on events and facts within the Greek territory. There are numer -

p e s )
ous references to Greek islands, i.e. to the main entry points for RASIM during the crisis (Kos, Lesvos,

o g 7
r 1
Chios, etc.) and to the central port of Piraeus as an interim station. Also, there are many references to

u in 2 0
Greeces borders, especially Eidomeni, which RASIM would wish to be their last point of stay in Greece.

E e d ng .
f
References to other countries, or migration routes, are scarce. Focus is placed on the fate of RASIM

c e i n
while on Greek territory. In other words, the migration crisis is presented from a rather Greek-centred

o m o
r C
perspective. The only other countries involved in the discursive constructions of RASIM are Turkey, Ger-

p thco e
many, and, only in Efimerida ton Syntakton, Hungary and FYROM. These countries are seen as catalysts in

r u r s
tackling the problem. More in particular, in relation to refugees, the newspapers refer to their accommoda-
tion, resettlement and relocation, stressing the temporary character of conditions of stay of RASIM in
Greece.

( f o i s c o
D
On the other hand, significant differences are attested between the three newspapers in the number and in

n
the prosodic load of collocates that designate migration as a humanitarian crisis. Aiming to profile the se-

e i
mantic prosody of RASIM qualifiers (in addition to the more fossilised qualifiers analysed in sections 3.1

p )
s 7
and 3.2), we managed to identify very few emotionally-loaded collocates in Kathimerini and To Vima.

r o n g 1
What is more, no such collocate was found in these two newspapers for immigrants. More in particular,

u i 2 0
E d
Kathimerini refers only to the living conditions of refugees, and to the need to support them. Also,

e e g
refugees collocate with the verb (to be) entrapped. In To Vima, on the other hand, frequent collocates

c i n
pro thcom 21

(for
 n f .
C o
e
are families and children, while there are also mentions to the living conditions of refugees, as well as

r s
to the fact that they remain entrapped in Greece. In Efimerida ton Syntakton, the pattern is quite different,

u
taking account of the sheer number of refugee collocates (e.g. war, testimony, tragedy, life, pro-

i s c o
tection, solidarity, rights etc.). This finding clearly suggests this newspapers differentiation, as well as
more humanistic approach, to the problem: all these lexemes point directly to history, to experiences and

in D
to the rights and needs of RASIM as humans.

o e
p n gs
4. CONCLUSIONS
7)
r
Eu eedi ng 20 1
This paper has aimed to critically present, diachronically, the main discursive representations of RASIM

c i n f .
and the topics raised by mainstream Greek newspapers, in the light of the still rampant migration crisis.
Our study has combined corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis methodologies, and is triangu-

r o
p t hc o m C o
lated in the sense that the corpus data has been approached from two different, yet complementary, per -

e
spectives: lexico-semantic analysis of key descriptors and qualifiers for the entire corpus, and network ana -

r r s
lysis of their prominent collocates in the 2015-2016 subcorpora of the three newspapers. The statistical

u
o o
findings have been presented in detail and key findings have been critically summarised and linked to the

(f is c
social and political context, by resorting also to concordance analysis.

D
In a nutshell, the following conclusions can be drawn:

in
1. On the lexical level and as regards the representations of RASIM, there are many similarities as well as

e
p n gs )
significant differences between the three newspapers: the centre-right Kathimerini and the centre-left To

r o 1 7
Vima gradually yet belatedly adapt their RASIM descriptors and qualifiers to official and thus more polit -

Eu eedi ng 20
ically correct discourses and recommendations. The two newspapers lexical variation plots are therefore

c i n f .
witness of a marked shift of stance during the study period. As evidenced from UNHCR data (UNHCR,
2016), the ethnic composition of RASIM arriving in Greece is practically stable after 2014. For the two

r o m C o
newspapers, until mid-2015, the most mentioned RASIM group is that of immigrants. Thereafter, focus is

p thco e
mostly on refugees. On the other hand, (more recent) corpus data from Efimerida ton Syntakton suggests

r u r s
a more stable and thus fixed perception of RASIM: these are mostly refugees, while clandestine and
illegal immigrants (and hence clandestine and illegal immigration) are used mostly meta-discoursally

( f o c o
and their use by others is explicitly criticised. As the crisis escalates, all common qualifiers for immig-

is
rants practically disappear, and a clear distinction is made only between refugees and immigrants, i.e.

i n D
those deserving international and humanitarian protection and all others.

e
2. There are many similarities and differences between the three newspapers, also on the level of topics,

p s 7 )
which have been examined with a focus on 2015-2016 corpus data: all newspapers resort to the topos of

r o g 1
n
numbers, by stressing the wave of migrants and by also using many numerical collocates. Refugees are

E u i
d ng 2 0
Syrians for Kathimerini and To Vima, and Syrians and Afghans for Efimerida ton Syntakton. Other preval-

e f .
e
ent topics, yet with a more-than-insignificant lexical variation between the three newspapers, relate to the

r o c m i C o n
passages and routes of RASIM, and to their accommodation and stay in Greece. In other words, and quite
expectedly given the severity of the stated problem, the stance of all newspapers seems to be Greek-

p thco s e
centred. Finally, Efimerida ton Syntakton persistently emphasises migration as a humanitarian problem.

r
r u
In all, the newspapers are foregrounding different realities, and their stance seems to concur to the polit -

f o c o
ical blame game between the opposition (Kathimerini and To Vima) and the coalition government

( i s
(Efimerida ton Syntakton), yet from a relative distance. Finally, all the newspapers seem to critically adapt

in D
their discourses on RASIM to the long-term requirements and challenges raised by the stated problem.
The work reported in this paper is by no means exhaustive, since only three newspapers have so far been

p e s )
included in the study corpus. Moreover, our findings are mostly macroscopic and can by no means cover

o g 7
r 1
all significant aspects of such a sensitive socio-political issue. Considering that our effort has been on in-

E u e d i n 2 0
vestigating a phenomenon while it is still developing, it would be very interesting to continue tracking

g
RASIM-related discursive shifts until after the end of the migration crisis, by also critically linking them to

c e i n
political and social events, both in Greece and in the EU.

pro thcom 22

(for
 n f .
C o
e
Therefore, future work aims (a) to expand the current newspaper corpus (treating it as a monitor corpus),

r s
by including also data from other newspapers and online social networks; and (b) to investigate more thor-

u
oughly the patterns observed in concordances and in more extended units of meaning, by exploring also

c o
clausal, supra-clausal and textual semantics.

i s
in D
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o e
p n gs 7 )
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Eu eedi ng 20 1
c i n f .
r o
p thco m C o
r s e
( f o r c o u
D is
e i n
r o p g s 1 7 )
E u e i
d ngn 2 0 .
o c e i o nf
r
p thco m s e C
o r o u r
( f i s c
in D
o p e g s 7 )
E u r d i n 2 0 1
c e e i n g
pro thcom 24

(for