A critical discourse analysis of travel vlogs on Sri Lankan tourism published in English with a focus on linguistic imperialism

Abstract

This qualitative Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) aims to analyse travel vlogs produced/uploaded on YouTube by foreign tourists in Sri Lanka with a special focus on linguistic imperialism. Linguistic imperialism is a theoretical perspective developed by Robert Phillipson (1992) that argues linguistic resources act as a new method of perpetuating imperialism. It also argues that linguistic discrimination is a subtle yet powerful social phenomenon which has been materialised through the perpetuation of colonial languages such as English and French. Phillipson argues that native-English speakers prioritise their linguistic, cultural experiences as superior to the colonised, local, indigenous languages, which are represented as sub-standard or inferior to English as a lingua franca. This qualitative study analyses seven YouTube videos selected through the purposive sampling method. A corpus was created based on the transcripts of those videos. Norman Fairclough’s three-dimensional method was used to analyse the transcripts in the corpus along with Robert Phillipson’s theories. The language as text in the transcripts demonstrates that lexical choices and material processes in transcripts nuance linguistic imperialism. The analysis of language as discursive practice proves that videos are distributed and consumed as an exoticised, dominant hegemonic narrative, which validates foreign, native- English speakers’ role as key informants/knowledge sharers within the larger discourse on travel and tourism. The analysis of language as social practice proves that videos function within the larger narrative of neo-liberalism and globalisation, and represent Sri Lanka as “stunning” and “absolutely gorgeous” in terms of travel and tourism, along with an ethos on the “eco-friendly” global market. Along with these findings, this study argues that the discourse on travel and tourism has been produced/disseminated by foreign English-native speakers as a cumulation of linguistic imperialism, neo-liberalisation and globalisation. Therefore, the study suggests that Phillipson’s thesis on ‘linguistic imperialism’ should be updated to ‘digital linguistic imperialism’ to analyse ‘digital connoisseurs’. The study recommends that further research incorporating visual research methodologies should be done to nuance the understanding of ‘digital linguistic imperialism’.