A corpus-assisted metaphor analysis in portraying businesswomen: Diachronic changes in Hong Kong English news

2026-03-03 · Source: Paper Index on ACL Anthology · Field: Technology & Digital — Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Data Science & Analytics, Linguistics · Depth: Expert, quick

Summary

Yifan Li, Yanlin Li, and Kathleen Ahrens' 2025 paper, "A corpus-assisted metaphor analysis in portraying businesswomen: Diachronic changes in Hong Kong English news," investigates how metaphors used to describe businesswomen in Hong Kong English news have evolved over time. Presented at the 39th Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation (PACLIC) in Hanoi, Vietnam, the study spans pages 254–262 of the proceedings. The research employs a corpus-assisted methodology to identify and analyze diachronic shifts in metaphorical representations, offering insights into societal perceptions of women in business as reflected in media language. This analysis contributes to understanding linguistic patterns and their implications for gender representation in professional contexts.

Key takeaway

For computational linguists and media analysts studying gender representation, this research highlights the value of corpus-assisted metaphor analysis for uncovering subtle, diachronic shifts in media portrayals. You should consider applying similar methodologies to other demographic groups or professional roles to gain deeper insights into evolving societal perceptions and potential biases embedded in language.

Key insights

Corpus-assisted metaphor analysis reveals diachronic shifts in media portrayals of businesswomen.

Principles

• Media language reflects societal perceptions.
• Metaphorical patterns evolve over time.

Method

The study utilizes a corpus-assisted approach to analyze linguistic data, specifically focusing on identifying and categorizing metaphors related to businesswomen in Hong Kong English news over different periods.

In practice

• Track linguistic shifts in media.
• Analyze gender representation in news.

Topics

• Corpus Linguistics
• Metaphor Analysis
• Diachronic Linguistics
• Media Representation
• Hong Kong English

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Editorial summary, takeaway, and curation by AIssential. Original article published by Paper Index on ACL Anthology.