Corpus-assisted discourse analysis of new digital genres: A study of online product descriptions in Lithuania

Abstract

The present paper relies on a corpus linguistic approach to reveal how the new digital genre of product descriptions is constructed and shaped by Lithuanian bread manufacturers. This study primarily focuses on the Multi-Dimensional analysis of bread descriptions as compared to other genres. It investigates the dominant verbal discourses of bread promotion and the typical linguistic choices used to disseminate these discourses. The data includes product descriptions available on the websites of six major industrial bread bakers in Lithuania and consists of more than 150 product descriptions (approx. 10,000 words). The lexical choices in these texts are evaluated by referring to the Corpus of Contemporary Lithuanian (tekstynas.vdu.lt) as a general reference corpus. The results show that in Lithuanian bread descriptions two text functions dominate: descriptiveness and prepared expressiveness, which further indicates that the target texts are closest to academic prose and fiction. The analysis of collocations and word frequencies supports the prevalence of features characteristic of both academic prose and fiction. This new digital genre is used by producers to disseminate and emphasise certain values and ideologies through explicit verbal references to tradition, inheritance, and continuity.