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Research Paper | Humanities | Volume 15 Issue 3, March 2026 | Pages: 1352 - 1361 | Russia
Semantic Prosody of the Word Subsidy in Nigerian Newspaper Discourse
Abstract: This study investigates the semantic prosody of the term subsidy in Nigerian newspaper discourse following the 2023 fuel subsidy removal. Using a purpose-built corpus of 62,024 words drawn from three major newspapers between January 2023 and February 2026, collocational patterns were analysed through Sinclair's four-parameter model supported by log-likelihood statistics and concordance analysis. The findings indicate a predominantly negative semantic prosody, with elimination, institutional pathology, and moral evaluation forming the dominant semantic domains. Discursive interpretation within Fairclough's framework suggests that newsroom routines and socio-economic context jointly shape evaluative framing. The study contributes to corpus-assisted discourse research by extending semantic prosody analysis to African economic policy discourse and highlights the ideological role of lexical patterning in public policy debate.
Keywords: semantic prosody, corpus-assisted discourse studies, media framing, Nigerian economic discourse, fuel subsidy policy, collocational analysis
How to Cite?: Oguadinma Anthony Ikechukwu, "Semantic Prosody of the Word Subsidy in Nigerian Newspaper Discourse", Volume 15 Issue 3, March 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 1352-1361, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26310134842, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26310134842