The Use of Language in the Covid – 19 Phenomena: A Corpus-Based Study of Lexicons

Abstract

This study aims to compile lexicons related to the prevailing phenomenon of the Covid –19 pandemic. People worldwide are requested to be vigilant regarding this phenomenon and advised to take precautionary steps to prevent victimisation in the pandemic. In Sri Lanka, the media has toiled to create awareness among the public and has constantly been instructing the people through newspapers and broadcasting. The media's contribution to controlling the spread of the infectious virus in society is magnificent, and the people all over the country could feasibly grasp the updated news and data regarding the pandemic even in the most critical circumstances. In terms of this phenomenon, some specific lexicons have been used frequently in the media and adapted by the people who later began to use them in their day-to-day communication. The crucial impact of this media repetition of specific lexicons has been transmitted even among the non-readers or illiterate people. Moreover, as it seems to be a historical pandemic, it would be a historical document for the younger generation to learn about this phenomenon if it is compiled. Thus, this study aims to make corpus-based documentation of lexicons frequently used by the Sri Lankan newspaper Daily News’ during the pandemic. This study is based on the qualitative methodology, and the source of data collection is the ‘Daily News’ paper from the beginning of the pandemic up to the present. The prime purpose of this study is to discover and list the frequently used lexicons during the pandemic and to explore the peculiar use. Accordingly, this study presents the findings of lexical items such as nouns, noun phrases, verbs, verb phrases, adjectives and certain numerals. This study focuses only on the ‘Daily Newspaper’, which may limit the scope of the study.