Climate change studies are mainly focused on disaster management and inundated with scientific jargons that the public could not fathom. Thus, the dissemination of climate change discourse to the public has been less effective due to lack of information and understanding which explains the lack of public engagement and participation. Studies on climate change that consider linguistics aspects are beginning to emerge, but are still lacking. Therefore, the present study intends to conduct a linguistic analysis by identifying themes in news on climate change and by analysing the extent of media propagation about climate change. 922 news articles from Malaysiakini were analysed using a corpus-driven approach through frequency and collocation analysis. This enabled us to identify themes on climate change. Discourse analysis was then conducted to find out about the linguistic manifestations of the identified themes. The findings reveal that governance is the most propagated theme, followed by mitigation and adaptation, contributor and impacts, and threats, which may polarise the public’s understanding of climate change. Instead, the themes of contributors and impacts, and threats are those which should be put forward as they may provide facts on the causal relationship of climate change that may help in assisting the public in understanding what to do, what to avoid, and the consequences of not acting on climate change. An understanding of the temporal aspects of public involvement in engaging with climate change issues through thematic analysis could assist in identifying the types of public participation in this issue.

Keywords: climate change; corpus-driven approach; thematic analysis; discourse analysis; English online Malaysian newspapers

Anthony, L. (2004). AntConc: A learner and classroom friendly, multi-platform corpus analysis toolkit. proceedings of iwlel 2004: an interactive workshop on language e-learning, 7–13.

Anthony. l. (2022) antconc. version 4.0.5. Waseda University https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Anthony, L. (2021) TagAnt. Version 1.3.0. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software

Ashisoft. https://www.ashisoft.com

Baker, P., Gabrielatos, C., & McEnery, T. (2013). Sketching Muslims: A corpus driven analysis of representations around the word ‘Muslim’ in the British press 1998–2009. Applied linguistics, 34(3), 255-278.

Barkemeyer, R., Figge, F., Hoepner, A., Holt, D., Kraak, J.M. & Yu, P.S. (2017). Media coverage of climate change: An international comparison. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 35, 1029–1054. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263774X16680818

Billett, S. (2010). Dividing climate change: global warming in the Indian mass media. Climatic Change, 99, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9605-3

Birkland, T.A., (1998). Focusing events, mobilization, and agenda setting. Journal of Public Policy, 18, 53–74.

Blicharska, M., Smithers, R.J., Kuchler, M., Agrawal, G.K., Guti´errez, J.M., Hassanali, A., Huq, S., Koller, S.H., Marjit, S., Mshinda, H.M., Masjuki, H.H., Solomons, N.W., Staden, J.V. & Mikusi´nski, G. (2017). Steps to overcome the North–South divide in research relevant to climate change policy and practice. Nature Climate

Change, 7, 21–27. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3163

Bolsen, T., Druckman, J. N., & Cook, F. L. (2014). How frames can undermine support for scientific adaptations: Politicization and the status-quo bias. Public Opinion Quarterly, 78(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1093/poq/nft044

Boykoff, M. T. (2011). Who speaks for the climate? Making sense of media reporting on climate change. Cambridge University Press.

Boykoff, M. T., & Luedecke, G. (2016). Elite news coverage of climate change. In Oxford research encyclopedia, climate change. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.357

Braun, V. & Clarke, V. 2006. Qualitative research in psychology using thematic. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101.

Brüggemann, M. (2017). Post-normal journalism: Climate journalism and its changing contribution to an unsustainable debate. In M. Ots, P. Berglez, & U. Olausson (Eds.), What is sustainable journalism?: integrating the environmental, social, and economic challenges of journalism (pp. 57-74). Peter Lang.

Brüggemann, M., & Engesser, S. (2014). Between consensus and denial: Climate journalists as interpretive community. Science Communication, 36(4), 399-427. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547014533662

Cameons, A. (2021). More than 1,000 evacuated from flood-hit areas in Klang. The Star. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/12/18/more-than-1000-evacuated-from-flood-hit-areas-in-klang

Carvalho A (2007) Ideological cultures and media discourses on scientific knowledge: re-reading news on climate change. Public Underst Sci 16:223–243

Carvalho, A. (2010). Media (ted) discourses and climate change: A focus on political subjectivity and (dis) engagement. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 1(2), 172-179.

Cheong Jun Rong & Hasmah Zainuddin. (2018). Media attention for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Malaysia: A comparative analysis of Malaysia Chinese newspaper coverage. Journal of Social Sciences Research, 2018 (Special Issue 2), 413–419. https://doi.org/10.32861/jssr.spi2.413.419

Chinn, S., Hart, P. S., & Soroka, S. (2020). Politicization and Polarization in Climate Change News Content, 1985-2017. Science Communication, 42(1), 112–129. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547019900290

Cottle, S. (2009). Global crises in the news: Staging new wars, disasters and climate change. International Journal of Communication, 3, 494–516.

Dirikx, A. & Gelders, D., (2010). To frame is to explain: A deductive frame-analysis of Dutch and French climate change coverage during the annual UN Conferences of the Parties. Public Understanding of Science, 19, 732–742. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662509352044

Druckman, J. N., Peterson, E., & Slothuus, R. (2013). How elite partisan polarization affects public opinion formation. American Political Science Review, 107(1),57-79. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055412000500

Dryzek, J. S., Norgaard, R. B., & Schlosberg, D. (Eds.). (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society. Oxford University Press.

Earth Negotiations Bulletin. (n.d.). https://enb.iisd.org/negotiations/un-framework-convention-climate-change-unfccc

Ettema, J. S. (2007). Journalism as reason-giving: Deliberative democracy, institutional accountability, and the news media's mission. Political Communication, 24(2), 143-160.

Flottum, K. (Ed.). (2017). The role of language in the climate change debate. Taylor & Francis.

Grundmann, R., & Scott, M. (2014). Disputed climate science in the media: Do countries matter? Public Understanding of Science, 23(2), 220–235. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662512467732

HAM Shaffril, AA Samah, & JL D'Silva. (2017). Adapting towards climate change impacts: Strategies for small-scale fishermen in Malaysia. Marine Policy, 81, 196-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2017.03.032

Hart, P.S. & Feldman, L. (2014). Threat without efficacy? Climate change on U.S. network news. Science Communication, 36, 325–351. https://doi.org/10.1177/1075547013520239

Hase, V., Mahl, D., Schäfer, M. S., & Keller, T. R. (2021). Climate change in news media across the globe: An automated analysis of issue attention and themes in climate change coverage in 10 countries (2006–2018). Global Environmental Change, 70(August). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2021.102353

Hoffman, A.J. (2011). Talking past each other? Cultural framing of skeptical and convinced logics in the climate change debate. Organization & Environment, 24, 3–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026611404336

Hunston, S. (2022). Corpora in applied linguistics. Cambridge University Press.

Ida, T. (2021). Climate refugees – the world’s forgotten victims. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-forgotten-victims/

IPCC. (n.d.). https://www.ipcc.ch/

IPCC. (2014). Climate change 2014: Synthesis report. Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/SYR_AR5_FINAL_full.pdf

Isiaka Adeyemi Abdul-Azeez. (2021). Low Carbon Development through Measuring and Monitoring Carbon Emission in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Journal of Environmental Treatment Technique, 9 (1), 242-252. https://doi.org/10.47277/JETT/9(1)252

Han, J., Sun, S., & Lu, Y. (2017). Framing climate change: A content analysis of Chinese mainstream newspapers from 2005 to 2015. International Journal of Communication, 11, 2889–2911.

Konieczna, M., Mattis, K., Tsai, J.-Y., Liang, X. & Dunwoody, S. (2014). Global journalism in decision-making moments: A case study of Canadian and American television coverage of the 2009 United Nations Framework Convention on climate change in Copenhagen. Environmental Communication, 8, 489–507.

https://doi.org/10.1080/ 17524032.2014.909509

Koteyko, N. & Atanasova, D. (2016). Discourse analysis approaches for assessing climate change communication and media representations. Oxford encyclopedia of climate change communication. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/97 80190228620.013.489

Kunelius, R., Eide, E., Tegelberg, M. & Yagodin, D. (Eds.) (2017). Media and global climate knowledge. Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52321-1

Lai, O. (2021). The biggest climate change events in 2021. Earth.org. https://earth.org/the-biggest-climate-change-events-in-2021/

Liu, X., Vedlitz, A. & Alston, L. (2008). Regional news portrayals of global warming and climate change. Environmental Science & Policy, 11, 379–393. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2008.01.002

Loo, Y. Y., Billa, L. & Singh, A. (2015). Effect of climate change on seasonal monsoon in Asia and its impact on the variability of monsoon rainfall in Southeast Asia. Geoscience Frontiers, 6 (6), 817-823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2014.02.009

Malaysiakini. https://www.malaysiakini.com

Mühlhäusler, P. (2001). Talking about environmental issues. The Ecolinguistics Reader: Language, Ecology and Environment, 31-42.

Murali, R., Kuwar, A., & Nagendra, H. (2021). Who’s responsible for climate change? Untangling threads of media discussions in India, Nigeria, Australia, and the USA. Climatic Change, 164(3), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03031-1

Nasrabady, P., Shirvan, M. E., & Golparvar, S. E. (2020). Exploring lexical bundles in recent published papers in the field of applied linguistics. Journal of World Languages, 6(3), 175-197.

Nerlich, B. and N. Koteyko. 2009. Compounds, creativity and complexity in climate change communication: the case of “carbon indulgences”. Global Environmental Change, 19 (3), pp. 345–53.

Newman, N., Fletcher, R., Schulz, A., Andı, S. & Nielsen, R.K. (2020). Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2020. https://reutersinstitute.politics. ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/DNR_2020_FINAL.pdf

Nor Jijidiana Azmi, Nor Azikin Mohd Omar, Safawati Basirah Mohd Zaid, Zanirah Wahab & Akmah Yusof. (2015). Media portrayal on global climate change: An analysis of Malaysian mainstream newspapers. Studies in Media and Communication, 3(1), 73-78.

Norzaida Abas, Zalina Mohd Daud, Norazizi Mohamed & Syafrina Abdul Halim. (2017). Climate change impact on coastal communities in Malaysia. Journal of Advanced Research Design, 33 (1), 1-7.

Olausson, U., (2009). Global warming—global responsibility? Media frames of collective action and scientific certainty. Public Understanding of Science, 18 (4), 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662507081242

O’Neill, S., Williams, H.T.P., Kurz, T., Wiersma, B. & Boykoff, M. (2015). Dominant frames in legacy and social media coverage of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report. Nature Climate Change, 5, 380–385. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2535

Painter, J. & Sch¨afer, M.S. (2018). Global similarities and persistent differences: A survey of comparative studies on climate change communication. Climate Change and the Media. Peter Lang. https://doi.org/10.3726/b14826/8

Photiou, I., Papadopoulou, L., & Maniou, T. A. (2017). Images of crisis on television: National media approaches to european identity-making. Emergency, 29, 6.

R. B. Radin Firdaus, Tan, M. L., Siti Rahyla Rahmat & Gunaratene, M. S. (2020). Paddy, rice and food security in Malaysia: A review of climate change impacts. Cogent Social Sciences, 6(1), 1818373.

Raulji, J.K. & Saini, J.R. (2017). Generating stopwordlist for Sanskrit language. 2017 IEEE 7th International Advance Computing Conference (IACC).

Rogers, J., Müller, A., Daulton, F. E., Dickinson, P., Florescu, C., Reid, G., & Stoeckel, T. (2021). The creation and application of a large-scale corpus-based academic multi-word unit list. English for Specific Purposes, 62, 142–157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esp.2021.01.001

Sampei, Y., Aoyagi-Usui, M. (2009) Mass-media coverage, its influence on public awareness of climate-change issues, and implications for Japan's national campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Global Environmental Change, (19), 203–212.

Schmidt, A., Ivanova, A., & Schafer, M. S. (2013). Media attention for climate change around the world: A comparative analysis of newspaper coverage in 27 countries. Global Environmental Change, 23(5), 1233-1248.

Shehata, A. & Hopmann, D.N., (2012). Framing climate change: A study of US and Swedish press coverage of global warming. Journalism Studies, 13, 175–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2011.646396

Schäfer, M. S. (2011). Sources, characteristics and effects of mass media communication on science: A review of the literature, current trends and areas for future research. Sociology compass, 5(6), 399-412. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9020.2011.00373.x

Schäfer, M.S. & Schlichting, I. (2014). Media representations of climate change: A meta-analysis of the research field. Environmental Communication, 8, 142–160. https://doi/org/10.1080/17524032.2014.914050

Stecula, D. A., & Merkley, E. (2019). Framing climate change: Economics, ideology, and uncertainty in American news media content from 1988 to 2014. Frontiers in Communication, 4(February), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2019.00006

Sullivan, G. M. & Feinn, R. (2012). Using effect size- or Why the P value is not enough. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 4(3): 279–282.

Tasha Erina Taufek, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor, Azhar Jaludin, Tiun, S. & Lam, K. C. (2021). Public perceptions on climate change: A sentiment analysis approach. GEMA Online Journal of Language Studies, 21(4), 209-233.

Tasha Erina Taufek, Nor Fariza Mohd Nor & Azhar Jaludin. (2021). Media Propagation and Public’s Sentiments of Climate Change in Online English Malaysian Newspaper. In E-Proceedings of Digital Humanities Postgraduate Webinar 2021, 47-54. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

United Nations Climate Change. n.d. The Paris Agreement. https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/paris-agreement

University of Lancaster. n.d. Testing for significance: Log likelihood https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fss/courses/ling/corpus/blue/l08_4.htm

Varkkey, H. (2019). Winds of change in Malaysia: The government and the climate. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. https://th.boell.org/en/2019/02/27/winds-change-malaysia-government-and-climate

Vu, H. T., Liu, Y., & Tran, D. V. (2019). Nationalizing a global phenomenon: A study of how the press in 45 countries and territories portrays climate change. Global Environmental Change, 58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2019.101942

Weiner, R., Church, S. P., Lu, J., Esman, L. A., Getson, J. M., Fleckenstein, M., Radulski, B., Ranjan, P., Usher, E., Prokopy, L. S., & Pfeiffer, L. (2021). Climate change coverage in the United States media during the 2017 hurricane season: Implications for climate change communication. Climatic Change, 164(3–4).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03032-0

Wiest, S. L., Raymond, L., & Clawson, R. A. (2015). Framing, partisan predispositions, and public opinion on climate change. Global Environmental Change, 31(March), 187-198. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.12.006

Wild, K., & McCarthy, D. (2010). A corpus linguistics analysis of ecosystems vocabulary in the public sphere (claevips). Lexical Computing Ltd. Commissioned by the United Kingdom National Ecosystem Assessment, UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, U. K.([online] Available from: http://uknea. unep-wcmc. org/LinkClick. aspx.

Wozniak, A., Wessler, H., Chan, C. H., & Lück, J. (2021). The event-centered nature of global public spheres: The UN climate change conferences, Fridays for future, and the (limited) transnationalization of media debates. International Journal of Communication, 15, 27.

W Rani, KH Kamarudin & KA Razak. (2020). Climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in urban development plans for resilient cities. IOP Conference series: Earth and environment. Science, 409, 012024.

Zaharom Nain. (2021). Reuters digital news report 2021. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2021/malaysia