Mapping the Dynamics of Green Shipping News Report: A Decade of Lexical Changes in Lloyd’s List

What is it about?

While quantitative linguistic methods have been increasingly applied to specialized domain discourses, their application to sustainability discourse, particularly within maritime reporting, remains limited. This study examines the lexical changes in Lloyd’s List reports on green shipping from 2013 to 2022. Drawing on lexical indicators such as type-token ratio, entropy, hapax ratio, content word distribution based on h-point, and cosine similarity, the analysis traces the lexical and semantic shifts in the field. The results are interpreted through the lens of ecolinguistics and supplemented by sentiment analysis. Moreover, statistical analyses, including correlation and regression analysis, are employed to examine the associations between lexical change and semantic patterns. The findings identify 2017 as a turning point for transition in lexical richness and complexity. Additionally, a shift is observed from reactive language centred on external pressures in earlier years to more proactive and collaborative framings by 2022.

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Why is it important?

This study highlights the adaptive linguistic strategies in sustainability communication and demonstrates the value of integrating quantitative linguistic methods with ecolinguistic perspectives in analysing specialized media discourse.