Topic 1
A Corpus-based Study of Defamation Law in Hong Kong
Le Cheng & Winnie Cheng
Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, Department of English,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Abstract
Defamation law is a long-standing research focus and many studies have shown the focus in defamation law is the balance between two fundamental issues in law: protection of reputation and freedom of speech. This is a corpus-based study with the reported cases on defamation in Hong Kong as the data and Concgram 1.0 as the analysing tool. The corpus-based approach enables us to probe into the evolution of defamation law in Hong Kong with sufficient linguistic evidence. The results show that the primary concerns in Hong Kong case law on defamation are the approach to meaning, the defence to defamation. In terms of approach, the ordinary and natural approach provides a pivotal means to solve the threshold problem in defamation cases. In terms of defence, there is a noticeable shift from fair comment to honest comment. This study indicates the feasibility and prominence of using a corpus-based approach to track the latest development in law and hence provides further implications for corpus-based legal research.
Bio
Dr. CHENG Le, having been a lawyer in Mainland China, is now a postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and concurrently an Adjunct Professor at NIT, Zhejiang University and Acting Associate Director and Research Professor at Research Centre for Legal Translation, China University of Political Science and Law. His interests include corpus linguistics, discourse analysis, language and law, legal translation and semiotics.
Topic 2
Winnie Cheng
Professor of English
Director, Research Centre for Professional Communication in English
Department of English
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
NIT
Radiation soars in sea off nuclear crisis plant: A cross-cultural corpus study of online news reports on earthquake, tsunami, and radiation in Japan
The talk compares the news headlines on the earthquake, tsunami, and radiation in Japan from five online news broadcasting organisations: British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), China Daily (English), Cable News Network (CNN), South China Morning Post (Hong Kong), and Yomiuri Shimbun. Related news headlines from each of the news organisations between 11 March 2011 and 10 April 2011 were collected to form a corpus. The five corpora were then analysed with the use of the corpus linguistic software ConcGram which identifies the word frequency profile and relative distribution of phraseological patterns specific to each news headline corpus. The talk discusses the corpus findings from a cross-cultural (both large culture and small culture) perspective, and suggests implications for both leaning and teaching and research.
Topic 3
A Corpus-based Study of Defamation Law in Hong Kong
Le Cheng & Winnie Cheng
Research Centre for Professional Communication in English, Department of English,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Abstract
Defamation law is a long-standing research focus and many studies have shown the focus in defamation law is the balance between two fundamental issues in law: protection of reputation and freedom of speech. This is a corpus-based study with the reported cases on defamation in Hong Kong as the data and Concgram 1.0 as the analysing tool. The corpus-based approach enables us to probe into the evolution of defamation law in Hong Kong with sufficient linguistic evidence. The results show that the primary concerns in Hong Kong case law on defamation are the approach to meaning, the defence to defamation. In terms of approach, the ordinary and natural approach provides a pivotal means to solve the threshold problem in defamation cases. In terms of defence, there is a noticeable shift from fair comment to honest comment. This study indicates the feasibility and prominence of using a corpus-based approach to track the latest development in law and hence provides further implications for corpus-based legal research.
Bio
Dr. CHENG Le, having been a lawyer in Mainland China, is now a postdoctoral Research Fellow at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and concurrently an Adjunct Professor at NIT, Zhejiang University and Acting Associate Director and Research Professor at Research Centre for Legal Translation, China University of Political Science and Law. His interests include corpus linguistics, discourse analysis,
language and law, legal translation and semiotics.
Topic 4
Winnie Cheng
Professor of English
Director, Research Centre for Professional Communication in English
Department of English
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
Title: A corpus-based critical discourse analytical study: Western Perceptions of Hong Kong Ten Years On
Abstract
This paper studies the Western perceptions of and relations with Hong Kong a decade after the reversion of the sovereignty from Britain to China in 1997. Previous studies have demonstrated that the West had a significantly negative view on the future of Hong Kong with respect to the handover. According to recent observations, however, the perceptions of the West have undergone a noticeable change. This paper aims at investigating the West’s understanding, opinions and positions regarding Hong Kong today compared with those in 1997. The possible reasons for any changes are also investigated. Through the integration of the theories and methods of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis and the use of two corpus linguistic software ConcGram? and Wmatrix, the present paper examines a range of Western public discourse of Hong Kong concerning the handover. The purpose of the paper is to yield insights into the New Hong Kong in the eyes of the West, which in turn contributes to a re-examination of the relations and power balance between the West and China.