An Ecological Discourse Analysis of a Fishery Company’s Claims on SDG 12, 13, and 14
(1) Scopus ID: 57218872674, Universitas Sanatha Dharma
(2) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(3) Universitas Sanata Dharma
(*) Corresponding Author
Abstract
Corporate sustainability reporting has gained attention, but research gaps persist in applying ecological discourse analysis (EDA) to corporate texts. Current studies often rely on critical discourse or thematic content analysis, overlooking the ecological dimensions of language. There is a lack of integrated SDG discourse analysis that captures the complex interdependence of environmental issues and limited attention to subtle linguistic strategies companies use to frame compliance and sustainability, often bordering on greenwashing. This study addresses these gaps by applying an ecological discourse analysis to a fishery company's sustainability report. Data was taken from the English sustainability report of PT. Dua Putra Makmur Tbk (DPUM), downloaded from the company’s website, www.duaputra.co.id. The collected data were examined through an ecological discourse analysis (EDA) framework assisted by the UAM corpus tool to investigate the modality as the interpersonal vehicle that uncovers the company’s intention in building public trust and showing its commitment to the ecological equilibrium. Findings reveal that modality is mainly employed to show the company’s commitment to maintaining sustainable business practices. Ecologically, the sustainability report articulates an ambivalent discourse since the ecological commitment is concealed in the report, proven by the absence of modality referring to ability and willingness
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Abdelsamie, Y. (2024). Genres of political tweets: Exploring the tweeting practices of American and Egyptian Presidential Officials [doctoralThesis]. https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/714753
Akmal, A., & Widayati, D. (2021). Language and Ecology In Silau Malela Society (Ecolinguistics Study). Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, Dan Budaya, 11(2), 185. https://doi.org/10.26714/lensa.11.2.2021.185-193
Álvarez-Gil, F. J. (2023). The modal forms ‘must’ and ‘should’ in English academic discourse by Spanish postgraduates. Language Value, 16(2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.6035/languagev.7304
Anthony, R. (2012). Animistic pragmatism and native ways of knowing: Adaptive strategies for responding to environmental change and overcoming the struggle for food in the Arctic. In T. Potthast & S. Meisch (Eds), Climate change and sustainable development (pp. 166–171). Wageningen Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-753-0_23
Basanta, A., & Vangehuchten, L. (2022). Los informes de sostenibilidad de empresas chilenas, españolas y mexicanas: Un análisis crítico del género. Círculo de Lingüística Aplicada a La Comunicación, 89, 201–220. https://doi.org/10.5209/clac.72902
Beck, A. C., Campbell, D., & Shrives, P. J. (2010). Content analysis in environmental reporting research: Enrichment and rehearsal of the method in a British–German context. The British Accounting Review, 42(3), 207–222. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bar.2010.05.002
Benítez-Castro, M.-Á., Hidalgo-Tenorio, E., Patterson, K. J., Moyano, M., & González, I. (2024). They were not radical, even when they committed that: An appraisal-driven discourse analysis of feelings and attitudes towards the 17-A terrorist cell in Barcelona. Journal of Language Aggression and Conflict, 12(2), 139–170. https://doi.org/10.1075/jlac.00084.ben
Boiral, O., Heras-Saizarbitoria, I., Brotherton, M.-C., & Bernard, J. (2019). Ethical Issues in the Assurance of Sustainability Reports: Perspectives from Assurance Providers. Journal of Business Ethics, 159(4), 1111–1125. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3840-3
Cheng, M. (2022). Theoretical framework for ecological discourse analysis: A summary of New Developments of Ecological Discourse Analysis. Journal of World Languages, 8(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2021-0030
Fleming, A., Ogier, E., Hobday, A., Thomas, L., Hartog, J. R., & Haas, B. (2020). Stakeholder trust and holistic fishery sustainability assessments. Marine Policy, 111, 1–9.
Furmaniak, G. (2019). Sur les spécificités discursives de (be) likely. Lexis, 15. https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.4227
Hambali, M., Istianah, A., Susilowati, N. E., & Fajri, M. S. A. (2025). Battling the climate crisis: WAR and THREAT metaphors in Indonesian news media through a corpus-ecolinguistics lens. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 12(1), 2526143. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2526143
Iskandar, D., Wildan, W., Nurrahmah, N., & Fauzi, M. (2023). Online Media News Strategy On Vaccination Discourse: Theo Van Leeuwun’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, Dan Budaya, 13(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.26714/lensa.13.1.2023.1-13
Jäggi, T., Sato, S., & Gygax, P. M. (2023). Skin cancer risk assessment and the grammaticalization of the future: The role of epistemic modality when temporally framing health information. Language and Health, 1(1), 58–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.laheal.2023.07.001
Kochkina, N., Macchia, S., & Floris, M. (2024). Strategic Language Use in Sustainability Reporting: An Empirical Study. Sustainability, 16(23), 10229. https://doi.org/10.3390/su162310229
Markus, T. (2003). More-than-human-world. Deep ecology as environmental philosophy. Socijalna Ekologija, 12(3–4), 143–163.
Matseliukh, I. (2024). Discursive use of modality in RT’s coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. East European Journal of Psycholinguistics, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.29038/eejpl.2024.11.2.mat
Mukhtarullina, A., Issakova, S., Alimbek, G., & Issakova, A. (2024). The Pragmatic Aspect of Modality in the English Mass-Media Discourse. World Journal of English Language, 14(4), 322. https://doi.org/10.5430/wjel.v14n4p322
Murray, J. (2024). Climate Change and the Construction of Compromised Agency in Selected Contemporary Fiction. Kritika Kultura, 1(45). https://doi.org/10.13185/1656-152x.1033
Næss, A., Drengson, A. R., & Devall, B. (2008). Ecology of wisdom. Counterpoint.
O’Donnell, M. (2008, April 3). The UAM CorpusTool: Software for corpus annotation and exploration. Proceedings of the XXVI Congreso de AESLA. The XXVI Congreso de AESLA, Almeria, Spain.
Ortega-Robles, C., & Hidalgo-Tenorio, E. (2025). They really, really, really don’t like to admit they made mistakes: A critical discourse analysis of appraisal in wrongful convictions. Language and Cognition, 17, e14. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2024.41
O’Ryan, L. W., & Glazier, J. W. (2016). Deep Ecology. In A. Wong, M. Wickramasinghe, R. Hoogland, & N. A. Naples (Eds), The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies (1st edn, pp. 1–2). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss361
Porcel, V. C., Belmonte, M. P. C., & Uriarte, M. M. C. (2024). Delving into sustainability reporting literature: The role of ethics. Equilibrium. Quarterly Journal of Economics and Economic Policy, 19(1), 279–335.
Rocci, A., & Musi, E. (2017). The Interface Between Semantics and Discourse Functions: Exploring the Adjective Possibile in a Corpus of Italian Financial News. In J. Blochowiak, C. Grisot, S. Durrleman, & C. Laenzlinger (Eds), Formal Models in the Study of Language (pp. 391–413). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48832-5_21
Rubio-Mozos, E., García-Muiña, F. E., & Fuentes-Moraleda, L. (2020). Application of Ecosophical Perspective to Advance to the SDGs: Theoretical Approach on Values for Sustainability in a 4S Hotel Company. Sustainability, 12(18), 7713. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12187713
Scarpato, D., Civero, G., Rusciano, V., & Risitano, M. (2020). Sustainable strategies and corporate social responsibility in the Italian fisheries companies. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 27(6), 2983–2990. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.2016
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2004). On biolinguistic diversity: Linking language, culture and (traditional) ecological knowledge. Invited Plenary Lecture at Department of …, Query date: 2023-05-11 19:05:01, Article Query date: 2023-05-11 19:05:01. https://textarchive.ru/c-1894055-pall.html
Stibbe, A. (2015). Ecolinguistics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315718071
Štumberger, N., & Golob, U. (2016). On the Discursive Construction of Corporate Social Responsibility in Advertising Agencies. Journal of Business Ethics, 137(3), 521–536.
Suhandano, S., Firmonasari, A., & Isti’anah, A. (2024). Infrastructure Discourse in Indonesian Media: An Ecolinguistic Perspective. World of Media. Journal of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, 3, Article 3. https://doi.org/10.30547/worldofmedia.3.2024.3
Suhandano, S., Isti’anah, A., & Febrina, R. (2023). Contesting “growth” and “sustainability” in Indonesia’s capital city relocation: A corpus ecolinguistic study. RESEARCH RESULT Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, 9(3), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.18413/2313-8912-2023-9-3-0-5
Suryani, D. S., & Suhandano, S. (2025). Salience and Erasure in the Indonesian Government Climate Change Discourse: A Corpus-Based Ecolinguistics Study. Journal of Language and Literature, 25(1), 106–118. https://doi.org/10.24071/joll.v25i1.9739
Tanaka, Y. (2023). Reporting Frameworks for the Environmental Pillar of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Business Strategy Alignment: Case Study of Kanetomo, a Commercial Fishery Company in Fujieda City in Shizuoka, Japan [Duke University]. https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27082
Thuube, R. M., & Ekanjume-Ilongo, B. (2017). Exploring stance and listener alignment in public discourse. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 35(4), 345–355. https://doi.org/10.2989/16073614.2017.1398096
Torelli, R. (2021). Sustainability, responsibility and ethics: Different concepts for a single path. Social Responsibility Journal, 17(5), 719–739. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-03-2020-0081
Tsaqifa, T. I., & Roselani, N. G. A. (2024). Authorial Presence of Indonesian Authors in Academic Discourse: A Study of English and Indonesian Research Articles. Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, Dan Budaya, 14(2), 292. https://doi.org/10.26714/lensa.14.2.2024.292-311
Yu, D. (2020). Corporate Environmentalism: A Critical Metaphor Analysis of Chinese, American, and Italian Corporate Social Responsibility Reports. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 63(3), Article 3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication. https://doi.org/10.1109/TPC.2020.3012728
Zella, G., Bolderdijk, J. W., Caselli, T., & Peels‐Matthey, S. (2025). The Role of Neologisms in the Climate Change Debate: Can New Words Help to Speed Up Social Change? WIREs Climate Change, 16(2). https://doi.org/10.1002/wcc.70004
Zhao, J., & Xue, J. (2023). Striking the Right Note: A Corpus-Assisted Study of Deontic Modality in Translating PRC Civil Code into English. In J. Zhao, D. Li, & V. L. C. Lei (Eds), New Advances in Legal Translation and Interpreting (pp. 59–77). Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9422-7_5
Article Metrics
Abstract view : 74 timesPDF - 1 times
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26714/lensa.15.2.2025.348-365
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2025 Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, dan Budaya
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, dan Budaya is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
Lensa: Kajian Kebahasaan, Kesusastraan, dan Budaya (Lensa)
p-ISSN: 2086-6100; e-ISSN: 2503-328X
Published by: Faculty of Educational Science and Humanity,Universitas Muhammadiyah Semarang
