ABSTRACT
This chapter considers how corpus-assisted discourse analysis can be applied to the analysis and theorisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender identities. It begins with an overview of relevant literature in this area. This will be followed with an example study of how corpus-based discourse analysis can be applied to questions of representation concerning identity. Theorisations of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identities are necessarily rooted in an analysis of discourse. Representation is important because those with the power to do so construct and reproduce shared meanings that may then become accepted as common sense. This review will begin with corpus studies that consider LGBT representation in governmental debates. It will then consider representation in the press by discussing studies that have looked specifically at trans representation as well as at diachronic approaches to corpus-based discourse analysis. Press representation is a common focus of corpus-based discourse analysis of LGBT identities.
