DISCOURSE MARKERS IN AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S DISCOURSE ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE
Abstract
Background. The ongoing war in Ukraine, which, essentially, started in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea, represents an existential postcolonial war, in which Ukraine fights for its right to exist and, concurrently, defends its modern identity of a free European country (Frizell et al., 2026; Kapranov, 2026a). It could be argued that Ukraine’s alignment with the West and, specifically, the European Unition has triggered the annexation of Crimea (Kapranov, 2014a, 2016a, 2016b, 2018a) and contributed, largely, to the present invasion. Given that Ukraine seeks to become an integral part of the West (Swed et al., 2026), the war in Ukraine does not go unnoticed by the collective West (Jaroszewicz et al., 2026), in particular, the United Kingdom (the UK) and other countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations (for instance, Australia, Canada, etc.). In particular, the current Australian government supports Ukraine’s fight by military, diplomatic, and economic means (Lee, 2024). Whilst Australian government seems to be actively involved in deterring Russian expansionism in Ukraine (Lee, 2024), little is known about Australian political discourses on the war in Ukraine (Dov Bachmann et al., 2023). Furthermore, there are no published studies that focus on metadiscursive means (e.g., discourse markers) in Australian political discourses on the war in Ukraine.
Purpose. Taking into consideration a clear gap in scholarship, the article presents a quantitative study that seeks to identify and quantify discourse markers (DMs) in a corpus of documents by the Australian government on the topic of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Accordingly, the study aims at answering the following research question: What are the most frequently occurring DMs in a corpus of documents by the Australian government on the topic of the war in Ukraine?
Methods. The study employs a quantitative methodology of examining the corpus of documents on the war in Ukraine. The corpus involves 37 items that are processed in the computer program AntConc (Anthony, 2022) in order to identify and quantify DMs.
Results. In total, 127 DMs have been identified (mean 6.4, standard deviation 13.5) in the corpus. These DMs are represented by 20 qualitatively different types, such as (i) additionally, (ii) along with, (iii) also, (iv) and, (v) as, (vi) but, (vii) for the first time, (viii) furthermore, (ix) however, (x) if, (xi) in addition, (xii) in particular, (xiii) moreover, (xiv) of course, (xv) once again, (xvi) since, (xvii) so, (xviii) such, (xix) today and everyday, and (xx) while. The most frequently occurring DMs in the corpus are (i) and (N = 63) and (ii) as (N = 18), respectively.
Discussion. There are no DMs that tend to be associated with the colloquial register of the English language. Judging from the types of DMs in the corpus, all of them pertain to the neutral register of English. This finding supports the initial assumption of the study, which argued that the corpus would be characterised by the neutral DMs. Furthermore, the present results are in alignment with the findings reported by Kapranov (2026a), who has established that the topic of the war in Ukraine is conveyed by the British Conservative Party’s leader in a sombre manner by means of employing the neutral-only DMs. To reiterate, we may contend that similarly to the Conservative political discourses in the UK, the Australian government’s discourse on the war in Ukraine is marked by the neutral DMs, for instance (i) and (N = 63) and (ii) as (N = 18), respectively. In unity with the RQ of the study, we will discuss and illustrate the frequently occurring DMs and and as. The highest occurrence of and in the corpus is not at all surprising, given that the elaborative DM and is reported in the literature as a very frequently occurring metadiscursive means in political discourse (Chubinidze, 2026; Fetzer, 2014; Furkó et al., 2019; Kapranov, 2024b, 2024c, 2026b). In this regard, the present findings lend further support to the literature.
Background. The ongoing war in Ukraine, which, essentially, started in 2014 with the occupation of Crimea, represents an existential postcolonial war, in which Ukraine fights for its right to exist and, concurrently, defends its modern identity of a free European country (Frizell et al., 2026; Kapranov, 2026a). It could be argued that Ukraine’s alignment with the West and, specifically, the European Unition has triggered the annexation of Crimea (Kapranov, 2014a, 2016a, 2016b, 2018a) and contributed, largely, to the present invasion. Given that Ukraine seeks to become an integral part of the West (Swed et al., 2026), the war in Ukraine does not go unnoticed by the collective West (Jaroszewicz et al., 2026), in particular, the United Kingdom (the UK) and other countries of the British Commonwealth of Nations (for instance, Australia, Canada, etc.). In particular, the current Australian government supports Ukraine’s fight by military, diplomatic, and economic means (Lee, 2024). Whilst Australian government seems to be actively involved in deterring Russian expansionism in Ukraine (Lee, 2024), little is known about Australian political discourses on the war in Ukraine (Dov Bachmann et al., 2023). Furthermore, there are no published studies that focus on metadiscursive means (e.g., discourse markers) in Australian political discourses on the war in Ukraine.
Purpose. Taking into consideration a clear gap in scholarship, the article presents a quantitative study that seeks to identify and quantify discourse markers (DMs) in a corpus of documents by the Australian government on the topic of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. Accordingly, the study aims at answering the following research question: What are the most frequently occurring DMs in a corpus of documents by the Australian government on the topic of the war in Ukraine?
Methods. The study employs a quantitative methodology of examining the corpus of documents on the war in Ukraine. The corpus involves 37 items that are processed in the computer program AntConc (Anthony, 2022) in order to identify and quantify DMs.
Results. In total, 127 DMs have been identified (mean 6.4, standard deviation 13.5) in the corpus. These DMs are represented by 20 qualitatively different types, such as (i) additionally, (ii) along with, (iii) also, (iv) and, (v) as, (vi) but, (vii) for the first time, (viii) furthermore, (ix) however, (x) if, (xi) in addition, (xii) in particular, (xiii) moreover, (xiv) of course, (xv) once again, (xvi) since, (xvii) so, (xviii) such, (xix) today and everyday, and (xx) while. The most frequently occurring DMs in the corpus are (i) and (N = 63) and (ii) as (N = 18), respectively.
Discussion. There are no DMs that tend to be associated with the colloquial register of the English language. Judging from the types of DMs in the corpus, all of them pertain to the neutral register of English. This finding supports the initial assumption of the study, which argued that the corpus would be characterised by the neutral DMs. Furthermore, the present results are in alignment with the findings reported by Kapranov (2026a), who has established that the topic of the war in Ukraine is conveyed by the British Conservative Party’s leader in a sombre manner by means of employing the neutral-only DMs. To reiterate, we may contend that similarly to the Conservative political discourses in the UK, the Australian government’s discourse on the war in Ukraine is marked by the neutral DMs, for instance (i) and (N = 63) and (ii) as (N = 18), respectively. In unity with the RQ of the study, we will discuss and illustrate the frequently occurring DMs and and as. The highest occurrence of and in the corpus is not at all surprising, given that the elaborative DM and is reported in the literature as a very frequently occurring metadiscursive means in political discourse (Chubinidze, 2026; Fetzer, 2014; Furkó et al., 2019; Kapranov, 2024b, 2024c, 2026b). In this regard, the present findings lend further support to the literature.
Published in LANGUAGE: Codification, Competence, Communication, 2026
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