The vocabulary of the 1pm COVID-19 briefings: Implications for research, teaching and government communications

In this talk, we report on a corpus-based study of vocabulary in the 1pm COVID-19 briefings in two ways across time (2020 and 2021) and between speakers (Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield). The first analysis focuses on the characteristics of the words in the corpus (e.g. risk, staggered, pandemic, motu and doffing) and vocabulary load of the corpus. The second reports briefly on single and multiword technical vocabulary (e.g. self-isolation, bubbles and MIQ) and highlights some complexities in undertaking such a study. Implications for teaching and government communications will be discussed.