Des mots qui divisent : répertoires et enjeux de la visibilisation et de l’(in)visibilisation des migrants climatiques en contexte parlementaire (2006-2019)

Over the past fifty years, populations displaced by environmental degradation have been described by a wide range of terms, including climate migrants, climate refugees and environmental displaced persons, among others. This lexical diversity highlights a persistent debate, particularly in parliamentary forums, where alternative categories have emerged to describe these populations, reflect the linguistic and political dynamics that shape the relationship between environmental change and migration. This article examines the trends and associations underlying these designations, as well as the visibilization or invisibilization strategies employed by political actors. Adopting a mixed-methods approach that combines corpus linguistics and discourse analysis, our study draws on a dataset of 456,636 words extracted from French and Belgian parliamentary debates (and preparatory documents) spanning the period 2006 to 2019. By examining these interacting discourses, we aim to uncover the discursive strategies adopted by legislators, as well as the socio-political tensions, biases and ideological stakes embedded within parliamentary rhetoric. This study seeks to illuminate how language and politics intersect to construct categories related to environmental migration.