Media Discourses and Ideological Shifts in the Representation of Ethnic Minority Languages in Vietnam (2010–2025)

<p class="ql-align-justify">This study explores how Vietnamese media have represented ethnic minority languages over two different periods (2010–2019 and 2020–2025) and how the underlying ideologies behind these representations have evolved. Using the Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA) within Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), it examines fifty-two Vietnamese-language news articles published in official outlets. The analysis draws on Reisigl and Wodak’s) five discursive strategies: nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivization, and intensification/mitigation, to trace shifting representations of minority languages, their speakers, and preservation efforts. The analysis indicates a relative shift from collectivizing, state-centered, and deficit-oriented representations in the earlier period toward more individualized, community-voiced, and culturally agentive representations in the later period. At the same time, these newer frames remain largely articulated within state-managed media institutions and often privilege symbolic recognition over discussion of the material conditions required for language maintenance. The study contributes to scholarship on language ideology, media discourse, and minority-language politics in Vietnam by showing how officially circulated discourse can widen community visibility while still delimiting the terms on which that visibility becomes legitimate.</p>