Realization of semantic and lexical instances in online hard news representation: a study through attitude and graduation analysis

Abstract

The study explores media discourse through the lexical and semantic realization of text. For that, online hard news on the disruption of tension due to targeting Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani as the Commander of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 3rd January 2020 in Iraq was selected from “Tehran Times” and “USA Today.” The “Appraisal Analysis” of Martin and White under “Attitude” and “Graduation” resources were employed to analyze the lexical strategies. The dataset comprises 322 words from the “Tehran Times” and 1727 words from “USA Today.” The study reveals that both newspapers have presented their views via social actors (Irani President Rouhani & U.S. President Donald Trump) as an external voice. President Rouhani presented in negative invoked instances with determination to respond in “Tehran Times.” At the same time, “USA Today” portrayed Donald Trump on a positive with correct measures as the need of an hour. The findings suggest “USA Today” only had inscribed judgment and invoked stances. Both newspapers had represented “subjectivity” along with “objectivity” by presenting social actors’ positive image in their local newspapers through direct speech that showed the ideological orientation of newspapers.

Keywords:

• Online hard news
• attitude analysis
• graduation analysis
• semantic realization
• lexical realization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saira Kazmi

Saira Kazmi, Ph.D. is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of English at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan, and Department of English Linguistics & Literature (DELL), Faculty of Social Sciences at Riphah International University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Her field of interest and research area focuses on Linguistics, media discourse, political discourse, textual analysis, Socio-Semiotic Analysis, Attitude Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, and Critical Discourse Analysis.

Deny Efita Nur Rakhmawati

Deny Efita Nur Rakhmawati, Ph.D. is a lecturer at the Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia. Her research focuses on Linguistics and Applied Linguistics.

Mudjia Rahardjo

Mudjia Rahardjo, Ph.D. is a Professor at the Department of Literature, Faculty of Humanities, UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, Indonesia. His research focuses on Linguistics.