Rhetorical uses of theme in newspaper editorials

Abstract

In this paper we look at some ways in which thematization can be used to control hortatory rhetoric. Varying the complexity of thematic structure, for instance, can produce minimalistic, informal text or an academic formal style, reminiscent of Bernstein's restricted and elaborated codes, respectively. More or less discourse participant themes can create an impression of outspokenness or impartiality and marked themes may be a measure of hortatory content in general. We examine how different choices of thematic progression as text organizers can produce different effects. Constant progression, for example, may suit the demagogue, while derived progression is calculated to appeal to a more intellectual audience. Then we find correlations with the problem-solution patterns: different theme types may signal the various sections, and opponents or friends may be attacked or supported by thematizing them within problem or solution sections. Lastly, we draw pedagogical implications from the study.

Textual and interpersonal differences between a news report and an editorial

“…Francis also noted a higher frequency of sayers (people quoted or whose words were reported on) in Theme position in the news reports. Hawes and Thomas (1996) compare editorial articles from The Times, an "ancient and respectable organ of the establishment" (ibid: 159) with The Sun, "know for its sensationalist scandalmongering". Included in their study is an analysis of the discourse participants encoded in the Themes of the clauses, as well as the use of marked Themes.…”

Genre Realized in Theme: The Case of News Reports and Commentaries

“…News stories and reports have been extensively studied om diff erent perspectives (Van Dij k, 1988;Bell, 1991;Fairclough, 1995;White, 1998;Scollon, 1998; among others); newspaper commentaries, conversely, have received less theoretical and empirical attention, though contrastive work on commentaries (Wang, 2008a and b), opinion columns (Dafouz, 2008) and editorials (Alonso Belmonte, 2007;Hawes & Thomas, 1996;Lavid, Arús & Moratón, 2009;Tirkkonen-Condit, 1996) is off ering interesting results for the description of opinion newspaper genres across languages and cultures. This study attempts to advance knowledge in this area by focusing on the thematic features of news reports and commentaries as textual signals of their diff erent generic characterization…”

Thematic choice and progression in English and Chinese radio news texts: a systemic functional analysis

“…For example, Gomez-Gonzalez (1994) looks at TP patterns in BBC news reports and finds the constant TP pattern most prevailing in the text. Hawes and Thomas (1996) focus on a comparison of the TP patterns in editorial articles in The Times with those in The Sun, arguing that the linear patterns occur at a similar level in both newspapers, but the constant patterns occur twice as often in The Sun as in The Times editorials. Li and Fan (2002) conduct a study of VOA (Voice of America) and BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) news reports, considering Theme-Rheme structure and information structure.…”