How Political Newspapers in the UK Analyzed the Resignation of the Scottish Labour Leader - Assignment Example

Introduction In May the United Kingdom went to the polls and one of the highlights in the events leading to the election is the resignation ofthe Scottish Labour leader, Jim Murphy. This came after the Scottish National Party won 56 out of the 59 Scottish seats with only one seat for the Scottish Labour Party. Jim Murphy survived a vote of no confidence but voluntarily decided to turn in his resignation letter with plans for reforms for the Labour Party in Scotland. Aims of Study The aim of this investigation is to conduct a linguistic analysis of the two main political newspapers in the UK on how they reported and analysed the resignation of the Scottish Labour Leader. In order to attain this end, the following objectives will be explored: 1. An evaluation of the presentation of traditional Right Wing and Left Wing newspapers in reporting the matter; 2. A conduct of Field, Tenor and Mode register analysis of the linguistic variables in the newspapers under review; 3. A formulation of the conclusions on the stance, forms of modality, attitude and personalisation of Jim Murphy and the Labour Party on the issue in question. The overall goal will be to deduce and evaluate the positioning and persuasion approaches and tools used by the different newspapers. This will culminate in the formulation of a conclusion on the matter within a context of traditional research methods and research application. Since research involves a disciplined and structured inquiry into a given subject matter, there will be the identification of the approaches used by the different newspapers within the context of a literature review and a formulation of a logical conclusion on the subject (Hewings, 2005). The study will review important aspects of construction in political news articles. This will lead to the presentation of lexicogrammatical elements of speech and communication and how it is applied in political contexts in the UK. The ultimate end will include the presentation of a conclusion on the traditional approaches used by political newspapers to present information and how it fits into linguistics as a subject and discourse analysis in general. Rational for Study Linguistic interactions and communication comes with some unique and distinct elements that allow people to make meaning either in spoken or written communication. Communication comes with the choice of words and approaches to express a given idea. “Choices relate in both the meaning and the context of communication.” (OHalloran & Coffin, 2005, p. 27). In other words, communication is completed by the kind of interpretation that could potentially and actually be made by the words and the framework within which they are used. This is known as variation within language and it refers to the use of lexical words as well as functional words to define the mode of communication (OHalloran & Coffin, 2005). Words, phrases and structures are changed regularly to fit the context of communication hence there is the academic style, expert topics, conversational and generalised as well as fictional styles of communication. This can be analysed by reviewing the distinctive characteristics of communication and relating the characteristics to the obvious indicators of the text to bridge the social distance between the communicators (OHalloran, 2005). The role of Systematic Functional Linguistics (SFL) is to identify three main components and elements of communication in a given text or writing and this includes: 1. Field 2. Tenor 3. Mode (Coffin, 2005) Each of these three pointers have significance and reference to this study and places the evaluation of the facts relating to the political situation and issues in context. Field is a “linguistic reflection of the purposive role of the user in the situation in which a text occurred” (Song, 2010, p. 877). This is about the particular domain of the experience and the scope and medium of communication. It presents the subject matter in an experiential manner (Coffin, 2005). Tenor refers to the social relationships that are caused by the discussion or the communication (Stillar, 2013). This includes the formal and informal use of English as a means of establishing a connection with the reader and creating an impression on the reader (Hewings, 2005). Mode on the other hand refers to the organised information and the logical presentation of knowledge to support an objective or fairly understandable presentation of claims in an objective fashion (Hewings, 2005). “Mode refers to the function of the text in the event and includes the channel taken by the language” (Schaffer, 2012). Meta Function Functionality Tenor Interpersonal Enacting Power and Solidarity Field Ideation (Logical and Experiential) Construing Activity Mode Semiotic Reality Composing Text Table 1: Stratification and Meta-function of SFL (Tannen, et al., 2014) Each of the components of the Systematic Functional Linguistics has its own stratification and meta-function which provides the parameters for textual and linguistic analysis. This is presented in Table 1 above. These major functions and pointers in discourse analysis and functionality analysis have direct applications to the review and analysis of texts and other forms of writings. This study will critically evaluate these three pointers and apply them within the matrix structure of meta-function and functionality in order to evaluate the articles on the resignation of Jim Murphy in the context of right-wing and left-wing politics in the UK. This will show how the articles apply these three SFL functions and how they are interpreted and included by way of meta-function and functionality. The study will review the different approaches used in the absolute sense and also in the relative sense. This will help to provide information about the way and manner in which communication is conducted on the same issue and how the contexts differ within a framework of linguistics and fundamental concept and ideas of communication. Research Methodology The study will be done through a critical review and analysis of data from a sample of UK traditional UK newspaper that adheres to a given school of thought on the issue. In order to conduct the study, there will be the review of different newspapers in the UK on the same issue of the resignation of Jim Murphy. This will include a critical analysis and comparative analysis. Sampling A sample of four UK newspapers will be conducted on the subject of the resignation of Jim Murphy. The news papers and their affiliation are as follows: 1. The Guardian: This is a Centre-Left newspaper that is connected and affiliated with the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats; 2. The Independent: This is also known to be a Centre-Left newspaper that is linked to the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats; 3. The Telegraph: This is a Centre Right newspaper that is known to be a Centre-Right Conservative publishing house with a tradition of protecting British traditions and conservative principles; 4. The Express: This is a non-intellectual sensationalist Right wing newspaper that is associated with the Conservatives and far-right parties of the UK and focuses on a nationalist ideology and system of carrying out reviews. LEFT WING RIGHT WING The Guardian The Independent The Telegraph The Express Field The article is presented in an explanatory manner. The details are presented in a diplomatic framework. For instance, it states that “the leader [Murphy] says he feared his leadership would be dogged by deep internal divisions” It starts with “Jim Murphy quits as Scottish Labour Leader despite vote of confidence and bows out with swipe at Len McCluskey”. This presents a constructive view of the whole situation and expresses hopes for future improvement. “Scottish Labour Party leader, Jim Murphy says he is going to resign” This shows the reported speech of what happens and shows evidence of deep divisions and serious problems. The article ends with “more to follow”. After giving so much linguistic views of the matter. “Jim Murphy has announced he will mastermind a plan to reform crisis-hit Scottish Labour before resigning as leader next month”. This shows that there are problems and a strong need for reforms. However, the words cast doubt on Jim Murphy’s proposals. Meta- Function Ideation (Logical & Experiential) The focus is on the action and consequences. It presents a pattern of events and describes the bigger context within which the resignation occurred. The information given shows that Jim Murphy quit because of poor performance. However, unlike the conservatives, the information given and words show that there is room for improvement. The article also highlights the vote of confidence by the executives. The paper focuses on the instabilities in the Labour Party and Scotland’s Labour Party in particular. It presents information on who ought to be blamed on the loss and the divisions that came in the eve of the defeat. This presents criticisms and crisis. The defeat and problems in the party are recounted with words and in a rather condescending lexico-grammatical system. Functionality Construing Activity This is done in a way and manner in which the information about the focus and reasons for the crisis in the Labour party occurred. This includes a detailed presentation of information about the Union leader who caused most of the problems. The article is on the realism and the need for the Labour Party to pursue its survival. This is done through the presentation of how successful the party could be if there is unity and other views of relevant parties are taken into account. The functionality of the article is that Labour has lost and will not repair its issues any time soon. The language is presented in a way and manner to show an endless cycle of issues in Labour from the top to Scotland. The main end of this article is to highlight the problems and confusion. It shows that the Labour leader and the entire Labour party are well lost permanently. And the conflict with the Union leader cannot be resolved. Tenor Meta Function Interpersonal Functionality Enacting Power and Solidarity Mode Meta-Function Semiotic Reality Functionality Composing Text Meta Function Functionality Tenor Interpersonal Enacting Power and Solidarity Field Ideation (Logical and Experiential) Construing Activity Mode Semiotic Reality Composing Text This, too, will be a fuller account than was possible at the proposal stage, and will include an explanation of any alterations that became necessary during the conduct of the investigation. If you are collecting spoken data, or data from individuals, you should describe the circumstances as they actually existed. You should include here any practical difficulties you faced in carrying out your project, so that your tutor may be aware of how it has been shaped by your local circumstances. If you are analysing already existing electronic corpora, you will need to give details of where you got them from, what they contain, how many words there are, whether they were originally spoken or written, etc. Look at Section 1.4 of your Reference Grammar, as well as Table 1 and the surrounding text of the chapter by Hewings and Hewings in the E303 reader, for an indication of the type of information you need to provide about an electronic corpus. Your findings, and how these relate to your aims as well as particular issues in the module (Suggested length of section: approx. 1000 words) Emphasise what has emerged from your analysis of the data, the extent to which it answers your research questions and its relationship to grammar in context as discussed in the E303 material. Present examples from the analytical appendix (see below) selectively in the report in order to illustrate points or exemplify parts of your argument. Ensure your selection is explained and justified. An evaluation of your work on the project (Suggested length of section: approx. 500 words.) Consider the overall outcome of your project. What did it set out to achieve and how successful was it? What are its shortcomings? You may also consider the kinds of further investigation which could be made to follow up your results or extend the work you have started, as well as the implications of your findings. References This should be a full list of all the works you have referred to. It should be set out as exemplified in Section 3.3. of this booklet. Appendix 1: Analytical (Suggested length of section: up to a maximum of 1000 words not including text data.) This section should include your data analysis in non-discursive form. This could take the form of text data with relevant parts labelled by grammatical categories, and/or you can use a tabular format if this is appropriate. Don’t forget to copy the texts you analyse into the appendix so that your tutor can verify the accuracy of your analysis. The 1000-word limit does not include the text data itself but only the analysis based on linguistic categories. If you are using concordancing tools, you may need to include concordance lines and/or frequency statistics. It is very important that you insert a page break immediately before your appendix. Finally, you will need to outline briefly any changes in your methods of analysis since your proposal. 39 Appendix 2: Ethical (Suggested length of section: up to 100 words.) If relevant to your project topic, this section should give brief details of how you have taken any ethical issues into account, drawing on the guidelines developed by BAAL referred to in the notes to TMA 06 above. If there is no ethical case to answer, please say so briefly. Additional material It may be useful to include additional material (e.g. audio data, evidence of the initial analysis that informed your 1000-word appendix) so that your EMA marker can see how it relates to your findings. However, please remember that your EMA marker will not have time to study additional material in detail when marking your project. If you are sending any audio data please ensure that it is in a common format such as MP3 and send it together with the EMA in a zipped file. You can contact the Computing Helpdesk on +44(0)1908 653972 if you need further assistance. Be sure to keep a safe back-up copy of your project before submitting it Read More