Rhetorical strategies of political persuasion: The play of irrealis and realis meaning in re/aligning readers in newspaper editorials
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Feifei Liu
Feifei Liu received her PhD in applied linguistics from the University of Technology Sydney and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the South China Normal University. Her research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics,
appraisal framework, and discourse analysis in the media sphere.Address for correspondence: Room 738, School of Foreign Studies, Wenke Building, South China Normal University, No. 55 Zhongshan Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Email: liufeifei@m.scnu.edu.cn
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Susan Hood
Susan Hood is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on discourse analysis from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics, with particular interest in discourse of evaluation and of knowledge building. Major publications include:
Appraising research: Evaluation in academic writing (2010, London: Palgrave);Knowledge-building: Educational studies in legitimation code theory (2016, London: Routledge).Address for correspondence: Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney. NSW 2006, Australia. Email: susan.hood@sydney.edu.au
Abstract
Newspaper editorials are acknowledged as having a significant role to play in shaping public opinion on social and political issues. In studies of their persuasive power, the language of these texts is always the focus to some extent. Across a spectrum of methodological approaches, relatively few studies take a dynamic perspective to consider the interaction of linguistic choices in the construction of rhetorical strategies in the flow of meaning in texts. This study draws on Systemic Functional Linguistic (SFL) theory in its analysis and interpretation of the dynamic construction of recurring rhetorical strategies in a set of 11 editorials culled from The Australian, a politically conservative broadsheet newspaper in Australia. We explore how choices in interpersonal and ideational meaning collaborate and interact dynamically in these data to consistently disaffiliate a putative readership with one of the two major political parties. We identify in particular the critical interaction of realis and irrealis meanings in the configuration of this strategy. The analyses provide a complementary means to explore the discourse of persuasion within the field of news media.
Funding statement: This paper was partially supported by two research projects. One is South China Normal University Foundation for Young Scholars (No. 18SK11), and the other is Guangzhou Yangcheng Foundation for Young Scholars (No. 2019GZQN18).
About the authors
Feifei Liu received her PhD in applied linguistics from the University of Technology Sydney and is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the South China Normal University. Her research interests include Systemic Functional Linguistics, appraisal framework, and discourse analysis in the media sphere.
Address for correspondence: Room 738, School of Foreign Studies, Wenke Building, South China Normal University, No. 55 Zhongshan Avenue West, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China. Email: liufeifei@m.scnu.edu.cn
Susan Hood is an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on discourse analysis from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics, with particular interest in discourse of evaluation and of knowledge building. Major publications include: Appraising research: Evaluation in academic writing (2010, London: Palgrave); Knowledge-building: Educational studies in legitimation code theory (2016, London: Routledge).
Address for correspondence: Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Sydney. NSW 2006, Australia. Email: susan.hood@sydney.edu.au
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Rhetorical strategies of political persuasion: The play of irrealis and realis meaning in re/aligning readers in newspaper editorials
- Peer responses to self-disclosures in group counseling
- The distant “gaze” on academic mentoring
- Assessing hip-hop discourse: Linguistic realness and styling
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Rhetorical strategies of political persuasion: The play of irrealis and realis meaning in re/aligning readers in newspaper editorials
- Peer responses to self-disclosures in group counseling
- The distant “gaze” on academic mentoring
- Assessing hip-hop discourse: Linguistic realness and styling
