Distributing News Via Weblog - a Linguistic Analysis of the Guardian Newsblog

Michels, Ulrike

Distributing News Via Weblog - a Linguistic Analysis of the Guardian Newsblog

Medien / Kommunikation - Printmedien, Presse

Zusammenfassung

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract:
This study investigates in how far the news language of weblogs differs from the news language in traditional print or online newspapers. A special focal point is set on oral language and its functions.
The analysis should help to answer the questions:
- Can weblogs help to minimize the distance between journalists and readers?
- Can weblogs assist in attracting a new kind of readership?
- Can weblogs assist in raising readership loyalty?
All results can also be transferred from journalism to public relations and marketing:
- Can weblogs help to provide you closer insight into your customer needs?
- Can weblogs assist in attracting new target groups?
- Can weblogs assist in raising customer loyalty?
The study is set up according to the following sequence:
Firstly, a general approach to weblogs is presented, describing their structure, development and implementation. Secondly, differences between the spoken and written mode are outlined and several models depicting the continuum relationship between both are introduced. After the explanation of the significance and function of orality in written electronic and news discourse, the concept of oral models in the press is introduce. In a last step, a sample analysis of several articles from one journalistic weblog is conducted, one online and one traditional newspaper, applying a linguistic framework based on the theoretical works presented before.
With this examination, it is shown that the language used in journalistic weblogs contains more characteristics from the variety of spoken language than the languages of online and traditional print newspapers. From the results, potential effects are derived, e.g. on the practical fields of application or on the composition of the readership.
Until now, only 38% of all adult US internet users and 37% of the Germans know what a weblog or short blog is. But nevertheless, weblogs have already attracted great attention from around the globe during the past nine years since their first appearance. In September 2004, Time asked Is this a media revolution? Initially, bloggers pointed their readers to interesting sites they found on their travels in the World Wide Web. Later, this filter function was used primarily to comment and criticize media coverage of news. Thus, bloggers were claimed to be the antithesis of traditional journalists: unedited, unabashedly opinionated, sporadic and personal. This personal aspect was […]

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

NDEX

1. Introduction 1

2. Defining Weblogs

2.1 The Term "Weblog"

2.2 Structure of Weblogs

2.3 Types of Weblogs

2.4 Development of the Weblog

2.5 Weblogs as a New Form of Journalism

3. Literacy, Orality and the Media

3.1 Writing

3.2 Speech

3.3 Written Language versus Spoken Language: a Brief Overview

3.4 Approaches of Spoken and Written Language as a Continuum

3.4.1 Douglas Biber (1988)

3.4.2 Wallace Chafe (1982)

3.4.3 Peter Koch and Wulf Oesterreicher (1985, 1994)

3.5 Medium-Related Orality in Writing: Electronic Discourse

3.6 Content-Related Orality in Writing: News Discourse

3.7 The Linguistic Framework According to Fowler

3.7.1 Typography and Orthography

3.7.2 Register

3.7.3 Syntax and Morphology

3.7.4 Deixis

3.7.5 Modality

3.7.6 Speech Acts

4. The Corpus

4.1 The Corpus Set-up

4.2 Content and Structure of Newsblog

4.3 The Corpus

5. Methodology

6. The Language of the Guardian Newsblog

6.1. Typography and Orthography

6.1.1 Typography as a Graphic Marker of Stress, Tone and Pace

6.1.2 Deviated Orthography as a Graphic Marker of Pronunciation

6.1.3 Typography as a Graphic Marker of Contrastive Stress

6.1.4 Diverse Graphic Marker of Intonation and Paralanguage

6.1.5 Information Structure

6.2 Register and Lexical Structure

6.2.1 Mean Word Length

6.2.2 Lexical Classes: Oral Language and Speaker Involvement

6.2.2.1 Spontaneous Word Formations

6.2.2.2 Colloquial, Idiomatic and Expressive Terms

6.2.2.3 Existential `there' + `be'

6.2.2.4 Cooperation and the Speaker's own Mental Process

6.2.2.4.a Monitoring of Speaker's own Mental Process

6.2.2.4.b Monitoring of Information Flow

6.2.2.4.c

Downtoners

6.2.2.4.d Hedges

6.2.2.4.e

Amplifiers

6.2.2.4.f Emphatic Particles

6.2.2.4.g Appealers and Uptakers

6.2.3 Naming and Address

6.3 Modality

6.3.1 Epistemic Modality

6.3.2 Deontic Modality

6.3.2.1 Ability

6.3.2.2 Obligation

6.3.2.3 Permission

6.3.3 Summary

6.4 Morphology

6.4.1 Contractions of Verb Forms

6.4.2 Contractions of the Negative `not'

6.4.3 Morphological versus Syntactic Negation

6.5 Syntax

6.5.1 Types of Sentence Structure

6.5.2 Mean Sentence Length

6.5.3 Sentence Connection

6.5.3.1

Coordination

6.5.3.1.a Initial `and' or `but' as a Special Case of Coordination 51

6.5.3.2

Subordination

6.6 Deixis

6.6.1 Indicators of Person

6.6.2 Indicators of Time

6.6.3 Indicators of Place

6.7. Voice

6.8 Speech Acts

6.8.1

Directives

6.8.1.1 Ordering - Imperatives

6.8.1.2 Questioning Interrogatives

6.8.1.3

Suggesting

6.8.1.4

Warning

6.8.2

Expressives

6.8.2.1

Thanking

6.8.2.2 Other Expressions of the Writer's Feelings and Attitude

6.8.3 Discussion of Speech Acts

6.9 Direct and Reported Speech

6.9.1 Direct Speech

6.9.2 Reported Speech

7. Discussion and Conclusion

8. Bibliography 69

9. Appendix

Guardian Newsblog

U: Guardian Unlimited

xxiv

G: Guardian

xliii

Tables

Table 1: Written Language versus Spoken Language: a Brief Overview

Table 2: Features of spoken and written language

Table 3: Language Conception versus Language Realization

Table 4: Corpus Including Direct Speech

Table 5: Corpus Excluding Direct Speech

Table 6: Mean Word Length

Table 7: Spontaneous Word Formations

Table 8: Existential There + Be

Table 9: Monitoring of Speaker's own Mental Process

Table 10: Monitoring of Information Flow

Table 11: Downtoners

Table 12: Hedges

Table 13: Emphatic Particles

Table 14: Naming

Table 15: Epistemic Modality I

Table 16: Epistemic Modality II

Table 17: Deontic Modality Ability

Table 18: Deontic Modality Obligation

Table 19: Deontic Modality Permission

Table 20: Modality

Table 21: Contracted Verb Forms

Table 22: Contraction of Not

Table 23: Negation

Table 24: Distribution of Negation

Table 25: Types of Sentence Structures

Table 26: Sentence Length

Table 27: Coordination

Table 28: Initial And or But

Table 29: Nominal Subordinating Conjuncts

Table 30: Adjectival Subordinating Conjuncts

Table 31: Adverbial Subordinating Conjuncts

Table 32: Total Subordinating Conjuncts

Table 33: Person Deixis

Table 34: Time Deixis I

Table 35: Time Deixis II

Table 36: Place Deixis

Table 37: Passive Forms

Table 38: Speech Acts

Table 39: Direct Speech Ratio

Table 40: Reported Speech Ratio

Diagrams

Diagram 1: Aspects of Biber's Multidimensional Model

Diagram 2: Word Length

1. I

NTRODUCTION

Until now, only 38% of all adult US internet users and 37% of the Germans know what

a weblog or short blog is

. But nevertheless, weblogs have already attracted great

attention from around the globe during the past nine years since their first appearance.

In September 2004, Time asked "Is this a media revolution?" (Sullivan 2004: 47).

Initially, bloggers pointed their readers to interesting sites they found on their travels in

the World Wide Web. Later, this filter function was used primarily to comment and

criticize media coverage of news. Thus, bloggers were claimed to be the "antithesis of

traditional journalists: unedited, unabashedly opinionated, sporadic and personal"

(Palser 2002). This personal aspect was extended even further: After the development of

easy-to-use publishing tools, it was suddenly possible to create a weblog without having

any experience in programming. With this, the rise of the personal diary type weblog

was heralded.

Academic interest has accompanied the development of weblogs from the beginning.

However, at the initial stage, scholars regarded the phenomenon with mistrust, as it has

often happened with new forms of technology at other points in history. In "Blog This",

the first article on weblogs by an academic, noted MIT media scholar Henry Jenkins

asserts:

Like cockroaches after nuclear war, online diarists rule an Internet strewn with

failed dot coms. (...) Bloggers are turning the hunting and gathering, sampling

and critiquing the rest of us do online into an extreme sport. We surf the Web;

these guys snowboard it. Bloggers are the minutemen of the digital revolution

(Jenkins cited in Mortensen and Walker 2002: 263).

Later, Jenkins withdrew this statement and apologized for his declaration he did so

openly, using as platform a weblog that he had established just for this cause. Since

then, weblogs have entered the various fields of computer science, sociology,

communication science, and so on. The University of California in Berkeley has

adopted weblogging as part of their syllabus (cf. Wegner 2002: 76), Harvard has

(cf. Berlecon Research 2004 and Pew Internet & American Life Project 2005)

established the initiative Weblogs at Harvard Law hosted by the Berkman Center for the

Internet and Society, and has engaged Dave Winer, the "father of all weblogs", as one

of its lecturers (cf. Festa 2003).

Controversial issues include the influence which weblogs will have on society: Given

that anybody can voice his or her opinion publicly; do they foster democracy and

equality? How do communities develop as forms of networks? Are bloggers to be

regarded as journalists? In course of the presidential elections in 2004, bloggers were

first empowered to participate in the Democratic Convention, a right that before had

exclusively been reserved to journalists. On the other hand, there have been cases like

Joe Gordon's: After he was fired for criticizing his employer Waterstone on his blog, he

claimed that his weblog could not be compared to a traditional newspaper or magazine,

and therefore he should not be treated as if he had taken his revelations to the media (cf.

Tench 2005).

In my study, I am not concerned with how journalistic tasks and roles are assumed by a

wider public. Instead, I will take a different stand and investigate in how far the news

language of weblogs differs from the news language in traditional print or online

newspapers.

The study will be set up according to the following sequence:

Firstly, I will present a general approach to weblogs, describing their structure,

development and implementation. Secondly, I will outline differences between the

spoken and written mode and will introduce several models depicting the continuum

relationship between both. After explaining the significance and function of orality in

written electronic and news discourse, I will introduce the concept of oral models in the

press. In a last step, I will conduct a sample analysis of several articles from one

journalistic weblog, one online and one traditional newspaper, applying a linguistic

framework based on the theoretical works presented before. With this examination, I

intend to show that the language used in journalistic weblogs contains more

characteristics from the variety of spoken language than the languages of online and

traditional print newspapers. From the results, I will derive potential effects, e.g. on the

practical fields of application or on the composition of the readership.

For my analysis, I choose a corpus set up of three parts: all of them are produced by the

traditional Guardian Newspapers Limited: the first one is taken from their journalistic

weblog Newsblog, the second one is taken from the online paper Guardian Unlimited,

and the third one from the conventional Guardian in its digitalized version. The latter

two serve as objects of comparison. All articles treat the tsunami in the Indian Ocean

which occurred on 26th of December 2004. I choose these pieces of writing because I

want to pay tribute to a decision made by the German newspaper Frankfurter

Allgemeine Zeitung, which nominated blogs to be the `best sources' on the tsunami

subject because "they offered a public antipole to the reports that are oftentimes sugar-

coated by the state-run media in these regions" (Bonstein and Schulz 2005, cf. Cords

2005). During and in the aftermath of this catastrophe, weblogs have proven to function

as very important and effective information channels. With almost no time delay,

amateur writers in the concerned regions were able to notify news agencies and anxious

people from around the globe about the ongoing situation. The month of December

2004 certainly marks an important milestone in weblog history.

2. D

EFINING

EBLOGS

2.1 T

ERM

EBLOG

The term "weblog" is used synonymously to the expressions Web log and blog. John

Barger, who is author of Robot Wisdom, one of the pioneer blogs, coined the term

"weblog" in December 1997 to describe the kind of sites he maintained. The

abbreviation "blog" then derived over time from a phonetic variation created in early

1999 by Peter Merholz, who announced on his site that he would pronounce "weblog"

as "wee-blog" (cf. Blood 2000 and Blood 2002: 3).

2.2 S

TRUCTURE OF

EBLOGS

McIntosh and Perrone state that "the definition of a weblog is, perhaps surprisingly, a

controversial subject" (McIntosh and Perrone 2003). Blood adds "weblogs are hard to

describe but easy to identify" (Blood 2002: 1).

As Blood's definition seems to be the most substantial one, I will consequently refer to

her classification in my study: A weblog is ...

a webpage with new entries placed at the top, updated frequently sometimes

several times a day. Often at the side of the page is a list of links pointing to

similar sites. Some sites consist only of a weblog. Others include the weblog as

part of a larger site (Blood 2002: 1).

Furthermore, weblogs may or may not have the following features: links, comments, a

calendar, news, and so on. They may be written by a single author authors of blogs are

known as bloggers - or multiple authors; their authors may be amateurs or

professionals. But what is it that distinguishes a weblog from traditional forms of

publishing? According to Blood, it is the hyperlink (written in hypertext), as the

fundamental attribute of the Web, that is used at its best in weblogs (cf. Blood 2002:

18). Hypertext is best explained as non-sequential writing, which reflects what is written

about; it is a branching text, which allows the reader to make choices (cf. Cicconi 1999:

23).

The weblog audience is no longer forced to rely on the writer's synopsis of the

source material or on their past reading; the hyperlink allows the weblog

audience to read and evaluate for themselves the meaning of the source material

cited (Blood 2002: 17).

With this, weblogs employ the reverse principle from web pages: Whereas the latter aim

at persuading the visitor to stay there, the former attract visitors exactly because they

habitually point readers away (cf. Blood 2002: 10).

2.3 T

YPES OF

EBLOGS

Types of weblogs can be classified according to form or content. Miller and Shepard

state that content is the most frequent basis of distinction (cf. Miller and Shepherd

2004). The Weblog Review distinguishes eighteen categories based on content, e.g.

adult, music, Spanish/Portuguese (cf. The Weblog Review 2005). Wikipedia classifies

according to content (personal, legal, directory, and etcetera) and form (audio,

photography, and video) (cf. Wikipedia 2005). Rebecca Blood differentiates three major

types based on form and content: blogs, notebooks, and filters.

However, she admits that ,,most weblogs do not strictly follow the roles I've outlined",

(Blood 2002: 8).

Blogs are similar to short-form journals, and their subject is the writer's daily life. If

they include links, they usually refer to friends' sites or maybe to the definition of a

word. When the reader is pointed to a news or magazine article, the text accompanying

the link is normally held in a spontaneous style. The blogger's intent seems to be

communication rather than self-enlightenment. While in 2000 this variety was still

unknown, easy-to-handle software allowed for people with no programming

background to set up their personal blogs. As a consequence, today this type of weblog

is the most frequent one (cf. Blood 2002: 6).

Notebooks can be distinguished from blogs by their longer and more elaborated entries

of focused content. They are, however, shorter than an essay. What blogs and notebooks

have in common is that they tend to focus on the web blogger's inner world or their

reactions to the outside world. The event itself is not of primary interest but the record

of ideas (cf. Blood 2002: 6f.).

Filters are constructed around the link. Whether their editors may write at length or not

at all, filter editors want to show you around in the Web. In this form, personal

information is strictly optional. While the form of a filter may resemble the one of a

blog or notebook, they "reveal the blogger's personality from the outside in" (Blood

2002: 7ff.). This means the reader can draw from the links posted to the editor's

attitude. The content may be focused on only one or on several subjects (cf. ibid: 7ff.).

A filter can be the work of an individual or a group (collaborative weblog). Community

weblogs sometimes allow all members to post, sometimes this right is only granted to

the site owner whereas the members can comment freely.

In "Weblogs: A History and Perspective", Blood indicates the necessity of a more

differentiating name: "I really wish there was another term to describe the filter-style

weblog, one that would easily distinguish it from the blog" (Blood 2000). Her statement

underlines once more that an all-inclusive academic definition and a differentiation of

weblogs have not yet been formulated.

If we try to distinguish blogs and notebooks from conventional journals, we must say

that there is no clear line (cf. Blood 2002: 7 and cf. Barger 1999). Blood suggests that

journals, on the one hand, usually contain "one longer entry per day, one per page" and

that the writers' purpose is to keep a record of events, or to explore their inner world.

Notebooks and blogs, on the other hand, are often set up in a non-chronological order

with an emphasis on the writer's entire catalogue of experiences rather than on his

journey day-to-day (cf. Blood 2002: 7).

2.4 D

EVELOPMENT OF THE

EBLOG

The development of weblogs has been subject of several discussions. As the definition

is not perfectly clear, there are different voices accrediting the prototype weblog to one

blogger or another. Some ascribe it to the American programmer Jorn Barger (cf.

Hudson 2001), others to Dave Winer (cf. Lascia 2001b), to Justin Hall's "Links from

the Underground" (cf. Ratliff: 2002) or to Jesse James Barrett (cf. Blood 2000). I want

to rely on Dave Winer's findings on the matter as he has not only been a member of the

weblog community for long enough to be a trustworthy witness, but also is he the only

one who supports his historical outline with hyperlinks to the source material. Besides,

in relying on Winer as a trustworthy expert, I take into account his position at the

Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, which is part of Harvard Law School,

where he heads up the project Weblogs at Harvard Law. Winer states that "the first

weblog was the first website, http://info.cern.ch, the site built by Tim Berners-Lee"

(Winer 2002). From this site, called What's new, Berners-Lee indicated all new sites as

they came online (cf. Berners-Lee 1992). Later, NCSA took over the site (cf. NCSA

1993), before Netscape was its editor from1993 to 1996 (cf. Netscape 1993), which

again resulted in minor changes (cf. Winer 2002). However, the first "proper" weblog

was created in February 1996 by Winer himself (cf. Winer 2002 and cf. Winer in Festa

2003), and it was part of the 24 Hours of Democracy website (cf. Winer 1996). In April

1996, Winer started a news page for users of Frontier; this page became Scripting News

(cf. Winer 1997) in April 1997. Other early weblogs include Robot Wisdom (cf. Barger

1997), Tomalak's Realm (cf. Lee 1998) and Camworld (cf. Garrett 1999) (cf. Winer

2002). Camworld's editor Jesse James Garrett began by creating a list of "other sites

like his", which he found travelling around the web (cf. Blood: 2000). In November

1998, he forwarded this list to Cameron Barrett, who published the register on

Camworld. Other persons holding analogous sites started transmitting their URLs to

Cameron for inclusion in the list. On Garrett's "page of only weblogs" we can now find

the 23 weblogs that were known to be in existence at the beginning of 1999 (cf. Blood

2000). A first directory, Eatonweb Portal, was set up by Brigitte Eaton in early 1999

(cf. Eaton 1999). However, for the first time, it became evident how difficult it was to

find a suitable definition. As the simple criterion for the distinction of a weblogs applied

by Eaton was "that the site consists of dated entries", it was not completely clear which

sites were included and which were excluded (cf. Blood 2000).

Up to this point, blogging had been reserved to internet users who were familiar with

programming, especially with HTML. In July 1999, Pitas was launched, which was the

first free tool that allowed building weblogs even without any programming

background. In August 1999, other programs followed: Blogger was introduced by

Pyra, and later Groksoup. With this new technology, the blogosphere - as the world of

weblogs or the community of bloggers is called (cf. McIntosh and Perrone: 2003)

expanded considerably, or as Rebecca Blood put it "the bandwagon-jumping turned into

an explosion" (Blood 2000). "Weblogs, which in July 1999 had numbered in the

dozens, were in the thousands only six months later" (Blood 2002: 150).

According to a press release published by Berlecon Research in September 2004, the

number of weblogs in Germany had been growing by 15 % per month during the year

before, and reached about 60,000 to 75,000 by the time of the press release.

Nevertheless, far more than half of the German internet users (63%) still did not know

what the term "weblog" referred to (cf. Berlecon Research 2004). A second study from

2005 reveals that the situation was slightly advanced in the United States: Although the

number of people not familiar with the term "weblog" was also around 68 %, about 8

million people (that is 7 % of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet) say they

have created a blog or web-based diary; and 32 million, i.e. 27 % of internet users say

they read blogs (cf. Pew Internet & American Life Project 2005). What all of these

numbers convey: The weblog community is still relatively small, however, the ones

involved are very active members.

Despite the fact that the numbers are still small, we may not forget that weblogs have

faced an enormously fast growth of popularity, a matter which is ascribed to several

events: September 11 2001, the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the presidential elections

2004, and especially the tsunami of December 26 2004.

Bloggers were very vocal about their opinions and reactions to September 11th

and the aftermath. On the day of the attacks, there were 22% more posts to

Blogger users' weblogs than on an average day (Mortensen and Walker 2002:

258f.).

2.5 W

EBLOGS AS A

ORM OF

OURNALISM

Already in the present, but even more so in the future, the two genres of personal-voiced

blogs and professional newspaper blogs are pointing towards the same direction: While

newspapers use weblogs to open up towards a more conversational and subjective style,

personal blogs employ them to publish commentaries, an activity which until now has

only been ascribed to newspapers. Although this present study is not going to enlarge on

the subject of personal blogs' credibility, I will shortly outline some of the arguments

because the area of conflict can be regarded as the opposite of the medal to what I

analyze in the present study.

As already mentioned, it is discussed very strongly whether or not weblogs can be

viewed as a novel form of journalism, and whether they will replace the traditional

forms. According to Blood, "weblogs are not, as some people say, a new kind of

journalism. Rather, they supplement traditional journalism by evaluating, augmenting

and above all filtering the information churned out by journalists and the rest of the

media machine every day." (Blood 2002: 23). Her assertion is that mass media tries to

appeal to a wide audience, whereas weblogs are outstanding at creating targeted

serendipity for their individual constituencies (cf. Blood 2002: 23).

According to Johnson et al., critics of weblog credibility often suggest the same

arguments made against the internet in its earliest years:

Anyone can blog, bloggers are not bound by ethical and professional standards

of trained journalists, (...) bloggers are not bound to standards of objectivity;

most have strong views that they express openly. (...) Weblogs do not undergo

gate keeping or editing to cull information, sharpen prose, and ensure what is

written is fair (Johnson and Kaye 2004: 624).

However, as a counterbalance blogs rely on "peer review of other bloggers to point out

mistakes that can be easily and prominently corrected" as Johnson claims (Johnson and

Kaye 2004: 624). This statement is supported by Sullivan, who underlines that the

weblog credibility lies in the principle of the open market: "...if you make a mistake,

someone will soon let you know. (...) Blogs that ignore critics will lose credibility and

readers" (Sullivan 2004). A famous example of the trustworthiness of blogs is given by

Andrew Sullivan in Time, where he refers to InstaPundit.com blogger Glenn Reynolds,

a law professor and "amateur" writer who has "earned the trust of his readers simply by

his track record just as the New York Times did a century ago." (Sullivan 2004). Also,

Johnson states that bloggers are more independent because they are not controlled by

corporate interests. He acknowledges that "blogs also run stories from around the world

that were unavailable or ignored by traditional media" (Johnson and Kaye 2004: 624).

Seipp as well points out that blogs have brought serendipity to online publishing (cf.

Seipp 2002).

In 2002, Martin Nisenholtz CEO of New York Times Digital, accepted a legendary bet

by blogger Dave Winer who claimed that "in a Google search of five keywords or

phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the

New York Times' Web site" (Longbets 2002). However, when we recall the statistical

data provided by Berlecon Research and Pew Internet & American Life Project, we

must assume that the position held by Rebecca Blood is more likely to be proven

correct, at least for the coming years: only a small number of people will follow

weblogs actively, whereas the great masses will probably rely on traditional media.

Regardless of whether or not blogs will become more popular than conservative media,

it is important to note that the two poles "traditional media" and "weblogs" (or j-logs as

journalistic blogs are also called) can rely on and nurture each other: Blogs find their

subjects and objects in news, journalists on the other hand can attain useful links and

information from weblogs (cf. Lascia 2001a; cf. Seipp 2002).

3. L

ITERACY

, O

RALITY AND THE

EDIA

It was with the development of electronic media discourse and internet language (the

latter is also called "Netspeak", cf. Crystal 2001: 17), that the discussion about an

applicable distinction between the two modes, writing and speech, has commenced

again. The traditional notion is that these two modes diverge in a variety of areas: they

are different on a functional level, a lexical, a syntactic and a grammatical level.

However, many researchers state that modern language varieties connected to the new

media seem to combine features of both, speech and writing (cf. Esser 2002: 83). For

example, John December (1994) showed that the messages written on the global

electronic bulletin board Usenet showed to have a distinctly `oral' quality to it, while

still being typewritten text. Other studies have examined the language of e-mails (cf.

Maynor 1994; cf. Collot and Belmore 1996; cf. Ziegler 2002; cf. Baron 2003), of chat

(cf. Werry 1996), or of the Internet as a whole (cf. Rehm 2002; cf. Jucker 2004).

In this chapter, I will first regard each of the two modes separately, pointing out their

single qualities. In a second step, I will consider the fact that we can only regard

language as a hybrid of modal features if we apply the conception of "written language"

and "spoken language" as the two opposite poles on a continuum. On this note, I want

to present three different linguistic approaches, developed by Douglas Biber (1988),

Wallace L. Chafe (1982) as well as Peter Koch and Wulf Oesterreicher (1985 and

1994). In a third step, I will elaborate the relevance of orality for written media and

news language. Thus, I will outline a division into historic periods of orality according

to Ong and December, and will also present a practical framework by Fowler (1991).

The theoretical models by Biber, Chafe and Koch/Oesterreicher, as well as the practical

agenda by Roger Fowler will provide the framework for my analysis.

3.1 W

RITING

Writing is associated with being distant, formal, planned, elaborated, explicit,

permanent, and linear (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 2ff and cf. Goody 1987: 263). Written

communication is always one-way, allowing for no immediate response: "[...] written

language is one-sided and non-negotiable in the sense that its composition is a first

person responsibility, and the second person has no say in the matter" (Seidlhofer and

Widdowson 1999: 208). Generally, complex or very important information is conveyed

as written discourse is naturally preserving (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 82). Nerius highlights

that writing is used in the areas of law, administration, science and art because it allows

a maximum of elaboration. The characteristics of permanency and planning make

writing repeatedly revisable and therefore more exact and complete (cf. Nerius 1987:

834). The writer is forced to reflect on his product, which allows us to assume that

grammar is used more accurately, and that the lexicon used is more elaborated and

varied. While particles and redundancies are hardly present (cf. Müller 1990: 252),

abstract terms and hard words are used on a regular basis. Expression of French, Latin

and Greek origin are preferred over Germanic terms (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 7ff, cf. Holly

1992: 146). The average word length tends to be longer, and more attributive adjectives

are employed (cf. Goody 1987: 263). However, deictic expressions are avoided, i.e.

devices which link a text with the place and time of communication and with the

participants. The reason for this is that the absence of face-to-face contact and feedback

could result in misunderstandings (cf. Crystal 2001: 27). Thus, compared to speech,

writing employs for example fewer personal pronouns (`I', `you', `we'), fewer locatives

(`here', `there') and a smaller amount of demonstratives (`this', `that'). Instead, more

definite articles are used (cf. Goody 1987: 264).

Furthermore, the syntax is more complex, providing longer sentence structures

connected by a great variety of conjunctions. Hypo taxis, i.e. subordinate constructions,

are preferred to paratactic clause structures, i.e. coordinate constructions (cf. Holly

1992: 346). Resultantly, it is easier to develop cohesion within a written discourse than

within a spoken one. Declaratives are used more often than exclamations, imperatives or

interrogatives (cf. Goody 1987: 264). Besides the frequent employment of the passive

voice, gerunds and participles, we also find formulaic expression and conventionalized

phrases, i.e. in legal matters, in letters, in technical writing (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 7ff.).

Since writing is graphically rich, units of discourse are identified by punctuation and

layout. We find that written English is far more concerned by codification than spoken

English; both, its syntax and lexis obey norms more strictly. Hence, we can note that

standards are more easily maintained in written than in spoken language (cf. Sgall 1994:

137).

Evidently, particular sub-skills have to be learned before one is able to write properly:

spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and the use of cohesive devises,

formulaic expressions as well as the necessary meta-language that explains the

grammatical set-up of a language. Another field to be acquired is the comprehension of

format, style and structure (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 7ff.). These competencies represent an

insurmountable hurdle for a great number of people: Out of the 4 billion people on

Earth, 800 million are illiterate (cf. Nerius 1987: 835). Because of these preliminary sub

skills, and for the reason that writing tends to employ a more formal language, we can

affirm that the degree of education is more crucial in writing than in speaking. When

examining newspaper language, we should at all times have the potential readership in

mind: From the commercial point of view, a newspaper will always attempt to write in a

style which corresponds to the linguistic competencies of its target group.

3.2 S

PEECH

Speech is a combination of several features: sound, intonation, rhythm, pitch and pace.

It takes place in real time, it is spontaneous, face-to-face, it has a transactional purpose;

it is interactive and offers a rich resource for transmitting a personal message like

expressing emotions and giving emphasis to a statement. It is usually unrehearsed and

unplanned, which influences the use of grammar: As the speaker is not able to think

long before talking, utterances produced may be of short stretch, they might be

interrupted by hesitations, false starts, or pauses; or they may even be incomplete (cf.

Cornbleet 2001: 61ff.).

Also, lexis is highly influenced by the speech-specific conditions: Spoken English has a

lower lexical density than written English, and it also shows signs of informality such as

colloquial terms or spontaneous word formations (also called ad hoc or nonce

formations). As they are more general and simple, words of Anglo-Saxon origin are

more frequent than words of French, Latin or Greek origin. Repetitions occur on a

regular basis. Oral discourses tend to be verb-based rather than noun-based. Delexical

verbs like `to do the shopping' or `to go for a walk' appear typically in spoken

language. The same accounts for vague language: `for about ten people', `by the

window or something' (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 63, cf. Chafe 1982: 48). A common

characteristic of spoken discourse is deixis, namely, a reference to something beyond

the language of the text (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 61ff.). As a part of this, personal pronouns

and time adverbials are used frequently, and also demonstrative modifiers are preferred

over definite articles (cf. Goody 1987: 264). Other distinctive phenomena are time-

saving acts like contracted forms (`didn't', `you've') and elliptical sentences. As far as

syntax is concerned, sentences tend to be shorter and less complex; a simple word order

is common (cf. Holly 1992: 346). Segments are connected to each other by means of

coordination, rather than subordination. Typical linking devices are `and', `but', `or'.

Nominal constructions like noun groups, noun phrases, nominalizations and relative

clauses are far less numerous in speech than in writing (cf. Goody 1987: 264).

Oral discourse has an important social function: For example, speech can take the form

of so-called phatic talk, commonly known as small talk (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 63). Oral

language tends to be more subjective than writing which has to do with the proximity

and the personal contact of the participants. On this account, Chafe found that emphatic

particles are more frequent in speech than in writing (cf. Chafe 1982: 48).

Silence is another central tool in speech (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 2). But there are also

so-called adjacency sequences that require speaking to avoid impolite behavior. These

utterances can be regarded as a request to a reply; some examples are `Good Morning!'

(The corresponding adjacency sequence is `Good Morning'), `How are you?' (The

equivalent adjacency sequence is `How are you?' or `Good, thank you!'). When to

speak and when to stay silent is an ability which has to be learned: turn-taking can

easily become a question of dominance in a conversation, even more in a discussion.

Spoken conversation is "jointly constructed by first and second person participants"

(Seidlhofer and Widdowson 1999: 208). In speech between two people, we talk of

dialogs, and most of the time, the participants naturally know when they can take the

turn gestures, mimics, pauses and intonation help to identify units as being at an end

(cf. Cornbleet 2001: 27f.). If we do not restrict ourselves to the general code of turn-

taking and silence-keeping, not only do overlaps occur (a characteristic typical of

speech), but we also risk face-threatening acts. Silence and turn taking are just two

examples of paralinguistic features which play a great role in spoken language.

Obviously, this does not account for recorded or virtually spoken language like voice

mail, answering machines, telephone conferences, etc. Further specifics of speech are

back-channels (`uh mhm', `ok', `yeah'), tag questions (`don't you?', `have you?'), both

of which serve social reasons, and discourse markers (`like', `you know', `well'), which

are used as "fillers" (cf. Cornbleet 2001: 64f.). Moreover, in the spoken variety of

language, accents and dialects may influence the comprehension and acceptance of a

message by the receiver.

3.3 W

RITTEN

ANGUAGE VERSUS

POKEN

ANGUAGE

RIEF

VERVIEW

Written Language

Spoken Language

Distant Face-to-face

One-way Interactive

Space-bound, static, permanent

Time-bound, dynamic, transient

Always a time lag

No time lag

Careful organization, compact expressions,

intricate sentence structure due to the

possibility of repeated reading and close

analysis

Lose construction, repetition, rephrasing,

comment clauses (`you know', `you see')

due to pressure to think while talking

Punctuation and layout identify units of

discourse

Intonation and pauses divide utterances,

sentence boundaries still often unclear

No visual contact, no feedback leads to

avoiding of deictic expressions

Extra-linguistic cues allow for vague

lexicon, deictic expressions (`that one', `in

here')

Formal, multiple instances of subordination

in the same sentence, long sentences,

elaborately balanced syntactic patterns,

elaborated style: words of French, Latin,

Greek origin

Informal, lengthy co-ordinate sentences,

contracted forms (`isn't', `he's'), nonsense

vocabulary, obscenity, slang used,

simple style: words of Anglo Saxon origin,

many monosyllabic words

Conveying of important information,

recording facts, communicating ideas, for

memory and learning purposes.

Personal, social or phatic function,

expressing social relationships, personal

opinions or attitudes due to vast range of

nuances (including prosody and non-verbal

features)

Interruptions or corrections which occur

during the writing process are not visible in

There is an opportunity to rethink an

utterance while the other person is listening,

the final product, errors can be eliminated in

a later draft

but errors, once spoken, cannot be

withdrawn. Interruptions and overlaps are

normal

Unique features: pages, lines, capitalization,

spatial organization, punctuation,

handwriting (graphically rich)

Unique features: intonation, loudness,

tempo, rhythm, pause, tones of voice

(prosodically rich)

Table 1: Written Language versus Spoken Language: a Brief Overview (cf. Crystal 2001: 27ff.)

3.4 A

PPROACHES OF

POKEN AND

RITTEN

ANGUAGE AS A

ONTINUUM

The two modes presented above, spoken and written language, hardly ever occur in

their pure or prototype form (cf. Siebertz 1999: 65), and, as we will see, they do not rely

on a particular form. We know highly informal written texts like personal notes, and

also very formal spoken texts like political speeches. We know mixed mode utterances

like subtitled film, and we are familiar with texts that have been set up in one mode but

presented in another, for example, in a drama script performed as speech in a theatre.

Only because the distinction between the two modes is not exclusive, it is possible for

one mode to adopt a model of the other one. Fowler formulates that "notwithstanding

the absoluteness, in some senses, of the distinction between print and speech, the actual

substantive difference in linguistic structure (syntax, vocabulary, etc.) are only relative,

a matter of tendency" (Fowler 1991: 59).

3.4.1 D

OUGLAS

IBER

(1988)

Biber's original intention was to establish a linguistic basis for the differentiation

between spoken and written language production. On this account, he applied a corpus-

based, multivariate statistical procedure to identify six "dimensions", developed on the

basis of 67 linguistic features (cf. Biber 1988: 61-97). The first pole always denotes a

more oral style, and the second one, if present, a more literal style:

Dimension 1: Involved versus Informational Production (Integration)

While the first pole is marked by affective, interactional and generalized content, the

second one is characterized by high informational density and exact informational

content. Besides the question of involvement versus information, also the production

circumstances plays a role: Is the situation governed by real-time constraints (which

would result in the choice of a simple lexicon and in a rather fragmented presentation of

information), or is the writer able to edit carefully (and would consequently make more

precise choices of lexicon and would structure the text more thoroughly) (cf. Biber

1988: 108)?

Dimension 2: Narrative versus Non-Narrative Concerns

On this second dimension, active, event-oriented types of discourse oppose more static,

descriptive or expository types of discourse (cf. Biber 1988: 109).

Dimension 3: Situation-Dependent Reference versus Explicit

This dimension corresponds to the difference between endophoric and exophoric

reference, while the latter one is related to spoken, unplanned or markedly informal

language (cf. Biber 1988: 110).

Dimension 4: Overt Expression of Persuasion

This dimension denotes whether or not there is an overt expression of the addresser's

point of view, or if his assessment of the advisability or likelihood of an event presented

to persuade the addressee (cf. Biber 1988: 111).

Dimension 5: Non-Abstract Information versus Abstract Information

Here, concrete and informal language is opposed to abstract, technical and formal

language.

Dimension 6: On-Line Informational Elaboration

This dimension distinguishes the type of discourse which is "informational but

produced under real-time conditions from other types of discourse" (Biber 1988: 114).

In the following, I will give some examples of features characterizing single

dimensions:

Dimension 1:

Possibility modals

Person pronoun

Contractions

versus

Attributive adjectives

Prepositions

Nouns

Dimension 3:

Other Adverbials

Place Adverbials Time

versus

Wh-relative clauses in object

position

Nominalization Adverbials

Wh-relative clauses in subject position

Dimension 5:

Absence of these features

versus

Agentless passives

`by'-passives

Conjuncts

Diagram 1: Aspects of Biber's Multidimensional Model (cf. Biber 1988: 129-154; cf. Siebertz 1999: 76)

Biber found that with this instrument, it is also possible to give a reasoned description

of linguistic variation across the different text genres represented in his corpus (e.g.

conversations, academic texts and official discussions). His analysis manifests everyday

conversation as the prototype of spoken language. Across all dimensions, it shows a

strong tendency towards the orality pole. Press texts lie in the middle range with a slight

tendency towards literacy. Radio texts prove to possess a relatively or completely oral

structure (cf. Biber 1988; cf. Siebertz 1999: 74ff.). In a following study, conducted by

Biber and Finegan, the authors note: "It is possible to characterize particular genres as

relatively literate or oral, where "literate" refers to language produced in situations that

are typical for writing, and "oral" refers to language produced in situations typical for

speaking" (Biber and Finegan 1989).

3.4.2 W

ALLACE

L. C

HAFE

(1982)

Chafe has set up a model which assigns written language the attributes of integration

and detachment, as opposed to spoken language which he states to be characterized by

fragmentation and involvement. Integration explains that more information is packed

into one idea unit than the rapid pace of spoken language would normally allow. This is

shown in a larger number of nominalizations, present and past participles, attributive

adjectives and sequences of prepositional phrases. The impression of speech being

"broken up" is ascribed to the fact that idea units are often strung together without

connectives. As already mentioned, conjunctives like `and' or `but' are more frequent in

spoken than in written language. Detachment in writing is revealed in a greater use of

nominalizations, as well as passives structures, and is explained by the displacement in

time and place and by the fact that the writer my not exactly know who his readers will

be (cf. Chafe 1982: 44). The feature of involvement is manifested by the high frequency

of first person pronouns, references to the speaker's own mental process (`I think', `I

recall'), expression of propositional attitudes and monitoring devices like `well', `you

know', `I mean' (cf. Chafe 1982: 48; cf. Holly 1992: 346). Vagueness and hedging

(`something like', `sort of') and direct quotations are also more prevalent in speech than

in writing (cf. Chafe 1982: 48). Chafe explains the phenomenon of involvement with

the different relationship that the speaker (as opposed to the writer) has to his audience:

the speaker is normally in face-to-face contact with his listeners, thus he can monitor the

effect of what he is saying on the listener, just as the listener is able to signal

understanding or to ask for clarification.

Fragmentation

Integration

Coordinating conjunctions

Nominalization

Past/present participles

Attributive adjectives

Conjoint phrases

Series (of noun/verb phrases)

Sequences of prepositional phrases

Complement clauses

Relative clauses

Adverbial conjunctions

Involvement

Detachment

First (and second) person reference

Speakers' mental process (e.g. 'I think')

Monitoring information flow

Emphatic particles (e.g. `really')

Fuzziness, vagueness hedges

Direct quotes

Passives

Nominalizations

Indirect quotations

Table 2: Features of spoken and written language (cf. Chafe 1982)

3.4.3 P

ETER

OCH AND

ULF

ESTERREICHER

(1985, 1994)

Koch and Oesterreicher speak of orally designed language as "language of nearness"

(Sprache der Nähe) in contrast to "language of distance" (Sprache der Distanz), which

is typical for an extremely literate style of communication (cf. Koch and Oesterreicher

1985 and 1994; translation of terms according to Holly 1992: 343). The terms nearness

and distance refer to space and time. The two modalities, speech and writing, are to be

seen as two opposite end poles on a continuum. While spoken discourse as the

"language of nearness" is marked by features of involvement, informality and

subjectivity; written text, as the "language of distance", is characterized by being non-

involved, formal and objective. It is associated with the following facts "`public', `alien

partners', `without emotions', `absolved from situation and activity', `little reference to

origo', `no option of interaction by the recipient', `monologue', `reflectively planned',

`fixed theme' etc." (Koch and Oesterreicher 1994: 588).

Further, Koch and Oesterreicher separate the conception of language (which can be in a

spoken or written style as seen above) from the realization of language which can either

be phonic or graphic according to the medium. This relation is to be seen as a

dichotomy: The code can either be graphic or phonic.

Conception

Spoken

Written

Graphic code

Faut pas le dire

Il ne faut pas le dire

Medium

Phonic code

[fopaldi

] [iln fopal di

]

Table 3: Language Conception versus Language Realization (cf. Koch and Oesterreicher 1985: 17)

When describing the features of conceptually spoken or written language, Koch and

Oesterreicher differentiate between universal characteristics which can be found in all

languages, and historical characteristics which are different for each language. Within

historical characteristics, they distinguish again between a) the tradition of discourse

(Diskurstraditionen; i.e. genres, text types, etc.) in a particular language, and b) its

historical background and development (Einzelsprachen).

Some universal characteristics of the language of nearness:

Textual-pragmatic level:

speaker-hearer signals, turn-taking signals, hesitation

phenomena, bridging signals, correction signs, structure

signs, weakening signs, interjections, present tense as

narration tempus, reported speech given in direct speech,

different standards of text cohesion

Morpho-syntactic level:

supplements, anacoluthon, false starts, weakness of

congruence, holophrastic expressions, aposiopesis,

segmentation, spare use of hypo taxis

Lexical level:

passe-partout words, existential `there' + 'be', lexical

"poverty" and little variation, low type-token ratio,

expressive formations (hyperbole, colloquial terms, etc.),

lexical richness in certain semantic fields, emotional

language

(cf. Koch and Oesterreicher 1985: 27 and 1994: 590f.)

3.5 M

EDIUM

-R

ELATED

RALITY IN

RITING

: E

LECTRONIC

ISCOURSE

In order to characterize different phases of orality, Ong introduced the terms primary

orality and secondary orality. The former describes culture groups that have not been

exposed to, or developed any form of text or scripting system. Thus, all communication

is carried out orally (cf. Ong 1982: 6). For example, ancient Greece underwent a shift

away from being a primary oral culture which has caused a change in language and

thought (cf. December 1993). The latter term, secondary orality, expresses a shift from

the linear, static world of print to the active, participatory world of orality, which has

taken place in the western world with the rise of oral media like radio and television (cf.

Ong 1982: 11). John December elaborates this idea and claims that computer-mediated

communication has introduced a "tertiary form of orality" (December 1993), in which

the text-based discourse exhibits many qualities of an oral culture. "The existence of

this text-based orality may imply that discourse need not be based upon sound in order

to have oral characteristics" (December 1993).

There are several other voices which underline the development of written language

towards the oral mode. Lakoff stated "We are entering a new era when the oral is more

valued than literacy" (Lakoff 1982: 259). Holly emphasizes that the new age of orality,

brought forth by modern electronic media, has been welcomed because of its

consequences for a more comprehensible, hearer-oriented language use (cf. Holly 1992:

340). He states that "literacy very often tended to be exclusively for the few who were

`in the know'", whereas the orality of electronic media is for all (cf. ibid: 354). Holly

continues that a main attribute of this openness is the orientation towards entertainment.

To assure that the listener or reader can follow what is said, electronic media

consequently attempt to be interesting, gripping, amusing (cf. ibid: 354).

Wenz alleges that key functions of our writing culture, i.e. writing or text, are being

restructured by hypermedia (cf. Wenz 1998). The fact that neither the place, nor the

time of communication is being shared in electronic interaction shows its proximity to

written forms of communication. However, the minimal transfer time makes the

participants forget about the spatial and (the potential) temporal gap and therefore leads

to virtual "nearness". Here, the dilemma of electronic discourse becomes fully apparent:

It proves to be a hybrid variety of language, which can neither be assigned to the

category of orality nor to the category of literacy (cf. ibid). Wenz gives another

example, which shows the ambivalent position of e-discourse: On the one hand,

hypertext demands a thorough planning from its authors who have to anticipate the

reader's interests, and therefore indicates that electronic language is closely related to

written language. On the other hand, the reader's interactive options, which allow him

to combine his own reading paths, demonstrate the connection to spoken language (cf.

ibid).

If we want to examine a presupposed altering degree of orality in electronic media

discourse, it is valuable to consider the weblog format: Its technical configuration,

which not only allows for high-speed online publishing and hyperlink references, but

also for a written contribution by the reader, seems to permit a fast, dialogic discourse,

independent of space constraints, which resembles very closely the immediacy, vicinity

and interactivity known from oral discourse.

3.6 C

ONTENT

-R

ELATED

RALITY IN

RITING

: N

EWS

ISCOURSE

We have seen that a particular type of medium can have a great influence on the degree

of orality in written discourse. Now, I will show that it may also be the content (in this

case news reporting) which affects the quantity of oral elements in written texts, i.e. in

particular those elements connected to personal and emotional discourse.

In order to increase readership loyalty, news producers consider two strategies: Firstly,

they intend to give an impression of an apparently closer relationship between the

journalist and the reader. And secondly, they suggest a higher level of interactional and

emotional involvement by the reader at the same time (cf. Fowler 1991: 47). Both

maneuvers can be achieved by the employment of a rather oral language. Fowler argues

that newspapers have to be lively in order to present themselves as a product of

entertainment. On this note, they must conceal their position as an institutional

discourse and instead apply a personal voice which is, though commonly accepted, still

an illusion. The process of converting institutional statements into a style appropriate to

interpersonal communication can be regarded as the narrowing of a gap between

bureaucratic and personal discourse (cf. Fowler 1991: 47). The principal focus of my

study will be exclusive on the stylistic structure of news language (which results in

quantitative proves) and indicate towards a facilitation of discourse, and will not be, as

suggested for further research by Fowler, on the ideological concept of consensus and

common viewpoints (which would translate into a qualitative study based on critical

discourse analysis).

Confirming that spoken language tends to be more personal than written language,

Lakoff states that "truly spontaneous discourse has an immediacy, and emotional

directness, that is truly exhilarating [...]. But print [...] lacks many of the devices oral

present discourse utilized as carriers of emotional tone" (Lakoff 1982: 242). Tannen

shows how oral strategies develop from the weight on interpersonal involvement

between the communicator and the audience, and she confirms: "In the autonomous or

literate-based mode, the content and verbal channel are elaborated, while the oral-based

strategy elaborates paralinguistic channels and emotional or interpersonal dynamics"

(Tannen 1982: 15). The sociologist Nerius also confirms the great emotional power of

oral language (cf. Nerius 1987: 835). By providing a dialogic structure which addresses

the reader directly, oral syntax offers a greater development of a certain subject than

writing. Sandig verifies this to be the reason why it has a greater appealing effect on the

reader (cf. Sandig 1986: 276). Tannen notes that whereas literate tradition is learned and

passed on in the decontextualized setting of the school, oral language is associated with

the family and in-group (cf. Tannen 1982: 3). This concept can be transferred to the

market of news media: In a constant attempt to appeal to the reader on a personal or

peer level, journalistic discourse displays the use of oral features. Again, we have to

note that this modification is possible only because there is no clear line between the

modes of written and spoken language: Thus, the written newspaper language as one

mode adopts a model of the other mode, i.e. oral language (cf. Fowler 1991: 59).

Siebertz, for example, has proven that this statement is valid for tabloid newspapers in

contrast to quality papers (cf. Siebertz 1999: 23).

When considering orality in news discourse, one important fact is that the language

employed is based on reciprocity between writers and readers: Every paper has its own

rhetoric of address when referring to one and the same topic, a so-called mode of

address. This mode of address, i.e. the language employed, is the newspaper's own

version of the particular type of language, which is used by the public it is addressing

(cf. Hall, cited in Fowler 1991: 48). "When we look at language as a social activity,

there are not separate activities of expression and appeal, but a constant alternation of

the roles of Speaker and Hearer: there is no I without a YOU" (Diller 2000: 198).

According to Diller, the interpersonal function of language is mostly visibly in the

mood system (more specific: mainly in the distinction between statements and

questions), and in the grammatical categories of first and second person, tense and

modality, as well as in vocabulary and items expressing evaluation and degrees of

certainty (cf. ibid: 198).

On this note, I want to point out that modes, just like certain registers or dialects

(equivalent to the difference in channels, uses or regions which language is applied in)

are not directly `in the text' but must be read into it. Therefore, we speak of a co-

production of text by the writer and the reader. Fowler refers to the assigning of a mode

to a text as a model because it is a subjective idea in the mind of the language users, i.e.

it requires background knowledge. The process of assignment can be undertaken by the

reader on the basis of only some very small segments within its total language, which

Fowler calls cueing (cf. Fowler 1991: 61). In dialectology, Labov proved this for the

postvocalic /r/ in New York. This feature is a marker of social background which is

unambiguously recognized, even if it is employed only seldom (cf. Wardhaugh 1992:

162-168). Based on these facts, we can state that the news market has the tendency to

posses a relatively fixed structure: Each news producer decides on a mode of address a

coherent style, which includes a certain number of stylistic cues, i.e. oral models.

Regardless of the amount of cues, the news report is only directed to and accepted by

those persons, who have the background knowledge to decode what is written. Thus, a

change in style (or mode of address) would result in a change of audience demography.

Subsuming, I want to underline the importance of orality for news reports.

3.7 T

INGUISTIC

RAMEWORK BY TO

OWLER

As described above, Roger Fowler has examined oral models in the language of news

media. In order to provide a practical framework, he set up the following list of the most

important linguistic features, which contribute to an illusion of conversational style (cf.

Fowler 1991: 65):

3.7.1 Typography and Orthography

Typography

According to Fowler, typological devices include anything which assists in

breaking up the "monologic uniformity, the greyness, of conventional print"

(ibid: 62). On this level, different typefaces on the same page can give the

illusion of variations of stress, tone and pace. Also, dots and dashes are used to

break up sentences (cf. ibid: 62). In my analysis, I will define this aspect as

"Typography as a graphic marker of stress, tone and pace", which will be treated

in chapter 6.1.1.

Phonemes

We can note that deliberate misspellings and simplifications of spellings draw

attention to pronunciation. Fowler underlines that the connotation of orality is

not achieved by phonetic transcription, but rather by disturbance of the spelling

(cf. ibid: 62). This matter will constitute part 6.1.2 of my study and will be called

"Deviated orthography as a graphic marker of pronunciation".

Contrastive stress

Italics or underlining indicate contrastive stress, a device proper to speech (cf.

ibid: 62).

Typography as a graphic marker of contrastive stress", in 6.1.3 will

cover this subject.

Intonation and paralanguage

"Printing tricks may suggest the pitch movement of a voice or other vocal

gestures (paralanguage) such as slurring or hesitancy," (ibid: 62). This aspect

will be represented in chapter 6.1.4, "Diverse graphic marker of intonation and

paralanguage".

Information structure

In writing, information units are bordering with conventional grammatical units

like the clause. In speech, on the other hand, they are broken up in shorter

segments of information. This is achieved by shorter intonation curves which are

more independent of traditional syntax. In newspapers, this impression is

signaled by a fragmented format and typography, as well as by short, incomplete

sentences (cf. ibid: 62).

3.7.2 Register

Lexis or vocabulary

Oral language has a tendency towards the informal and colloquial: the use of

slang words, idioms, clichés, proverbs and catch-words is common (cf. ibid: 63).

Naming and address

The use of first names, or even diminutives and nicknames connotes the

informality and intimacy of face-to-face discourse (cf. ibid: 63).

3.7.3 Syntax and Morphology

As I have explained above, oral language is notably fragmented and simple-structured

in its syntax and morphology.

On a morphological level, we can observe contractions of auxiliaries and

negatives. Fowler assigns to it a major importance for newspaper language (cf.

ibid: 63).

Another very important technique in the press is the employment of "short or

incomplete sentences" (Fowler 1991: 63). Although I will regard syntactic

fragmentation, my emphasis in chapter 6.5, "Syntax", will be on coordinate

versus subordinate structures as proposed by Beaman (1993) and Siebertz

(1999).

3.7.4 Deixis

Deixis can indicate to particular persons, to time (either a period or a point in time) or to

a place. All of these forms are more common in speech than in writing because the

participants usually share the here and now; they can identify one another, etc.

Details

Seiten
Erscheinungsform: Originalausgabe
Jahr: 2005
ISBN (eBook): 9783956360121
ISBN (Paperback): 9783832496180
Dateigröße: 867 KB
Sprache: Englisch
Institution / Hochschule: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen – Sprache, Literatur, Kultur, Anglistik
Erscheinungsdatum: 2006 (Juni)
Note: 1,0
Schlagworte: zeitung blog journalismus public relations unternehmenskommunikation

Autor

Ulrike Michels (Autor:in)

Distributing News Via Weblog - a Linguistic Analysis of the Guardian Newsblog

Zusammenfassung

Leseprobe

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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Autor

Ulrike Michels (Autor:in)