Verbal processes in the Covid-19 news discourses: An analysis of ‘aswaqpress.com’ coverage on Malaysia

December 2019 marked the emergence of a deadly virus known as Covid-19. Since then, we have been battling the virus, which has infected more than 250 million people and killed 4.5 million globally. The pandemic has become the headline of almost every media outlet, local and international news agency. Hence, this article aims to examine the Arabic online news discourse of the event by focusing on the verbal processes strategically utilised in reporting the pandemic in Malaysia. This study's data consists of Modern Standard Arabic online news published by Aswaq (aswaqpress.com) news portal between January and July 2021. Aswaq provides Arabic news and information on Malaysia to the Arab world. Hence, the information provided by the portal is vital in portraying Malaysia to Arab audiences, particularly in framing the way Malaysia deals with the Covid-19. The study employs corpus linguistics analytical tools using corpus software AntConc 3.5.8 (2019). Then, the quantitative result will be analysed using a qualitative approach based on the textual-oriented Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Fairclough (1992). It is shown that Aswaq has strategically utilised various verbal processes to report on the word said and articulated around the pandemic. The diversity of verbal processes usage indicates different connotations that hint at different strategic approaches in reporting the news. Hence, it may lead to uncovering the outlet stance of the event. Finally, the study will present suggestions for other related studies in the future.

Visual and Verbal Processes in Right-Left Confusion: Psychometric and Experimental Approaches

Errors in discriminating right from left, termed right-left confusion, reflect a failure in translating visuospatial perceptions into verbal representation of right or left (i.e., visuo-verbal process). There may also be verbo-visual process, where verbal cues are translated into visual representations of space. To quantify these two processes underlying right-left confusion, Study 1 investigated the factor structure of the Right-Left Confusability Scale, which assesses daily experiences of right-left confusion. Exploratory factor analysis suggested that these two processes and another factor reflecting mental rotation underlie right-left confusion. Study 2 examined correlations between the (sub)scale scores and performance on orientation judgment tasks reflecting visuo-verbal and verbo-visual processes. Overall, self-reported measures were not associated with the behavioral performances presumably reflecting the two processes. These results suggest that the cognitive mechanisms underlying right-left confusion can be classified into visuo-verbal and verbo-visual processes and mental rotation, although their psychometric and behavioral indices might be distinct. Further studies may develop better assessments of right-left confusion reflecting these processes.

The Construction of China’s National Image From Transitivity Perspective—A Case Study of Fighting COVID-19: China in Action

Using the theory of transitivity system within Systemic Functional Linguistics as the theoretical basis and the white paper named Fighting COVID-19: China in Action, which was published by the Chinese government on June 7, 2020 as the corpus, with the help of corpus analysis tool, UAM Corus Tool 3, this paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the construction of China’s national image. The results show that the frequency of material processes is extremely high, which is 88.26%, while existential processes and behavioral processes occupy only an extremely small proportion, 0.73% and 0.09% respectively. Relational processes are in the second rank, 5.34%. The frequencies of verbal processes and mental processes are similar, accounting for 2.97% and 2.6% respectively. Through a detailed analysis of the six transitivity processes, a national image that advocates “people supremacy”, selfless collectivism, with strong executive ability and mobilization, and a great responsibility in the international society is found to be constructed. This paper lays a foundation for further studying China’s national image in the path of SFL. It also sheds some light on the construction of China’s image in the official government document.

Transitivity Analysis of Proverbs in Achebe’s A Man of the People

The language of literary texts is adorned with proverbs, a cultural element which to some extent has become significant in the growth and development of African literature and in the portrayal of meaning assigned by the writer. This paper explores the relationship between linguistic structures and culturally constructed meaning in Chinua Achebe’s novel A Man of the people by critically examining the transitivity of proverbs used in the work. This study is anchored on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. The analysis reveals that Achebe uses more material processes, followed by mental processes and then relational and verbal processes. Furthermore, the types of transitivity process, participants, circumstatials contribute towards the construction of themes reflected in the novel. Based on the results, the paper concludes that Achebe uses a variety of transitivity processes as proposed by M.A.K. Halliday with the exception of existential and behaviour. He uses actors, sensers, carriers, identifiers, to convey message of his novel. Achebe mostly uses circumstances of extent, location, and manner to show that the actions take place in a certain place, time, and at a certain frequency. The paper concludes that Achebe’s use of varieties of processes, participants and circumstances has made his novel interesting and readable.

Transitivity Process In Bon Jovi's Selected Song Lyrics

The focus of this research is to find the usage of the transitivity processes in Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics. This research is descriptive qualitative research. This research aims to discover and examine types of the transitivity processes used in Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics. The source data of this research are the twenty selected song lyrics of Bon Jovi. Meanwhile, the data of this research are the clauses that used transitivity processes in Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics. The data of this research are analyzed by using the interactive model. The result of this research shows that all of the six types of transitivity processes are found in Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics, namely: material processes, mental processes, relational processes, verbal processes, behavioral processes, existential processes. It shows that Bon Jovi, in realizing the song, applied the six types of transitivity processes. From the six types of transitivity processes that are found, the material process is dominantly used in Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics. It indicates that Bon Jovi’s selected song lyrics are related to the physical activity that happens in the social phenomena. It is helpful for the readers to know transitivity processes in understanding the message of the song. Besides it, it also gives advantages for the songwriter in writing song lyrics to provide the varieties of wording in the songs.

Examining Word List and Processes in Law of The Republic of Indonesia Number 6 Year 2011

This research tries to figure out the word list and the types of processes in Law of the Republic of Indonesia No 6 of Year 2011 concerning immigration. The research method applied in this research is descriptive method to describe the word list and the process in each data. Based on the result of the data analysis, firstly, it was found that the word “yang” is the highest frequency gramatically, while “pasal” is the highest frequency lexically. Secondly, it was reported there are four different processes; they are material process, mental process, relational process, and verbal process. Among the processes, the dominant process applied in Law of the Republic of Indonesia No 6 Year 2011 concerning Immigration is the verb “dipidana” as material processes, “menolak” as mental processes, “melarang” as verbal processes, and “adalah” as relational processes. AbstrakTujuan penelitian ini untuk mendeskripsikan kosakata dan jenis-jenis proses dalam Undang-Undang Republik Indonesia Nomor 6 Tahun 2011 tentang Keimigrasian. Metode penelitian yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif untuk mendeskripsikan kosakata dan proses dalam setiap data. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data, pertama ditemukan bahwa kata “yang” secara gramatikal memiliki frekuensi tertinggi, sedangkan secara leksikal kata “pasal” memiliki frekuensi tertinggi. Kedua, ditemukan empat proses yang berbeda, yaitu proses material, proses mental, proses relasional, dan proses verbal. Di antara proses-proses tersebut, proses yang dominan diterapkan dalam UUD RI No 6 Tahun 2011 tentang Keimigrasian adalah verba “dipidana” sebagai proses material, “menolak” sebagai proses mental, “melarang” sebagai proses verbal, dan “adalah” sebagai proses relasional.

’Edessä’ olemisen monet merkitykset

Artikkeli tarkastelee suomen kielen edessä-adposition polysemiaa kognitiivisen semantiikan näkökulmasta. Adpositiolla edessä kielennetään perusmerkityksessään spatiaalisia suhteita (talon edessä on omenapuu), mutta sitä käytetään myös yleisesti ilmaisemaan toisenlaisia, metaforiseen tai metonyymiseen käsitteistykseen perustuvia suhteita, kuten läsnäoloa (he riitelivät lasten edessä), vaikutusta (hän alistui totuuden edessä) tai tulevaa aikaa (hänellä on edessään hyvä elämä). Artikkelin tavoitteena on selvittää, millaisiin merkitystyyppeihin edessä-adposition käyttö voidaan jakaa ja miten erilaiset merkitystyypit eroavat toisistaan. Yleisemmällä tasolla tässä artikkelissa pohditaan sitä, miten ihmisen kokemus kolmiulotteisesta maailmasta ohjaa hänen tapaansa kuvata ei-konkreettisen maailman suhteita. Artikkelin aineistona ovat Suomi24-korpuksesta satunnaisesti poimitut 500 edessä-adposition esiintymää. Edessä-adposition merkitystyyppien määrittäminen ja erottelu perustuvat aineistossa toistuvien piirrekimppujen analyysiin. Tarkasteltuja piirteitä ovat muun muassa edessä-adpositiolla kuvatun tilanteen ensisijaisten osallistujien konkreettisuus ja elollisuus sekä predikaatin kuvaama prosessi. Aineiston analyysin perusteella edessä-adpositiolle määritellään artikkelissa seitsemän erillistä mutta toisiinsa liittyvää merkitystyyppiä, joita ovat ETUPUOLI, ESTE, LÄSNÄOLO, ARVIO, VAIKUTUS, TULEVAISUUS ja KOHDAKKAISUUS. Merkitystyypeistä ETUPUOLI ja ESTE (ja joissain määrin myös LÄSNÄOLO) liittyvät spatiaalisiin suhteisiin, muut merkitystyypit taas kuvaavat abstraktimpia, metaforiseen tai metonyymiseen käsitteistykseen perustuvia suhteita. Edessä-adposition käyttöä abstraktien suhteiden kuvauksessa selitetään artikkelissa ihmisen kehollisten kokemusten vaikutuksella ajatteluun ja kieleen. Artikkeli osoittaa, että etupuoli–takapuoli-oppositio ohjaa abstraktien asioiden, kuten ajan, mielipiteiden ja vaikutusvallan, kielentämistä. The polysemy of the Finnish adposition edessä ‘in front of’ This paper studies the polysemy of the Finnish adposition edessä ‘in front of’ from a cognitive semantic perspective. In its basic sense, the adposition edessä depicts a spatial relationship between two or more objects (talon edessä on puu ‘there’s a tree in front of the house’). However, edessä can also be used to describe abstract relations that rely on metaphorical or metonymical conceptualisation, such as presence (he riitelivät lasten edessä ‘they fought in front of the children’), impact (hän alistui vastustuksen edessä ‘she succumbed in the face of opposition’) or future time (hänellä on hyvä elämä edessään ‘she has a good life ahead of her’). The aim of this paper is to investigate the different senses of the adposition edessä: what distinct senses does the adposition have, and how do these senses differ from each other? In a broader sense, the paper examines how bodily experiences guide the conceptualisation of abstract concepts. The article is based on a dataset derived from the electronic Suomi24 corpus which comprises online discussions held on internet forums. The present dataset consists of 500 randomly selected instances of the adposition edessä. In this paper, the distinct senses of the adposition edessä are distinguished from one another by analysing what are known as ‘repetitive feature clusters’. The features examined in this paper include the concreteness and animacy of the primary participants in the relation depicted by edessä as well as the (verbal) processes expressed in instances of edessä. Based on the data, the paper defines seven distinct but related senses for edessä. The distinct senses are FRONT, OBSTACLE, PRESENCE, EVALUATION, IMPACT, FUTURE and TEMPORAL ALINGNMENT. Of these senses, FRONT and OBSTACLE (and, to some extent, PRESENCE) concern spatial scenarios, whereas the other five meanings arise from more abstract, metaphorical or metonymical conceptualisation. The more abstract uses of edessä can be explained with the embodied nature of human language and thought. The paper shows that the opposition between front and back guides language even when discussing intangible issues such as time, opinions or influence.

REPRESENTASI HEGEMONI KINERJA POLRI DALAM PEMBERITAAN TEROR AIR KERAS NOVEL BASWEDAN DI KOMPAS.COM

Berdasarkan analisis bahasa fungsional, pemakaian unsur gramatikal menggambarkan realitas sosial yang ada. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan representasi kinerja kepolisian tentang kasus teror air keras Novel Baswedan dan upaya hegemoni dalam pemberitaan di kompas.com. Penelitian ini menerapkan pedekatan analisis wacana kritis model Fairclough. Data penelitian menggunakan pernyataan langsung kepolisian dalam pemberitaan di kompas.com. Data dikumpulkan dari edisi Mei 2017 s/d Desember 2019 yang diseleksi berdasarkan konteks penyelidikan kasus teror air keras Novel Baswedan. Penelitian ini menggunakan total 42 kutipan pernyataan langsung dari 18 teks berita yang dianalisis menggunakan metode abduktif inferen. Hasil penelitian sebagai berikut. Pertama, lembaga kepolisian diinterpretasikan memiliki kinerja sebagai berikut, bertanggung jawab yang direpresentasikan temuan proses material 39%, berkredibilitas direpresentasikan proses mental 30% dan proses verbal 14%, dan lembaga kooperatif direpresentasikan proses relasional 13% dan proses behavioral 4%. Kedua, pernyataan langsung Polri juga berfungsi sebagai upaya menghegemoni seperti, meyakinkan, mempengaruhi, dan mengontrol pihak lain.Kata kunci: representasi, kinerja, hegemoniTHE REPRESENTATION OF THE HEGEMONIC PERFORMANCE OF THE POLICE IN NOVEL BASWEDAN’S ACID ATTACK NEWS IN KOMPAS.COMAbstract Based on the analysis of functional language, the use of grammatical elements illustrates the existing social reality. This study aims to describe the representation of the police's performance in ivestigating the case of Novel Baswedan acid attack and the hegemony efforts in reporting in Kompas.com. This study applies the approach of analysis of Fairclough's critical discourse. The research data were taken from the police's direct statement in the news in Kompas.com. The data were collected from the May 2017 to the December 2019 editions and were selected based on the context of the investigation of Novel Baswedan’s acid attack. This study used a total of 42 direct statement excerpts from 18 news that were analyzed using inferent abductive methods. The research results are as follows. First, the police institution is interpreted to have responsible performance that is represented by the findings of the material process of 39%; credibility is represented by mental processes of 30% and verbal processes of 14%; and the cooperative institutions represent a relational process of 13% and behavioral processes of 4%. Second, The Police's direct statement also functions as an attempt to hegemony such as, convincing, influencing, and controlling other parties.Keywords: representation, performance, hegemony

Transitivity Analysis of BBC and CNN Political News’ Headlines about Christchurch Mosque Massacre in New Zealand: A Stylistic Perspective

The present study aims at investigating the style of reporting in the political news headlines. It deals with the headlines that tackle the issue of the Christchurch Mosque Massacre in New Zealand, 2019 from two Western news agencies, namely BBC and CNN online websites. The objective of this study is to illustrate how a reader can capture the experience by attending to the author’s style and linguistic choices. The data of the study was collected, classified, segmented, and further analysed in terms of the six types of processes of Halliday’s (2004) transitivity system to Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). The results showed that the verbal processes dominate the other types of processes, which helps at putting thoughts into words. It was also found that the style of modeling verbal experiences in news reporting serves to facilitate the attribution of the given information to authentic sources i.e. officials and eyewitnesses. However, other types of processes such as: material and mental processes are stylistically used in order to construe quantum of changes in the physical world and in the world of consciousness. While the behavioral processes help the news’ reporters to make sense of human physical actions or reactions towards the event that are psychologically motivated.