Tracing context in the discourse of the media: features of language-in-use in the British press

Abstract

The language of newspapers is usually explored by linguists because it is undoubtedly the most widely genre read in Western countries. Systemic linguistics provides useful tools for analysing newswriting, identifying grammatical and lexical elements that are functional for achieving particular purposes in media discourse. Using Halliday's approach to context (1978, 1985a, 1989a, 1989b, 1989c, 1994), and Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, the aim of this article is to explore to what extent situational and cultural context determines the linguistic features used in two British national newspapers, The Times and The Sun. More specifically, through a systemic functional approach to language, I illustrate how newswriting is itself structured for a particular use and how register variables impact into that language use.