“Around 1000 others were injured- at least two of them Brits-as people surged towards the Jamarat Bridge in mina, Saudi Arabia for a stoning ritual during the annual Hajj” furthering the single sentence paragraphs that are evident in the mirror. However this is a complex structure, the other stereotypical sentence structure I expected to see in the Mirror. These complex sentence structures from the Mirror were unexpected as the use of the sub-ordinate clause elaborates upon the main clause giving the story more detail therefore sensationalising the incident making it more interesting for the readers. Furthermore in this quotation hyphens are used on two occasions to break up the text. This gives the text pause like features similar to the qualities of speech, these pauses hold the text back creating tension and suspense, subsequently dramatising the depiction of the event even further than the choice of sentence structure.
The Guardian also typically uses a complex sentence structure with subordinate clauses for its first sentence to add detail-
“Thousands of Muslim pilgrims rushing to the complete a symbolic stoning ritual during the annual hajj tripped over baggage yesterday, causing a crush in at least 345 people were killed and hundreds injured, despite Saudi attempts to prevent stampedes that have plagued the annual event.” This single complex sentence forces the reader to endure a brief but informative sentence about the incident and then makes them want to read further as it shows the article will contain useful knowledge of the incident as the sub-ordinate clause in the complex structure adds this detail.
Neither piece contains many “co-ordinators” in the transcripts despite them being typical to a tabloid’s write up. “Co-ordinators” are used predominantly at the beginning of sentences for example “but…” to reflect speech patterns, and as these are less formal grammatical structures they maintain momentum throughout an article. The mirror uses it at the start of a paragraph to divert attention to a new point-
“But West Yorks assistant chief constable…” this is the contrary to what you would expect in the guardian as co-ordinators are less formal hence the use of grammatically complete sentences in the Guardian.
Adverbials are used at the start of sentences to change the focus yet keep the reader involved. They can be used for example by writing “meanwhile” or on the other hand the Guardian typically uses adverbials in a variety of positions depending on the emphasis most appropriate to the meaning. In the guardian’s sentence-
“This year’s event was also marred by the collapse of another building…” this is a more formal and subtle way of changing focus whereas the mirror would typically use “meanwhile” as it subtly includes added information and represents a similarity to informal speech that is easy to comprehend.
Lexis and semantics
Both articles are from whole page articles from around the seventh page in the papers and therefore feature reasonably succinct headlines. The Mirror’s extremely simple headline tells us immediately with no questions asked that there are “345 DEAD”. Instantaneous negative connotations and the punchy monosyllabic form instantly captures the reader’s attention, and with the omission of the finite verb “are” a short simple sentence is created. The use of a number and Anglo-Saxon word in the headline also minimise the length and complexity of the sentence to stun a reader’s initial glance at an article. Further more the Anglo-Saxon word dead instantly signifies the “death” of all these people giving connotations of upset and misery for millions of people around the world, hence the readers attention will be focused upon this article with the inclusion of the word death. This creates an immensely simple but powerful headline that is appealing to its readership who desires a quick fix of the news.
The Guardian’s headline however is in effect an extension of the title in the mirror with the inclusion of “At least” at the beginning of the sentence to detract from the certainty that there are in fact 345 dead after the horrific accident. This suggests there are in fact even more deaths unaccounted for. This produces a certain ambiguity that the typical “Guardian reader” would expect the author to expand upon in further paragraphs.
Furthermore the Guardian’s headline “at least 345 die in stampede at pilgrimage” retains some of the succinct features of a characteristic Daily Mirror headline to keep it succinct and informal to gain readers attention let still suggest the article contains enough information to inform and entertain the reader. For example the adaptation of the auxiliary verb in the past participle of “At least 345 have died…” has been removed to create “At least 345 die…”, thus creating a fairly short punchy sentence and is more common to everyday day informal speech, eliminating any of the unnecessary words to emphasise the point for the target audience similar to the headline of the Mirror.
The other words used in the Guardian’s headline create strong connotations of the wild animals under attack and on the run by the use of the noun “stampede”. This could be perceived as derogatory and likening the Muslim population involved in the incident to animals, instead it conveys and emphasises the quantity and manner of the subject with a certain ambiguity giving the title broader meaning and appeal to the readers.
The sub headings in the Guardian give the sense of depersonification to the people injured. Through this quotation –
“Hundreds injured in crush at symbolic stoning”, the verb “crushed” is not normally associated with human being the object of the verb and therefore sensationalises the story to dramatic effects.
Using minimal detail at the beginning of the mirror’s article clearly outlines what is being reported. The use of primarily Anglo-Saxon language with no subject specific lexis creates a basic, informal approach. The article reports on the occurrence using a personal rather than factual tone, resulting in the use of emphatic, dramatised language, epitomised when the article reports on ”…345 Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death”. This underlined cliché also depersonifies the dead likening them to fruit in a way, consequently making the article resemble informal speech that entices the reader to feel horrified with what they are reading as the depersonification is intriguing and shocking. All of these are features of a good, successful interesting article.
On the other hand the Guardian’s detail is far more apparent in the opening line, with the non-finite clause and post-modification “Thousands of Muslim pilgrims rushing to the complete a symbolic stoning ritual during the Hajj tripped over baggage yesterday causing a crush…” Within the first paragraph, one long sentence informs the reader what, where and when the situation is occurring. The angle is adopted as factual, with greater evidence of research and concern for accuracy. The imperfect tense used in the (underlined) opening sentence has the opposite effect to the omission of verb structures in the paper’s headlines as it creates this well informed content throughout the article. The reader has been told of a “…symbolic stoning ritual…” The modifier “symbolic” suggests connotations of significance to religion and its purpose, while the archaic “stoning” and “ritual” proposes connotations of the punishment from many centuries ago that is also still present in today’s middle eastern society and the controversy and prejudice against Islam the “stoning ritual” gives. The choice of “ritual” however gives the simple connotations of acting under god’s will, this is significant to the events purpose as the pilgrimage was in aid of devotion to the Islamic god and the pilgrims were acting under their God’s will.
This is in stark contrast to the Mirror’s report where use of language features to sensationalise, detract from the truth or imply something such as the cause of the incident are not evident which is unusual for a tabloid -
“…1000’s others were injured…as they surged towards the Jamarat bridge…” The verb “surged” however give connotations of electricity and thousands of volts attempting to enter but there is a problem and in the end results in a horrific accident. This could be seen as a metaphor for the situation in which the incident occurred. This realism is typical to the tabloid press, as it is a vivid description used merely to sensationalise the event. It is also possible that each paper’s diction is hinting at a paper’s specific opinions and ideologies that each one’s readerships could easily adhere. These ideologies are often politically one sided and biased, therefore siding with the political parties that may have strong opinions on such related matters as immigration for example.
Subject specific lexis, associated with the semantic field of government is used within both articles normally preceding or introducing a quote from a speaker. For example “interior minister spokesman”, “Saudi authorities” and west York’s assistant chief constable”. This form of diction will appeal to a majority of readers as it shows authority and accuracy within research.
Both papers quote the pilgrims’ at the event, the mirror’s is in the opinion of somebody introduced only as “one woman” said “it was like the road of death there.” The chosen quotation is very informal and consists of Standard English that we would expect to hear everyday in speech. The sentence is a simple simile chosen by the paper for an informal, realistic opinion that is also sensationalised for a dramatic effect upon the reader making the point of the piece more memorable. It also does not specifically appeal to the stereotypical guardian reader whereas the Guardian introduces the person giving the quote to commence formally where she continues “The bodies were piled up. I couldn’t count- they were too many.” The angle adopted is very personal and this could be said the same for the Mirror however there is more personal emotion in the guardian’s quote as it consists of two sentences and a dash marking parenthesis so it can be easily defined as speech. This is a style that best conveys emotion and can be found in both papers.
Evaluation
I wasn’t really surprised with either paper’s content yet they both featured several characteristics of the opposing papers.
Unexpectedly both papers used a lot of expert opinion as I did not expect this in the Mirror. The Guardian’s whole article was far more in depth than the mirror yet the Mirror succinctly contained all relevant details than would please its readers as I predicted. This was helped through an informal approach and sensationalisation through its lexical choice. Both papers used a variety of sentence types however they largely stuck to what I predicted. However the mirror features a few complex sentences providing emotion and information contrary to my forecast.
The photographic illustrations in both papers were almost identical. This was to my surprise as although it was a serious matter the guardian would normally print in black and white to create connotations of the severity and death involved within the incident whereas it is only the mirror who published the image in colour.
Finally both papers’ use of journalese and emotive language concludes that my hypothesis was accurate in the sense that each paper had specific language features to suit its readership however each paper would sometimes use characteristics typical to the other paper in order to entertain and inform more effectively.
Bibliography
“Grammar, Structure and Style” by Shirley Russell
(Oxford 2001)
Mastering Advanced English language” by Sara Thorne
(Palgrave 2002)
“Rediscover Grammar” by David Crystal
