Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A comparative study of the lexical means of modality employed in culture and sport editorials of commendation on the usatoday.com and the vietnamnews.vn from 2012 to 2015

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The study aimed at finding out the similarities and differences in employing lexical means of modality in two newspapers so that the results of the research could be a guide in teaching and learning English reading, writing and translation generally and in journalism particularly.

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Nội dung Text: Master minor programme thesis English linguistics: A comparative study of the lexical means of modality employed in culture and sport editorials of commendation on the usatoday.com and the vietnamnews.vn from 2012 to 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ THÙY A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE LEXICAL MEANS OF MODALITY EMPLOYED IN CULTURE AND SPORT EDITORIALS OF COMMENDATION ON THE USATODAY.COM AND THE VIETNAMNEWS.VN FROM 2012 TO 2015 NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH NHỮNG PHƢƠNG TIỆN TỪ VỰNG CỦA TÍNH TÌNH THÁI TRONG CÁC BÀI XÃ LUẬN KHEN NGỢI VỀ LĨNH VỰC VĂN HÓA VÀ THỂ THAO TRÊN BÁO USATODAY.COM VÀ VIETNAMNEWS.VN TỪ NĂM 2012 ĐẾN 2015 M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201 HANOI – 2016
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ THÙY A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE LEXICAL MEANS OF MODALITY EMPLOYED IN CULTURE AND SPORT EDITORIALS OF COMMENDATION ON THE USATODAY.COM AND THE VIETNAMNEWS.VN FROM 2012 TO 2015 NGHIÊN CỨU SO SÁNH NHỮNG PHƢƠNG TIỆN TỪ VỰNG CỦA TÍNH TÌNH THÁI TRONG CÁC BÀI XÃ LUẬN KHEN NGỢI VỀ LĨNH VỰC VĂN HÓA VÀ THỂ THAO TRÊN BÁO USATODAY.COM VÀ VIETNAMNEWS.VN TỪ NĂM 2012 ĐẾN 2015 M.A. Minor Thesis Field: English linguistics Code: 60220201 Supervisor: Tô Thị Thu Hƣơng, Ph.D HANOI – 2016
DECLARATION I certify that the work contained in this thesis is the result of my own research, and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or institution. Hanoi, October 2016 Signature Lê Thị Thùy i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the following people who have offered support and encouragement in all their different ways throughout this study. I am indeed thankful to my supervisor, Dr. Tô Thị Thu Hương, whose sympathetic guidance has been the source of inspiration and knowledge for my research. I am also grateful to other teachers of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies for their encouragement and valuable advice. My great thanks are also given to my family and my friends who have encouraged me a lot during the process of my study. ii
ABSTRACT The thesis analyzed the selected editorials of commendation on cultural and sporty fields chosen from the American English newspaper, the usatoday.com, and the Vietnamese English newspaper, the vietnamnews.vn, to identify the lexical means of modality employed in the two newspapers. The study aimed at analyzing how similar and different in tendencies of using modality as well as the functions of modality employed in commendation editorials in the two newspapers. The data showed that modality was realized in the two newspapers through modal auxiliary verbs, ‗knowledge‘ verbs, certain reporting verbs, modal adjectives and adverbs, and some modal nouns. From the findings, the research also provided some suggestions in teaching and learning English. iii
TABLE OF CONTENS DECLARATION ................................................................................................ 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................ii ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...............................................................................vi LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES....................................................................vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 1 1.1. Justification ............................................................................................... 1 1.2. Aim and purposes of Research ................................................................. 4 1.3. Research questions .................................................................................... 3 1.4. Significance ............................................................................................... 4 1.5. Thesis outline................................................................................................5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 6 2.1. Definition of modality ............................................................................... 6 2.2. Types of modality...................................................................................... 7 2.3. Linguistic manifestations of modality ........................................................ 8 2.3.1. Modal verbs......................................................................................... 9 2.3.2. Modal adverbs ................................................................................... 11 2.3.3. Modal adjectives ............................................................................... 11 2.3.4. Modal nouns ...................................................................................... 11 2.4. Editorials and classification of newspaper editorials ................................ 12 2.4.1. Definition of editorials ...................................................................... 12 2.4.2. Classification of newspaper editorials ............................................... 14 2.4.3. Editorials of commendation ............................................................... 14 2.5. Previous studies ....................................................................................... 15 iv
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 18 3.1. Types of Research ................................................................................... 18 3.2. Data Sources ........................................................................................... 18 3.3. Data Analysis Instruments ....................................................................... 19 3.4. Data Analysis Procedure ......................................................................... 20 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................ 24 4.1. Modal verbs............................................................................................. 24 4.2. Modal adjectives and adverbs .................................................................. 31 4.3. Modal nouns ............................................................................................ 37 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 39 5.1. Summary ................................................................................................. 39 5.2. Pedagogical implications ......................................................................... 41 5.3. Limitations of the study ........................................................................... 44 REFERENCES.................................................................................................. 45 APPENDICES .................................................................................................... I UT1.....................................................................................................................I UT2..................................................................................................................III UT3...................................................................................................................V UT4..................................................................................................................VI UT5.................................................................................................................VII UT6................................................................................................................VIII UT7....................................................................................................................X UT8..................................................................................................................XI UT9................................................................................................................XIII v
UT10...............................................................................................................XV VN1.............................................................................................................XVII VN2............................................................................................................XVIII VN3...............................................................................................................XXI VN4............................................................................................................XXIII VN5.............................................................................................................XXV VN6...........................................................................................................XXVII VN7.............................................................................................................XXX VN8............................................................................................................XXXI VN9...........................................................................................................XXXII VN10.......................................................................................................XXXIV vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS UT: the usatoday.com VN: the vietnamnews.vn vii
LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Table 1. Modality through modal auxiliaries in UT & VN Table 2. Number of quoted direct speech & indirect speech in two newspapers Table 3. Comparative and superlative forms of evaluative adjectives and adverbs viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION The chapter explained the reasons of choosing the research topic, clarified the aim and purposes, raised the research questions, and provided the organization of the study as well. 1.1. Justification In this modern society, there are numerous mass media that bring the wide world into each home. Social media are possibly divided into 2 types: spoken and written. The former is always represented by television and radio. Then, the latter is represented by newspapers, magazines and especially news websites. Thanks to the development of high technology, human beings do not have to spend much time in front of television or radio without moving out their homes. They also do not need to go to news agency to buy newspapers or magazines every morning. By only one click, all the needed information appears on the screen even though they are sitting in a café or in a restaurant. Moreover, with the help of a smart phone, people these days update news more quickly than ever before. Each minute passes, an event can be received hundreds of comments. So, there is no doubt that news websites play an important role in modern life. They become a means for the writers and readers to share society‘s values and express their opinions and attitudes about the social issues. That is the reason for choosing news websites as objects to analyze. Editorial is considered a part of news website contents where the editorial writers and readers provide their personal comments on the happening events. To convey these private assessments into the news, modality could be an effective 1
means because of its nature. Saeed (2009, p.138) claimed that ―modality is a cover term for devices which allow the speaker or writer to express varying degrees of commitment to, or belief in, a proposition‖. It is possibly said that with this type of mass media, modality is vigorously expressed. Because of that reason, modality in newspaper editorials have attracted many attentions recently. Biber (1998), Westin and Geisler (2002) and Morley (2004) were the huge names in the area. Those researches provided sufficient guidance for the language users to employ modality in their texts. Furthermore, those also became the foundation for the next researchers who would conduct research in exploring and assessing the phenomenon of what happens in newspapers or social media. It was obvious that most of the researches on this subject were conducted in foreign countries or they focused on criticism editorials only although editorials were divided into different sub-genres. The researchers looked for the use of modality in editorials of criticism because of its popularity amongst all the types. Moreover, this also was a potential area in using modality since this type of editorials aims at criticizing policies and decisions that are considered as controversial by the newspaper staffs. In spite of the fact that the editorials of commendation which commend people and organizations for something done well are not as common as the others, it should be put in consideration because our ancestors ever taught that ‗criticism is easy, and art is difficult‘. It seems effortless for us to criticize someone for what they made, but to crown someone from the bottom of our heart is not as easy as we suppose. Moreover, praise plays an important role in motivating and engaging people in their work. The more respected and appreciated people feel, the more motivated they are. They will do better than those who think their efforts go unnoticed. They are more 2
engaged in their work because they know they are making a real difference. An interesting aspect about praise is the chemical reaction it causes in us. O′.Arias- Carrion and Poppel (2007) showed that when we heard something we liked, a burst of dopamine was released in our brains. Dopamine was a neurotransmitter, and it was associated with feelings of joy, pride, satisfaction, and well-being, giving a positive impact on the individual. In culture and sport areas, there are many people who are ready to devote their lives for the development of their own country in particular and the development of human beings in general, so they deserve to be praised. An appropriate compliments will be the best present to encourage people to get better results in their works. Mark Twain ever said ― I can live for two months on a good compliments‖. However, giving praise publicly and regularly might be frowned upon in some cultures. It means that there are different ways to commend someone and each of newspapers has their own ways to express their opinions and feelings. The thesis compared two editorials: an American English and a Vietnamese English with the purpose of demonstrating what English linguistic categories of modality the writers used in complimenting athletes and celebrities in culture and sport areas because many individuals got achievements in those fields. Moreover, the study was done with the aim of comparing the similarities and differences in employing lexical expressions of modality in the two newspapers. The results of the research could be a guide in teaching and learning English reading, writing and translation generally and in journalism particularly. 1.2. Aim and purposes of Research The study aimed at finding out the similarities and differences in employing lexical means of modality in two newspapers so that the results of the research 3
could be a guide in teaching and learning English reading, writing and translation generally and in journalism particularly. Based on the above 2 research questions, the purposes of the research were: 1. to clarify kinds of lexical carriers of modality employed in cultural and sport editorials of commendation in the two newspapers. 2. to analyze how similar and different in tendencies of using modality as well as the functions of modality employed in commendation editorials in the two newspapers. 1.3. Research questions There were two research questions to guide this thesis: 1. What are the lexical means of modality commonly employed in culture and sport editorials of commendation in the two online newspapers, the American English newspaper, the usatoday.com, and the Vietnamese English newspaper, the vietnamnews.vn? 2. What are the similarities and differences in the use of lexical means of modality in these editorials of the two newspapers? 1.4. Significance The significance of the study was to explain the similarities and differences in employing lexical modal categories in two editorial newspapers, an American English newspaper and a Vietnamese English newspaper, in complimenting the athletes and celebrities. The achieved results could be applied in teaching and learning English. 4
1.5. Thesis Outline This thesis consisted of five following chapters: Chapter 1: Introduction The introduction chapter consisted of Justification, Aim and Purposes, Research questions, and Thesis outline. Chapter 2: Literature Review The review of literature explained some theories which were related to the topic as a guide to write this thesis. It included Definition of modality, Types of modality, Lexical means of modality, Definition and Classification of newspaper editorials, and Previous studies. Chapter 3: Methodology This chapter consisted of Types of research, Data sources, Data analysis instruments and Data analysis procedure. Chapter 4: Findings and discussion The findings and discussion chapter provided the results of the analysis of the collected data to answer the 2 research questions and discussion of the findings. Chapter 5: Conclusion In this chapter, the writer provided the conclusion of the research as well as some teaching and learning implications based on what had been found. 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provided an overview of theoretical background that guided the researcher during conducting the thesis. 2.1. Definition of modality Modality has been seen as one of the most complicated areas both in English and in other languages. It is considered a semantic category. By means of modal expressions, the speaker can evaluate a particular situation in terms of possibility, probability, permission, volition, obligation and necessity. Lyons (1977) pointed out that modality referred to people‘s opinions and attitudes towards propositions expressed with language or circumstances described by propositions while Quirk (1985) regarded it as the speaker‘s judgment on the authenticity of propositions. Palmer (1986) considered modality as semantic information associated with the speaker‘s attitude or opinion about what is said. From his point of view, modality could also be analyzed as the validity of relativity of a sentence meaning through a set of possible words, or it could be said as the ways in which people could understand a different word. In other words, modality gave the language a function to express what is happening, what will happen, what might happen, and what they should do. Generally, all of the authors had an agreement on the definition of modality and they tried to explore the functions of modality in the proposition. It is possible to define modality as a means that helps the speaker or writer show their attitudes towards a certain piece of information. 6
2.2. Types of modality Despite the fact that there are numerous ways to classify modality into different types, most of linguists such as Hoffman (1976), Jenkins (1972), Perkins (1982), Sweetser (1982), Coates (1983), and Huddleston (1988) agreed to divide modality into two basic subtypes: epistemic and deontic. Epistemic modality was concerned with the speaker's relation to proposition, whereas deontic modality was concerned with the speaker's relation to events and actions. Both types of modality signaled a speaker's judgments. With epistemic, the judgment was about the way the real world is; with deontic, it was about how people should behave in the world. Deontic modality expressed future; meanwhile epistemic modality was connected to the present. Epistemic modality showed the meanings of possibility, necessity and prediction while deontic modality carried the meanings of permission, obligation and volition. von Wright (1951) and Quirk et al., (1985) had the other ideas in classifying types of modality. The former classified modality into four types: Alethic, Epistemic, Deontic and Existential while the latter distinguished between two types: ‗intrinsic‟ which involve some kind of human control over events, and „extrinsic‟ which involve human judgment of what is or is not likely to happen. Rescher (1986), apart from these types, referred to one more type which he called temporal. Palmer, besides agreeing with the other researchers, he also added evidential and dynamic as two more sorts of modality. Furthermore, he grouped four above subtypes into two bigger ones: Propositional modality and Event modality. Propositional modality included Epistemic and Evidential. Event Modality in 7
turn could be of two types, Deontic and Dynamic. ―Evidential modality, in which, instead of making a judgment about the truth-value of the proposition, the speaker offers evidence for it‖ (2003, p.7). If with deontic modality, the control was external to the subject of proposition, dynamic one was in contrast with internal control. In the research, the researcher used Palmer‘s theory in clarifying the functions of modality in the English culture and sport editorials of commendation between two newspapers due to the several reasons. First of all, there was no doubt that Palmer was an expert of this field. His achievements were the basic theory for many studies. Moreover, apart from some common meanings that modality expressed, the reseacher would like to find out whether the editors give the evidence for what is said and evaluate the internal and external controls that contribute to the people‘s achievements. 2.3. Lexical means of modality Fowler (1985) gave a brief list to illustrate the lexical categories of modality. Modality was manifested in a number of forms: mainly, the modal auxiliary verbs may, shall, must, need, and others; sentence adverbs such as probably, certainly, regrettably; adjectives such as necessary, unfortunate, certain. Some verbs, and many nominalizations, were crucially modals: permit, predict, prove; obligation, likelihood, desirability, authority. Furthermore, Nuyts (2001, p.29) pointed out that modality could be expressed by the use of modal adverbs, predicatively used modal adjectives, mental state predicates and by modal auxiliaries. It was said that certain types of main verbs 8
as well as adjectives, adverbs, and certain nominalizations could be used to express modality. From two above authors, it was possible to conclude that modality could be manifested through different linguistic categories such as modal auxiliaries, lexcial modal verbs, modal adverbs, modal nouns and modal adjectives. The following discussed the linguistic categories of modality in English. 2.3.1. Modal verbs First and foremost, modality was not mentioned without modal verbs. Modal verbs, called as modal auxiliaries or simply modals, created a relatively small and closed group of verbs that significantly differed from other ‗ordinary‘ verbs. Regarding the semantic, in contrast to lexical verbs, the meaning of modals depended on context. Leech (1969, p.203-204) gave us a general look on the meanings of modals as in the following table: Modals Meaning Can Possibility, ability/capability, permission Could May Possibility, permission Might Shall Speaker´s willingness, Should speaker´s insistence Ought to Will / ´ll Weak volition/willingness, strong volition/insistence Would / ´d Must Obligation, logical necessity From the table above, it was seen that modal auxiliary verbs can, could, may, might express permission, possibility and ability; modal auxiliary verbs must, 9
ought to, and should indicated obligation and necessity; will and shall as well as would denoted volition and prediction. Moreover, according to Biber et al. (1999, p.483), there were nine central modal auxiliary verbs that were used to express modality: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must. Besides, many authors also mentioned ought (to) among the group of the modal auxiliaries and dare, need, used (to) were often referred to as semi-modals. Recently, according to Downing & Locke (2006), modality could be realized through the following categories: - modal verbs; semi-modals: need, dare, wish; - lexical auxiliaries (chain-like structures with primary verbs be and have): be able to, be apt to, be due to, be going to, be liable to, be likely to, be certain to, be sure to, be to, be unlikely to, be supposed to, have to, have got to, had better, would rather, would sooner; - phased structures composed of a catenative verb, such as need, want, regret, try, manage, hesitate, happen, chance, tend, seem, appear, pretend, followed by a nonfinite verb form; - lexical verbs such as allow, beg, command, forbid, guarantee, guess, promise, suggest, warn. The above list meant that apart from modal auxiliaries, modality could be expressed through some other lexical verbs. These authors also provided other lexcical means of modality such as adverbs and sentence modifiers, predicate adjectives and nouns. 10