Analysis Written Discourse - Example

The paper "Analysis Written Discourse" is a great example of a report on education.

This analysis of written discourse is an examination of a written text of a news item along with three

related images pertaining to a news headline of a leading daily newspaper that informs about a natural

catastrophe and its resultant sufferings to millions of people. This text, along with the images have been

chosen to explain my analysis primarily due to the relationship between the text and the images that help in

a better understanding of the excruciating issues involved. Although the text and the images relate to the

same matter, they greatly assist in a wider understanding of the intensity of human suffering caused due to

the devastating Cyclone Nargis that has shattered the coastline of Burma. Hence the text and the images

will be examined closely with each other in this paper to fully understand and to focus on a well-meaning

analysis of the written discourse. The written text in the form of a news item is a detailed news report about

the happening of the calamity and the extent and severity of loss and suffering as also an account of the

possible relief measures to be undertaken along with an account of the hurdles being faced in

the implementation of rehabilitation measures due to the rigid and indifferent attitude of the ruling military

junta. The three images further strengthen and corroborate the seriousness of the situation and enable us to

visualize the suffering caused in every sphere of human life, be it for bare necessities for survival or the

hardships being faced by innocent children as also the massive economic losses in a country that is already

overburdened by military turmoil for the last several decades. For the purpose of our analysis, we will call

the three pictures A, B, and C, of which the biggest is A the next biggest is B and the smallest being C.

To come to a meaningful analysis of the text we will examine both the text and images simultaneously to

explore the similarities and differences between them in terms of implied meanings arising out of genre,

interpersonal, ideational, and textual interpretations. We will analyze the text and images by positioning

ourselves as a reader representing the logical and natural world response to the way the facts are narrated in

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terms of different voices and discourses in the text and images. We will also examine the different

meanings that are construed from interpretations and what kind of prominence is given to the different

aspects of the text. Our ultimate goal is to come out with a meaningful conclusion that summarizes all

aspects of our paper by analyzing conclusively all construed meanings from the text and images.

• Genre

In the society that we live in, there is always a tendency for people to develop a conventional pattern of

achieving common purposes. These conventional ways of doing things are called genres (Martin and Rose

2003.7). In the kind of cultural environment that we live in most of us are not aware that we are already following a particular genre (Ken Hyland, Metadiscourse: Exploring Interaction in Writing). 

However when there is a cultural change, new conventions for various social acts have to be worked out by trial and error methods, which ultimately have to be culturally evolved. Specifically our text belongs to the family of genres called ‘story genres’ as it includes narratives and recounts. There is also indication of enabling genre as we get an idea of what to do and how to do things to bring relief to an already shattered Burmese economy and under the prevalent circumstances of the devastating cyclone.

The purpose of this genre is to chronicle the sequence of events in different stages of headline, lead, lead development and final wrap up. The images too give in sequence an idea of the damages. The image A clearly informs about the massive losses due to the cyclone to the business and economy represented by the damaged and broken ships, which obviously are the backbone of that economy. Image B recounts the suffering of the people by way of extreme shortage of basic necessities while Image C gives an account of the sufferings of children which is all clearly evident from their expressions and body language.

While examining ideational meaning, we can compare our three images to construe the meaning being conveyed in the context of the event being depicted therein. We can construe that the participants are people desperately in need of essential services such as water and food, children living in dilapidated surroundings with suffering of diseases and lack of proper care. The processes involve constant search to fulfill basic needs and the efforts to salvage whatever is possible from the ruins.

Circumstances are indeed unfavorable with the shortage of essential things 3 showing no signs of abating. Typically the headline focuses on the specific event, which in this case is the ‘cyclone’, is always in the present tense and uses an explicit affect, which in our headline is ‘death toll’. The lead is the when, how, where etc of the specific happening , in our case being the various details of the incident of cyclone.

The heading plus the lead is the nucleus of the news story. Elaboration of the news event is the lead development and the wrap up gives a sense of resolution that the story is complete. This classification gives us a wider understanding and the ability to specify the genres. Interpersonal meaning To understand interpersonal meaning in discourse as proposed by Martin (Hood and Forey 2005) we need to explore the appraisal theory and apply its theoretical model to see how the writer of the text expresses evaluation to persuade and to maintain relationships of solidarity and power (The Role of APPRAISAL', in Researching Language in Schools and Functional Linguistic Perspectives.

, Unsworth, L). This is best expressed by the following diagram : Monogloss _____ Engagement ____________ Projection Heterogloss Modality ___Affect Concession Appraisal _____ _____Attitude ___Appreciation ____Judgement ____ Force _____ Graduation ____Focus 4 This appraisal has three dimensions namely.