Although there are several approaches to linguistic analysis, a way of analyzing news articles can be based on effectivity. Research shows that effective meaning-making is one of the fundamental features of news journalism (Koivunen et al. 1202). To conduct such a linguistic analysis, one can use articles like the one written by Priscilla Alvarez, in which the author discusses predictions on an increased number of immigrants at the US-Mexico border.
First, a linguistic analysis of affectivity in the news is based on metaphorical expressions (Koivunen et al. 1195). In the news article, such expressions can be seen in the words “flow will materialize,” meaning the outcomes of migration (Alvarez; Koivunen et al. 1195). In other words, at the moment the article was released, no one knew what turn the pandemic would take and how it would affect migration (Alvarez). With that being said, the news article did not use many metaphorical expressions that could be sufficient for the analysis.
Furthermore, a linguistic analysis of affectivity in the news also focuses on overt emotive vocabulary. Such words indicate clear negative or positive evaluations in a text (Koivunen et al. 1195). For example, the above news article uses the expressions “devastating impact” and “a dramatic toll,” referring to the situation with the virus in Latin America and indicating rather unpleasant times (Alvarez). Moreover, certain grammatical and lexical structures can express commitment, uncertainty, or conviction (Koivunen et al. 1195). In the news article, such structures are “experts expect” and “it is still unclear,” and they indicate the level of commitment to the proposed scenario of the events (Alvarez; Koivunen et al. 1196). Overall, the news article uses several linguistic structures that can impact its affectivity, such as certain emotions and the possibility of predicted situations to happen.
Works Cited
Alvarez, Priscilla. “Experts Project Increase in Migrants at US-Mexico Border as Pandemic Devastates Latin America.” CNN Politics, 2020. Web.
Koivunen, Anu, et al. “Emotive, Evaluative, Epistemic: A Linguistic Analysis of Affectivity in News Journalism.” Journalism, vol. 22, no. 5, 2021, pp. 1190-1206.