Isaac Scientific Publishing

Advances in the Linguistic Sciences

Adversative Conjunctions as Vehicles for the Communication of Stance in the Vanguard Newspaper Editorials

Download PDF (350 KB) PP. 44 - 52 Pub. Date: December 5, 2019

DOI: 10.22606/als.2019.11005

Author(s)

  • Destiny Idegbekwe*
    Department of English, Faculty of Arts and Education, University of Africa, Toru-Orua, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Communication is not done in isolation. Ideas, opinions, beliefs etc. shared during communication are presented as strands in a larger dialogue unit with other discourse participants and subjects. For a language user to communicate his/her opinion in a larger dialogue unit containing different subjects or opinions, the linguistic stance is deployed to either evaluate, position or align with the existing subject matters. However, how this is achieved has not been made sufficiently explicit by linguists. It is on this basis therefore that this study focuses on the deployment of linguistic stance in the editorials of the Vanguard Newspaper with a view to underlining the nature of communication through conjunctional adversatives. The study adopted the stance triangle framework of John Du Bois (2007) as the theoretical framework. The study used ten (10) editorials (from February, 2018 to April, 2018) of the Vanguard Newspaper as the population of the study. The editorials chosen were found to have deployed linguistic stance through adversative conjunctions. Each of these instances were analysed in line with the stance triangle. At the end, the study presents as part of its findings that linguistic stance helps the language user to implicitly communicate explicit messages of evaluation, position and alignment with the subject matter raised in a discourse. The adversative conjunctions enable editorials to shift or change focus from subject 1 to subject 2 before making the decision to align with any of them. Also, the subject 1 in the stance triangle is usually the popular opinion in the discourse but with the use of adversative conjunctions, the editorial is able to present another opinion of the discourse that might not be too popular. This second opinion then forms the basis for the subject 2 and a possible alignment.

Keywords

Language, stance, editorials, communication, discourse

References

[1] Chang, P. (2010). Taking an effective authorial stance in academic writing: inductive learning from second language writers using a stance corpus. An unpublished PhD Thesis of the University of Michigan.

[2] Chibok Girls four years and counting. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/ chibok-girls-four-years-counting on the 25th of June, 2018.

[3] Conrad, S. and Biber, D. (2000). "Adverbial marking of stance in speech and writing." In: Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds.), 56-73. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[4] Du Bois, J. (2007). The stance triangle. In Stancetaking in Discourse: Subjectivity, Evaluation, Interaction, Englebretson, R (Ed.), pp. 139-182. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

[5] Emeksiz, Erk, Z. (2015). Stance taking and passive voice in Turkish academic discourse. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 11(2), 13-22.

[6] Goodwin, C. and Goodwin, M. (1992). Assessments and the construction of context. In: Re thinking Context: Language as an Interactive Phenomenon, A. Duranti and C. Goodwin (eds.), 147-189. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[7] Herdsmen Turn Landlord in Delta State. Vanguard Newspaper. www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/herdsmen-turnlandlords- delta-state/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[8] Hunston, S. and Sinclair, J. (2000). A local grammar of evaluation. In Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds.), 74-101. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[9] Hunston, S. and Thompson, G. (2000). Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[10] INEC’s 36 Year Election Time Table. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/ inecs-36-year-election-timetable/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[11] Invasion Senate Unacceptable. Vanguard Newspaper www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/invasion-senateunacceptable on the 25th of June, 2018.

[12] Khamkhien, A. (2015). Linguistic features of evaluative stance: findings from research article discussions. Retrieved on the 3rd of August, 2018 from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273526135.

[13] Labov, W. and Waletzky, J. 1967. Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In Essays on the Verbal and Visual Arts, J. Helm (ed.), 12-44. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

[14] Lemke, J.L. (1998). Resources for attitudinal meaning: Evaluative orientations in text semantics. Functions of Language 5:33-56.

[15] Linde, C. (1997). Evaluation as linguistic structure and social practice. In The Construction of Professional Discourse, B.-L. Gunnarsson, P. Linell and B. Nordberg (eds.), 151-172. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.

[16] Macken-Horarik, M. and Martin, J. (2003). Negotiating heteroglossia: Social Perspectives on Evaluation (Special Issue). Text 23.

[17] Mantu’s poll rigging confession. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/mantuspoll- rigging-confession on the 25th of June, 2018.

[18] Martin, J. (2000). Beyond exchange: APPRAISAL systems in English. In Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds.), 142-175. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[19] Pyles, T. (1964). The Origins and Development of the English Language. London: Harcourt Brace.

[20] Siren Abuse Must Stop. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/02/siren-abusemust- stop/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[21] State Police is Clearly Inevitable. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/ 952435/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[22] Thompson, G. and Hunston, S. (2000). Evaluation: An introduction. In Evaluation in Text: Authorial Stance and the Construction of Discourse, S. Hunston and G. Thompson (eds.), 1-27. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[23] Time to End the Fuel Fiasco. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/01/time-end-fuelsupply- fiasco/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[24] We must Handle ACFTA with Care. Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/03/ must-handle-acfta-care/ on the 25th of June, 2018.

[25] Where are the Senate Invaders? Vanguard Newspaper. Retrieved from: www.vanguardngr.com/2018/04/whereare- the-senate-invaders on the 25th of June, 2018.