A Modality Analysis of Persuasion and Biasness
Abstract
A media interview is a type of human communication that might take place over the phone, on television, or on the radio. The primary goal of media interviews is to convey information and stimulate viewers' interest. However, there are times when the interactants use various linguistic methods to persuade viewers to change their attitudes, ideas, or behaviours to conform to the interactants’ own beliefs. The current study uses Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics theory to evaluate biases and persuasion methods in media interviews (SFL). Its goal is to investigate how the foregrounding or absence of interpersonal meanings is related to the conviction and prejudices carried in media interviews by examining the interpersonal meanings given by interactants through the choice of modality. The information was gathered from two transcripts of televised interviews on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's death. The results suggest that interactants have a common inclination to use low modalisation in their conversation to modify their level of commitment. Modality is also frequently used to emphasise the importance of intervening with warring nations. Interactants with a lower social position were shown to utilise more modality metaphors and emission of modality sources to represent their personal views, whereas those with a higher social position used low level of modality.
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