Analyzing the Text at the Sentence Level and Word Level

4.2 Analyzing the Text at the Sentence Level and Word Level

1 Topicalization The article is viewed from sentence-level to discovering the topic sentence which is type of foregrounding. A sentence topic is ‘what the sentence is about’. Often the topic of one sentence continues as the topic of the next. At this level, in this level to constructing the basic meaning of each sentence, they might notice that certain pieces of information appear as grammatical subjects of the sentence and are thereby topicalized. 2 Agency Readers might also notice, if only subconciously, the agent-patient in sentences. Many texts will describe things so that certain persons are consistently depicted as initiating action and thus exerting power, while others are depicted as being often passive recipients of those actions. For example, in almost the whole article is about the police who initiate the action such as securing, arresting, advising, etc to the demonstrators. Then, the article put the police as an important agent. 3 DeletionOmission Omission actually leaving certain things completely out of a text. Omission is often the most potent aspect of textualization, because if the writer does not mention something, it often does not enter the reader’s mind and thus is not subjected to his or her scrunity. Omission is the ultimate stage of backgrounding. The article completely does not mention a particular text that has to be there. The text that is left out never enter the readers’ mind so the readers not aware of what is left out. For example, the article is about a government policy, nut the exposure is on how the policy is elaborated by the government, the people opinion about the policy is left out. 4 Insinuation Insinuation is comments that are slyly suggestive. Like presuppositions, they are difficult for readers to challenge – but for different reason. Insinuation typically has double meanings and is used as an exit strategy when the comments are challenged. The writer can claim innocence, pretending to have only one of these two meanings in mind. For example, the sentence, a minister said, “the plague is not as significant as the plague in year of 2003, contains a judgment that the plague now is not as dangerous as the plague in 2003 and the resident should not be worry, but it also means that the insignificance is only an early statistics that shows a number that is not as high as the year of 2003. 5 Connotation Connotation derives from the frequent use of a word or phrase in a particular type of context. The article carries certain words or phrase that has special meanings and the meanings are often negative. Sometimes connotations are conveyed through the use of metaphor or other figures of speech. The word ‘grammar’ for example, has negative connotations for most Americans, who have unpleasant memories of being drilled in school by a stern grammar teacher. Labels often carry unavoided connotations. For example, with a polarized political issue, such as abortion in U.S., it is virtually impossible to refer to one side or the other in completely neutral terms. Someone who opposes abortion would likely be labeled ‘pro-life’ by sympathizers but ‘anti-choice’ by opponents. 6 Register Register refers to a text’s level of formality or informality, its degree of technicality, its subject field, etc. The article is produced in a certain approach such as formal, semiformal, or informal. Writers can deceive readers by affecting a phony register, one that induces a certain misplaced trust. The choice of using the first person such as I, me, my, we, our; and the third person such as he, she, they, their, his, hers, him, her can affect the register as well. Typical examples of this would include advertisements written either in a friendly ‘conversational’ register or in an authoritative ‘expert’ registers. 7 Modality Modality is another feature of discourse worth attending to for critical purposes. Modality refers to the tone of the statements as regards their degree of certitude and authority. It is carried mainly by words and phrases such as may, might, could, will, can, must, maybe, probably, it seems to me, without a doubt, and it is possible that. Through their use of such modal verbs and phrases, some texts convey an air of heavy-handed authority while others, at the other extreme, convey a tone of deference. For example, the sentence, the flood might caused by the bad habit of living unclean, is used in the present tense, which indicates the certainty of the cause and effect event.

4.3 Analyzing the Text in Contextual Interpretation