A A Transitivity Analysis of English Newspapers Headlines on the Ukraine-Russia War: A Study with Critical Discourse Analysis and Systematic Functional Linguistics’ Perspective

Abstract

Newspaper is the representative of what happens in society. It uses different writing strategies. The language of the newspaper emerged from beliefs, speech and writing practices (Joseph, 2006). There are different lexical, grammatical, and discursive strategies that the author uses in his article or headline. This study aims to explore the lexical and discursive choices that are used in newspaper headlines depicting the Ukraine-Russia war. It uses a descriptive research method and Halliday’s transitivity system as a research instrument. The researcher investigated how language features are used to create an emotional impact and influence the common public. The study highlights the hidden ideologies that are the basis of the lexical choices or different representations of the same event. The results show that "Stars and Strips", a German newspaper, shows Vladimir Putin as a leader of Russia who has authority and a great impact on the people of Russia but “The New York Post” and “The Guardian” depict him as a murderer who is responsible for this war and attacks Ukraine and kill people violently because of his desire.