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Advertisements and news analysis, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Università degli Studi di Bergamo (UNIBG)Lingua Inglese
Prof. Maria Sophia Falcone

appunti presi a lezione + riassunti slides della professoressa Falcone per quanto riguarda gli argomenti del corso dell'anno 2025/26.

Tipologia: Appunti

2025/2026

Caricato il 27/02/2026

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HOW TO ANALYZE A TEXT
Text = unit of communication (written, spoken, or visual) that conveys meaning through language or
symbols.
The interpretation of a text depends on context, audience, cultural background and porpose.
Texts can be analyzed on many levels:
➢ Phonological: the sounds of language, how words are pronounced.
➢ Morphological: the structure of words and how they are formed (morphemes).
➢ Lexical: the study of individual words, their meanings and choice, and how they are used in
context.
➢ Syntactic: the structure of sentences and phrases.
➢ Semantic: the meaning of language, including its interpretation. It involves understanding
the denotations (literal meanings) and connotations (associated meanings) of linguistic
elements.
➢ Pragmatic: how language is used in context to convey meaning and achieve communication
goals.
➢ Discourse: examination of larger units of language, such as conversations, texts, or speeches,
to understand how meaning is constructed and conveyed over extended stretches of
communication. It involves analyzing coherence, cohesion, discourse markers, and rhetorical
strategies.
➢ Rhetorical: Rhetorical analysis focuses on the persuasive or expressive aspects of language.
It explores how language is used to influence or evoke emotions and attitudes in an
audience
Close vs distant reading:
- Close = detailed analysis of a text. It helps to understand deeper meanings. It focuses on
word choice, tone, and sentence structure.
- Distant = analyzing texts by focusing on patterns, more generally, rather than close detail.
It aims to understand the "big picture" in literature, such as genre development or cultural
trends.
Language manipulation = strategic use of language to influence consumer’s behavior
Advertisers choose words, phrases and styles to evoke emotions, create desires and persuade
audience to buy products or services;
These tactics are used to shape consumer’s perceptions, leading them to make purchasing decisions.
They do this through strategies as:
Emotive Language: Using emotionally charged words to evoke positive feelings.
Rhetorical Devices: metaphors, similes and hyperbole make products more appealing.
Persuasive Tone: Adopting an authoritative or conversational tone to build trust or create
relatability.
Ambiguity: Using vague terms (e.g., "natural," "best quality") to attract a wider audience.
Repetition: Repeating key phrases or slogans to reinforce brand recognition.
Call to Action: Phrases like "Buy now" or "Limited time offer" are used to create urgency and
prompt immediate action.
MARKED LANGUAGE = emphasize a single quality
(ES “only with Sparke water you'll feel refreshed” VS “with Sparke water you’ll feel refreshed”)
NB: all commercials are advertisements, but not all advertisements are commercial!
Advertisement = any paid message designed to inform or persuade the audience about a product,
service, idea, or cause, appearing in any medium;
Commercials = a specific type of advertisement that is broadcast on television, radio, or streaming
platforms.
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HOW TO ANALYZE A TEXT

Text = unit of communication (written, spoken, or visual) that conveys meaning through language or symbols. The interpretation of a text depends on context, audience, cultural background and porpose. Texts can be analyzed on many levels: ➢ Phonological: the sounds of language, how words are pronounced. ➢ Morphological: the structure of words and how they are formed (morphemes). ➢ Lexical: the study of individual words, their meanings and choice, and how they are used in context. ➢ Syntactic: the structure of sentences and phrases. ➢ Semantic: the meaning of language, including its interpretation. It involves understanding the denotations (literal meanings) and connotations (associated meanings) of linguistic elements. ➢ Pragmatic: how language is used in context to convey meaning and achieve communication goals. ➢ Discourse: examination of larger units of language, such as conversations, texts, or speeches, to understand how meaning is constructed and conveyed over extended stretches of communication. It involves analyzing coherence, cohesion, discourse markers, and rhetorical strategies. ➢ Rhetorical: Rhetorical analysis focuses on the persuasive or expressive aspects of language. It explores how language is used to influence or evoke emotions and attitudes in an audience Close vs distant reading:

  • Close = detailed analysis of a text. It helps to understand deeper meanings. It focuses on word choice, tone, and sentence structure.
  • Distant = analyzing texts by focusing on patterns, more generally, rather than close detail. It aims to understand the "big picture" in literature, such as genre development or cultural trends. Language manipulation = strategic use of language to influence consumer’s behavior Advertisers choose words, phrases and styles to evoke emotions, create desires and persuade audience to buy products or services; These tactics are used to shape consumer’s perceptions, leading them to make purchasing decisions. They do this through strategies as:  Emotive Language: Using emotionally charged words to evoke positive feelings.  Rhetorical Devices: metaphors, similes and hyperbole make products more appealing.  Persuasive Tone: Adopting an authoritative or conversational tone to build trust or create relatability.  Ambiguity: Using vague terms (e.g., "natural," "best quality") to attract a wider audience.  Repetition: Repeating key phrases or slogans to reinforce brand recognition.  Call to Action: Phrases like "Buy now" or "Limited time offer" are used to create urgency and prompt immediate action.  MARKED LANGUAGE = emphasize a single quality (ES “only with Sparke water you'll feel refreshed” VS “with Sparke water you’ll feel refreshed”) NB: all commercials are advertisements, but not all advertisements are commercial! Advertisement = any paid message designed to inform or persuade the audience about a product, service, idea, or cause, appearing in any medium; Commercials = a specific type of advertisement that is broadcast on television, radio, or streaming platforms.

+PSA = public service announcement = “pubblicità progresso” = advertising done to support a cause; raise awareness about a topic; suggest a change about a behavior. They’re still considered Ads because of their PERSUASION aim → this is what characterizes advertising. Advertising exists in a culture, in a context → advertising must adapt to that culture/context. Brands mustn’t produce TONE DEAF messages = messages that say something inappropriate to other people's feelings, opinions, or the nuances of a situation. Advertisers must stay informed and adapt to the context they’re living in → ads that don’t adapt can reduce their impact. Example of advertising with tone deaf messages (ppt lez. 1-2):

  • Sydney Sweetney’s American Eagle’s commercial
  • Fairy soap = black child considered dirty because of his skin
  • Lucky strike = cigarettes are good because they make people skinny
  • Marlboro = if you smoke men will like you and you’ll be approached by more men Marlboro 2 = a man who smokes is more masculine (now there are not anymore cigarette’s advertisement). HOW TO ANALYZE ADS We need a “framework”: Multimodality = the use of more than one semiotic mode. Semiotic modes are communication channels that a culture recognizes (es fonts, symbols, images, colors) and they’re 5:
  1. Linguistic;
  2. Visual;
  3. Spatial (proximity, direction, position...);
  4. Audio;
  5. Gestural (movement, speed and stillness...). Moreover, every mode has a specific function:
  • visual mode = images, colors, layout (they attract attention);
  • textual mode = written words (to deliver information);
  • auditory mode = sounds, music, voiceover (evoke emotions to empathize the message). Multimodality is based on 4 assumptions (Jewitt, 2009):
  1. Language is always linked with non-linguistic resources in the making of the meaning;
  2. In a multimodal ensemble every element has its own communicative function;
  3. People create meaning through the selection and combination of resources from modes available to them;
  4. Creation of a multimodal meaning depends on social actors (= people in different social contexts). NB: intertextuality = relationship between different texts and how they influence or reference each other's. Purpose: highlight how texts gain meaning through their connections to other texts, creating a network of relationships. Ex: oxford’s ad uses Shakespeare’s famous phrase to select the demographic.

THE FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE – Roman Jakobson JAKOBSON’S FUNCTIONS → this is an abstract model = often many functions coexist. Verbal communications can have 6 functions:

  1. Referential = on a message where there are many references to the context (ex in adv);
  2. Emotive = emphasis on emotions or feelings to persuade the audience;
  3. Conative = the aim is to influence the behavior of the audience (trough imperative language for ex);
  4. Phatic = emphasis to establishes a contact with the audience (catchy slogans, rhymes, musicality);
  5. Metalinguistic = going beyond the text to explain something;
  6. Poetic = emphasis on the aesthetic qualities of language. Examples (ppt lez. 3-4) EX --> PSA that warns about the danger of smoking
  • Referential function: informs on the danger of smoking;
  • Emotive function: the message shows smoking as a slow form of harm and provoke a reaction in the viewer;
  • Conative function: guides the viewer toward a specific behavior;
  • Phatic function: the ad grab viewers' attention trough a visual contrast;
  • Poetic function: “quick” and “slow” creates a verbal metaphor (comparison) --> it is successful when it is immediate and creates an artistic impact. EX 2 --> WWF AD (fish morphing into a plastic bottle to evidence the awful consequences of pollution). NB: Metaphoric messages work better on an older audience, because they’re less warned about changes in future BUT they concerned about changes from the world they were born in VS for younger people, a more realistic message is more effective. ELEMENTS OF A PRINT AD --> VERBAL SIGNS
  • Brand name : name of a single company that permits them to immediately identify their category (having or not a brand name is always intentional).
  • logo: pictorial representation that signifies a company (pictogram - image or logotype - verbal) --> color, layout, font and typeface;
  • Slogan : a short and easy-to-remember phrase (Ex: “just do it” Nike, “I'm lovin’ it” McDonald's) --> many are structured in 3 elements because 3 words work well on a verbal level;
  • Headline : most imp. elements on a visual level. It is the central element of an ad, and usually printed in larger type, separated from the rest of the textual part. 2 types of headlines: direct (informative on the product) or indirect (more cryptic, challenging, provocative... They usually ask something, and they give the response in the body copy).
  • subhead: is used to expand the headline (es response of the question in the headline);
  • Body copy : main textual part of an ad which can present or describe the product (usually with technological/skincare product or also add a “scientific” description) --> es Lego, cars...

LAYOUT (composition) = The way interactive elements are integrated into a meaningful whole. Kress and van Leeuwen invented in 1996 the three layout’s principles:

  1. Information value = relationship between placement of element and information's values based on their position.
  • Horizontal axis:
    • RIGHT = new, something which is not yet known and that readers are more attracted to;
    • LEFT = given, something readers are supposed to already know.
  • Vertical axis:
    • TOP = ideal (idealized or generalized essence of the information, the product’s promise – larger part, brighter color...);
    • BOTTOM = real (practical information).
  • Center/margin: the center is seen as the nucleus of the information while all the other elements are secondary.
  1. salience = elements in an image which creates focal points → a text can be read on a hierarchy of importance. NB visual weight: salience of any element; the greater the visual weight is, the more attention it attracts. It is based on: ▫ Size; ▫ Sharpness of focus; ▫ Tonal contrast; ▫ Color contrasts (es. red); ▫ Placement in the visual field (objects appear heavier towards the top and to the left); ▫ Perspective (objects in the foreground are more salient); ▫ Overlap (objects on top are more salient).
  2. framing (cornice) = its presence or not can connect or disconnect elements of the image. Connectedness can be emphasized by vectors → when humans look at digital texts, they don’t look at it in a linear way BUT they jump from one piece of information to another. Rule of thirds → the canvas is divided into 9 equal rectangles, and the important elements are placed in the crosspoints of the rectangle or along the intersecting lines. SHOT’S TYPES ❖ Wide = entire scene, cover a wide area, shows the whole figure of subjects and their surroundings; ❖ Long (or full) = it focuses more on the subjects, from head to toes, but also on the environment; ❖ Medium long (three quarters) = Frames the subject from the waist up, balancing subject and background; ❖ Medium close up = Frames a subject's head and cuts off around mid-chest. Reveals only a little of the surroundings. ❖ Close up = all focus on the face and mid-neck, it captures emotions and facial expression; ❖ Extreme close up = just the subject’s facial expression; High Angle = Camera looks down on the subject, making them appear smaller or weaker; Low Angle = Camera looks at the subject, making them appear larger or more powerful.

EMOTIONAL APPEALS

Persuasion (linguist Ferrari, 2018): Persuasion is a dynamic, intersubjective process. dynamic (=something that is continually changing), intersubjective (= relating/involving 2 or more subjects) --> it involves a persuader and a persuadee Powerful emotions for persuasion: FEAR and GUILT Emotions are complex; they’re the results of cognitive assessment of a situation, physiological arousal, a subjective set of feelings, motivation to behave in a certain way and facial expressions. --> our brain has to understand what we’re experiencing to stimulate an emotion and moves it to our face (= expression). Primary emotions:

  • Happiness
  • Sadness
  • Fear
  • Disgust
  • Anger
  • Surprise = universal, can be experienced by everyone. They're innate and occur as immediate reactions to stimuli.
  • secondary emotions:
  • Guilt
  • Pride
  • Shame
  • Jealousy
  • Embarrassment = more complex, they develop with social and cognitive maturity. They are responses to a primary emotion or a mix of them (ex anxiety as a response to fear). FEAR APPEALS = a type of persuasive communication that tries to scare people into changing their attitudes by showing the negative consequences that will occur if they won’t. It's not only applied in PSA but also in politicians' campaigns and in product marketing (ex for personal hygiene products through fear of embarrassment – bad breath/smell). Eco-anxiety is a particular example = chronic fear or worry about environmental damage and climate change. It is particularly common among younger people who feel a strong sense of responsibility. Not recognized yet as a medical condition. WWF climate change ads --> the fear of change is more felt among older people, while younger people are used to changes. Fear appeals evoke different reactions in people:
  • Sense of being haunted by our own past;
  • Pain in the individual that produces a gain. NB: It’s impossible to just give facts because 80% of humans’ thoughts are unconscious (Lakoff’s view) = working on emotion and emotional responses is more effective. --> persuaders start from a fact and raise a scenario which can also be unlikely. Anyway, fear do not always succeed: Too scary = backfire and scare individuals too much; Not enough scary = perceived irrelevant to their needs, farfetched, silly. WHY? People do not like to admit that negative events can happen to them too. People can actually experience two types of denial:
  • Unrealistic optimism = people perceive that bad things are less likely to happen to them;
  • Illusion of invulnerability = people believe that they’re less likely to experience bad experiences in their life. = thinking the probability of risk is lower, they think they could deal with it later. = Persuaders must convince message recipients that: A. They are vulnerable to negative outcomes; B. The recommended action will alleviate the threat. EPPM = Extended Parallel Process Model (Witte, 1998) shows how fear appeals work. Any fear message contains 2 elements:
  • Threat = convincing about the existence of dangers. Threat-oriented elements:
  • Severity information: the seriousness of the threat

- Susceptibility information: the probability that threats will occur

  • Efficacy = effective responses to the danger:
    • Response efficacy = information about the effectiveness of the suggested action
    • Self-efficacy information = the individual is presented as capable of performing the recommended actions. Each of these messages triggers 2 possible cognitive reactions in the mentally health person:
  • Danger control = deal with the external problem
  • Fear control = focus defensively to calm anxiety They work in a balance, and we should be able to move from one to the other --> fear appeal works only if it pushes the individual from fear control to danger control. EPPM, being a model has some delimitations:
  1. Inconsistent support from empirical studies;
  2. Does not provide a precise “recipe” x the perfect fear appeal;
  3. Does not consider the different familiarity with the issue in each person;
  4. The effect of fear and its combination with other emotions can be understated. = the level of fear must be high to be effective + eliminate the illusion of invulnerability --> Persuader must discuss solutions as well as problems = they must teach as well as scare. Efficacy recommendations should emphasize the costs of not taking precautions + benefits for behaving. How to frame (=formulare) the message:
  • Gain-framed = emphasize the benefits pf adopting a behavior --> more effective in promoting positive health behavior;
  • Loss-framed = present the costs of not adopting the behavior --> more complex and work when individuals feel vulnerable. GUILT APPEALS Also very diffused in PSA. Insite guilt works as a primary emotion = remorse for failing to do something that we should do.
  • A guilt appeal must provoke empathy;
  • Induce individuals to perform a particular helping behavior;
  • Reminder of cultural norms (ex: helping the less fortunate). Guilt appeal is based on the DPPM (Basil model, 2008) 2 key processes:
  • Efficacy = perception that the proposed behavior can actively produce a changes;
  • Empathy = it has to touch our sense of social norm and social responsibility (if we feel involved, we’re more likely to act).
  1. Ethos = credibility --> the purpose is to persuade the audience of the speaker’s or brand’s credibility by adding real or imaginary experts (“this product Is recommended by dermatologist/ dentists”). Very used for body care because it concerns everyone - -> linked to unconscious fears such as not smelling good or not having nice teeth or skin.
  2. Pathos = emotions - -> appealing to the audience emotion (often negative). Its purpose is to create an emotional connection by appealing to human aspects (ex – animal, children, charity).
  3. Logos = logic - -> appealing to logic through structured arguments, facts, statistics, reasoning in the verbal resources. The purpose is to persuade by demonstrating the rationality of the argument. Now this is less used but still common in technology ads. The 3 pillars can be in relation because they influence each other, or the text can perform all or some of them.

FIGURES OF SPEACH

They're very common in ads because they make the language more interesting and elaborate; they grab the audience's attention. They can be present in every level of text (body copy etc...). Metaphors = figure of speech in which a name or descriptive word or phrase is transferred to an object or action different from, but analogous to, that to which it is literally applicable. It is an implicit comparison, in an indirect way. In advertisements they combine the consumer’s knowledges with the new information given about the product. They make any phrases more concrete and more understandable. NB: Everything we say is in fact metaphorical --> none of the words we use refers directly to the object we’re talking about. The only things that aren’t metaphorical are onomatopes --> sound “boom” refers directly to that sound/the explosion. De Saussure distinguishes between:

  • signifier = form that a sign takes (spoken word, image, written text).
  • signified = the concept/idea that the signifier represents. Saussure emphasizes that there is no inherent connection between a word (signifier) and the concept it represents (signified); the connection is established by social conventions. Together, the signifier and signified form a sign, which is the basic unit of meaning in Saussure's model. Subtypes of metaphor:
  • Conceptual/cognitive metaphor: Lakoff and Johnson (“Metaphors we live by”) --> once a new metaphor is included it triggers a system; from that moment forward we frame a new concept (ex: the cold war). They tend to explain one or more concepts in a more concrete way to recall embodiment (ex: being up/down = being happy/sad). The process of a conceptual metaphor is called TRANSFER, and it links: Source domain (=where you take meaning/characteristics; the concrete object used to make a comparison) --> Target domain (= the concept you want to explain). NB: the metaphor isn’t just the text, the visual element, it has a deeper meaning. Example : Time is money Source domain = MONEY (precious, valuable, not to waste, scarce) Target domain = TIME
  • Visual metaphor: Not textual metaphor --> representation of a person/thing/place through a similarity with an image. Example : Italy’s zones map during covid = we associate different colors to the situation in that region (we unconsciously connect red to the traffic light).
  • Dead metaphor: idiomatic phrases that originally were metaphors but now are not thought of as such anymore (concept of everything is metaphorical). ex: legs of the table, eye of the needle... Metaphors in ADs --> are frequently used in ads because they contribute to creating a story. The storytelling aspect is what every campaign aims to do because it immediately attracts attention (VS until 1950 ad used more verbal resources and was a simple presentation of the advantages of the product).

Pun A joke that plays on words — usually using a word that has multiple meanings or two words that sound alike to create a humorous effect. Puns are often used to generate humor in ads because funny content is more likely to be remembered and shared, increasing the brand's visibility. Using irony also comports the risks of misunderstanding or creating an offensive ad. FIGURES OF SOUND When the sound of a word or a phrase generates a particular effect, It can be called a “figure of sound”. Assonance = repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming. Consonance = repetition of consonants in neighboring words with different vowel sounds. Alliteration = repetition of the first or second letter in a series of words to create rhythm (used in brand names or slogans). Rhyme = repetition of similar sounds at the final syllables of 2 or more words.

  • Homeoteleuton = is not an exact rhyme but nearby. Onomatopoeia = words that phonetically describe or resemble the sound that it describes (only onomatopoeias response to the relation between signifier and signified). SOUND EFFECTS They can be further framed in:
  • Phonesthetics: A study of the qualities of the figures of sounds.

- Sound symbolism = some sounds are naturally associated with specific meanings (es GL- relate

to light).

  • Sensory modality = verbs that refer to our senses.

- Prosody = rhythm or melody of speech, its musicality. It includes:

▪ Pitch (how high or low your voice is), ▪ Stress (which syllables or words are emphasized) ▪ Timing (pauses or speech speed).

  • Iambic trimeter = Iambic means each "foot" (a unit of rhythm) has two syllables: the first is unstressed (soft), and the second is stressed (strong). Trimeter means there are three feet in each line.

COO (= country of origin) EFFECT It uses country stereotypes to emphasize an ad.

  • It makes the ad/brand more recognizable;
  • It can change the perception of the brand;
  • It can also have a negative impact on the brand. Ex – Dolce & Gabbana ▫ Attractive for non Italian because the ad isn’t just selling clothes but also the Italian culture BUT for real Italians it can look dated and disrespectful. Bottega Veneta instead uses a more implicit COO = the hands symbolize the Italian handcrafting + it recalls Michelangelo’s creazione. FALLACIES = misleading or deceptive techniques used to manipulate audience’s perceptions about a brand/product --> they create a false sense of credibility, appeals... Most common types:
  • Ad hominem fallacy = creating doubt around the credibility of a competitor BUT in an implicit way, or it would be illegal, they need to be careful;
  • Appeal to authority fallacy = ad uses authoritary voice or an expert to promote the product (ex dentists, dermatologists);
  • Bandwagon fallacy = plays on the human tendency to follow the crowd --> Oral-B ad (“over a million Australians has already tried it”);
  • False cause fallacy (or post-hoc fallacy) = relationship between 2 events or actions in a cause-and-effect relationship;
  • False dilemma fallacy (or either-or fallacy) = the ad presents 2 options, but there are actually more solutions;
  • Slippery-slope fallacy = pushes viewers to think that a minor action or event will inevitably lead to a catastrophe (particularly in politician's messages);
  • Red herring = the ad presents an irrelevant point to distract the viewer from the key point of an issue. Because you receive that much information (but not about the product), you’re going to remember the ad and the product.
  • Traditional wisdom = traditional is better; it tries to give nostalgia to the viewer. Something true in the past also is in the present. --> ex Giovanni Rana is in every ad of his brand
  • Halo effect fallacy = ad uses a celebrity to promote a product. They take every positive attribute of the celebrity to implicitly let the audience think that they’ll be like him.
  • Columns = when an author writes typically on the same magazine about the same topic.
  • Reviews = critiques about many cultural products (albums, books, films...).
  • Essays = personal reflections on a specific topic, blending factual information with the author’s opinion. Audience = active participant in the communication process The framework Bell developed focuses on how writers adapt their language and communication strategies to their audience's understanding. It focuses on audience awareness = the consideration that writers and speakers have forward their audience (demographics, cultural background, knowledge level...); The language undergoes a modification (ex: vocabulary and style) to be used in communication, according to the audience. The purpose of communication is always aligned with the audience’s needs and interests to be reached. Audience can become an active participant in the communication process, and it was demonstrated in the media language research: Glasglow media group in “Bad News” (1976) critically analyzed the British news to understand biases in reporting = they found out that reporting bad news is more effective than reporting good news. in the news biases are subjective perspectives or prejudices that can influence how information is perceived. ➢ Political biases = references to ideologies of a certain political party. ➢ Selection biases (or selective appropriation) = some stories or prospectives are chosen over others (ex: focusing on violent events about a certain community, while ignoring the positive stories). ➢ Linguistic biases = choice of words and phrases can evoke emotional responses or issues in a certain light (ex: calling “propal” the protestants create a group, a minority). Consequences of bias:

1. Public perception: Bias in news reporting can shape public opinions on public issues,

affecting their relationship with politics and society.

  1. Trust Erosion: Persistent bias may lead to skepticism and lead people to question the credibility of news sources and seek alternative information.
  2. Polarization: Biased reporting can contribute to polarization, as individuals will be more likely to reinforce their existing beliefs rather than challenge them. To address the problem of bias, there are some “soluctions”:
  • Media literacy: it can help audiences to evaluate news resources and understand protential biases.
  • Fact-checking: can help combat misinformation and promote responsibility in news reporting.
  • Diverse news consumption: A variety of news sources can provide a more balanced understanding of events and reducing the influence of bias.

“Construction” of the news News is a product of discourse --> they’re not just text, but they play a social function, they inform citizens and keep them updated on what’s going on. Because of this, news isn’t just created; it’s a sort of artifact. A news is not found, but an event is selected and transformed into news. Between the happening of a fact and the production of a news, there’s a process in which there are many factors involved, but the first step is the selection of whether the event is worth to become a news. Nowadays this is particularly relevant, because news is published 24hours daily on certain channels (“24 hours news cycle” was born after Kennedy’s death). News values = elements that establish if events are newsworthy:

  1. Timely: recent
  2. Negative: war, disaster, crime (very negative facts are usually more presented on online news outlets)
  3. Novel: unexpected or bizarre
  4. Related to celebrities: regarding celebrities and VIPS
  5. Geographically close
  6. Culturally close
  7. Attributable to an authoritative source (with quotes)
  8. Factual: include supporting evidence
  9. Numerical: the bigger, the more newsworthy
  10. Personal: focused on individual experiences
  11. Relevant: affects readership
  12. Continuous: similar events already in the news Structure of a typical news report (typically in print news):
  13. The nucleus is always written in such a way to condense all the important information; it must grab the audience’s attention.
  14. The body is divided into satellites = not just a paragraph; they can be a part of it or more paragraphs. They're usually not linked to each other; they’re independent units (they refers to the 5W). They elaborate and extend information contained in the nucleus.
  15. The wrap up, even if visually is at the end, isn’t a conclusion (= rielaborazione di ciò che è stato detto fino a quel momento), but it comes directly from the nucleus. NB: the only genre of news where there’s a conclusion is the opinion editorial.

Evaluation To evaluate = judge something, assign value to it. It often reflects the speaker's stance toward a subject. In linguistics, through meanings and using specific words, we convey hidden judgment. Just changing 1 word in a phrase, we can convey a perspective and try to influence the reader. Evaluation is also used to align with readership --> every news channel is aligned with its audience and share news that appeals to that target. It can be:

  • Explicit = the writer’s opinion is clearly visible --> ex: Reckless driver causes fatal accident on highway (=it wants to emphasize the event).
  • Implicit = reveal a stance (more complex, about wider themes), not an opinion. It involves the choice of words rather than using explicit adjectives --> ex: drivers involved in highway accident leave scene without notifying police (=no classification of the driver but it infers a negative opinion in the reader). Writers often play with evaluative elements in an implicit way to still give their opinion without influencing the readers and make them read the article even if they don’t have the same idea. Elements of evaluation --> not specific words but stretches of language that can be positive, negative or neutral. Ex: Respected scientists publish new research offering promising insights that may revolutionize medicine. --> these are all clearly evaluative opinions, not objective affirmations. Difference between Denotative meaning = the literal definition of a word that you can find in a dictionary; Connotative meaning = the emotional, cultural or symbolic associations a word carries. EX: snake = a type of reptile BUT also an adjective to describe someone badly. Also, words with the same meaning can have more levels connotatively: Ex: kill > murder > slaughter = on the connotative level, every word adds a layer to the meaning, the cruelty increases. NB: Absolute synonyms do not exist! --> they cannot be used interchangeably in every context. Semantic prosody (or discourse prosody) = refers to how some words that appear neutral can actually take negative or positive connotations based on the context. Unlike connotation, which is more subjective, semantic prosody is discovered through actual usage. EX: trigger ... − fear − A reaction − A gun − violence − Memories Another element that conveys evaluation is loaded Language = Language that carries strong emotional or persuasive connotations beyond its literal meaning. It is often used to influence perception or emotional reactions.
  • Euphemism: An indirect term used to avoid unpleasant truths.
  • Dysphemism: The use of offensive terms to provoke a negative response. Often used in satire, criticism... EX: Tone-Deaf (derogatory term; it means “indifferent to your worries") City Leaders Face Backlash Over Housing Policies
  • Doublespeak: deliberate use of vague language by government, military, corporate organizations designed to obscure, confuse, or mislead. EX: “casualties” refers to the civil victims of an accident. − Presupposition: assumptions within statements or questions that shape their meaning. Presuppositions subtly guide audience thinking and can reinforce stereotypes or expectations. APPRAISAL THEORY (Martin & White, 2005) Appraisal is a framework that explains how speakers express, negotiate, and align attitudes and values through language. It was elaborated within Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) = a theory of language developed by Halliday, that views language primarily as a resource people use to make meaning in context. It emphasizes that language choices are functional. To make meaning, language uses 3 metafunctions to explain different aspects of language in contexts:
  • Ideational metafunction = represents experiences and knowledge of the world;
  • Interpersonal metafunction = creates different relationships between speaker and listener.
  • Textual metafunction = organizes messages coherently with the situation. NB : SFL = language as a meaning-making system in context. Appraisal = how evaluation and stance are formed based on that system. Appraisal theory --> studies how evaluation goes beyond personal emotion to reveal social positioning, ideology... Through appraisal theory we can make evaluation visible and analyzable. Although appraisal theory describes evaluation in linguistic terms, the concept of evaluation itself is wider and came before it. There are 3 main categories of evaluative meaning:
  1. Attitude = how judgment is expressed in the text. It refers to how we feel and evaluate. 3 subcategories:
  • Affect = personal emotions or feelings (ex: happy, worried, afraid...);
  • Judgement = relates to how we judge behaviors according to social norms (ex: honest/dishonest, brave/cowardly);
  • Appreciation = we use it when we want to evaluate something in social terms to create a sort of comparison (ex: beautiful). EX: “This courageous nation has overcome terrible odds” --> affect (courageous), judgement (terrible), appreciation (overcome = implies success, we’re appreciating it).
  1. Engagement = how multiple voices (point of view) compare their acknowledgements. How we position ourselves towards other voices. It can be:
  • Monoglossic = presents just one truth; it closes the debate and creates certainty.
  • Heteroglossic – dialogic contraction = limits alternative viewpoints, affirms reality; asserts dominance and reinforces speaker’s stance (ex: obviously, of course...);
  • Heteroglossic – dialogic expansion = it lets space for other points of view (ex: it seems that...). EX: “Experts claim the new measure will worsen inflation” --> engagement: expands dialogic space by attributing evaluation to experts.
  1. Graduation = how intensity or preciseness of evaluation is adjusted. How we scale intensity or commitment. It gives text their rhetorical power (irony, exaggeration, emphasis...)