Some Register Characteristics of

Journalistic Language
Written in English by Native Speakers and
Arabs: A Comparative Study

Dr. Badriah K. Al-Gublan

English Department ,College of Education in Riyadh.
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

10 Vol. 20-N0.1- Thulhija 1428AH. January 2008

 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language

Written in English by Native Speakers and Arabs:
A Comparativee Study

Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

English Department ,College of Education in Riyadh ,Fax No.4912402,
e-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This study analyzes some characteristics of discourse
structure in the language of quite unmarked register which
discusses political issues that represent a reporter’s point of
view. The register is, therefore, a political field, in a written
mode, and mostly in a formal style. The study is based on an
interlinguistic analysis of functional markers and textual
functions used in English by native English and Arab writers.
It specifically studies the ways in which quotation marks
(QMs) are combined with other functional markers in the
discourse units to imply certain variations of a reporter’s
reliability of his/her points of view. The data for this study
were collected from one hundred journalistic articles written in
English in four newspapers: USA Today and Daily Mail
written by native English speakers, and Arab News and
Egyptian Gazette by Arabs. Twenty five articles are taken
from each newspaper during the years 2005 and 2006. The
theoretical framework used in this study is Halliday’s systemic
functional approach. It includes the ideational function which
deals with content, the interpersonal function which is
concerned with reader –writer relationships and the textual
function which deals with the text and discourse. Moreover,
this study depends on Holliday's concept of ‘register’. The
study concludes with findings and implications.

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 11
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

‫ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻟﺒﻌﺾ ﳑﻴﺰﺍﺕ ﺍﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﳋﺎﺻﺔ ﺑﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻟﺼﺤﺎﻓﺔ ﺍﳌﻜﺘﻮﺑﺔ ﺑﺎﻟﻠﻐﺔ ﺍﻻﳒﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ ﻣﻦ‬
‫ﺩﺭﺍﺳﺔ ﻣﻘﺎﺭﻧﺔ‬: ‫ﻗﺒﻞ ﻣﺮﺍﺳﻠﻲ ﺍﻟﺼﺤﺎﻓﺔ ﻣﺘﺤﺪﺛﻲ ﺍﻻﳒﻠﻴﺰﻳﺔ ﻛﻠﻐﺘﻬﻢ ﺍﻷﻡ ﻭ ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺏ‬
‫א‬K
‫ﻣﻠﺨﺺ اﻟﺒﺤﺚ‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬K‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬ ‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬K
 ‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬ ‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬K‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
E
 ‫א‬F
 ‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
K‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬

‫א‬‫א‬
Arab News ، Daily Mail، USA Today W
 ‫א‬
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬KK٢٠٠٦ J٢٠٠٥W‫א‬KEgyptian Gazette
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬K?‫א‬‫א‬?
‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬
‫א‬ K
 ‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬،‫א‬
 K‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬‫א‬K‫א‬‫א‬

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 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

0. INTRODUCTION
With the rising interest in sociolinguistics ,there has
been much discussion of the notion of register, mostly related
to various classifications of the extra-linguistic circumstances
which determine linguistic choice.
Register is defined by Halliday, McIntosh and Stevens
(1964) as a variety of language used in a particular situational
context. It has been determined by correlating the features of
situational context with lexical, grammatical and phonological
features of text. Situational context is viewed as the setting in
which linguistic acts take place. The situational dimensions of
register do not merely provide the setting for a text but actually
determine its nature.( Morley 1985)
Register accounts for contextual dimensions of socio-
cultural meaning. Consequently, the semiotic features of
register thus mediate between the social system of a culture
and the semantic system of a language. In other words, for
any given register ,the selection of the semiotic features
available characterizes the situational context and governs the
choice of semantic options.( ibid 1985)
One of the most useful classification is the three
dimentional one suggested by Halliday, McIntosh and Stevens
(1964) which is as follows : field of discourse, mode of
discourse , and tenor or style of discourse. Field , which
specifies the subject matter alone, (cookery, sport, politics,
religion, etc.) includes reference to the persons and things
involved (persons, things, abstractions, places, events, or
states), to the qualities or attributes of the entities involved and

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 13
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

to the circumstances of the activities (time, manner, location,

etc.).
Mode refers to the medium and channel of the text and
incorporates various combinations of the basic two modes,
spoken and written. As a consequence of the mediating role
which register plays between the social system and the
sementic networks in the linguistic system, the semiotic
dimensions of register are directly related to the semantic
components of the grammar.
Field is seen as determining the features of the
ideational component which accounts for the underlying
context of an utterance; the tenor is the interpersonal
component which
deals with interactional and personal aspects ; and the
mode is the texual component which accounts for the thematic
organization and the information structure of the propositional
content of a sentence.
Tenor is divided into personal tenor and functional
tenor. Personal tenor is concerned with the social roles of
participants , together with their status , relationship, and
personalities; it, thus, handles the degrees of formality,
familiarity, and technicality of linguistic exchanges.
Functional tenor embodies the area handled by role; it is
concerned with determining the social function or the role of
an utterance, and with identifying the purpose for which the
language is being used, e.g. description, direction, request, etc.
1. RELATED LITERATURE
Along with theoretical studies, there are different
approaches in register studies which are concerned with less

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 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

marked varieties in the written mode and which deal mainly

with linguistic analysis at the morphological, lexical and
syntactic levels, such as the study done by Chiu (1973) which
was about the frequency of lexical and specialized verbs in
government administrative writing. Wallace (1981) studied the
frequency of passive verbs, differences in sentence length and
lexical borrowing in news and sports stories in the daily press.
Hafez (2001) conducted an analysis of the lexical choices in
news headlines in two types of print media: prestige and
tabloid press. A comparative study of English, French and
Hebrew ,done by Weizman (1981), dealt with the notion of
discourse characteristics of registers and the question of the
universality of their function markers and texual functions.
Weizman (1984) also studied the interlingual linguistic,
pragmatic,
textual, and contextual factors in information processing
of the implied referents of the utterances used in journalistic
discourses in Canadian English and Parisian French.

2.THE OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

This study analyzes some characteristics of discourse
structure in the language of a quite unmarked register which
discusses different political issues which represent a reporter’s
point of view. The register is, therefore, a political field, in a
written mode, and mostly in a formal style. The study is based
on an interlinguistic analysis of functional markers and textual
functions used in English by native English and Arab writers.
It intends specifically to study the way in which quotation
marks (QMs) are combined with other functional markers in

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 15
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

discourse unit to imply certain variations of a reporter’s

reliability of his/her point of view.
3. DATA COLLECTION
The data for this study were collected from one hundred
journalistic articles written
in English in four newspapers: USA Today and Daily
Mail written by native English
speakers, and Arab News and Egyptian Gazette, by native
Arabic speakers writing in English. Twenty five articles were
taken from each newspaper during the years 2005 and 2006.
4. THE APPROACH
The framework used in critical linguistics is Halliday’s
systemic functional approach.
It examines the structure of a large linguistic text or
discourse1 and it integrates a great deal of structural
information with social information. [ Fairclough (1992),
Fowler, et al. (1979)]. This framework includes the following:
(1) the ideational function (dealing with content),
(2) the interpersonal function (having to do with reader –
writer relationships)and
(3) the textual function (dealing with the text and
discourse). This study is also supported by Halliday’s concept
of ‘register’.
5. THE ASSUMPTIONS
The analysis is based on the following assumptions:
1. Any analysis of register characteristics should account
for various ways in which linguistic devices are combined and

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 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

the way they interact in discourse units to fulfill their

pragmatic function in the text.
2. Register characteristics are not necessarily universal.
Combining the analyses of two linguistic devices: functional
markers and textual functions, an interlingual comparison
might suggest three possibilities:
2.1 Writers of different languages differ at the level of
textual functions.
2.2 Writers of different languages differ at the level of
functional markers.
2.3 Writers of different languages differ at both levels.
6. THE RELIABILITY FUNCTION
The use of the QMs is the most obvious functional
marker in most of the journal articles reported, i.e. quoting
direct speech to imply that a reporter is not responsible at all
for the utterance written in QMs. This is shown in examples
(1)-(4) below:
(1) Tthere ,he is not there .If he [Bin Laden] were in
Pakistani President Pervez Masharraf 's press secretary, Gen.
Shauka Sultan said : " No one is ever sure where Bin Laden is.
The President has always said that he could be in the border
region…As per our information, he is not Pakistani, he would
have been caught by now.”
Raid Quisti
Arab News June 26,2005
(2) "I am concerned about the rise of violence in
Afghanistan, the Afghan people are concerned with the rise of

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 17
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

violence in Afghanistan, and the international community is

concerned with the rise of violence in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan' s President Hamid Karzin told a news conference
in Tokyo on the last day of a four-day visit".
Mohamed Abul Hadeed
Egyptian Gazette,June 26,2005
(3) “ The London attacks have all sorts of implications
for us Miani Police Chief John Timoney says. "If these guys
did not appear on the radar screen before the attacks, it raises
the question of how many more are out there and how
many are here” he says.” We have not faced these kinds of
attacks before, and the incidents in London bring it that much
closer"
Kevin Johnson
USA Today, June 15,2005
(4)Stephen Byers…The former Transport Secretary
…said: “ It was not a truthful statement and I apologize for
that. I can’t remember the motivations behind it.”
Ray Massey
Dail Mail, June 15,2005
The function of direct speech in QMs is to assure the
addressee of the accuracy and precision of the quotations,
thereby giving an assurance of the reporter’s reliability
(Weizman 1984, p.41).
6.1 To ensure the fulfillment of the reliability function,
QMs are combined with functional markers:

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 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

6.1.1. The use of the grammatical structure of direct

speech is usually marked by a colon to introduce the
quotation.
6.1.2. The explicit identification of the quoted source is
most often accompanied by modifiers, e.g. Pakistani President
Pervez Masharraf 's press secretary, Gen. Shauka Sultan;
Afghanistan' s President Hamid Karzin, Miami Police Chief
John Timoney, Stephen Byers…the former Transport
Secretary, which characterize him or her as being an authority
or a person of prestige.
6.1.3. The use of a declarative verb before, after, or
within the quotation.
6.1.4. The use of a complete sentence or a comprehensive
discourse unit within QMs.
7. THE ATTITUDE FUNCTION
A quite different use of QMs is used to imply a whole
variety of attitudes of a reporter towards the utterance in QMs.
These attitudes range from 'careful reservation' to 'ironic
criticism'. The object of these attitudes can be the propositional
content of the utterance in QMs, or the way it is structured ,
i.e. the linguistic character of the utterance, or even both of
them. (Weizman 1984, pp. 41-42 ).
The sub-varieties of the attitude function utterances are
illustrated in examples (5)-(8) below:
(5) The former Transport Secretary told the High Court
that a statement he made to a House of commons
subcommittee was “not truthful”…
Mr. Byers is accused of forcing Railtrack into
Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 19
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

administration in order to avoid having to pay compensation

to the shareholders.
When he was questioned by the subcommittee, he said he
had not been aware of a change in Railtrack’s status being
discussed before July 25,2001.
But yesterday he was challenged over this version of
events by the shareholders’ barrister, Keith Rowley QC. who
produced documentary evidence showing that the work had
already started at the time. This included e-mails and notes
from Department of Transport officials showing that taking
Railtrack into administration had been one of the options
being discussed as early as June.
Mr.Byers said: “It was not a truthful statement and I
apologize for that. I can’t remember the motivations behind
it.”
Ray Hassy
Daily Mail,July15,2005
(6) The column’s date is important because the law
against unmasking the identities of US spies says a “covert
agent” must have been on an overseas assignment within the
last five years…
The leaking of Valerie Palmer's identity started a chain
of events that now has the White House at the center of a
political firestorm as some Democrats demand President Bush
fire close aide Karl Rove. Rove discussed Palmer’s CIA
connection with Time reporter Mathew Cooper in 2003,
though without naming her, according to Rove’s attorney.
Mark Memmott
USA Today, June 15,2005

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(7)While top Israel and Palestinian officials met here

yesterday to talk security, a US senator dispensed bitter pills
to Arab leaders: the United States is not ready to risk the
prestige needed to create a Palestinian state and America’s
priority is to secure Israel in a way that, “if possible,” is just
to the Palestinians.
Sen Gordon Smith,a Republican from Oregon said that
the peace process-aimed at bringing about an independent
Palestinian state-is unlikely to win a serious commitment from
the Bush Administration “ Until we have someone on the other
side who is willing to say “yes”, we ’re not going to continue
to prostitute the American presidency to people who aren’t
serious,” Smith said.
America’s top commitment in the Middle East is to
secure Israel in a way that , “if possible,” is just to the
Palestinians, Smith bluntly told a prestigious panel that
included Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa and
top officials from Jordon…
“ Obviously one of the greatest commitments that we
have is to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, to try and
manage the difficult process of the peace there and securing
that nation, and doing so in a way that ,' if possible,' is just to
the Palestinians,” Smith said.
Samir Al-Saad
Arab News,May,22,2005
(8) The governing Hamas movement warned that violence in
which 20 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were killed on

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 21
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

Thursday had hurt efforts to free a captured corporal and said

the Jewish state would "pay the price for every drop of blood."
The European Union accused Israel of "disproportionate use
of force." In a possible sign of softening on Israel's part, a
cabinet minister raised the prospect that Israel could free
some prisoners as a "goodwill gesture". If Shalit was released
and all Palestine attacks stopped. Interior minister Avi Dicher
,an influential former internal security chief, said that if Shalit
was freed and rocket fire and other attacks stopped then Israel
might be ready to "release prisoners to fulfill" goodwill
gesture".

Mohamed Abul Hadeed

Egyptian Gazette,July 14,2006

In example (5), the reporter uses the QMs to quote certain
elliptical sentences from the source statement to show that he
(the reporter) does not assume any responsibility for the
opinion of the statement quoted in the High court. These
elliptical sentences in the QMs can be understood as implying
the reporter's rejection to all the lies told by the former
transport secretary ,such as "not truthful" “not been aware” “ I
can’t remember”. This textual function indicates the reporter's
attitude of 'careful reservation' towards the propositional
content of the utterances in QMs.

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 Some Register Characteristics of Journalistic Language Written in English …

Similarly in example (6), the reporter uses the QMs to

quote certain loaded words from the source statement ,such as
,“agent” and “covert” within indirect speech, to show that he
does not assume any responsibility for the use of these words
by the High court.
This textual technique ,i.e. quoting certain loaded words ,
can be understood as an indication of the reporter’s 'careful
reservation' towards the fundamental political notion conveyed
by these loaded lexical choices: “agent” and" covert”.
In examples (7) and (8), the reporter uses QMs to imply
his 'ironic rejection ' of the
propositional content of the utterance in the QMs.
Moreover, this textual technique ,i.e. the repetition of the same
elliptical clause, “if possible” in example (7), and " goodwill
gesture"
in (8) shows the reporter’s 'ironic rejection' of the
American president's negative attitude towards the Palestinian
case.
Unlike the reliability function (6.1), in which QMs are
combined only with one list of functional markers; the attitude
function is fulfilled by four major combinations which are
shown below:
7.1. COMBINATION TYPE A
The objective affirmation and subjective evaluation as
well exist in this type of combination , as in example (5). The
functional markers used are as follows:
The use of elliptical sentences within QMs to show
objective affirmation, as in, “not truthful”. The insertion of
Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 23
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

such sentences in QMs within the indirect speech structure,

preceded by explicit mention of the quoted source to reflect
subjective evaluation, as in , "The former Transport Secretary
told the High Court that a statement he made to a House of
commons subcommittee was “not truthful”". The use of
declarative verbs, i.e. 'told' and 'said'. This Type implies an
attitude of reservation.
7.2. COMBINATION TYPE B
In this combination, the reporter’s attitude can be
encoded by using emotionally
loaded words within QMs to reflect the subjective
evaluation of the reporter, as in, 'covert agent' in example (6).
The QMs imply the reporter’s 'reservation' which is
directed at the single notion represented by the words in QMs,
as in, “The column’s date is important because the law against
unmasking the identities of US spies says a 'covert agent' must
have been on an overseas assignment within the last five
years”. The QMs may be decoded as implying 'reservation'
about the whole of the direct speech utterance.
7.3.COMBINATION TYPE C
This type is represented by examples ( 7), and (8 ). Here
three functional markers are combined as follows: the use of
repeated elliptical clauses, as in, “if possible”, in example (7)
and " goodwill gesture", in example (8).There is no explicit
mention of a quoted source. There is no use of declarative
verbs. These functional markers convey “ironic rejection”
rather than “reservation”.
A comparison between type A, type B and type C
indicates the following:

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The functional attitude in type C is more transparent

than in types A and B because of the functional marker used,
i.e .the repetition of the same quoted elliptical clause within
the indirect speech structure.
7.4 COMBINATION TYPE D
The functional attitude in type D differs from types A, B
and C in that it is fulfilled by a variety of linguistic devices
which rely not only on the notion of enunciations and
quotations, but also on semantic context.
The characteristics of type D utterances are shown in
examples (9)- (12) :
(9)US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, despite all the
hard evidence of repeated mistreatments of the prisoners,
humiliation and disrespect for their faith including incidents in
which guards at Guantanamo defiled the Holy Qur’an, still
denies facts and calls them “minor isolated incidents” and
remains “satisfied” with the situation in the prison.
Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Hajri
Arab News,May,18,2005
(10)Israel is bound by international law and the Geneva
Conventions to protect the Palestinian civilians who are living
under occupation." The Israelis are supposed to build
infrastructures for the Palestinians, not to destroy them. Nor
should they violate Palestinians' rights. " Israeli law is the
only system in the world that sanctions the use of torture
despite the 1984 UN Conventions against Torture and other
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment."
By Saad Mahmoud
Egyptian Gazette,July 20,2006

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 25
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

(11) A Muslim cleric with links to extremists has been

cleared by the Foreign Office to enter Britain this week to
preach at one of London influential mosques… His presence
flies in the face of Tony Blair's assurance in the wake of July 7
bombings that "the rules have changed" and that the presence
of extremist preachers would no longer be tolerated.
There has already been a better controversy over visits to
the UK by the religious leader Yusif Al-Qaradawi, who has
backed suicide bombers against Israel and violence against
Britain troops in Iraq.
One argued that his presence would breach Mr. Blair's
"zero tolerance " policy for so-called " preachers of hate".
Two years ago Mr. Blair told MPs, "We want nothing to
do with people who support suicide bombers in Palestine or
elsewhere ,or support terrorism.” He has defended Palestinian
suicide bombers who attack Israel as "a weapon which the
weak resort to".
By Benedict Brogan
Daily Mail,July14,2006
(12) The UN Security Council headed for a replay of its
divisive debate over Iran's nuclear ambitions, with the United
States, Britain and France at odds again with China and
Russia. But this time the stakes are higher…. Iran has refused
to stop enriching uranium as the council demanded a month
ago.
The council's three veto-wielding Western nations
immediately announced plans to introduce a new Security
Council resolution next week which would make Iran's
compliance with their demands mandatory. To intensify

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pressure, they want the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N.

Charter, which means it can be enforced through sanctions or
military action.
China and Russia, the two other countries with veto
power, oppose sanctions or military action and want the Iran's
nuclear issue resolved diplomatically, with the IAEA taking the
lead, not the Security Council.
Iran's President Mahamoud Ahmadinejad, remained
defiant, saying no Security Council resolution could make Iran
give up its nuclear program.
By Matthew Cutman
USA Today, April 29,2006
The attitude conveyed here is that of ‘ironic criticism’.
The textual functional devices used to fulfill this attitude
function are follows:
The use of elliptical clauses and phrases within QMs, as
in, “minor isolated incidents”, “satisfied” in example (9);
Blair's "zero tolerance "," preachers of hate", suicide bombers
… as "a weapon which the weak resort to" in example (11)
Such functional markers help a reporter convey the political
points he intends to criticize without showing any
responsibility for such criticism. The use of semantic
opposition of words or phrases 1 , as in,' repeated
mistreatments of the prisoners', 'humiliation',' disrespect for
their faith' and 'defiled the Holy Qur’an'are contradicted with
'minor isolated incidents' and 'satisfied' in example (9) Such
contradictions show the reporter's ironic criticism of the
carelessness and negative attitude of the USA Foreign minister
towards the hard situation of the prisoners. In example (10),
Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 27
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

'protect the Palestinian civilians', and ' build infrastructures for

the Palestinians' are contradicted by 'destroy them', 'violate
Palestinians' rights',' Torture',' Inhuman and ' Degrading
Treatment or Punishment'.
Since irony is conveyed by such semantic devices, it
would probably be successfully decoded even if the QMs
were omitted. This is in contrast to types A, B ,and C, where
the utterance would fail to fulfill its function if this
typographical device was not exploited.
As it is shown in the discussion above, the four major
combinations differ from the set of markers for the reliability
function. In spite of these variations, all four combinations
have one common functional marker in addition to the use of
the QMs, i.e. the incompleteness of the utterances in QMs.
8. MARKERS OF ATTITUDE FUNCTION: ARE
THEY UNIVERSAL?
One of the questions that arises at this point is whether
the combination types of the textual techniques and functional
markers are used equally by both English native and Arab
writers? This question will be answered below for each type
separately.
8.1 COMBINATION TYPE A
This kind of combination is used in English by both
English native and Arab writers. But it is used more frequently
by Arab writers (see the appendix) to help them be more
objective in reporting political issues and at the same time to
express their subjective evaluation without taking any
responsibility.

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8.2 COMBINATION TYPE B

This kind of combination is somewhat less transparently
decoded and, it is quite commonly used by the English native
writers (see the appendix).
8.3 COMBINATION TYPE C
Combination Type C is found quite frequently in the
political articles written by native speakers, and rarely used by
Arab writers (see the appendix).
8.4 COMBINATION TYPE D
Combination Type D is used more frequently by English
native speakers and only rarely by Arab writers (see the
appendix). In this combination, a reader is provided with more
devices which heighten the degree of transparence of
utterances and which enable the reader to understand the
attitude function more easily.
9. DEGREES OF IMPLICITNESS
On the basis of the differences in the register discussed
in this research, it is noticeable that in the journalistic language
of the political articles, there are differences in the degree of
implicitness and explicitness as reported in English by native
and Arab writers. The register of the political articles reported
by Arab writers is characterized by a high degree of
implicitness. There seems to be a very frequent use of
Combination Type A, combination Type B is rarely used, and
combination Type C and D, which are the most explicit of the
four, rarely exist in articles written by Arabs (see the
appendix).

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 29
 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

The register of the political articles reported by English

native writers is highly explicit. Combination Type A, which
is the most implicit of the four, is rarely used (see the
appendix), there is great frequent use of Combination Type B
and C, and there is frequent use of Combination Type D,
which is the most explicit of the all four types (see the
appendix).
10. CONCLUSION
10.1 Concluding Remarks
On the basis of an interlinguistic analysis of functional
markers and textual functions used in political articles reported
in English by English native and non-native speakers, some of
the characteristics of journalistic register of political reports
are clearly shown:
10.1.1 Any analysis of the characteristics of register
should account for the various ways in which linguistic
devices are combined and interact in discourse units to fulfill
their pragmatic function in the text.
10.1.2 Register characteristics are not universal. English
native and non-native speakers differ in the use of functional
markers. The main functional marker used in reporting
political articles by Arab reporters is the frequent use of
quotations. Arab reporters intend to give authenticity and
objectivity to the discourse. Moreover, they do not have the
desire to express their feelings and show their attitudes. They
also do not want to be involved in discussions of political
issues .Their only job is to quote what is exactly said or written
and to paraphrase it in few sentences. Such a functional
marker, i.e. the frequent use of quotations, helps him/her
highlight the political points he/she intends to criticize without

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showing any overt responsibility for such criticism. On the

contrary, English native speakers prefer not to quote
statements from the source directly, but to paraphrase them
and then comment on them. They usually take part in the
discussion, commenting on the political issues reported and
expressing their own feelings and attitudes. They sometimes
intend not to refer to the sources of the quotations.
10.1.3 Register characteristics of linguistic language are
not universal. In their journalistic reporting English native
speakers and Arabs differ at the level of textual functions.
They both use elliptical sentences and emotionally loaded
words within QMs, but Arab reporters use this technique more
frequently than native speakers (see the appendix) to help them
imply an attitude of careful reservation. English native
speakers and Arabs also use repeated elliptical clauses, but
these approaches are more commonly used by English native
speakers (see the appendix) to show explicitly their ironic
rejection. Ironic criticism is a functional attitude which is
shown by the use of a variety of linguistic devices that do not
only require the use of quotations, but also a semantic context
such as the use of elliptical clauses and phrases, the use of the
semantic opposition between words or phrases . This technique
is frequently used by native reporters and rarely by Arabs
(see the appendix).
10.1.4 The register of the political articles reported by
Arab writers is characterized by a high degree of implicitness,
while the register of the political articles reported by English
native writers is highly explicit.

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 Dr. Badriah K.Al-Gublan

11.IMPLICATIONAL FACETS
11.1 Implications for translation
In a good translation, the translator should take into
account the interplay between functional markers and textual
functions of the source language, on the one hand, and the
network of register conventions in the target language, on the
other.
Where attitude function is concerned, there are some
differences in levels of implicitness between the English
native speakers and the Arab writers. Translators should apply
the conventions of the target language to the text. It is
suggested that a good translation entails an appropriate shift in
the degree of implicitness.
11.2 Implications for second-language teaching
In the context of a pragmatically oriented approach to
language teaching, the notion of interlinguistic differences in
register conventions raises questions, such as, to what extent
can errors be predicted, resulting from the transfer of register
conventions from the learner's mother tongue to his or her
second language?. What are the correlations between the
differences in functional markers, on the one hand, and faulty
decoding of information or misinterpretation of textual
functions on the other?. How is the acquisition of register
competence in a second language affected by the nature of
registers with which the learner has been acquainted in his or
her mother tongue, in his or her second language, or in both?
At a more practical level, further inter-linguistic studies
of register conventions would heighten students' awareness of
the difficulties which are related to certain pairs of languages
in registers which the student is expected to master.

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Appendix
Numbers of times of the use of the Techniques of the
Pragmatic functions

Newspapers
Arab Egyptian USA Daily
News Gazette Today Mail
Pragmatic Techniques of No No No No
Functions functions
I-Reliability Direct speech in 178 108 42 38
of Function QMs
II-Functional attitudes
A-Certain elliptical 38 32 20 18
1-Careful sentences within
reservation QMs quoted from
source statements
B- Certain loaded 22 20 8 4
words within QMs
quoted from source
statements
2-Ironic Repetition of the 4 4 27 23
rejection same elliptical
clauses within
indirect speech
structures
3- Ironic A-Elliptical clauses 7 8 38 27
criticism and phrases within
QMs
B-Semantic 8 4 34 29
opposition between
words or phrases

Umm Al-Qura University Journal of Educational & Social Sciences & Humanities 37