Utilizing attributive patterns as a linguistic classification tool of newspapers

Abstract

The indices for the classification of newspapers have often focused on agenda-setting roles, economic position and size of newspapers, among others. Concerning newspapers in Africa, Moehler and Singh (2011) and Hasty (2005) assert that the only index for the classification of newspapers is ownership. The study, therefore, focuses on the patterns of the attributive mode of the transitivity system of Systemic Functional Grammar to propose a linguistic alternative index for classifying newspapers. The findings indicate that the patterns of attributions that occur are significant and viable enough to classify newspapers.