Stylistic Analysis on Online News Story Comments

zwwx@overseaen.comISSN 1009- -5039htp://ww.overseaen.comOverseas English海外英语Tel:+86- -551- -65690811 65690812Stylistic Analysis on Online News Story CommentsLI Pei(School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500,China)Abstract: TIfects on the evolution of the English language. With a corpus composed of 34 examples drawn from renowned news sites such asThe Washington Post, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, CNN and NBC, a detailed analysis on the stylistic features and effectsof the news story comments has been conducted for the purpose of discovering possible links between a poster’s linguistic behav-ior and his thought process. The result shows that interrogative, noun phrase and verb phrase are commonly used in news storycomments by virtue of their slightly ostentatious nature. Rhetorical devices such as metaphor, simile and parataxis are frequentlyemployed among comments. And the relationship between a poster”s educational background and his postings is also touched up-on at the end of this study.中图分类号:H315.9文献标识码:A 文 章编号: 1009- 5039(2013)21-0301-041 IntroductionComments on news stories by various news outlets online has 2 Methodsalways been fascinating for two reasons: firstly, they are often moreIn this study a corpus of 34 samples was collected in order towitty and interesting than the news itself for posters, unhinged byinvestigate the stylistic features of the news story comments. Thelegal complications with anonymity, can afford to be more free intheir choice of style than the ediors or counists. And secondly, Post, The Eeonomis, Wall Street Joumal, and CNN. Exmples withthey represent a whole new level of interaction because for some a comparatively considerble word counts are tged with its originhot topics, comments may go pages long, making the story morein this paper. Those with lesser words are mainly for pure stylistic .popular and google searchable.analysis, the bigger samples are listed separately because theirWhen blogs, facebook, twitter and youtube embraced discus-length allows for more detailed analysis on the context, hidden textsion from the very outset and perhaps thrived by doing so. The tra-and possible mentality of the posters.ditional news outlets also begin to understand the significance of3 Linguistic Propertiesthe shift in readers' need. The blogsphere was born as an interac-tive medium and has facilitated discussion groups and communi-The new function to comment on news stories of one’s interestties for years. On the contrary, it was not until the past couple of at established news sites atracted a pour of inputs fron would-beyears that the established news sites have empowered readers to .pundits, class clowns, provocateurs and regular Joes, as a result,comment directly on stories. Most major news media have created the news stories these potential posters are interested are rather ex-the comments section on their sites, some like BBC have editorstensive, ranging from celebrity gossips to the latest scoop in thesort out appropriate comments in the “editor' s pick” section to mid- east war zone. The variety of stories they comment on eventu-showcase insightful and interesting posts. One survey by AdAge ally influence what they write: from funny one- liners to insightfulfound that young adults were much more inclined to visit sites with analyses to ludicrous declarations to outrageous racial profiling.commenting. The added comments keep readers on the websites However dfferent they are from one another, their simiarity islonger and create engaged communities, which can turn into more:qually distinctive. We have to understand that only a very smallmoney- making opportunities through increased advertising, or in percentage of readers will conment on a given story, and most com-other words, better economy for the news media. Survey shows thatments come from a comparatively handful of frequent posters. Thiscomments can boost page views by 5- 15% and can serve as a start-has been known as the 90 -9- 1 rule, which means 90% of the read-ing point for social- media interaction on a news site. In a study iners are lurkers who won' t post anything at all, 9% write comments2009, SFGate.com averages almost 4 million page views a month occasionally and 1% contributes the majority of the postings. Givenfor comments. Prior to turning on comments for news stories in the characteristics of the posters, it' s safe to assume that most of2007, there were only about 30,000 page views per month for com- comments one can find under a news story are posted by frequent中国煤化工FYHCNMHG收稿日期:2013-07-23修回 日期:2013-08-13本栏目责任编辑:杨菲菲Y 逾趣虱\ 301Overseas English海外英语2013年11月posters who form the communities. Being a member of the commu- 4.2 Noun phrasenity, one must be engaged in interaction with others in a certainNoun phrases may be the most frequently occurring phrasemanner every now and then, be it an itelligent discussion, foodtype and often function as verb subjects and objects, they can befight or downright name calling, and he or she must long for feed-embedded inside one another. A noun phrase consists of a head, ep-back from other posters. Therefore this expectation dictates that hisithet/classifier (pre- modifier), qualifier (post- modifer), and otheror her writing style must be either smart, analytic, honest, logic,optional components. The pre- modifier is usually occupied by sin-sensational, or extremely offensive or disruptive in order to get re-gle words and the post- modifier normally contain clauses or phras-plies for the comments. In additional, like most of the postings ines. Structurally, the position of Epithet/classifier and of post-modi-blogsphere, the comments bear distinctive traits of cyber language:fier can be infinitely expanded.punctuation, grammar, spelling and capitalization are largely ig-As noted by Douglas Biber et al, "Pre- modifiers and post-nored; there’s a heavy use of letter- number homophones; fond formodifiers are distributed in the same way across registers: rare inbrevity is pervasive throughout.conversation, very common in informational writing" (Longman Stu-4 Stylistic featuresdent Grammar of Spoken and Written English)4.2.1 Pre- modifiermally short. But blog postings such as tweets are often addressed to-Basically, the position in relation with the head determinesward one particular audience whereas news comments are largelythe nature of the modifier in question, if it is before the head, it ispre-modifier.has been designated. It means a comment has to be catchy to arrestDouglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geoffrey Leech in theirattention from fellow readers. To do that, there are few better meansLongman Grammar of Spoken and Written English listed four majorthan using interrogatives to begin with.types of pre-modifiers as follows:4.1 Interrogatives- general adjectiveExample 4 steep airflight billIn linguistics, an interrogative word is a function word usedExample 5 crucial decisionfor the item interrupted in an information statement. It is a functionExample 6 lackluster market- ed participial modifierterrogative sentence is a question that seeks a response and it can-Example 7 improved revenuenot be answered with a simple yes or no. Such usage is pervasiveExample 8 out- sized controlamong comments.Example 9 busted IPOExample 1- ing participial modifierHave trrorists been able to learn more due to these leaks? OrExample 10 feeting chancedo they already have their own cyber methods?Example 11 dashing hopeExample 2Example 12 dlimming growth prospects .Is he saint alredy?Example 3- nounExample 13 share options@abc, how is this different from all the stores, businesses andExample 14 mainstream pressother electronic interfaces you engage uwith?"It Ss all about control.”by who? Are people that xweak that theyExample 15 corporate scumOne difference between pre- modifers and post- modifiers liescannot do something different than what they do everyday?With the above examples excerpted from comments onin their structures, pre -modifier can use fewer words than the post-Snowden applies for asylum in Russa, The W ashington Post, 2" Ju-modifiers to convey the same information.Example 16ly, 2013, the first two posters started their arguments with an inter-Just a lttle reminder - not all colonists supported the Americanrogative one-liner to state their point of view on the subject matter.Example 2 may involve other sylistic device namely sarcasm toRevolution and some of them asisted the British. Once the Countryshow his distaste for the fact that other readers are so ready to takewas established, the Founders created the Articles of Confederation,Snowden as a hero. Both posters used interrogatives to seek an-which some 11 years later had to be tossed out and completely rewrit-swers indiscriminately. Example 3 shows how interrogatives can beten. The U.S. Constitution has since been Amended 27 times. And weaddressed to a particular party in the discussion. All three exam-fought a bloody Civil War on top of all thal. (excerpt from Egypt' sples show that how interrogatives, when appropriately employed,military threatens to step in to resolve political crisis, The Washing-can be as powerful a tool as any other stylistic devices. It not onlyton Post)“blood civil” is the pre- -modifier for“war”- head of the nounstates one' s point of view, but has the ilcutionary force of a com-mand that demands answer and steers the course of the discussionphrase. The post中国煤化工hyperbole to em-onward. Anyone who wishes to enter the rebuttal with the question-phasize the factof America has arather long and:TYHCNMHGofitspeoplewaser will have no choice but to answer his or her question first beforehardly won. He seems to suggest that anyone who thinks democracyproceeding to the next subject under discussion.is just there at fingertips has underestimated the difficulty in power302魏野7本栏目责任编辑:杨菲菲2013年11月.Overseas English海外英语struggle.Example 22Example 17 .Other things frighteningOh, Iforgot to mention that a one- day visa overstay also typi-Non-finite post-modifying clausescally includes a five year ban on re- -entering the country.Douglas Biber, Susan Conrad, and Geofrey Leech in theirWe have been wasting our time rwith a stupid trade of amnesty Longman Grammar of Spohen and Writen English. Pearson elabo-for absurdly inffectve border security, when the trade should have rated that there are three major types of non-finite post- modifyingbeen more legal immigration in relurn for nailing ilegal employeesclauses: ing- clauses, ed- clauses, and to- clauses. The first twoand employers to the wall, and cutting ilgal immigrants off from types are also called participle clauses, and the third is also calledmost public services. (excerpt from Eugene Robinson: Boehner' s im- an infinitive clause or a to- infinitive clause. Participle clauses asmigration win rwin, The Washington Post)post- modifiers always have subject gap positions. They can oftenA heavily pre- modified noun phrase sound unnatural as the be paraphrased as a relative clause.attention is most likely shifted away from the head and onto theExample 23pre- - modification. As in this case, it is the poster’s intention to em-especially a government run by a Kenyan Fascist Socialistphasize on the pre- modifiers so that attention from the viewerin contrast withcould be focused on how strict and unreasonable the current immi-a government which has been run by a Kenyan Fascist Socialist.gration policy is. By stressing on the unusually long pre- modifierExample 24"stupid trade of amnesty for absurdly ineffctive" for the headan ex pat currently living abroad in a country where.."border policy", the poster highlights the absurdity and ieffective-ness of the immigration policy.an ex- pat who has currently been living abroad in a countryExample 18where..Snowden has admitted to what, under our lawos, is a crime, andComparatively, to- clause post- -modifiers can have either sub-he has been charged and is required t0 face his accusers (The Ameri-ject or non-subject gaps:can People via their government) in a United States court of law-- subjeet gap:that is all.Example 25Snowden hnows this, but he uses the words of a propagandist toRight now we don t have people to round him up just yet.portray himself as a victim. He also appears 10 be, by his actions, afrightened, delusional coward. (excerpt from Snowden withdraus re-People wvill round him up.quest for asylum in Russia, The Washington Post)- non-subject gap:Like the previous example, this also involves heavy use ofExample 26pre- modifiers, once again viewer' s attention is shifted away fromThing is, by 2010, Facebook and Zynga had such a special re-the head, the paralleled adjectives before the noun- frightened lationship that there 1was no point in even trying to compete againstand delusional- clearly shows the poster’ s disdain for Mr. them, ultimately we had nothing to start with.Snowden and his stance on the event that has been on everyone' sDirect object here is: we started with nothing.lips lately.Exapme 274.2.2 Post-modifierdirection adverbial: she can bark on that tree.The position of the post- modifier is the most usual place to .Example 28find modification of the head noun (usually construed in separateUntil the chips are down, everyone will have so much to worryclauses and as a result the focus is on the head noun itself). Accord-about.ing to David Crystal, there are four types of post- modification, ascomplement of preposition: everyone will worry about so much.listed in his Prosodic Systems and Intonation in English. Cam-As these examples show. most non-finite clauses do not havebridge University Pess, 1976.a stated subject. However, with to- clauses, the subject is some-- a preposition with a further nominal group (a prepositionaltimes expressed in a for- phrase:phrase)Example 29Example 19Depending on the IPO price, wouldnt it be better off for the .People in the neussaid employees to call Zinga 's bluff and resign en masse, cashing in- a non-finite clauseand. feeing the Titanic at the same time?Example 20(excerpt from All chips are down, The Economis)the overwhelming majority of Egyptians protesting Morsi andAs it was mentioned previously, in principle there is no limithis government0 the length of post - modifiers in noun phrases. The subordinate- a dependent clause which may be introduced by a relativeprepositional phr中国煤化Iments:pronoun or simply attached directly to the nominal it modifiesExample 30Example 21Definitely 0:MYHCNMHG,y in online gamingHe who forgels history will live il.on its outlook- Or an adjective on certain occasion:Above example shows both prepositional phrases (in online本栏目责任编辑:杨菲菲X邇虱\303.Overseas English海外英语2013年11月gaming & on its outlook) post- modifes the company. However, if and verb phrases are heavily used in the news story comments. Oth-we change example 30 into something likeer stylistie devices being employed include hyperbole, metaphor,Example 31simile, figure of speech, rhetorical question, and pun.Definitely one of the most promising company in online gamingThe reasons for the dfferences in the writing styles are hard toin the USextrapolate, but educational background and age are likely to beThen the prepositional phrases dffer in the subjects they are sub- important factors when a poster chooses his or her level of formalityordinate to, the former in this example remains unchanged and still in regards to writing style.post- modifies the company. However the ltter prepositional phrase isIt is also evident that comments on controversial news tend tosubordinate to it, post-modifying the online gaming industry.be more drastic in the choice of language, commenting tone re-(Geoffrey leech, Margaret Deuchar, and Robert Hoogenrad,mains for the most time neutral but on race or politics related newsEnglish Grammar for Today: A New Introduction, 2nd ed. Palgrave it can be quite aggressive. Without concrele data we will have toMacmillan, 2006)presume that posters with seemingly male nicknames normally4.3 Verb phraseadopt a more moderate commenting tone than those with femaleIn phrase structure grammars such as generative grammar, thenicks. The education level of the posters cannot be determined inthis paper, but I have every reason to believe that poster with theverb phrase is a phrase that is headed by a verb. A verb phrasehigher education use a more formal writing style.may be constructed from a single verb, or as we often find out, itconsists of various combinations of the main verb and any auxiliary6 Conclusion and Future Researchverbs, plus optional specifiers, complements, adjuncts, and etc. ItThe stylistic features and effects of the news comments haveis more clear through the following examples:been analyzed based on the examples listed above. UnderstandingExample 32the features and effects would help us better understand the identi-Surely they built the fence to put a stop to drug trafficking.ties and behaviors of the posters. With enough data gathered, weExample 33should be able to categorize them, understand who would likely sayThe government should pul a fence al the border.what and why. In the future, it is possible that this study may be ex-Example 34tended to the realm of human behavior study and become useful inIf someone show me all the legal citizens from Mexico.deducing people’s core faith, attitude, and social norms. But until(excerpt from The US -Mexico border:Secure enough, The Econ-then, we will have to keep groping in the dark, trying our best to de-omis)cipher the human mind with what lttle pieces of linguistic frag-The first example contains the verb phrase built the fence to ment there is.put a stop to drug trfficking. The second example contains theReferences:main verb put, the noun phrase complement the fence, and theprepositional phrase adjunct at the border, which together form the[1] Baron, Naomi S.See you online: Gender issues in college stu-verb phrase. 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