A Comparative Linguistic Analysis of a Broadsheet and a Tabloid

Abstract

This article discusses a comparative study of two well-received newspapers in Singapore, the Straits Times (ST) & the New Paper (NP). The focus of the study was on systemic functional aspects of the two papers, namely lexical density, realization of theme, the study of connectives, the analysis of transitivity as well as reader involvement. The main objective of the research was to evaluate the extent to which the two papers differed. Some of the research questions posed by the study were as follows: Were the two papers equally likely to promote agent deletion? Did the two newspapers utilize contractions & connectives in a similar manner? Was one newspaper more likely to contain humorous anecdotes than the other? The results showed that the Straits Times & the New Paper had similar distributions in the analysis of transitivity, & also shared similar grammatical intricacies & deictic patterns. Nonetheless, the two newspapers differed in their employment of contractions & connectives, as well as their use of humor. In general, this paper should contribute to a better understanding of the idiosyncrasies of writing style in a broadsheet & a tabloid newspaper.