Lexicogramatical manifestation of ideology in letters to the editor

Abstract

This thesis examines Ideology in letters to the Editor of three well known magazines (Time, Newsweek and Manchete). Letters to the Editor is a site in the magazines where readers can voice their claims, supporting or denying facts which occur in the social sphere. The corpus is analyzed according to Halliday's (1985) theory of transitivity for the repercussion of ideology in the lexicogrammatical choices, as well as attitudinal Epithets, Qualifiers and Numeratives in nominal groups. The results indicate that in the process of expressing personal and subjective thoughts, readers also show inequalities, power and interests which scaffold the social relations, and which seem to be shared by social groups as naturalized beliefs. Letters to the Editor, as all news publications, might also contribute to influence opinions, change the course, of events, obscure, denigrate and legitimize "sets of beliefs" which are embedded in the "sociocultural knowledge and social attitude" of current ideologies.