Tài liệu Tv news in english and vietnamese.

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI University of Languages and International Studies -----o0o----- HOANG THI NGOC DIEM TV NEWS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE (Phân tích bản tin truyền hình tiếng Anh và tiếng Việt) Major: English Linguistics Code: 62 22 15 01 A Thesis Submitted in Total Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisors: Ha Cam Tam, PhD Assoc. Prof. Tran Xuan Diep (PhD) Hanoi - 2015 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the dissertation, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the dissertation. This dissertation has not been submitted for the award of any degree of diploma in any other tertiary institution. Hoang Thi Ngoc Diem Date: ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to many people without whose help the present thesis could not have been completed. First of all, I would like to express my great gratitude to my supervisors Dr. Ha Cam Tam and Assoc. Prof. Tran Xuan Diep for their valuable guidance, insightful comments and endless support. I wish to express my sincere thanks to the staffs of Post Graduate Department, particularly Assoc. Prof. Le Hung Tien (PhD), Dean of the Department, Mrs. Ngo Thanh Thuy (M.A), Mr. Do Ba Quy (M.A) and Mrs. Nguyen Thi Phuong Nhung for their assistance in the finalization of the dissertation. I also would like to extend my deep and special thanks to my colleagues and friends, whose help and encouragement were great contribution to the completion of the dissertation. I’m also indebted to my course mates Mrs. Nguyen Thi Quyet and Mrs. Tran Thi Ngoc Lien for their support in publications and reference materials. Finally, I owe the completion of this dissertation to my parents, my husband and my two children, who have always given me their understanding and encouragement throughout my study. My special thanks are due to my husband for his software and technical support. To all mentioned, and to many more, my heart extends the warmest thanks. iii ABSTRACT The dissertation aims at comparing and contrasting television news in English and Vietnamese from cognitive approach with the assistance of corpus-based analysis techniques. The main source of data is daily news from BBC World News and VTV1 channel, both covering the topic of natural disasters. The analytical framework is centered on mental spaces and Figure-Ground theories. The study first provides in-depth analysis regarding mental spaces in television news in English and Vietnamese, how mappings are constructed to generate blended spaces. Secondly, research is conducted on how Figure-Ground theory is illustrated in news language and what cognitive differences there are between the two languages. The results show that there were cognitive similarities and differences between the two sources of news stories in the way of reporting news. Because cognition is embodied, the way reality (i.e. natural disasters) was viewed and retold in news stories in each language had its own features. In English news, the disastrous events were reported with more current and up-to-date information. Details of the disasters were described with more facts, numbers and directly from various points of view such as the news readers, the field reporters, region correspondents and witnesses. In other words, it can be said that English news was more direct, factive and objective. On the contrary, in Vietnamese news, stories were focused more on the consequences. The information included not only the events themselves but also subjective advice, prediction and evaluation of the reporters and news makers. Description of the events was also concerned with subjective attitudes, compared with human feelings and endurance. Human sufferings and feelings were integrated while news stories were told. In summary, The English news generally is more factive, reported from the view of the outsiders. The event is focused on itself and news has the function of objectively reporting events with full and immediate details. Meanwhile, Vietnamese news is reported from the view of the insiders. The ego is seen as the reference for description, prediction, advice and evaluation. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I – INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale ............................................................................................................................. 1 2. Objectives of the study ....................................................................................................... 3 3. Scope of the study .............................................................................................................. 3 4. Contribution of the study .................................................................................................... 3 5. Organization of the dissertation.......................................................................................... 4 PART II - DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Background of news language ......................................................................................... 5 1.1.1. Historical background of news......................................................................... 5 1.1.2. Television news broadcast ............................................................................... 6 1.1.2.1. Definitions and features of news ............................................................... 6 1.1.2.2. Television in comparison with other channels of communication .............. 9 1.1.3. News genre.................................................................................................... 10 1.1.4. Approaches to news language ........................................................................ 14 1.1.5. Previous studies on news ............................................................................... 17 1.1.5.1. Preceding studies on news texts .............................................................. 17 1.1.5.2. Previous studies on news from corpus-based and cognitive approach ...... 18 1. 2. Cognitive linguistics ..................................................................................................... 19 1.2.1. Overview ....................................................................................................... 19 1.2.2. The nature of cognitive linguistics ................................................................. 22 1.2.2.1. Generalization commitment .................................................................... 22 1.2.2.2. Cognitive commitment............................................................................ 26 1.2.2.3. The embodied mind ................................................................................ 27 1.2.2.4. Cognitive approach to semantics and grammar........................................ 28 1.2.3. Cognitive semantics....................................................................................... 29 1.3. Mental spaces ................................................................................................................ 33 1.3.1. Definition and categorization ......................................................................... 33 1.3.2. Speech space ................................................................................................. 37 1.3.3. Space builders ............................................................................................... 39 1.4. Conceptual blending ...................................................................................................... 40 1.4.1. Basic concepts ............................................................................................... 40 1.4.2. Metaphor, metonymy and blending................................................................ 46 1.5. Figure and Ground ......................................................................................................... 47 1.5.1. Background concepts ..................................................................................... 47 1.5.2. Figure and Ground in a single clause ............................................................. 50 v 1.5.3. Figure and Ground in a complex sentence...................................................... 51 1.5.4. The grammatical relations of Figure and Ground ........................................... 54 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1. Research questions ........................................................................................................ 56 2.2. Analytical framework – corpus-assisted cognitive semantics ....................................... 56 2.5.1. Cognitive framework ..................................................................................... 56 2.5.2. Corpus assisted analysis................................................................................. 58 2.3. Data collection ............................................................................................................... 59 2.3.1. Criteria for collecting data ............................................................................. 59 2.3.2. Corpus design ................................................................................................ 60 2.3.3. Representativity of the data ........................................................................... 60 2.4. Methods of the study ..................................................................................................... 61 2.5 Data collection instruments ............................................................................................ 63 2.6. Data analysis procedure ................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER 3: MENTAL SPACES IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NEWS 3.1. Speech space .................................................................................................................. 66 3.1.1. Findings from English news .......................................................................... 66 3.1.2. Findings from Vietnamese news .................................................................... 73 3.1.3. Discussion ..................................................................................................... 80 3.2. Hypothetical spaces ....................................................................................................... 83 3.2.1. Findings from English news .......................................................................... 83 3.2.2. Findings from Vietnamese news .................................................................... 87 3.2.3. Discussion ..................................................................................................... 94 CHAPTER 4: CONCEPTUAL BLENDING IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NEWS 4.1. Condition and comparison ............................................................................................. 98 4.1.1. Findings from English news .......................................................................... 98 4.1.2. Findings from Vietnamese news .................................................................. 101 4.1.3. Discussion ................................................................................................... 105 4.2. Conceptual blending with occurrence verbs................................................................ 105 4.2.1. Findings from English news ........................................................................ 106 4.2.2. Findings from Vietnamese news .................................................................. 107 4.2.3. Discussion ................................................................................................... 109 4.3. Conceptual blending in imagery descriptions ............................................................. 109 CHAPTER 5: FIGURE AND GROUND IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE NEWS 5.1. Findings from English news ........................................................................................ 113 5.2. Findings from Vietnamese news ................................................................................. 117 vi 5.3. Discussion.................................................................................................................... 123 PART III - CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 1. Summary of major findings and conclusion ................................................................... 128 2. Implications .................................................................................................................... 131 3. Suggestions for further study.......................................................................................... 137 PUBLICATIONS AND PROJECTS RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION .................. 138 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 140 Appendix 1: Data export – Key words in context (KWIC) ....……………………………...I Appendix 2: Raw analysis of speech spaces.................. ………………................... XXVIII Appendix 3: English collocations for natural disasters …………….……..........…...... XLI Appendix 4: Vietnamese collocations for natural disasters........................................XLIV vii LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND GRAPHS Figure 1: Some members of the category “cup”........................................................... 23 Figure 2: Inputs and generic space .............................................................................. 41 Figure 3: Blended space .............................................................................................. 42 Figure 4: Figure – Ground examples ........................................................................... 48 Figure 5: Speech space type 1 in English news ............................................................ 71 Figure 6: Speech space type 2 in English news ............................................................ 71 Figure 7: Speech space type 3 in English news ............................................................ 72 Figure 8: Speech space type 1 in Vietnamese news ..................................................... 78 Figure 9: Speech space type 2 in Vietnamese news ..................................................... 79 Figure 10: Speech space type 3 in Vietnamese news ................................................... 79 Figure 11: Example 1 - blended space in English news ............................................... 99 Figure 12: Example 2 - blended space in English news ............................................. 100 Figure 13: Example of blended space in Vietnamese news ........................................ 104 Figure 14: Example 1 - Conceptual blending in English news with metaphors .......... 109 Figure 15: Conceptual blending in Vietnamese news................................................. 111 Figure 16: Example 2 - Conceptual blending in English news with metaphors .......... 112 Figure 17: Similarity of Figure and Ground between English and Vietnamese news .. 123 Figure 18: Difference of Figure and Ground between English and Vietnamese news . 126 Table 1: Speech verbs and quotation in English news .................................................. 67 Table 2: Senders in English news ................................................................................ 68 Table 3: Speech spaces in English news ...................................................................... 69 Table 4: Speech verbs and quotation in Vietnamese news ........................................... 74 Table 5: Senders in Vietnamese news.......................................................................... 75 Table 6: Speech spaces in Vietnamese news ................................................................ 75 viii Table 7: Comparison of quotations in English and Vietnamese news........................... 80 Table 8: Comparison of senders between English news and Vietnamese news ............ 81 Table 9: Comparison of speech spaces in English and Vietnamese news ..................... 82 Table 10: Advice and command in English news ........................................................ 83 Table 11: Predicting structures in English news .......................................................... 84 Table 12: Concordance of prediction in English news ................................................. 84 Table 13: Estimation expressions in English news ....................................................... 85 Table 14: Concordance of “at least” ............................................................................ 86 Table 15: Evaluation expressions in English news ....................................................... 87 Table 16: Advice in Vietnamese news ......................................................................... 88 Table 17: Concordance of “phải” ................................................................................ 89 Table 18: Prediction expressions in Vietnamese news ................................................. 90 Table 19: Concordance of ‘có nguy cơ” ...................................................................... 91 Table 20: Estimation expressions in Vietnamese news ................................................ 91 Table 21: Concordance of “khoảng”............................................................................ 92 Table 22: Evaluation in Vietnamese news ................................................................... 93 Table 23: Concordance of “kinh hoàng” ...................................................................... 94 Table 24: Comparison of advice and command between English and Vietnamese news ................................................................................................................................... 94 Table 25: Comparison of prediction and possibility between English and Vietnamese news ........................................................................................................................... 96 Table 26: Comparison of quantity estimating expressions between English news and Vietnamese news ........................................................................................................ 96 Table 27: Condition and comparison structures in English news.................................. 98 Table 28: Conditional and comparative structures in Vietnamese news ..................... 101 Table 29: Concordance of “nhất” .............................................................................. 102 Table 30: Concordance of như” ................................................................................. 102 Table 31: Verbs in English news ............................................................................... 106 ix Table 32: Concordance of “hit” ................................................................................. 107 Table 33: Verbs in Vietnamese news ......................................................................... 108 Table 34: Concordance of “cướp đi” ......................................................................... 108 Table 35: Imagery language in English and Vietnamese news ................................... 110 Table 36: Concordance of “fading hope” ................................................................... 110 Table 37: Concordance of “rốn lũ” ............................................................................ 110 Table 38: Connectives in English news ..................................................................... 116 Table 39: Connectives in Vietnamese news ............................................................... 122 Table 40: Figure – Ground comparison between Vietnamese and English news ........ 125 Table 41: Comparison of occurrence verbs between Vietnamese and English news ... 125 Table 42: Concordance of “of the earthquake” .......................................................... 133 Table 43: COCA sample KWIC ................................................................................ 134 Graph 1: Comparison of speech spaces in English and Vietnamese news .................... 82 Graph 2: Comparison of advice and command between English and Vietnamese news 95 Graph 3: Comparison of prediction and possibility between English and Vietnamese news ........................................................................................................................... 96 1 PART I - INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale The media has now become one of the principal means of getting information about the world. Not only for information, are the media also used for various purposes including entertainment, education, national identity enhancement or even political ones. Among media channels, television seems to be increasingly popular and favoured as access to television is widening to everyone and every corner of the world. It is largely believed that the media are always there, and have come to be taken for granted as an integral part of most people’s lives. With its crucial role, the power of the media cannot be denied. They are a “site for the production and circulation of social meanings, i.e. to a great extent the media decide the significance of things that happen in the world for any given culture” (Thornborrow, 2004:56). Within the research circle, the media has been explored a great deal so far. With regards to TV news alone, much interest has been shown in the field of linguistics. Hohn (1995) investigated linguistic features of BBC Radio 1 and Radio 4 to find out the similarities and differences between them. In 2006, Luginbuehl presented the result of comparing news stories in American and Swiss TV news since the 60s in view of “culturality”. His conclusion stated that Swiss TV news showed a detached way of reporting while CBS news displayed close and immediate reports; cultural differences were also found in different journalistic roles. At the same time, Senokozlieva and her co-researchers (2006) also examined the relationship between culture and selected formal characteristics of newscasts from three regions: The United States of America, Germany and the Arab world. Their findings showed that in collectivist societies like the Arab world, there were more displays of groups or individuals who are contextualized by others than in the individualistic US. Most recently, Shi Hong-mei (2008) conducted a critical analysis on turn-taking organization in English news interviews in China and her results showed the influence of the power and ideology on turn-taking; the interviewer with the institutional role, could interrupt or insert their turn-taking to control, direct the talk as intended plan. 2 Apart from the findings that those authors have made about news above, news and television news are also of great importance in reasoning the way human mind sees events and representing them via language. This can be a great opportunity to theoretically and practically contribute to the field of cognitive linguistics. However, to the best of my knowledge, comprehensive investigations into news features of Vietnamese and British broadcasting from cognitive linguistics seem to be rare. From pedagogical approach, newscasts in general are a rich source of authentic materials for foreign language learning and teaching. News is practically integrated into textbooks, English software, interactive websites for e-learning, and are used to develop all skills as well as particular subjects like translation and interpretation. BBC itself also opens a free link for English (http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml) with learners various activities. Besides, access to visual original news is undoubtedly becoming common for self-learning. However, for Vietnamese learners of English, the use of news broadcasts in learning seems spontaneous. The news language itself as well as differences in news broadcasts between British culture and Vietnamese culture has not yet been introduced systematically to learners and teachers. Newscasts are merely seen by many as an authentic source for practice or one of the accesses to native speakers or real-life English. Again, the importance of news reports in general and television newscasts in particular cannot be denied in our everyday lives, language learning as well as in scholarly researching. It is also a fertile source of data for various branches of social sciences such as linguistics, semiotics, and discourse analysis (van Dijk, 1988:109). Despite the increasing popularity of television news broadcast and its important functions in shaping human perception as well as reasoning the relationship between human mind, meaning construction and language presentation, from a look into previous studies on news broadcasts and an investigation in practical applications of news in teaching, to the best of my knowledge, investigations into comparing news of Vietnamese and British broadcasting from cognitive approach seem few and far between. Basing on that account, the author would like to conduct an investigation of VTV1 news and BBC World News products to make a contribution to the large gap of news language analysis, hence give suggestions for English language learning and teaching. The author 3 does hope the results of the study will be of potential concern to those who have interest in linguistics, corpus linguistics, cognitive linguistics, mass communication and intercultural study. 2. Objectives of the study The objectives of this study are: - To explore the ways by which mental spaces and conceptual blending are realized in English and Vietnamese television news broadcasts, - To find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese television news broadcasts with regards to mental spaces and conceptual blending, - To explore Figure-Ground presentation in English and Vietnamese news broadcasts, and finally - To find out the similarities and differences between English and Vietnamese television news broadcasts with regards to Figure-Ground presentation. 3. Scope of the study Television news broadcasts as a part of the media are an endless source of data for various study approaches. The thesis focuses on television news in English and Vietnamese covering the topic of natural disasters. The reasons for the choice of news topic are discussed in chapter 2, part II of this dissertation. The main source of data is daily news from BBC World News channel and VTV1 newscasts. News broadcasts are studied from cognitive linguistics perspective with the assistance of corpus-based analysis techniques. The analytical framework is centered on mental spaces, conceptual blending and Figure-Ground theories. Other news topics, other sources of news as well as other linguistic approaches to news language fall beyond the scope of this study. 4. Contribution of the study Theoretically, the study reviews and systemizes important principles and characteristics in cognitive linguistics. It investigates a research area that few Vietnamese researchers have ever explored, that is news language from cognitive perspective. Particularly, 4 theories related to mental spaces, Figure-Ground relationship, to my knowledge, have not been applied in analyzing and comparing news language. Practically, the study first is expected to provide in-depth results regarding mental spaces in television news in English and Vietnamese, how mappings are constructed to generate blended spaces. The second practical contribution is made via the detailed research on how Figure-Ground theory is illustrated in news language and what cognitive differences there were between the two languages. The study then contributes significant practical implications to related fields of linguistics, cognitive linguistics, language learning and teaching and translation. In terms of methodology, a method that has not been used in previous studies on news is applied, that is corpus-assisted analysis to yield major research results. This method is proved to bring valid and reliable findings. It includes both qualitative and quantitative techniques in accessing and processing data. 5. Organization of the dissertation Part I is the Introduction of the study. Emphasis is given to the issue of the research foci of the dissertation. In so doing it sets the scene for the study of news in the remainder of the dissertation. Part II, the Development, consists of 5 chapters. In chapter 1, fundamental issues of cognitive linguistics are reviewed. Then specific theories in mental spaces and Figure-Ground are introduced. Chapter 2 offers an overview of the methodology of the study. It includes corpus building, coding system, data collection instruments and the like. The not less important part of the chapter is a proposal of the analytical framework, based on which the study is conducted. Chapter 3, 4 and 5 produce a detailed analysis of mental spaces and Figure-Ground models in English and Vietnamese news. Finally, conclusions are offered in part III. It summarizes major findings and presents suggestions for further research and implications for English language teaching and learning in Vietnam. 5 PART II - DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: literature review 1.1. Background of news language 1.1.1. Historical background of news Central to the global spread of news as a genre and also in terms of content has been news agency – the first global medium. News agencies started in the middle of the nineteenth century (Machine & Leeuwen, 2007) to supply newspapers with news items from across the world. Then, information became commodity, presented in a neutral style to be saleable to editors of different political persuasion. Today’s news agencies operate on the principle that “almost anything that passes as news in print, broadcasting and electronic media is likely to have some financial implication for someone” (Machin & Leeuwen, 2007:8). Many people still think of politics, culture and economics as separate domains. In global media communication, they come together. In reference to the issue of standardization, Machin and Leeuwen (2007) also assert that to sell editors, news has to become politically neutral, pure information, pure fact. This approach, which today is common in the world, was gradually developed and globally propagated by the major news agencies. In the 1980s, satellite broadcasters, like other global corporation, began to see profit in news spreading. It is argued that satellite TV allowed other exporters of television programmes to enter the market (Machin and Leeuwen, 2007). Notably, related to the issue of TV broadcasting, Marshall (2002:3) highlights that “television, as a modern medium, operates in a production-text-audience cycle”. It is mass communication produced not for specific individuals but for an unlimited number of people. Therefore, it can be seen by a huge number of viewers simultaneously. Apart from news agencies, the role of journalists in the modern time has taken more attention than before. “The journalist has been not only the gatekeeper who filters the floods of 6 information into an orderly stream of news, but also the broker of social consensus who shapes community’s attitudes” (Lewis, 2003:101) Sociologists have shown that what is called “news” is quite an odd set of institutional practices that must be understood in terms of its social and historical development. And the context of news under investigation is a British and Vietnamese one. News itself, and its associated practices, the organizations of its institutions, its format and genre, have their origins particularly in British and Vietnamese culture, typical cognition process and mind. The above discussion about the history of news and its globalization process serves as a very basic background which leads to the further discussion in the following parts. 1.1.2. Television news broadcast 1.1.2.1. Definitions and features of news There have existed various concepts of news in different fields so far. In the definition from BBC (Language of the media, 2003:2), a news report simply “gives details of a news story and its purpose is to give the listener information in an interesting but objective way”. According to NewsTalk & Text Research Group of Ghent University (2009:4), news has two key characteristics that make a productive area for research and understanding. Firstly, news is commonly defined through its relation to time. News is about novelty, contemporary events, the most recent, should be timely, fresh and pertinent. Secondly, news is all about retelling, intertextuality, and, by extension, entextualization, that is, the extraction of meaning from one discourse and consequent insertion of that meaning into another discourse. Interestingly, Van Dijk (1988:3) who studies news as a type of text or discourse claims that the notion of news implies the following concepts: (1) New information about events, things or persons. (2) A (TV or radio) program type in which news items are presented. (3) A news item or news report, i.e., a text or discourse on radio, on TV or in the newspaper, in which new information is given about recent events. 7 The focus of the study is particularly television news, that is, a type of text or discourse as it is expressed in (3), used, or made public in such a news medium or a public information carrier as TV. This medium is distinguished with print media with its unique combination of visuality with both oral and written varieties of language. It can be said that of all concepts of news, the author particularly has interest in the two key characteristics claimed by a group of researchers of Ghent University (2009) and the definition given by Van Dijk (1988). They would be used as the light to look deeply in news analysis with related features. Interestingly, according to Bell (1991), Galtung & Ruge (1965) and Schlesinger (1987), any event which is worth reporting as news needs to meet the following conditions: - Frequency: Events that occur suddenly and fit well with the news organization's schedule are more likely to be reported than those that occur gradually or at inconvenient times of day or night. Long-term trends are not likely to receive much coverage. - Negativity: Bad news is more newsworthy than good news. - Unexpectedness: If an event is out of the ordinary it will have a greater effect than something that is an everyday occurrence. - Unambiguity: Events whose implications are clear make for better copy than those that are open to more than one interpretation, or where any understanding of the implications depends on first understanding the complex background in which the events take place. - Meaningfulness: This relates to the sense of identification the audience has with the topic. "Cultural proximity" is a factor here -- stories concerned with people who speak the same language, look the same, and share the preoccupations as the audience receive more coverage than those concerned with people who speak different languages, look different and have different preoccupations. - Reference to elite nations: Stories concerned with global powers receive more attention than those concerned with less influential nations. 8 - Reference to elite persons: Stories concerned with the rich, powerful, famous and infamous get more coverage. - Conflict: Opposition of people or forces resulting in a dramatic effect. Stories with conflict are often quite newsworthy. - Consonance: Stories that fit with the media's expectations receive more coverage than those that defy them (and for which they are thus unprepared). However, consonance really refers to the media's readiness to report an item. - Continuity: A story that is already in the news gathers a kind of inertia. This is partly because the media organizations are already in place to report the story, and partly because previous reportage may have made the story more accessible to the public. - Composition: Stories must compete with one another for space in the media. For instance, editors may seek to provide a balance of different types of coverage, so that if there is an excess of foreign news for instance, the least important foreign story may have to make way for an item concerned with the domestic news. In this way the prominence given to a story depends not only on its own news values but also on those of competing stories. - Prefabrication: A story that is marginal in news terms but written and available may be selected ahead of a much more newsworthy story that must be researched and written from the ground up. - Predictability: An event is more likely to be covered if it has been prescheduled. - Time constraints: Traditional news media such as radio, television and daily newspapers have strict deadlines and a short production cycle, which selects for items that can be researched and covered quickly. - Logistics: Although eased by the availability of global communications even from remote regions, the ability to deploy and control production and reporting staff, and functionality of technical resources can determine whether a story is covered. 9 Sharing similar opinions, Đinh Trọng Lạc & Nguyễn Thái Hòa (2009) claim that to serve the functions of making reports to and impacts on the audience, news needs to have the characteristics of being up-to-the minute, politically constrained, novel and attractive. Therefore, its language use, in their opinion, also needs to follow some principles including attitude-feeling expression, lexical meaning expansion, flexibility and formality (Đinh Trọng Lạc & Nguyễn Thái Hòa, 2009:102). Finally, news can be referred to with various terms. In this study, the following terms were used to refer to television news under investigation: news broadcasts, newscasts, news reports, news stories, news and news items. 1.1.2.2. Television in comparison with other channels of communication Communicative events differ in their time-space parameters. The properties of temporal and spatial setting mean that a communicative event in the mass media can actually be seen as a “chain of communicative events” (Fairclough, 1995:37). Such a chain connects the public domain to the private domain, that is, programmes are produced in the public domain but they are consumed in the private domain, mainly in the home or within the family. In Scannell’s opinion, as quoted in Fairclough (1995:39), the media have tried to narrow the gap between the public conditions of media production and the private conditions of consumption, adjusted toward the priorities, values and practices of private life. Specifically, types of media are different in their channels of communication and the technologies they draw upon. For example, the press uses a visual channel with written language, graphic design and printing. Differently, radio uses an oral channel with spoken language and relies on the technology of sound recording. Television, by contrast, combines technologies of sound and image recording and broadcasting. The relationship between oral and visual channels in television has given these special channels broad terms as verbally anchored with images mainly being used to support words. The differences among channels of communication above bring meaning potential for each channel. For example, print is less personal than radio and television. While radio allows individuality and personality to be foregrounded, television makes people visually available and not in the frozen modality of newspaper photographs, but in 10 movement and action. In Fairclough’s opinion, even when programmes are prerecorded, “the illusion of liveness and immediacy is maintained” (Fairclough, 1995:39), which helps reduces distance and convey an egalitarian ethos. Similarly, different types of communication involve different categories of participant. For instance, the main categories of participants in television consist of reporters, audience and various categories of “third party” such as politicians, scientists, experts, witnesses and ordinary people. Particularly, audience is an important feature of media events in television. A television news programme is available to the great majority of the population, especially in prime-time television. From economic and politic view, audience size implies the potential influence and power of the media. However, from linguistic view, the target audience is one of the factors that determine the use of language in the programme. Of all kinds of channels of communication, television seems to possess its own features. The oral prepared language in combination with the screen text integrated with visuals is a special kind of language source for research. Moreover, television seems to reveal a mirror of wider society and culture. Besides, television can bring on-the-spot or up-tothe minute programmes, especial news broadcast, which has great influence in the use of news language as well as impact on audience’s attitudes and opinions. On the account, this channel promises an attractive field for linguistic research. 1.1.3. News genre It is largely thought that the media are constantly shaping our expectations about the way different kinds of information are transmitted, and these conventional formats can play an important part in the way we interpret the messages they contain. Thornborrow (2004:68) claims that “language plays a centre role in structuring these conventions through the association of particular registers with specific types of programme”. News programmes are not an exception and this part will discuss news from linguistic view and then its genre as well as register. As Kress (2003:72) defines, Genre - the term means, simply, 'kind' - has a history as long as the western literary tradition. Aristotle used the term to distinguish major literary forms. In more recent history it has come, by and large, to be used to name