Advances in Language and Literary Studies - Vol. 5 No. 2 - A Cross Cultural Analysis of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse Markers: The Case of Economic Articles in English and Persian Newspapers

Oct 15, 2026

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Study examines the functional role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in English and Persian economic news reports. Ten economic news articles (five per language) were randomly selected from leading newspapers published in 2013–2014 in Iran and the United States. Using Kopple’s 1985 taxonomy, the type and frequency of metadiscourse markers were analyzed. Results show Persian textual markers are more frequent, while American authors use more interpersonal markers, reflecting different discourse treatment angles shaped by culture-specific norms.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

1. Introduction

Metadiscourse and audience engagement

Language functions and metadiscourse focus

Definitions and classification of metadiscourse markers

Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 5 No. 2; April 2014 Copyright © Australian International Academic Centre, Australia A Cross Cultural Analysis of Textual and Interpersonal Metadiscourse Markers: The Case of Economic Articles in English and Persian Newspapers Abbas Mehrabi Boshrabadi (Corresponding author) English Department, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, PO box 81595-158, Isfahan, Iran E-mail: [abbas.mehrabi596@gmail.com](abbas.mehrabi596@gmail.com) Reza Biria English Department, Islamic Azad University, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, PO box 81595-158, Isfahan, Iran E-mail: [r_biria@yahoo.com](r_biria@yahoo.com) Zahra Zavari Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad Branch, PO box 517, Najafabad, Iran E-mail: [zahrazavari@yahoo.com](zahrazavari@yahoo.com) Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.59 URL: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.59](http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.5n.2p.59) Received: 09/02/2014 Accepted: 28/03/2014 Abstract This study was an attempt to investigate the functional role of textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers in English and Persian Economic news reports. To this end, 10 news articles, 5 in each language, were randomly selected from the Economic sections of the leading newspapers published in 2013-2014 in Iran and the United States. Based on Kopple ’s (1985) taxonomy, the type and frequency of metadiscourse markers used in the texts were analyzed to find out their functions in the text. The findings revealed that the textual markers used by Persian authors were considerably more frequent than those employed by the American writers. Interestingly, unlike the Persian writers, the American authors enlisted a larger number of interpersonal markers, which made their angle of the subject treatment different. It is evident that the differential use of metadiscourse markers by nationally different authors could be attributed to culturespecific norms governing the development and organization of discourse. Keywords: Metadiscourse markers, Economic news articles, Newspaper discourse, Interpersonal metadiscourse markers, Textual metadiscourse markers 1. Introduction Metadiscourse, a relatively new concept in the area of discourse analysis, refers to the ways speakers and writers address and communicate with their audience. It embodies the idea that writers and speakers should go beyond the ideational dimension, or propositional content, of text and speech in order to communicate their message effectively. As such, metadiscourse is a term used by most practitioners of the field so as to refer to the textual resources beyond sentence or pragmatic levels. Rather than only representing their ideas and information through language, writers need to consider the expectations and requirements of their receivers so as to engage them in the reading process and affect their understanding of the discourse produced. This view, as Dafouze-Milne (2008) maintains, is based on the assumption that writing is a social and communicative process and, in this regard, metadiscourse is used to organize and create a given text by involving the reader and expressing the author’s inputs and stances. According to Halliday (1994), language can be functionally divided into three categories; namely, ideational, interpersonal, and textual. While ideational function refers to the information the writer or speaker communicates, interpersonal function is concerned with the way language establishes, maintains, and signals relations among people. Finally, textual function of language aims at creating coherent written and spoken texts related to its audience as well as its context. However, the focus of the present study is on the textual and interpersonal functions of the language known as metadiscourse. The concept of metadiscourse has been defined differently by various researchers. Vande Kopple (1985), as an example

FAQs

What is the main objective of this study?

To investigate how textual and interpersonal metadiscourse markers function in English and Persian economic news reports, including their types and frequencies.

How were the news articles selected for analysis?

Ten economic news articles were randomly selected, five in English and five in Persian, from the economic sections of leading newspapers published in 2013–2014 in Iran and the United States.

What key differences were found between Persian and American authors?

Persian authors used textual metadiscourse markers more frequently, while American authors used a larger number of interpersonal markers, leading to different angles in subject treatment.

Oct 15, 2026

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