A Rhetorical Analysis of English and Persian Online Comments on the News Articles Related to Iran’s Nuclear Issue

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS1102017882

Keywords:

Comment analysis, Iran’s nuclear dispute, News articles, Online Media, Purpose, Tone

Abstract

The comments section of news articles is intended for the public to share their views on posted news stories. Accordingly, this section has been subject to numerous analyses from a wide range of perspectives. The current study analyzes the tone and purpose of comments posted on news articles dealing with Iran’s nuclear issue. The data consisted of 150 online comments in English and 150 in Persian. The comments were taken from three news websites in English and three in Persian. These websites were chosen based on their different political leanings in order to take account of the various approaches to Iran’s disputed nuclear talks. The results did not indicate a significant difference between the tone of English and Persian comments, but the purposes intended by English and Persian comments varied extensively. It was also found that the political leaning of news agencies is a major cause of the observed differences.

Author Biographies

Mohsen Kafi, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Mohsen Kafi completed his MA in Translation Studies at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 2016. He is currently involved in several projects concerning the sociological aspects of translation in Iran. His research interests include professionalization of translation and interpreting, discourse analysis and intercultural communication.

Fatemeh Irajzad, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Fatemeh Irajzad obtained her MA degree in TEFL from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in 2015. She has recently coauthored a paper on the stroking behavior of language teachers in Iran. Her research interests include Sociolinguistics, Cultural Linguistics, and Discourse Analysis

Hesamoddin Shahriari, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

Hesamoddin Shahriari is an assistant professor of applied linguistics at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, where he teaches undergraduate and MA-level courses, especially in EFL/academic writing. His research interests include academic writing, learner English and corpus linguistics.

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Published

2017-03-31

How to Cite

Kafi, M., Irajzad, F., & Shahriari, H. (2017). A Rhetorical Analysis of English and Persian Online Comments on the News Articles Related to Iran’s Nuclear Issue. Observatorio (OBS*), 11(1). https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS1102017882

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2017)

Section

Articles

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