FEATURES AND STRATEGIES OF SIGNIFICATIONS IN SELECTED ONLINE NEWS NARRATIVES OF DISASTERS

Abstract

Significations are important features of disaster narratives that have consistently featured in online news. Previous linguistic studies on disaster mainly focused on lexicosemantics,ix discourse patterns and rhetoric of actors in war situations, with little attention paid to the semiotic resources underlying narratives of disasters. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate significations in news reportage of disasters, with a view to identifying the semiotic features and pragmatic strategies of the narratives. Han-Liang Chang’s Disaster Semiotics, complemented by M. A. K. Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics and Jacob Mey’s Pragmatic Acts Theory, served as the framework. The descriptive design was used. Purposive sampling was employed to select news from two foreign stations, namely Cable News Network (CNN) and Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and two Nigerian stations, namely Television Continental (TVC) and Channels Television (Channels TV), owing to availability and suitability of relevant news items on their websites. The news selected were between 2015 and 2019 because of the preponderance of disaster that period. Purposive sampling was employed to select 36 reports (CNN – 6, CBS – 6, TVC – 12 and Channels – 12) because of their relevance. The data were subjected to semiotic analysis. Three semiotic types were represented in the news narratives: indexicality, iconicity and symbolicity. Three indexical subtypes were discovered in all stations, namely spatial, temporal and personal. Spatial was used to identify disaster regions; temporal was employed to periodise disasters; while personal was used to point to victims of disasters or to personify hurricanes and volcanos (CNN and CBS). Iconicity was used in three ways across all stations: distance, quality and quantity, and sequential order. Distance was used to proximise; quality and quantity were employed to intensify disaster consequences; while sequential order was used to show relatedness of hurricanes, volcano and flood to micro disasters (fire, poverty and epidemic). Symbolicity was used in three ways: naming, figurisation and framing. Naming of hurricanes was random, using positive/negative reinforcement, allusive reference/inference and positive/negative inference (CNN). Naming of volcano and flood was constructed after the affected regions (CBS, TVC and Channels). Figurisation was realised by alliteration, metonymy, hyponymy, hyperbole, and simile (all stations). Framing was achieved by conceptual metaphors, namely DISASTER IS CONQUEST (all stations); FLOOD IS POSSESSION (TVC and Channels); HURRICANE IS TERROR (CNN); FLOOD IS TERROR (TVC and Channels); HURRICANE IS WAR (CNN and CBS); and FLOOD IS EVICTION (TVC and Channels). The pragmatic strategies of the narratives were juxtaposition, blackmail, entreaty, sensitisation, edification and propaganda. Juxtaposition was used to contrast disasters, using statistical figures (CNN and CBS). Blackmail was deployed to appeal to emotions of government agencies (Channels and TVC). Entreaty was employed to motivate people to respond (CNN and Channels). Sensitisation was utilised to educate people about disasters (Channels and CNN). Edification was used to console victims, using moral and religious comments (TVC). Propaganda was employed to publicise government’s response (Channels and TVC). Online news narratives of disasters are mediated discourses that account for disaster management techniques in global and local situations.