The Impact of Lexical Diversity Upon Message Effectiveness in Urdu News Media: a Psycholinguistic Assessment
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THE IMPACT OF LEXICAL DIVERSITY UPON MESSAGE EFFECTIVENESS IN URDU NEWS MEDIA: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ASSESSMENT ABSTRACT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Boctor of $I)iIos(Qptip IN LINGUISTICS BY AEJAZ M0HAMS4ED SHEIKH Under the Supervision of Dr. A. R. FATIHI (READER) DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 1998 \ 8 DEC J999 Abstract Abstract __^ Presumably, as a consequence of the apparent force and wide use of the mass media in information campaign, there has been concern for sometime with the role of communication media in the creation of message effects. The proposed research topic intends to examine the effect of lexical diversity upon message effectiveness. The study will examine the effect that messages have when communicated through a set of lexical items to produce a wholesale change in community's social construction of reality. The effect of lexical diversity upon the message will be measured by analysing the lexical choice of Urdu dailies like Qaumi Awaz. Pratap, Hind Samachar, Srinagar Times and the like. Besides, the lexical choice of All India Radio, Doordarshan, Radio Pakistan and B.B.C. will also be taken into consideration. Research about structural relations and meaning relations among the messages that form discursive constructions thus apply to the study of message effect. The study will make it clear that to take strategic decisions about the content, style and medium of messages, produced to achieve certain effects, communicators need to know not only respondents' cognitions and dispositions but also about key constituents and their interconnections in the disocourse context. In this backdrop, the present study assesses the impact of lexical diversity upon message effectiveness. The study will spread over five chapters. Abstract The first chapter commences with a brief desciiption of the historical setting of Urdu news media. It deals with both the print and electronic news media. The second section will piesent a critical re\ iew of the works on Urdu news media. In the third section, we intend to present the theoretical background of our reseaich work. The next section will discuss the methodology which will be adopted in the present study. The last section of this chapter is going to present the scope of the study. The second chapter will be concerned with the elucidation of semantic and pragmatic aspects of lexical diversity. The first section of this chapter will briefly discuss the disciplines of semantics and pragmatics and their interrelatonship with each other. The second section will be concerned with the analysis of semantic aspects of lexical di\ersit\. It will assess the impact of features like synonymy and antonymy on message effectiveness. The next section aims at analysing the pragmatic aspects of lexical diversity. The section will throw light on the views of Jean Piaget and Charles Peirce. It will also debate the rele\ ance of pragmatics in human communication. Besides, the notion of presuppsition and its utility in news media will be talked about. The section also plans to examine the role and importance of various socio- cultural and pragmatic factors in the selection and use of lexical items. Th'; last section of the chapter will be devoted to conclusion'. The third chapter intends to examine lexical diversity in the Abstract ^ backdrop of the notions of componential analysis and semantic differential. The objective here is to evaluate the message effects at the lexical semantic level by employing the methods of componential analysis and semantic differential. The chapter comprises of three sections. In the first section, we plan to discuss the concept of componential analysis and its efficacy to stud> the impact of lexical diversity on message effectiveness. Different semanticall> related words wi'I be broken down into their component parts to check their semantic ranges and message potentials. This endeavour will demonstrate the effectivit\ of lexical items to shape the messages. In the next section, we aim to discuss Charles E. Osgood's concept of semantic differential and Its application to elicit responses of subjects tovsards dneise lexical items. The semantic differential technique will be utilized to ascertain the message effects of these lexical items. The procedures employed in this exercise will be thoroughly discussed in this section which will be followed b\ the presentation of the results and findings. The third section will provide the conclusion for this chapter. The fourth chapter attempts to explore the impact of lexical diversit\ on message effectiveness at the discourse semantic level. The first section of the chapter will briefly discuss the concepts of meaning in various classical and modern theories. In the former case, the concepts of meaning as found in Indian and Arabic linguistic traditions will be described. In the latter case, the concepts of famous scholars-- J.L. Abstract Austin. J.R. Searle, H.P. Grice and M.A.K. Halliday will be presented. The next section will explicate the different procedures and methods which will be employed in the psycholinguistic experiment, scheduled to be conducted to study the message effects at discourse semantic level. The experiment proposes to employ a modified version of the Derivational Theory of Complexity (DTC) to explore the subjects' responses towards the diverse styles of expression utilized in the news discourses. In the end, the analysis and findings of the experiment will be thoroughly explicated. The fifth and final chapter constitutes the Summary and Conclusions' of the thesis. It will furnish a chapterwise summary of the whole thesis. Besides, the conclusions drawn from the research work will be submitted in this chapter. THE IMPACT OF LEXICAL DIVERSITY UPON MESSAGE EFFECTIVENESS IN URDU NEWS MEDIA: A PSYCHOLINGUISTIC ASSESSMENT THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Mottox of $titIo£(op[ip IN LINGUISTICS BY AEJAZ MOHAMMED SHEIKH Under the Supjervision of Dr. A. R. FATIHI (READER) DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH (INDIA) 1998 x -w U r^ ^/a7 .•3 /, ^i • .> <^:/ ^SUMUi^*' T5127 Dedicated to my Parents DR. A.R. FATIHI DEPARTMENT OF LINGUISTICS Reader ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH - 202002 (U P ) INDIA Dated. 19..:.±-JS- ^ttixixtViit This is to certify that the thesis, entitled "The Impact of Lexical Diversity Upon Message Effectiveness in Urdu News Media : A Psycholinguistic Assessment", submitted by Mr. Aejaz Mjhammed Sheikh for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics, has been completed under my supervision. It is further certified that Mr. Aejaz Mohammed Sheikh has fulfilled all the conditions laid down in the Academic Ordinances with regard to the Ph.D. course work, and that, to the best of my knowledge, the thesis contains his own research. (Dr. A.R. FATIHI) Supervisor CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i-iii Chapter - 1 INTRODUCTION 1-19 1.1. Historical Setting of Urdu News Media 1 1.1.1. Print News Media 1 1.1.1.1 First Stage 2 1.1.1.2. Second Stage 3 1.1.1.3. Third Stage 4 1.1.2. Electronic News Media 6 1.1.2.1. Pre-Independence Period 6 1.1.2.2. Post-Independence Period 7 1.2. Review of the Works on Urdu News Media 9 1.3. Theoretical Background 11 1.4. Methodology 14 1.4.1. Data Collection from News Media 16 1.5. Scope of the Study 17 Chapter - 2 SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS OF LEXICAL DIVERSITY 20-61 2.1. Theoretical Framework 20 2.1.1. Semantics : An Introduction 21 2.1.2. Pragmatics : An Introduction 25 2.1.3. The Interrelationship of Semantics and Pragmatics 27 2.2. Semantic Aspects of Lexical Diversity : A Linguistic Study 29 2.2.1. Synonymy : An Introduction 31 2.2.2. Antonymy : An Introduction 35 2.2.3. Semantic Aspects of Lexical Diversity : An Analysis 37 2.3. Pragmatic Aspects of Lexical Diversity : A Linguistic Study 44 2.3.1. Piagetian and Peircean Concepts 45 2.3.2. Relevance of Pragmatics in Human Communication 50 2.3.3. Presupposition and its role in Communication 52 2.3.4. Pragmatic Aspects of Lexical Diversity : An Analysis 57 2.4. Conclusion 59 Chapter - 3 LEXICAL DIVERSITY AND THE CONCEPTS OF SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL AND COMPONENTIAL ANALYSIS 62-150 3.1 Componential Analysis 62 3.1.1. Componential Analysis : An Introduction 62 3.1.2. Katz and Fodor's Model 69 3.1.3. Componential Analysis of Lexical Items Urdu News Media 73 3.1.4. Conclusion 90 3.2. Semantic Differential 92 3.2.1. Semantic Differential : An Introduction 92 3.2.2. Osgood's Concept of Semantic Differential 97 3.2.3. Semantic Differential Analysis of Selected Lexical Items of Urdu News Media 104 3.2.3.1. Discussion and Results 106 3.2.4. Concluding Remarks 146 3.3. Conclusion 147 Chapter - 4 DISCOURSE SEMANTICS AND MESSAGE EFFECT 151 248 4.1. Premises about Message Effect 152 4.1.1. Classical Premise 152 4.1.1.1. Meaning in Indian Theories 152 4.1.1.2. Meaning in Arabic Linguistic Tradition 158 4.1.2. Modern Premise 162 4.1.2.1. J.L.Austin 162 4.1.2.2. J.R. Searle 165 4.1.2.3. H.P. Grice 174 4.1.2.4. M.A.K. Halliday 179 4.2. Psycholinguistic Experiment 182 4.2.1. Method 183 4.2.1.1. Subject 183 4.2.1.2. Field Phase 189 (i) Observation 190 (ii) Interview 190 (iii) Questionnaire 190 4.2.2. Procedure 191 4.2.3. Analysis 198 4.2.4. Conclusion 248 Chapter • 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 249 257 BIBLIOGRAPHY 258 270 APPENDIX-I 271-275 APPENDIX-II 276 293 ^int of all, ^ would like to convet^ m^ hearlfell Ihanki to rrof. arlmenl of cJLinaaislics. ana ean, Zracullu of ^yHrii, for hid valuable iupporl u/itn regard to Inij research u/orh.