Environmental Problems: A Study of Language Using Strategies from Online Headlines

Abstract

This research aims to study language using strategies from online headlines by analyzing news data from online headlines regarding environmental problems from five news agencies, namely Thai PBS, Thairath, Prachatai, Daily News and Matichon. A total of 572 news data were obtained from the analysis. The results of the study revealed the following four key language using strategies. The first strategy was the vocabulary selection strategy which represented the reproduction of causes of environmental problems as the human actions that requireed resources to sustain their livings. The second strategy was the sentence structure strategy which urged mutual awareness of readers or audiences on the occurred environmental impacts. The third strategy was the pragmatics strategy which could cause readers anxiety about events and consequences of problems that would arise if humans continued to destroy the environment. The last strategy was the metaphor strategy. The comparative nature of the metaphor strategy caused anxiety to readers or audiences and created a new perspective on animals to make humans feel sympathetic to animals that lived in the same ecosystem as their world mates. The results of the analysis of the four language using strategies were found to be consistent with and related to environmental problems. The majority of the findings focused on the bother or the problem maker as the result of human actions that needed to compete for resources or strive for comfortable livings.