An Analysis of Interpersonal Metafunction in Online English News Reports on PM2.5 Air Pollution in Thai Media
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Abstract
This study aims to analyze English-language news articles on PM2.5 air pollution in Thai media by applying Systemic Functional Linguistics as the analytical framework. The research specifically focuses on the interpersonal metafunction, examining mood type, modality, and subject person. The dataset consists of 110 news articles published during the first quarter of 2024 from The Nation Thailand, Bangkok Post, and Thai PBS World. The findings reveal that declarative mood is the most frequently used, indicating that Thai media prioritize information dissemination over direct engagement with readers. Regarding modality, median probability and obligation modality are predominantly employed to balance certainty and responsibility, reflecting pollution as a manageable but policy-dependent issue while median readiness functions to express preparation and planned interventions for the pollution mitigation, and median usuality mentions seasonal pollution trends. Furthermore, non-interactant subjects appear more frequently than interactant subjects, reinforcing the representation of government agencies as the primary actors responsible for addressing the issue. In contrast, public engagement and shared responsibility receive less emphasis in Thai media discourse, indicating that collective action is a secondary important in news coverage.
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