Reading 2.2-Language, perspective, ideology

In this chapter, the information that I found interesting is about how the language, perspective and ideology can relate to each other. In the chapter Lee does two things which, is he explain a set of key terms, including perspective and ideology. Then he shows how these notions are connected to the choices made by the writer in the construction of the text. He aims to show how the careful reading of the texts can reveal the ideological assumptions, which inform their production. Next, he illustrates these points using a range of newspaper articles written about events in South Africa, which are The Guardian and The Times newspapers. Both of the newspaper have a different perspective event the newspaper reported a same story. In this chapter also came out with Lee judgment about how a text will contain linguistic features will act as “markers” or indicators of the perspective and ideologies of both writer and intended audience. However, he argues that to interpret all these features, we need to understand how they interact. So, he also argue that the choices of vocabulary and grammar people make reflect the values and attitudes of their social group. For example, show bias towards the black by white people writer. The whites used passive voice and offensive word such as ‘Rioting black’ compared to black people writer used appropriate word describing the black in a same report such as ‘Salisbury riot’. As Lee explains, “events are perceived and reported through a given ideological perspective”. In this chapter, the concepts are easy to understand. The main point is the ways of the language are use by the writer to describe something is important because it may influence the reader perception and ideology. Using euphemism words are more pleasant which almost “antiseptic” term used instead of one that people find unpleasant