Linguistic Framing of Climate Change Responsibility in News Media: A Cross-National Analysis of Pakistani and American Newspapers
Keywords:
Climate change discourse, media framing, systemic functional linguistics, transitivity analysis, climate responsibility, United States, Pakistan, environmental communicationAbstract
Climate change is not only a scientific and political concern but also a discursive phenomenon constructed through media language. This study examines how English-language newspapers from Pakistan and the United States linguistically frame responsibility for climate change, utilizing Hallidayian Systemic Functional Grammar, specifically the transitivity system, in conjunction with Entman's Framing Theory. A corpus of 50 articles—25 from each country, published from January 2024 to December 2024—was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Corpus tools (AntConc, LancsBox, UAM CorpusTool) were employed to identify process types and participant roles that construct agency, blame, and action in climate discourse. Findings reveal that Pakistani newspapers emphasize material processes and human agency, often foregrounding global injustice and vulnerability. In contrast, U.S. newspapers favor nominalizations and passive constructions that frame climate action as a shared or institutional responsibility. This contrast reflects deeper geopolitical asymmetries: Pakistan's discourse appeals to moral and financial accountability, whereas U.S. media prioritize technocratic solutions and collective action. By integrating linguistic analysis with framing theory in a comparative context, the study contributes to critical discourse analysis and climate communication scholarship. It highlights how language encodes ideological positioning and power dynamics, ultimately shaping public understanding of environmental justice and global responsibility.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ahmad Ammar Asif, Dr.Ayesha Asghar Gill (Author)
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