TWO TEXTS ANALYSIS ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY

Introduction

English language has many functional frameworks which are used for interpreting texts, the written texts, they have different interpretations regarding the contexts they are written in. Analyzing texts show many aspects such as opinions and attitudes of writers, their cultural backgrounds and how far they are acknowledged about what they are writing about. This TMA is trying to analyze two texts from two different magazines about the same topic. The first is from Kuwait Times and the other is from New York Times and will be analyzed using the functional grammar framework trying to compare the two texts and discussing each one according to their field, tenor and mode.

Task1

 (selection of texts)

Choose two newspaper Editorials on the same event/topic one from a newspaper/magazine published in English in Britain or the United States and one from an Arab newspaper/magazine published in English (e. g. Kuwait Times, Gulf Times, etc.).

Two texts were chosen and signed.

Task2(500 words)

Perform a register analysis of the two texts.  In other words, you should show how the social roles and relationships (tenor), subject matter (field) and the nature of the text as a communicative event (mode) influence particular aspects of grammar and vocabulary in each text.

Text 1

Clauses are underlined.

KUWAIT TIMES

Jonas Brothers on Break-Up: We won’t leave fans in the lurch

 31/10/2013 

The Jonas Brothers said that they will not complete the album they were working on at the time of their break-up, but promised to do something for their fans during an appearance on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning. The group will release four songs from their now aborted fifth album and will combine them with live tracks from their summer concert appearances. They will give that music to their fan club members.

“We do not want to just leave without giving them back something,” Kevin Jonas said. The news of the split has left the Jonas faithful stunned, ever since the boys canceled a 19-date tour earlier this month just a few days before it was set to begin. They reflected with host Robin Roberts about their reasons for separating after eight years making hit music together, noting that it had a lot to do with differences over the band’s sound. “It was time and for us it took some time getting there, but we feel like it’s time that the Jonas Brothers comes to an end,” Kevin said.

Nick said he was the one who initiated the discussion about a possible breakup. “We’re family first, and that’s always been our main priority, and so honesty within what we do as a group was really important,” Nick said. “In a nutshell, I said, ‘I feel like we’ve had some complications within the new group for a long time without addressing them. I think this train will fall off the tracks without getting real about some of the limitations and some of the concerns that we may feel as individuals and within the group,’ “he added. “We felt like it was starting to get stale to us,” Joe said. “It was just individual things that we were butting heads about, whether it was a way to set up the music video to even personal opportunities, and at some point we decided that it was best to finish this.”—Reuters

Words "Content"	148
Clauses	13
Lexical Density	11,3

The text was written in English but the writer is an Arabic writer, density of the text is not very strong despite it is a written text.  Regarding the text field there could be a kind of social content. The writer is writing for Arab audience so this is clear as the Arab audience are less interested in music bands which is clear in the boring feelings of the writer towards the issue he was writing about. It seems with little communicative purpose and little explaining for the event which is clear from the number of quotations as the writer's article is full of quotations. The writer does not have enough information to write about concerning the topic which is clear as the writer did not use stated details about the Jonas Brothers Break up. The mode in this text represents having neither enough knowledge about the event nor personal attitudes or reactions of the writer himself.  vocabulary were used in a very weak way which tells the writer is not sure of the information he tries to present as he used promised, something, possible break up and differences.  The text'stenor is very weak as it lacks enthusiasm to the event or the music at all as the writer did not present explicit messages to the reader about his beloved band or about his own opinion of the event of break up the Jonas band which confirms the idea that Arab people are not those who are interested mostly in hit music.

Text2 Clauses are underlined.

New York Times

October 10, 2013, 1:31 pm 7 Comments

Jonas Brother Against Brother (Against Brother); Tour Canceled

By ALLAN KOZINN

The Jonas Brothers were to have played the first of 19 concerts in a North American tour on Friday in Upper Darby, Pa., but they may break up instead. At the very least, the tour, which was to include a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan on Oct. 23, has been scuttled because of what the group’s spokesman, Jesse Derris, described to People magazine as “a deep rift within the band” and “a big disagreement over their musical direction.”

The group’s differences seem to have erupted fairly suddenly: as of Tuesday, the  trio — Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas — was still promoting its tour on its Twitter feed, and on Wednesday, the group performed at We Day, a children’s charity event in St. Paul,Minn. Not long after their performance ended, though, the singer-songwriter Bonnie McKee, who was to have toured with the Jonases, posted a note on Twitter that read: “Hey guys sad 2 say my tour w @jonasbrothers has been canceled!”

By noon on Thursday, Ticketmaster has posted red cancellation notes on the group’s tour dates.

TMZ reported on Wednesday that the group had an explosive fight during the weekend over which of several newly recorded songs should be released. The problem for the band, TMZ reported, is that the songs are in a variety of pop and hard rock styles, and the brothers were unable to agree on which represented the direction that planned to take.

Tickets for the canceled shows will be refunded.

Words "Content"	110
Clauses	15
Lexical Density	9

The text is of not very strong density but it has good number of relative clauses. The field here is presenting a vivid social content which is rich of detailed information with dates and not very many quotations as text1. It is an informative telling text which has many things to tell as it is addressing the people of America who are crazy about this kind of music and such bands. The writer has his information from specific resources such as the spokesman of the Jonas band and he dated many of the events he mentioned exactly. He spoke about the songwriters as the public are recognized with them which is a native feeling of the native music. As to the mode, it depends on phrases and clauses the writer used professionally to show how much he is specialized in music writing as he mentioned names of places where musical concerts are held such as "Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan". Its communicative purpose is to tell the American audience specific information about the events that the band is involved in like the charity event and about the information about the break up. Grammatical contexts are flowing easily in an American language  as the writer did not tend to used many relative clauses. The tenor is representing coherent text with American the writer did not directly represent his own opinion or impose it but he professionally showed it through his wide knowledge background such as telling from TMZ, Twitter, Ticketmaster and people Magazine which shows how much he is personally and professionally interested in the event.

Task3(500 words)

In this task you should compare the two editorial texts suggesting reasons for, and effects of, the differences (i.e. differences in views, ideas, positions, attitudes, assessment, etc. of the same event/topic).

The two texts are about the same event which is the break up of the Jonas Brother musical band. Although the two texts were written about the same topic and tended to discuss the same event, there are great differences between them. The first text written in Kuwait Times seems to be a text of quotations appearing to be written by a writer who was fearing from writing about the topic or lacking the needed background that's why it seemed to be a weak text not expressing opinions nor addressing a specific audience who are interested in music. As the writer was an Arabic writer, he seemed not interested in the band or I the hit music of that kind, the people he is addressing are also Arabs who are not in fact interested in Jonas Brother band information or may be not interested in such a kind of music the fact that let me inquire what made the writer choose such a topic and write about? May be he did not find the right topic or event to write about or he was asked to write about it but lacked information. However, the writer did not used much information from his own to be discussed unless some sentences stating the event. His ideas about the event were not certain or clear. The second text which is striking the reader after reading the first one, the writer seems to challenge himself presenting vivid informative text full of details about the band activities and their reasons possible for the break up choosing different points of views such as the words of the songwriter Bonnie McKee as well as showing vast knowledge from following news about the band on different magazines and on social websites such as Twitter. As any American or as people who live in America, the writer seemed interested in the music band event and how the band will refund people the money they paid for the cancelled show which tell us the readers may be involved in the events and are waiting for their money for the cancelled show to be back to them. Native attitudes are clear enough through naming places such as Manhattan and St. Paul, Minn. The text is saying the opinions neutrally but intelligently which is a known American style. The writer seemed interested himself without giving direct words to confirm his own interest yet it is a fact that he was following the event's news on Twitter at least. May be he is a fan of the band. The American interest in money is clear as the writer guarantees his readers' rights in getting their money back after the cancellation of the show. The writer shows good musical knowledge as mentioned different musical styles such as hard rock and pop music styles. The writer was accurate in presenting dated information with mentioning the date and the day of the events such as the charity event being on Wednesday and the North American tour on Friday as well as Manhattan concert on the 23rd of October. In fact the comparison between the two text weakened the first one more than the amount of weakness it has.

Appendix

Scheme for register analysis

Aspects of Situation	Text1	Text2
Field	The Jonas Brothers said that they will not complete the album they were working on	The Jonas Brothers were to have played the first of 19 concerts in a North American tour on Friday in Upper Darby, Pa., but they may break up instead.
Tenor	They reflected with host Robin Roberts about their reasons for separating after eight years making hit music together,	the group performed at We Day, a children’s charity event in St. Paul, Minn. Not long after their performance ended
Mode	Tickets for the canceled shows will be refunded.	Information is not enough

Nimber of words used:  1125

References

• Arab Open University, Reader1 and 2. Book2. Inside English: Interpreting texts.
• http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/jonas-brother-against-brother-against-brother-tour-canceled/?_r=0
• http://www.grammarly.com/handbook/organization-and-development/text-level-measurements-adequate-writing/2/lexical-density/