MODALITY AS A TOOL OF AUTHORIAL PRESENCE IN PAKISTANI ENGLISH NEWSPAPERS

Abstract

This study explores how modality is used in editorials related to Covid-19 from two Pakistani newspapers, to establish the author's presence in the text. A purposive sampling technique was used to select 50 editorials, and a concordance tool was employed to categorize the data. Modal verbs and other linguistic elements with modal meanings were analyzed using the interpersonal metafunction, as per Halliday's Systemic Functional Linguistics. The findings indicate that editorial writers predominantly employed modal verbs of prediction such as 'will' and 'would' when discussing the pandemic, and generic phrases were frequently used to express an objective, explicit orientation of modality. The fact that predictive modals are utilized in editorials implies that the main aim of the writers is to forecast upcoming occurrences. Additionally, the study found that the editors from both newspapers showed an equal interest in finding solutions to the pandemic by using obligatory modals such as 'should' and 'must'. It was found that the editors employed various linguistic techniques, including modality, in their editorials with the aim of impacting and molding the way readers view the pandemic.

Keywords: modality, authorial presence, modal expressions, modal verbs.