Homogeneity And Heterogeneity: A Cross-Cultural Genre Analysis Of Editorial Letters In Pakistani And Canadian Newspapers

Abstract

Discourse and various forms of communication reveal social and cultural inclinations of human civilization (Van Dijk, 1997). Language behavior is exhibited through communication which is extracted from three main categories of language: ‘ideational, interpersonal and textual’ (Halliday, 1978, 1989). Cultural and linguistic background of the author may affect the employment of words, syntax, structure, genre and format of genre in discourse. The present study investigated the type, structure, genre and format of genre in letters to the editor section of the Canadian and Pakistani English Newspapers. Two corpora have equal representation of text (letters) each. The corpus of the study contained 30 letters from letters to the editor section of Pakistani English newspapers: The Dawn and Express Tribune (ET) and of Canadian English Newspapers: Toronto Star and The Hamilton Spectator. The textual letters from each newspaper were extracted for a specific genre through online resources and available hardcopies. Genre analysis was carried out using Bhatia’s model to evaluate the presence of any similarities and meaningful differences between the Pakistani English newspapers and the Canadian English Newspapers. This research would help not only ELT practitioners to teach how culture changes the genre of discourse, but would also shed light on the media platforms of the two countries.