Language and Ideology in Albanian Newspaper Headlines

The aim of this paper is to analyze the dominant discourse in Albanian press reporting on the political crisis following the June 2009 elections, with a focus on headlines. The overall purpose is to show how headlines reflect the relationship between ideology, power relations and language in media. The analysis proceeds via Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Albanian newspapers’ headlines. Critical discourse analysis focuses ‘on social problems, and especially the role of discourse in the production and reproduction of power abuse or domination’ (van Dijk, 2001:96). Texts are not ‘innocent’; as Fairclough (1995a:202) argues, we should ask ‘how are the texts designed, why are they designed in this way, and how else could they have been designed. Following van Dijk and Fowler’s (1991), this analysis is concerned with the relations of power and domination as represented in Albanian newspapers’ reporting on the political crisis of 2009 ? 2010, with an emphasis on the following questions: a) What meanings are conveyed by the words chosen? b) Are headlines subjected to linguistic manipulations? To answer these questions, and also to analyze how the ideological arena is reflected specifically in headlines, Albanian newspaper headlines are examined for distinct features in the vocabulary, nominalization, agency and voice (active and passive), noun phrase, categorization and wording, metaphors and topicalization. The study of headlines shows that the vast majority of headlines express ideology. They reveal direct or hidden ideological meanings. The study describes the relationship between the phrasing of the headlines and their audience. The analysis suggests that there is a two-way process at stake: that audience/target views in part dictate the language of the papers and in part shape the views of the readers on different issues.