Language Used in Letters to the Editors

Abstract

This study entitled "A Study of Language Used in Letters to The Editor" attempts to present the sentences in terms of structure (sentence constructions), aspects and language functions. The objectives of this study were to find out characteristics of language used in letters to the editor on the basis of sentence constructions, aspects and the language functions found in the letters to the editor. For the collection of the data the researcher collected three newspapers viz. 'The Kathmandu Post', 'The Rising Nepal' and 'The Himalayan Times'. From those newspapers, the researchers selected twenty letters from each using non-random judgemental sampling procedure and observation was the main tool. Altogether there were sixty issues from all the newspapers. All the selected sentences were categorized under different constructions, aspects as well as language functions. Among them, passive constructions, perfective aspects and suggesting functions were found to be used as the most frequent among all. And imperative constructions, perfective progressive aspects, the function of congratulating, directing, clarifying were the least frequent ones. The thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduces the study in terms of general background, review of the related literarture, objectives of the study, significance of the study and definition of the terms. The second chapter deals with the methodology adopted for the study, under which the sources of the data, process of data collection and limitaions of the study are presented. In the process of data collection, the researcher made the observation table and categorized all the sample sentences. The third chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. While analysing all the sentences found were categorized under differnt constructions, aspects and functions. The fourth chapter presents the recommendations and the padagogical implications. The last chapter is followed by appendices.