Theme–Rheme Structures in Indonesian and English Online News Reporting on Mining

Suriyadi

doi:10.59890/ijetr.v3i2.158

Authors

Suriyadi Politeknik Negeri Medan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59890/ijetr.v3i2.158

Keywords:

Theme–Rheme Structures, Critical Discourse Analysis, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Mining Discourse, Media Ideology

Abstract

This study examines how Theme–Rheme structures shape discourse in Indonesian- and English-language online news reporting on mining. Based on 62 articles published between January and June 2025, the research applies Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) to identify thematic patterns and integrates Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to interpret their ideological implications. Findings show that both Indonesian and English news are dominated by Actor → Action/Decision patterns, foregrounding government, parliament, religious organizations, and mining companies as central actors. Differences, however, are notable: Indonesian reporting emphasizes Time/Event → Action and Location → Event structures, situating mining debates within parliamentary timelines and regional contexts. English reporting features more Issue/Topic → Evaluation structures, reflecting evaluative and interpretive orientations, particularly in The Jakarta Post. By integrating SFL with CDA, it shows how clause-level features perform broader ideological work. Future research should expand to other policy domains, diachronic shifts, and multimodal contexts to deepen insights into thematic structuring in media discourse.

References

Anjaniputra, A. G., Hapsari, C. T., & Anam, Z. (2022). A contrastive analysis of Halliday’s theme system in Indonesian and English-native abstracts. E3S Web of Conferences, 317, 03001. https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202231703001

Cotter, C. (2010). News talk: Investigating the language of journalism. Cambridge University Press.

Fairclough, N. (2015). Language and power (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Fries, P. H. (2019). Thematic structure in discourse. In C. Matthiessen et al. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of systemic functional linguistics (pp. 321–338). Routledge.

Gilberthorpe, E., & Papyrakis, E. (2019). The extractive industries and development: The resource curse at the micro, meso and macro levels. The Extractive Industries and Society, 6(4), 1101–1104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.08.001

Halliday, M. A. K., & Matthiessen, C. M. I. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar (4th ed.). Routledge.

Hamid, H. A. (2024). A textual analysis of theme and rheme structures in Malaysian editorials: A systemic functional perspective. International Journal of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, 8(1), 1–15.

Lim, M. (2020). Discourse and digital disruption in Indonesia: Digital journalism and political communication. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 50(4), 541–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2020.1719254

Machin, D., & Mayr, A. (2012). How to do critical discourse analysis: A multimodal introduction. Sage.

Martin, J. R., & Zappavigna, M. (2019). Discourse semantics. In C. Matthiessen et al. (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of systemic functional linguistics (pp. 44–59). Routledge.

McEnery, T., & Hardie, A. (2019). Corpus linguistics: Method, theory and practice (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.

O’Halloran, K. (2020). Systemic functional linguistics and critical discourse analysis: A continuing dialogue. Critical Discourse Studies, 17(2), 123–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2020.1727481

Potter, L. (2016). Ideological representations and theme–rheme analysis in English and Arabic news reports: A systemic functional approach. Functional Linguistics, 3(5), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40554-016-0028-y

Reese, S. D., & Shoemaker, P. J. (2016). Mediating the message in the 21st century: A media sociology perspective (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Richardson, J. E. (2007). Analysing newspapers: An approach from critical discourse analysis. Palgrave Macmillan.

Sinaga, I. N. (2019). Theme–rheme analysis on The Jakarta Post newspaper interpolations. In Proceedings of the 2nd English Education International Conference (pp. 506–512).

Taufiqurrahman, M. (2021). Discourse and ideology in Indonesian political news reporting. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 311–322. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i2.31357

van Dijk, T. A. (2020). Discourse and power (2nd ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.

van Leeuwen, T. (2016). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford University Press.

Wodak, R., & Meyer, M. (2016). Methods of critical discourse studies (3rd ed.). Sage.