Lexical and Grammatical Analysis
The first article titled ‘Nissan Sues Carlos Ghosn for $90 Million’ published by the New York times and the second article titled ‘Nissan files $90 mn suit against Ghosn’ published by the daily star, a Lebanese magazine are both about the multi-million dollar fraud scandal that the former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn is accused of. Further, the articles both mention the escape to Lebanon that Carlos orchestrated when he was released on bail in Tokyo japan. In addition to these similarities, there are many lexical and grammatical similarities as well as differences between the two newspaper articles. This essay analyzes the two reports about the former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn based on contextual, lexical, and grammatical similarities or differences exhibited by the two newspaper articles published by two different news outlets.
Analyzing article 1 shows various words that capture the reader’s attention at first glance of the material. To begin with, the headline, the phrase ‘…sues Carlos Ghosn…’ is itself attention capturing. Carlos Ghosn became famous in the corporate world after he saved Nissan from bankruptcy when he became its chairman by forming a three-way alliance with Renault and Mitsubishi. The word ‘sued’ also appears in the heading of the second new paper in a way that is attention capturing. The authors of both articles want to get the readers to want to know more about the whole issue of Nissan, a multinational automaker suing its chairman over $90 million.
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It is also worth mentioning that the wording ‘fraud’ and ‘fraudulent’ have been used in both articles. Both words are used about the allegations by Nissan that its former chairman Carlos Ghosn had embezzled/acquired/squandered/misused the company’s funds that amounted to over $90 million.
The tone of the second article can be said to be somehow sympathetic as the author of the article mentions that Mr. Ghosn spent more than 100 days in detention in japan before he was released on bail. This is something that the first article by the new York times does not add when it mentions ‘…an escape that surprised and embarrassed the Japanese authorities.’ However, the tone of article 1 can be described as neutral as the author extensively uses neutral verbs such as ‘says,’ ‘said,’ etc.
Verbal processes can be classified into the material and behavioral processes, projecting processes, and existential and relational processes (Stark, 2017, pp. 283). Examples of material and behavioral processes found in the two articles include ‘…was arrested…’ and charged…’, ‘…an escape that surprised…’ among others.
The verbal process appears more frequently in both articles than any other process. Phrases like ‘The automaker said…’, ‘the automaker says…’’…damages it says…’’…nissan said,’ appear on the first article. The verbal process is used to introduce the answers, comments, assertions, claims, allegation, and speeches of the people on which the materials are based. For instance, the first article uses a verbal process in the introduction of the article to bring out the fact that the automaker (Nissan) filed a lawsuit in a bid to recoup the monetary damages that it accused Carlos Ghosn of inflicting on the company. Further, the audience can gather that the new york times is reporting what Nissan said and also what Mr. Ghosn and his lawyers said in defense. However, it can be gathered from both articles that what the verbal processes bring out is that they both focus on the lawsuit filed by the automaker and what Carlos Ghosn had to say about the whole issue.
Positive, negative, and neutral verbal processes are used several times in both articles. In the first article published in the new york times, the phrase ‘Mr. Ghosn has denied any wrongdoing’ is a negative verbal process. This shows that the process conveyed doubt and skepticism on the reader regarding the topic being reported in the article (Shaikh, Mahoto, and Unar, 2019 pp.50). Reading that Mr. Ghosn denied the claims via an email statement, the reader’s cynical perception about Mr. Ghosn that might have been created by the neutral use of verbal processes by the author when writing the position of Nissan on the topic is corrected. Neutral verbal processes widely used in the two articles include: said, says, among others.
A notable difference in how the two articles present the whole issue is that only the report by the daily star, a Lebanese news publisher uses positive verbal processes in favor of Mr. Ghosn.
‘He believes Nissan turned on him because executives there were concerned he was moving the firm closer to French partner Renault, part of a three-way alliance with Mitsubishi Motors.’
Analyzing this quote based on verbal processes shows that the article by the daily star tries to change the perception that readers might have regarding Mr. Ghosn based on the comments made by Nissan after filing a $90 million lawsuit.
Syntactic analysis
Both article 1 and article 2 are made up of both complex and simple sentence structures. “Mr. ‘Ghosn’s lawyers will react on the merits of the case once the content of the claim has been brought to their attention,” the statement read’ is an example of a complex sentence used in article 1. The author of the article could have opted to say, ‘ in a statement that read ‘Ghosn’s lawyers will react on the merits of the case once the content of the claim has been brought to their attention,” Ghosn denied any wrongdoing. In article 2, an example of simple sentence structure is extensive than in article 1. ‘Nissan said the damages had been calculated based on the cost to the firm of Ghosn’s “corrupt practices”’ is an example of a simple sentence structure.
To sum up, lexical and grammatical analysis has yielded that both articles in appendix A and appendix B have many similarities and minor differences. It worth noting that most of the similarities are process types usage, while many variations are in syntax and word choice. However, regardless of the differences, both articles provide the reader with relevant information regarding the $90 million lawsuits filed by Nissan, a multinational automaker based in japan, against its former chairman Carlos Ghosn for fraud and financial misconduct, and his eventual escape to Lebanon after spending 100 days in detention.
