The Texture of Ideology:

Demonstrating Bias in the Representation of the

Internal Conflict in the Colombian Press

Alexandra Isabel García Marrugo

This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

Department of Linguistics
Faculty of Human Sciences
Macquarie University
Sydney, Australia

October 2012
1
2
 To Alfredo and Eudaldo,
Angie Diomedes and Fabio Alexander,
Chorina and Helen,
and the hundreds of thousands of
victims of the Colombian conflict.

3
 Table of Contents

Table of Contents v
List of Tables ....................................................................................................................ix
List of Figures ...................................................................................................................x
Abstract .........................................................................................................................xiii
Statement of Candidate ...................................................................................................xv
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................xvii
Chapter 1............................................................................................................................1
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................1
1.2 Previous studies ...............................................................................................3
1.3 News reporting in Colombia............................................................................6
1.4 Preliminary analysis: The massacre of San José de Apartadó .......................13
1.5 The Corpus.....................................................................................................16
1.6 Thesis overview .............................................................................................19
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................21
Measuring Ideology in Text: Using Quantifiable Tools in CDA .....................................21
Abstract ................................................................................................................21
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................22
2.2 Instantial Weight ............................................................................................24
2.3 The Study .......................................................................................................28
2.4 Results and Discussion ..................................................................................32
2.5 Conclusion .....................................................................................................37
References ...........................................................................................................38
Appendices ..........................................................................................................42
2.1 Paras Text ..........................................................................................41
2.2 Guerrilla Text .....................................................................................43
Chapter 3..........................................................................................................................45
“As hard as it gets”: A preliminary analysis of hard news reports of the internal conflict on
the Colombian press
Abstract ............................................................................................................................45
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................45
3.2 Historical context ...........................................................................................46

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 3.3 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................50
3.4 The Texts........................................................................................................51
3.5 Analysis .........................................................................................................52
3.6 Conclusion .....................................................................................................67
References ...........................................................................................................70
Chapter 4..........................................................................................................................73
Construing experience in Spanish: Revisiting a Systemic Functional Description of
Nuclear Transitivity
Abstract................................................................................................................73
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................73
4.2 Theoretical Framework..................................................................................75
4.3 Lavid et al’s Transitivity Network.................................................................77
4.4 ER-role participant explicitness.....................................................................88
4.5 Conclusion .....................................................................................................93
References ...........................................................................................................96
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................103
‘On the grammar of death’: The construal of death and killing in Colombian newspapers
Abstract..........................................................................................................................103
5.1 Introduction..................................................................................................103
5.2 The experiential grammar of death..............................................................105
5.2.1 Participants in congruent constructions ........................................107
5.2.2 Participants in metaphorical constructions ...................................110
5.2.3 Death as Thing ..............................................................................113
5.3. The construal of fatal violence in the Colombian press .............................114
5.3.1 Death as process ...........................................................................116
5.3.2 Death as thing................................................................................119
5.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................122
References .........................................................................................................123
Chapter 6........................................................................................................................127
What’s in a name?: The representation of the illegal actors in the internal conflict in the
Colombian press
Abstract ..........................................................................................................................127
6.1. Introduction.................................................................................................127

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 6.2 Context and motivation................................................................................129
6.3 Corpus and analytical framework ................................................................133
6.4 The representation of the illegal actors in the Colombian conflict ..............136
6.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................152
References .........................................................................................................153
Appendix 6.1......................................................................................................157
Chapter 7........................................................................................................................159
‘Horror Stories’: Registerial variation and ideology in ‘hard news’ about the Colombian
conflict
Abstract ..............................................................................................................159
7.1 Introduction..................................................................................................159
7.1.1 Background and objectives of the study .......................................160
7.1.2 Corpus and approach ....................................................................162
7.2 The Nucleus-satellite structure: An example ...............................................165
7.2.1 Structure and texture .....................................................................167
7.2.2 Attitudinal assessment ..................................................................168
7.3 Alternative text structures in hard news of the Colombian conflict ............169
7.3.1 The headline..................................................................................170
7.3.2 The opening...................................................................................171
7.3.3 The body .......................................................................................173
7.3.3.1 Spatio-temporal organization.........................................173
7.3.3.2 Journalistic character .....................................................174
7.3.3.3 Personal narrative ..........................................................175
7.4 Contextual Configuration ‘hard news’ of the Colombian conflict ..............176
7.4.1 Mode .............................................................................................177
7.4.2 Tenor .............................................................................................178
7.4.3 Field ..............................................................................................180
7.5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................183
References .........................................................................................................184
Appendix 7.1......................................................................................................189
8. Chapter 8
Conclusion
8.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................191

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8.2 Summary and interpretation of results.....................................................................192
8.3 Theoretical, methodological and practical implications ..........................................202
Coda ...............................................................................................................................204
References .....................................................................................................................205
Appendices ....................................................................................................................213
1. Sample text from El Colombiano ..............................................................................213
2. Sample text from El Heraldo.....................................................................................214
3. Sample text from El País ...........................................................................................215
4. Sample text from El Tiempo ......................................................................................216
5. Headlines from El Colombiano Guerrilla 1998-2002 (CG1) ....................................217
2. Headlines from El Colombiano Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (CP1) .............................218
3. Headlines from El Colombiano Guerrilla 2002-2006 (CG2) ....................................219
4. Headlines from El Colombiano Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (CP2) .............................220
5. Headlines from El Heraldo Guerrilla 1998-2002 (HG1) ..........................................221
6. Headlines from El Heraldo Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (HP1) ...................................222
7. Headlines from El Heraldo Guerrilla 2002-2006 (HG2) ..........................................223
8. Headlines from El Heraldo Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (HP2) ...................................224
9. Headlines from El País Guerrilla 1998-2002 (PG1) .................................................225
10. Headlines from El País Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (PP1) ........................................226
11. Headlines from El País Guerrilla 2002-2006 (PG2) ...............................................227
12. Headlines from El País Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (PP2) ........................................228
13. Headlines from El Tiempo Guerrilla 1998-2002 (TG1) ..........................................229
14. Headlines from El Tiempo Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (TP1) ...................................230
15. Headlines from El Tiempo Guerrilla 2002-2006 (TG2) ..........................................231
16. Headlines from El Tiempo Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (TP2) ...................................232

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List of Tables

1.3.1 Newspaper readership ..............................................................................................7

1.5.1 Number of words and texts per sub corpus ............................................................18
2.2.1 Choices mapped in each metafunction ..................................................................25
2.2.2 Instantial weight .....................................................................................................26
2.3.1 Instantial weight (adapted from Butt, 2008) ...........................................................31
2.4.1 Instantial weight of Paras text ...............................................................................33
2.4.2 Instantial weight of Guerrilla text ...........................................................................34
3.5.1 ER roles in Paras Text ............................................................................................56
3.5.2 ED roles in Paras Text ...........................................................................................57
3.5.3 ER roles in Guerrilla Text ......................................................................................57
3.5.4 ED roles in Guerrilla Text ......................................................................................57
3.5.5 Material processes with a human Goal ...................................................................62
3.5.6 Representation of social Actors ..............................................................................64
4.4.1. ER- participant roles from transitive and ergative perspectives ............................90
5.1.1 Frequencies of lemmas MORIR, MATAR, and ASESINAR
...................................104
5.2.1 Topological classification of different construals of dying and killing.................110
5.2.2 Collocates for muerte (death), asesinato (murder) and matanza (killing)
............111
5.3.1 Construal of death as Nominalization or Process in period 1 (1998-2002)
..........118
5.3.2 Construal of death as Nominalization or Process in period 2 (2002-2006)
..........118
8.2.1 Lexicogrammatical patterns in the reporting of the conflict (Guerrilla vs.
Paramilitaries) ......................................................................................................194
8.2.2 Lexicogrammatical patterns in the reporting of paramilitary actions (1998-2002 vs.
2002-2006) ...........................................................................................................196

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List of Figures

1.5.1 Saturation of CG1 subcorpus ..................................................................................18

1.5.2 Word/text ratio per subcorpus .................................................................................19
2.4.1. Instantial weight results of Paras and Guerrilla text ..............................................35
3.5.1 Types of Processes ..................................................................................................54
3.5.2 Material Processes ..................................................................................................55
3.5.3 Hasan’s cline of dynamism (1985:46) ....................................................................59
3.5.4 Cline of dynamism (adapted)..................................................................................60
3.5.5 Participant Roles .....................................................................................................61
3.5.6 Van Leeuwen’s representation of social actors (1996:66) ......................................65
4.2.1 System of Nuclear Transitivity in Matthiessen (1995:206) ....................................77
4.3.1 The system of Nuclear Transitivity in SFS (Lavid et al, 2010:88) .........................79
4.3.2 Realizations of Causation .......................................................................................79
4.3.3 Remapping of lexical ergativity .............................................................................81
4.4.1 System of Spanish Agency .....................................................................................95
5.3.1 Normalised frequencies of death and killing as process in period 1
....................115
5.3.2 Normalised frequencies of death and killing as process in period 2
...................115
5.3.3 Normalised frequencies of Middle and Effective voice in period 1
.....................116
5.3.4 Normalised frequencies of Middle and Effective voice in period 2
....................116
5.3.5 Frequency of elaborating vs. extending and enhancing processes in period 1
....117
5.3.6 Frequency of elaborating vs. extending and enhancing processes in period 2
....117
5.3.7 Perpetrator explicitness in period 1
.....................................................................119
5.3.8 Perpetrator explicitness in period 2
..................................................................... 119
6.4.1 Forms of representation of illegal actors in the Colombian conflict
.....................142
6.4.2 Representation of guerrillas1998-2002.................................................................143
6.4.3 Representation of paramilitaries 1998-2002.........................................................143
6.4.4 Representation of guerrillas 2002-2006................................................................144
6.4.5 Representation of paramilitaries 2002-2006.........................................................144
6.4.6 Frequency of low certainty expressions collocating with differentiated forms of
representation.................................................................................................................145
6.4.7 Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor ............................................147
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6.4.8 Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor with a Human Goal............148
6.4.9 Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor of an elaborating process with a
Human Goal .........................................................................................................149
6.4.10 Percentage of Implicit or Indifferentiated forms realizing Agent in clauses of killing
and murdering......................................................................................................151
7.1.1 Word/Text Ratio per subcorpus ............................................................................163
7.1.2 Text Structure in El Tiempo ..................................................................................164
7.1.3 Approaches to register typology - Trinocular perspective ....................................165
7.2.1 Partial cohesive harmony analysis of example (1) ...............................................169
7.3.1 Partial cohesive harmony analysis of example (2) ...............................................175

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 Thesis Abstract

This study aims to investigate how the four major Colombian newspapers covered the
news related to both left-wing guerrillas and right wing paramilitaries' actions from 1998 to
2006. Within a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework, it aims to identify linguistic
patterns at the lexicogrammatical and semantic levels in the construal of violent acts that
may highlight or conceal the responsibility of the perpetrators. The findings may provide
some insight into the role of the press as a contributing factor in the reproduction of the
widespread ideology of the paramilitaries as a minor agent of violence in the conflict
despite the statistical evidence to the contrary.

The data for this study consists of a 300,000+ word (over 500 texts) corpus of news reports
from the major broadsheet papers from the four largest Colombian cities, El Tiempo, from
Bogotá; El País, from Cali; El Colombiano, from Medellín, and El Heraldo, from
Barranquilla. The news reports are divided according to the perpetrator (guerrillas or
paramilitaries), and into two periods of time: August 1998- August 2002 and August 2002-
August 2006, corresponding to two presidential periods when negotiations with guerrillas
and paramilitaries respectively were carried out. This corpus is analysed from both a
quantitative and a qualitative perspective combining the use of computational tools with
detailed manual analysis. The analytical tools employed include instantial weight (Butt,
2008), the cline of dynamism and cohesive harmony (Hasan, 1985), the representation of
social actors (van Leeuwen, 1996), appraisal (Martin and White, 2005), and transitivity
patterns of the construal of death and killing in Spanish.

The implications of this study encompass theoretical, methodological and practical issues.
Theoretically, it provides a currently unmapped system of choices for Spanish transitivity
that allows for the construal of events without the participation of an Agent, which can be
recruited by the speaker to conceal responsibility for violent acts, among other things.
Methodologically, it approaches discourse analysis of a large corpus from a firmly
grounded systemic functional perspective, which provides the analyst with sufficient
evidence to support claims of ideological content in texts. And practically, in the field of
journalism, it may provide reporters and editors with a guideline on how to cover acts of
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violence from a perspective that is more favourable to the victims than to the perpetrators,
and in education, by uncovering the lexicogrammatical mechanisms through which a
particular ideology is reproduced, it advocates for the development of critical reading
programs at the secondary and tertiary levels.

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 Statement of candidate

I certify that the work in this thesis entitled “The texture of Ideology: Demonstrating bias
in the representation of the internal conflict in the Colombian press” has not been
previously submitted for a degree to any other university nor has it been submitted as part
of the requirements for a degree to any other university or institution other than Macquarie
University.

I also certify that the thesis is a original piece of research and it has been written by me.
Any help and assistance that I have received in my research work and the preparation of
this thesis itself have been appropriately acknowledged. In addition, I certify that all
information sources and literature are indicated in the thesis.

The research presented in this thesis did not require approval from the Macquarie
University Ethics Committee.

Alexandra I. GARCIA MARRUGO

Student ID: 41580915

15 October, 2012

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16
 Acknowledgements

It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support and help of my supervisor Dr.
Annabelle Lukin. From the moment she received my research proposal, her enthusiasm for
my project has been a definitive factor in its completion. Her sound academic advice and
guidance have not only shaped the content of this thesis, but also my development as a
linguist. In addition to providing me with invaluable academic opportunities, she has
displayed a level of sensitivity and warmth that have gained my admiration not only as an
academic, but as a human being as well. I would also like to thank my associate supervisor,
Prof. David Butt. The depth and breadth of his knowledge and the passion with which he
shares it have been a constant source of inspiration.

This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support from the Macquarie
University Research Excellence Scholarship and the Universidad del Norte professional
development fund. My deepest gratitude to both of these institutions for their support.

I would also like to thank Professor Jim Martin, Dr. Mira Kim, Beatriz Quiroz and all the
members of the Sydney typology research group for their valuable feedback, which has
greatly enriched this work. Likewise, the SFL seminar series held at the University of
Sydney were a great contribution to the shaping of this thesis. In particular, I would like to
thank Dr. Peter White and Dr. Monika Bednarek for the quality of their teaching and the
opportunity to share aspects of my research project.

Special thanks are due to my mentor and friend, Dr. Gillian Moss, who, for the last 20
years, has believed in me and encouraged me to move forward. Her example, guidance,
and support throughout this time have been crucial for this achievement.

I am also indebted to my family, who despite the distance, always made me feel their love
and support, and also showed a special interest in my project to the point of helping with
data collection and transcription. In this regard, the help of my brother Gabriel and my
sister-in-law Jessica, was invaluable. I will always be indebted to my mother Myriam,
whose presence during these last months made the completion of this project possible.
17
My greatest debt is to my partner, Pedro, who left his world behind to accompany me in
this journey. He has kept me sane through this emotionally draining process. His love and
protection have built a home for us. And most importantly, he has given me the gift of life,
Isabella, who has filled me with thousands of reasons to look into the future with hope.

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction

This thesis investigates how the illegal actors in the Colombian internal conflict (Marxist 1
guerrillas and right wing paramilitaries) and their actions are represented in the regional
and national press during the period 1998-2006. The interest in this issue arises from the
evident disparity between the statistical evidence and the general perception of the conflict
among Colombians. While acts of violence by both groups escalated dramatically during
the turn of the century, data from both official and non governmental sources indicate that
the number of paramilitary victims is at least triple that of the guerrillas (Fiscalía General
de la Nación, 2010; Comisión Colombiana de Juristas, 2007). Despite these figures,
different polls reveal that the public overwhelmingly points at the guerrillas as the main
agents of violence, and an alarming percentage of the Colombian population, varying
between 20 and 40%, justifies the existence of paramilitary groups (Ipsos-Napoleón
Franco, 2007; Urtak, 2010).

Furthermore, decisions regarding the political destiny of the country are made based on
this perception. In 1998, President Andrés Pastrana was elected on the promise of carrying
out peace negotiations with the FARC, probably the largest and oldest guerrilla
organisation on the planet (Livingstone, 2004). The vicious increase of the attacks against
civilians and publicly elected officers, of which the latest was the hijacking of a
commercial plane with the kidnapping of a senator in 2002, forced the President to cancel
the dialogues. In the same year, Alvaro Uribe was elected president with 53% of the
popular vote under the promise of combatting the guerrillas militarily and carrying out
peace negotiations with the paramilitaries, who during the same period, had, on average,

1 While FARC continue to proclaim itself as a Marxist-Leninist movement, their financial practices
including the accumulation of wealth and land and the control of the drug business say otherwise.
committed a massacre every 2.4 days (Departamento Nacional de Planeación, 2003).
Given this drastic change in attitude from the general public towards one of the actors of
the conflict, while continuing to support negotiations with the other, it was considered
necessary to contrast these two periods (1998-2002 and 2002-2006) diachronically.

In order to begin to understand this phenomenon, it is important to take into account the
particularities of the Colombian conflict. As opposed to countries like Liberia, Lebanon, or
Afghanistan, where the percentage of the population directly affected by the conflict can
reach up to 96%, in Colombia this figure is comparatively low, at 10% (IPSOS/ICRC,
2009). Second, the large majority of both guerrilla and paramilitary actions take place in
rural areas (Restrepo et al, 2004), inhabited by a quarter of the population. Thus, the
typical middle or working class urban Colombian has never had direct contact with the
conflict.

This suggests that for the average Colombian the main source of information on the
conflict is the mass media. Thus, it is fair to ask whether there is a correlation between the
widespread ideology of paramilitaries as minor agents of violence and the portrayal of their
actions in the media. For this study, news pieces reporting on guerrilla and paramilitary
actions from the four main newspapers in the country were selected. The reason for
selecting newspapers, as opposed to more popular media such as television or radio, is,
besides the accessibility of data in Internet archives, that the space provided by the written
format allows for greater depth and analysis. For over 30 years, research has consistently
shown that print newspaper impact on public awareness of relevant social issues is far
greater than its more popular counterparts such as television or radio (McCombs & Shaw,
1972; Shaw & McCombs, 1977; Allen & Izcaray, 1988; McCombs, 1997; Culbertson et
al, 1994; Schulz, 2003). Even the popularisation of new technologies does not seem to
have affected the success of the printed versions in this respect (Eveland & Dunwoody,
2002; De Waal & Schoenbach, 2008).

An examination of the press necessarily means an examination of the language of the

press. While pictures, colours, font size and other visual elements undoubtedly convey
some meanings, the burden of the semantic load of a news report is born by language. This
analysis then needs to be framed within a linguistic theory that conceives language as a
20
vehicle for the construction and reproduction of ideology, and that accounts for the social
context where it is produced. For this task, Systemic Functional Linguistics (henceforth
SFL) provides the theoretical tools necessary to uncover the linguistic patterns that may
have given more salience to guerrilla violence and victims than to paramilitary ones.

1.2 Previous studies

WILLIAM:
..today's newspapers will be lining
tomorrow's waste paper bins.

ANNA:
Excuse me?

WILLIAM:
Well, you know -- it's just one day.
Today's papers will all have been
thrown away tomorrow.

ANNA:
You really don't get it. ....
Newspapers last forever.

(From Notting Hill, 1999)

The frequent selection of newspapers as an object of study in the social sciences, focused
mainly on their potential impact on the public opinion, challenges the notion of press
reports as ephemeral, inconsequential texts. A well-established body of literature, typically
from the perspective of the discipline of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), shows that,
rather than reporting events 'objectively', news construes particular incidents and the
participants in them from a perspective that is usually more favourable to those in power
(Fairclough, 1995a; Fowler, 1991; Glasgow University Media Group, 1976, 1980, 1982,
1985, 1993; Kress & van Leeuwen, 1998; Teo, 2000; Van Dijk, 1998a, 1998b, 1993).
Most of this work employs, in varying degrees of depth, SFL concepts to identify linguistic
patterns that may indicate the ideology(ies) reproduced by the text(s) under analysis.

The suitability of the Hallidayan framework for CDA studies relies on the fact that both
approaches see language, not merely as reflecting, but as construing reality for humans:
Language has to interpret the whole of our experience, reducing the indefinitely varied
phenomena of the world around us, and also of the world inside us, the processes of our own
consciousness, to a manageable number of classes of phenomena: types of processes, events
and actions, classes of objects, people and institutions and the like (Halliday, 1978:21)

21
That is to say, the categories in which we compartmentalise the endless influx of
information perceived through our senses is set by language. The picture of the world in
our brains is painted in the palette and technique of the language used by our community.
As Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) explain,
there is no facet of human experience which cannot be transformed into meaning. In other
words, language provides a theory [emphasis in the original] of human experience, and certain
of the resources of the lexicogrammar of every language are dedicated to that function. (p. 29)

In other words, what language provides us with is an interpretation of reality. This is what
has been called in SFL the ‘experiential’ component of the ideational metafunction of
language (see Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004, 2006). Hence, ‘objectivity’, conceived as
“facts free from partisan values” (Allan, 2004:23), which is every journalists’ ultimate
goal, is unattainable. ‘Objective’ reporting is then reduced to the socially accepted
interpretation of events as expressed in mainstream discourse.

This view of language entails accepting that it is not possible to access ‘the plain truth’
through any linguistic rendering of events. This is explained through the notion of choice, a
pivotal concept in SFL. Labelling a news report, for example, as ‘biased’ or as a
‘misrepresentation’ of a particular group implies that different linguistic selections may
have created a more (or less) balanced account. The problem is that the level of ‘bias’ in a
text can only be adjusted to comply with the legal, ethical and moral values of the society
where it is produced. For CDA scholars, these values are, in general terms, those that
Western society preaches to adhere to: those consigned in the International Declaration of
Human Rights, the protection of the environment, and the defence of social and ethnic
minorities, among others. Studies are, therefore, often aimed at uncovering ideologies of
dominance and oppression in texts through the identification of linguistic features that
mystify or legitimise social practices that would not be widely accepted or tolerated if
presented more congruently. Some of the linguistic features typically selected as an
indication of this mystification or legitimation are passivisation, agent deletion,
nominalisation, and lexical choices (Kress, 1985; Fowler, 1991; Fowler et al, 1979;
Langacker, 1999; Fairclough, 1995, 2003).

Another frequently explored aspect in media discourse is evaluation from the perspective
of appraisal theory (Iedema et al, 1994; Martin, 2000; White, 2000, 2002, and Martin &

22
White, 2005). According to this framework, one of the defining features of ‘hard news’ ,
those reporting “events that either destabilise or consolidate the social order” (Iedema et at,
1994: 107) is the absence of explicit authorial judgment (i.e. adjectives or adverbs such as
‘brutal’, ‘irresponsibly’), as opposed to editorial and op-eds, where the writer is free to
deploy evaluative lexis. While most of this line of research has focused on English (mostly
Australian) media, the recent volume edited by Thomson and White (2008) mentioned
above gathers studies on the press from countries as diverse as Thailand, Vietnam, Japan,
Taiwan, and Argentina, among others. Caffarel, in the same volume, shows how the
apparently ‘objective’ report of ‘Le Figaro’ on the ‘handover’ of power in Irak in 2004,
legitimises the American invasion.

But identifying certain patterns (i.e. nominalisation, negative evaluation, participant roles)
in one text or a small collection of texts can hardly count as evidence of a particular
ideology being put forward by a certain publication. In this regard, Fairclough notes that
...a single text on its own is quite insignificant: the effects of media power are cumulative
working through the repetition of particular ways of handling causality and agency, particular
ways of positioning the reader, and so forth. (Fairclough, 1989:54)

With the development of specialised software, there is an increasing trend to conduct

studies based on larger corpora. A search of the Linguistics and Language Behavior
Abstracts (LLBA) database2 retrieved 857 hits for the keywords ‘corpus’ and
‘newspapers’. Corpus linguistics analysis are based on quantitative results at the level of
lexis such as frequency lists, key words and collocates, which undoubtedly provide
valuable insight into the characteristics of a large set of texts. Identifying grammatical
patterns, on the other hand, is not an automated process yet, but can be guided by initial
frequency results or key words of the field under investigation. For instance, Baker (2006)
shows how, in the British press, refugees are assigned processes related to crime and
violence. Interest in combining SFL theory with Corpus Linguistics for discourse analysis
applications is relatively new but rapidly increasing (Thompson & Hunston, 2006;
Bednarek, 2010; Ward, 2004) , and this work aims to be a contribution in that respect.

2 Date of search: 12 December 2011

23
While exploring ideology in the press is not a new trend, research has been focused mainly
on European (mostly British) newspapers, which is one of the criticisms to CDA. As
Blommaert (2005) points out, attention to the Third World, where issues of inequality and
discrimination are more pressing, is minimal. A search of LLBA 3 produced only four
papers conducting studies on the Latin American press. In Discourse & Society, one of the
leading journals in the field, the results were only two. None of these referred to the
Colombian media. These numbers are not only minimal compared to those of developed
countries, but are also a half or a third of the studies published on the press of regions such
as the Middle East or Africa. Furthermore, Latin American based journals, already few in
number, lack the funding to produce frequent issues and reach a wider audience (Pardo,
2010). Pardo (ibid) also complains about how “Latin American researchers take their
subject-matter often unreflectingly from European studies, leaving out a wide range of
vital local issues”, among which she includes the Colombian conflict. Pardo (2007) has
published a volume on the representation of the actors of the Colombian conflict, including
the victims, the illegal armed groups, and the State. Her approach includes analytical
strategies such as the identification of themes, topics and foci, and discursive strategies
such as legitimation and mitigation, among others. The results of this study point more at
the differentiation between illegal and legal actors in the conflict than to the differences
between the two illegal groups. Hence, a study aiming at uncovering the distinct forms of
representation of each of these groups and their actions in the press was considered
necessary.

Having established the motivation and the need for this study, it is important to look at the
context of reporting in Colombia and the particular newspapers under scrutiny.

1.3 News reporting in Colombia

According to the Colombian Association for Media Research (ACIM, 2010), newspapers
in Colombia have an average penetration in the population of 35%, reaching 53% in the
highest socioeconomic group. The most widely read newspapers from the four major cities
were selected for this study. These are El Tiempo, from Bogotá, the capital city; El País,
from Cali; El Colombiano, from Medellín, and El Heraldo, from Barranquilla. These four

3 Date of search: 15 December 2011

24
papers have a combined readership of about eight million (ibid). El Espectador, the
second national newspaper in the country and the oldest in circulation, was not included
since from 2001 to 2008, a financial crisis forced it to print only a weekly issue (El
Espectador, 2008). These choices also offer a fair geographical distribution, covering the
three most densely populated regions of the country, which are inhabited by 95% of the
population (DANE, 2005). Table 1.3.1 shows the daily and Sunday readership of the
selected newspapers.

Table 1.3.1 Newspaper readership (ACIM-EGM 2010-II)

Daily Sundays

El Tiempo 1.139.052 2.043.782

El Colombiano 230.683 451.231

El País 170.427 314.154

El Heraldo 133.840 221.115

The three regional newspapers are linked to the National Press Agency Colprensa, which
gathers and distributes information among the different regions of the country to 17
Colombian dailies, thus allowing each newspaper to report on events occurring in distant
geographical areas (Rincón, 2011).

Originally, these newspapers were born with a clear ideological purpose, to support and
promote the ideas of either the Conservative or Liberal parties. El Tiempo, founded in
1911, was acquired two years later by Eduardo Santos, who served as President of
Colombia from 1938 to 1942 for the liberal party. Likewise, El Heraldo, was founded in
1933 to serve the interests of the Liberal Party and support the presidential candidature of
Alfonso López Pumarejo, who won office in 1934 and 1942. El Colombiano and El País,
on the other hand, were founded by leaders of the Conservative party in 1912 and 1950
respectively.

However, establishing clear political affiliations in Colombia is rather difficult due to a sui
generis situation in the second half of the XX century. After years of political tension
between the conservative and the liberal party, the most popular candidate, Jorge Eliécer

25
Gaitán, was assassinated in 1948. This event gave origin to the period of Colombian
history called “The Violence”. After a bloodshed that took the lives of about 300,000
Colombians, especially in the country side, the political parties agreed to a system of
alternate power every four years. Although “The National Front” as it was called made the
rivalry between Conservatives and Liberals disappear, it degenerated into a loss of
ideological identity and corruption. Thus, the only difference between the parties was the
colour that identified them (blue and red, respectively). This lack of guiding principles has
caused in Colombians apathy towards political movements, but support towards messianic
figures embodying the perceived necessary traits to solve the problems of the moment
(Patiño, 2009). Hence, rather than supporting a political party with a clearly identified
ideological agenda, Colombian newspapers, tend to show support for the political group in
power.

Nonetheless, an unclear ideological line does not mean absence from the political arena.
The Santos family, owners of El Tiempo until recently, when the Planeta group from Spain
became the major shareholder, have always been actively involved in politics. Francisco
Santos quit journalism to run as Alvaro Uribe’s vice-president in 2002, and his cousin Juan
Manuel Santos, is the current president of the country after serving as Minister of Defence
in the previous administration. Not surprisingly, the editorial line of El Tiempo openly
declared its support for the candidacies of both the previous and the incumbent. The
Gómez and The Lloreda families, founders of El Colombiano and El País respectively and
partners of the National Media Group (GNM), which affiliates seven regional newspapers,
count on generations of high government officials, senators, mayors, and governors.

How can these close ties with politics influence the content of the news distributed to the
public? One way is the criteria applied to the selection of events to be portrayed. This
factor has been widely researched from the perspective of agenda-setting theory, which
shows the media’s ability to influence public opinion:
Through their day-by-day selection and display of the news, the editors of our newspapers and
the news directors of our television stations exert a powerful influence on public attention to
the issues, problems, and opportunities that confront each community. Over time, the priorities
reflected in the patterns of news coverage become to a considerable degree the priorities of the
public agenda.(McCombs, 1997: 433)

26
This selection does not necessarily promote an opinion on the issues that affect society, but
determines what the issues are. More often than not, the topics will be the ones that affect
the ruling classes. For example, Alvaro Uribe himself is a victim of guerrilla violence. His
father, a wealthy landowner, was killed by the FARC in a failed kidnapping attempt.
Ransom kidnapping is a crime that affects mostly, but not exclusively, the middle and
upper classes, especially business people and landowners (Fondelibertad, 2010). The
victims of forced disappearance, on the other hand, are community activists, left
sympathisers, human rights defenders, trade unionists or inhabitants of the zones in
conflict (Semana, 2006); in summary people who represent an obstacle for the interests of
big capital. While the number of forced disappearance victims reaches at least 50,000
(Haugaard and Nichols, 2010) and that of kidnappings around 23,000 (País Libre, 2007),
the frequency of the reporting of the first on the press makes it almost invisible. A search
of El Tiempo database containing all issues of the newspaper since 1990 produced less than
2000 hits for the expression desaparición forzada (forced disappearance) but over 50000
for the word secuestro (kidnapping).

In addition to the influence of politics, other aspects need to be taken into account when
describing the context of news reporting in Colombia. Some of the difficulties are due to
purely pragmatic factors; others are a function of the institutional structure of the practice
of journalism in Colombia, and others of the context of violence and the almost unlimited
power of the illegal actors of the conflict.

Juanita León (2004), a journalist who has received multiple national and international
awards for her investigative work on the Colombian conflict, lists some of the reasons why
“the war is not as they paint it”. In the rugged Colombian geography where the conflict is
waged, access to the scene of the action involves long journeys through dirt roads or
mighty rivers usually in militia-controlled areas. On site, victims and witnesses refuse to
share their experience fearing any reprisal from the perpetrators. Thus, the journalist is
limited to the official version of high-ranking members of the military, which is often very
different from that of the victims, as illustrated below.
During the days that the Peque massacre lasted, for example, the people gathered in the Parish
house to see what the news said about the village. On Thursday, the Police Chief appeared on
t.v. saying that the village was already under the control of State forces. The people, who had
just seen four FARC guerrillas strolling through the village square, could not be more shocked.

27
 It was a feeling of utter unreality. They did not know whether to believe their own experience
or what the t.v. portrayed as reality.
(León, 2004:143)

While the official version of events cited above may be interpreted as a personal attempt to
save face, the following headlines from El Heraldo, the leading broadsheet paper on the
Atlantic coast, dated in the first semester of 1998 start to form a disturbing pattern:
- Army says there was no massacre in Putumayo (February 13)
- Army blames guerrilla for massacre in Meta (May 9)
- Massacre in Barrancabermeja (May19)
Army states it is a vengeance between guerrilla militias
In all three cases, the paramilitaries were responsible for the killings. This fact had not only
been denounced by relatives of the victims but was confirmed by civilian authorities as
well.

In addition to the difficulty of obtaining access to reliable versions of the events, there are
economical and organisational constraints that limit the journalists’ ability to investigate
events in depth. Travelling to remote and dangerous areas involves high costs that the
employer may not be willing to cover for a prolonged period. Furthermore, so many
newsworthy events take place in Colombia in such short periods of time that news become
old in a matter of hours. Only in the last week of February 2002, the FARC hijacked a
plane, kidnapping, among others, the Senator Jorge Gechem, president of the Peace
Commission. To stop military action, the guerrillas dynamited several bridges, which led to
the death of four people who drove into the abyss. The president Andrés Pastrana, then,
decreed the end of the Peace negotiations and gave the insurgents till midnight to abandon
the area, which was bombarded early in the morning. The next day, the presidential
candidate Ingrid Betancourt and her running mate, Clara Rojas were kidnapped by the
FARC while attempting to visit the area where the peace talks were being held. There is
hardly another place on earth where journalists have to work so hard to keep up with the
pace of events.

León (2004) also points out the emotional cost of covering massacres and guerrilla attacks
on a daily basis. Dealing with the pain of the grieving relatives or the wounded survivors
takes a toll on the journalists’ emotional health, which may cause them to refrain from
28
pursuing the matter further. Luz María Sierra (2007), a reporter from El Tiempo, the
leading broadsheet newspaper, narrates how the coverage of the search for the mass
graveyards where the paramilitaries buried their victims disturbed the investigative team:
...A scene started to repeat itself in the editing room: one by one, the reporters that came back
from their assignment, were terrified. Few coverages have shaken us in such a way and few are
so difficult to put into words: because of the scale of the horror of the killing methods, because
of the pain of the victims that is not assuaged, and perhaps what’s most distressing, because of
the magnitude of the enterprise that is overwhelming the country.(Sierra, 2007)

It is important to remember that the news report is not the sole product of the journalist
who covered the event. The length, angle and structure of the text needs to obey certain
parameters and even be agreed beforehand with the editor or even the editorial board (El
Tiempo, 1995:49). These in turn make editorial decisions based on factors such as the
volume of advertising space sold, the companies that buy that space, and the economic and
political interests of media owners.

These political and economical pressures, among other factors, have earned Colombia the
143rd position out of 178 countries in the 2010 Reporters without Borders Worldwide
Press freedom index (Reporteros sin Fronteras, 2010). A 2007 survey of over 200
journalists revealed that in some areas, nearly 50% of those interviewed had refrained from
publishing relevant information out of fear of losing their jobs (Semana, 2007). A palpable
example is the closing of the Cambio magazine, property of the El Tiempo editorial house.
The magazine had uncovered major government scandals including the connections of the
State Minister’s brother with the Mafia and the allocation of millionaire subsidies to
wealthy landowning families, and despite having obtained profits in the previous year, the
reasons given for the abrupt closing were merely economic. To this respect the CPB
(Bogota’s Circle of Journalists), which recognises the outstanding pieces of journalism
with the most prestigious award in the country, stated in their 2010 report: ‘There is a form
of terrorism more damaging than that which explodes bombs, and it is that which silences
journalists, magazines, and newspapers’ (CPB, 2010).

But the traditional forms of terrorism, the one with bullets and bombs, is alive and well in
Colombia. Since 1977, 136 journalists have been murdered in the exercise of their
profession (FLIP, 2009). A third of these murders was committed by the illegal actors in
the conflict, about 15%, by members of the Armed Forces of public officers, and in a 40%

29
of the cases, authorship has yet to be determined. The picture worsens when the impunity
rate is taken into consideration: in only 11% of the cases the material authors have been
convicted. None of the masterminds behind the crimes have served a day of sentence for
these crimes (Calderón, 2010).

While there has been a significant and steady reduction in the number of murdered
journalists since 2002, there are other less notorious but equally effective ways of silencing
the press, which comes in the form of threats, which have affected over 30% of
practitioners (ibid). Given the historical records, threats in Colombia are always to be taken
seriously, forcing the journalist to silence or exile. A victim of this practice was the multi-
award winning investigative journalist Daniel Coronell, who owns and directs a small
independent news network with a one digit share of the ratings. His editorial line of well-
researched critical journalism earned him enemies in the highest spheres of power. In 2005,
death threats against his six-year old daughter forced him to leave the country. The
threatening emails were proved to have been sent from a computer in the residence of a
former Senator, convicted drug dealer and close friend of former President Alvaro Uribe,
Carlos Náder. After his return to the country two years later, he became one of the most
notorious victims of illegal tappings and spying carried out by the Government’s
Intelligence Agency (DAS)(Semana, 2010).

In this climate where the coverage of the conflict and the exposure of the links between the
illegal actors in the conflict and politicians is penalised economically, emotionally, and
physically, many journalists resort to the practice of self-censorship. A 2010 report by the
Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP) concludes:
The reporters, who find their stories in direct sources and that many times suffer the
consequences of those stories, are not telling them. They are not telling all they have to tell.
The faraway country that they know is silenced. Journalists have made a tacit pact to save their
lives and their relatives’. (FLIP, 2010)

Despite these appalling conditions for the practice of journalism in Colombia, the levels of
credibility of the media in general are fairly acceptable and surprisingly increasing. A
comparison between two surveys by the Universidad de La Sabana Media Observatory
Survey in 2002 and 2009 shows that the percentage of respondents who “believe little or
nothing of what the media says” has been reduced to almost a third of the previous
measurement, from around 15% to 5% (Observatorio de Medios, 2009). The number one

30
reason for the initial lack of credibility was the manipulation of the news content by either
political or economic groups. The second survey did not question respondents in this
respect.

The contradictions posed by the context of news production and reception described above
call for an illustration of the phenomena under study in this thesis. The following section
presents a preliminary exploration of one text from the corpus.

1.4 Preliminary analysis: The massacre of San José de Apartadó

The following report, published in El País on February 27, 2005, was selected for
preliminary analysis mainly because of its short length (107 words).
PP2_2005.02.27_SANJOSEDEAPARTADO
Hallan cadáveres de ocho personas.
Bodies of eight people found

Los cadáveres de al menos cinco adultos y tres menores de edad fueron encontrados hoy en un
paraje rural de la zona de Urabá, informaron las autoridades.
The bodies of at least five adults and three minors were found today in a rural area of the Urabá
zone, informed the authorities.

El múltiple crimen, cuyos móviles y autores se desconocen, se registró en zona rural del
municipio de Apartadó, Antioquia.
The multiple crime, whose motives and authors are unknown, was recorded in the rural area of
the municipality of Apartadó, Antioquia.

A la zona fueron enviadas tropas del Ejército y agentes de la Policía para establecer la autoría
del asesinato y perseguir a los criminales.
To the area, army troops and police officers were sent to establish the identity of the
perpetrators and pursue the criminals.

Según los primeros indicios un grupo de hombres armados, al parecer de la guerrilla FARC,
irrumpió en una finca de esa región y disparó contra los cinco adultos y los tres menores.
According to the initial evidence, a group of armed men, apparently from the FARC guerrilla,
burst into a farm of the area and shot the five adults and the three minors.

Bell (1998:66) suggests starting the analysis with the “journalist’s ‘five Ws and an H’:
who, what, when, where, why and how”, or in SFL terms, with the experiential meanings
of the text, the configurations of processes, participants and circumstances. The first step is
to identify what events take place in the headline: the story is construed as a ‘finding’ of
bodies, as opposed to a ‘killing’ of people. No direct reference to the killing is made in the
lead (Bell, 1991, 1998; Iedema et al, 1994) . The event is nominalised as el múltiple crimen
(the multiple crime), and asesinato (murder) in the third and fourth sentences of the report.
It is noticeable that the nominalisation ‘massacre’ is absent from the report, given the high

31
number of victims (8). In the narrative of the Colombian conflict, this term has been
adopted by different official and non governmental organisations and the media in general
to refer to the collective murder of three/four or more civilians in the same event or events
related by perpetrators, and location in time and place4 (Defensoría del Pueblo, 2001). In
the final sentence, the event is construed as a ‘doing’ with an Actor + material process
structure. Yet, the clause is middle since the verb disparar (to shoot) does not take a Goal,
but a Beneficiary 5 or a circumstantiated participant, as in this case, realized by the
prepositional phrase contra los cinco adultos... (against the five adults...). Notice that verbs
such as ‘kill’, ‘murder’ or ‘massacre’ are absent from the text.

Looking at the ‘who’, in the headline, the reference to the victims with the general word
personas (people) conceals the relationship among the victims, who were members of two
nuclear families, and the young age of three of them. In the lead and the closing sentence,
the children, aged 11, 6, and 2, are referred to as ‘minors’, which could be interpreted as
anyone younger than eighteen. These linguistic selections do not reflect the
newsworthiness of the event, as indicated by its level of pathological deviance (Shoemaker
et al, 1991). That is to say, killing eight people is more deviant than killing one or two; the
facts that the victims were members of two families and that three of them were children
are aggravating circumstances that would only make the event more worthy of attention.
The question of who committed the killings is addressed in a dependent clause in the third
sentence stating the lack of information about motives and authorship of the crime, which
stands in contradiction with the information in the closing sentence suggesting the FARC
guerrillas as the culprits, claim for which no evidence or sources are provided. Considering
the sources, the information is attributed to ‘authorities’, but there is no indication to
which, whether civilian or military. Furthermore, the unofficial version of the events as
denounced by civilian authorities and non-governmental organisations from the San José
de Apartadó community, where the crime scene was located, is absent from the report.
According to the villagers, who led authorities to the location of the bodies, the massacre

4 While the Ministry of Defence uses four as the minimum number of victims to categorise a
multiple murder as a massacre, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights considers three as
the minimum.
5 The term Maleficiary would result more appropriate in this case; see Chapter 5 for a discussion of
this participant role.
32
was committed by paramilitaries, aided by members of the army. (Corporación Jurídica
Libertad, 2005).
In relation to the where and when, the crime scene is located geographically in the first two
sentences of the report, and only the discovery of the bodies, but not the actual killing is
located chronologically. The final sentence may lead readers to think that the bodies were
found in the farm where they were allegedly shot, when, in fact, these were found in a
common graveyard. Likewise, the ‘how’ presented in the text can be considered
misleading. Contrary to what the report states, the murder weapons were not firearms but
machetes and clubs. This information was available from the discovery of the bodies, since
these were found mutilated and with evident signs of torture, and included in the initial
denouncement made by the NGO released two days prior to the publication of the article
(CJL, 2005).

The criminal investigations proved the spokespeople of the community were right. So far,
seven paramilitaries and five members of the military have been convicted for this crime
(Verdad Abierta, 2012). However, despite the atrocity of the event, NGO’s with ties to the
community, the UN and the Red Cross, and a handful of journalists and politicians in the
opposition were the only voices expressing outrage at the crime. The subsequent media
coverage framed the debate as a ‘he-said’-‘she-said’ between the army and the community,
who was accused of being guerrilla aides by the President himself, a position which was
reproduced by many an editorial (Restrepo, 2008).

This report creates a semiotic space remarkably different from what the physical evidence
and the witnesses’ accounts reveal. In addition to omitting the non-official version of
events, the lexicogrammatical selections (nominalisation, middle voice, absence of default
lexical choices such as ‘kill’ , ‘massacre’, ‘children’, etc) detract from the newsworthiness
of the event and reduce the potential impact on readers and their ability to develop
empathy for the victims. The question is then whether this text is an isolated case of poor
reporting possibly due to time constraints or a established pattern of reporting, part of a
systematic attempt to misinform the audience in order to protect the interests of those in
power. In order to make such a strong claim, it is necessary to garner sufficient evidence
from a representative sample of reports about acts of violence in the framework of the

33
internal conflict. The following section describes the corpus compiled for this purpose and
the selection process.

1.5 The Corpus

The corpus for this study consists of 554 news reports on violent acts committed by either
guerrillas or paramilitaries from the major newspapers of the four largest Colombian cities:
El Tiempo, from Bogotá; El Colombiano, from Medellín; El País, from Cali, and El
Heraldo from Barranquilla. A variety of resources was used to obtain the texts. All of the
reports from El Tiempo were obtained from their digital archive, which contains all news
reports published from 1990 to date. For the remaining three newspapers, some of the
news were obtained from their websites; however, unlike El Tiempo, which offers an
archive that is progressively expanded, the date of the earliest available issue was
constantly moved forward, which prevented the collection of all the desired reports. Thus,
the missing reports from the regional newspapers were photographed from the physical
archives at the Luis Angel Arango National Library in Bogotá and El Heraldo headquarters
in Barranquilla. Furthermore, a news database provided by CINEP, a human rights
nongovernmental organisation based in Bogota, was acquired to complete the corpus.
News reports retrieved from websites and from the CINEP database do not include
photographs; therefore, it was not possible to explore multimodal aspects in this study.
Appendices 1 to 4 are sample texts from each of the sources mentioned.

The news reports were selected based on the number of victims, their prominence, or their
representativeness as members of a particularly targeted social group (i.e. unionists,
community leaders, journalists). As a starting point, events highlighted by the United
Nations Human Rights Report on Colombia for each year were searched in the newspapers
databases. About a third of these stories were found in at least two newspapers. The stories
in the database were classified by perpetrator (guerrillas or paramilitaries), number of
victims (over or under 10 fatal victims), and year of publication (the starting date for each
year was August 7, coinciding with the presidential inauguration). From each of these
groups, stories were selected at random.

34
The reports which were not in a readable format had to be typed. Afterwards, all reports
were saved in plain text format and grouped into one of 16 sub-corpora comprising four
newspapers, two perpetrators and two time periods(1998-2002 or 2002-2006). The criteria
for the selection of these two periods was explained above in section 1.1. In some cases,
the group responsible for the crime was not stated explicitly in the report. Hence, it was
necessary to look for another report of the same event in other media sources and/or the
CINEP database, which contains detailed accounts of human rights violations committed
by all of the actors in the conflict. If it was not possible to confirm the authorship of the
crime, the report was discarded. Each text was named with the initial of the newspaper
where it was published (C for El Colombiano; H, for El Heraldo; P for El País, and T for
El Tiempo) followed by the initial of the perpetrator (G for Guerrillas or P for
Paramilitaries) and 1 or 2 depending on whether the report was published in the first time
period for analysis (1998-2002) or the second (2002-2006). This three character
combination was followed by an underscore and the date of publication in the
year.month.day format and another underscore followed by a key word such as the location
of the event or the name of the victim. For illustration purposes, the news report about the
paramilitary massacre in 'El Salado' published in El Heraldo on February 23, 2001 was
named HP1_2000.02.23_salado. Although initially time-consuming, this coding proved to
be very convenient during the analysis stage, since results were easily organised
alphabetically, which allowed for immediate classification. In appendices 5 to 20, lists of
headlines, file name, number of words and date of publication for all 16 sub-corpora are
provided.

In order to establish a limit for the number of reports included in each sub-corpus, the
criteria of corpus saturation was adopted. According to Belica (1996:61-74), corpus
saturation is reached once the number of word types remains stable or shows little
variation despite the increase in the number of tokens. With the help of the free corpus
analysis software AntConc (Anthony, 2011), the number of word types and tokens was
obtained in order to determine the minimum saturation point, which was found to be
between 15 and 20 thousand words equivalent to between 30 and 40 texts. Figure 1.5.1
illustrates the saturation point for the sub-corpus CG1 (El Colombiano, Guerrilla,
1998-2002).

35
 Saturation for CG1
20000

15000

10000

5000

0
1 2 3 4
Matthiessen (2006:108) also suggests 15,000 words as the “point of diminishing returns”

types tokens
for specialised corpora, indicating that increasing it beyond this point will not yield much
more insight into the particular register under study.

Texts were added or discarded in order to try to maintain a balance between the number of
words and number of texts. Table 1.5.1 indicates the number of texts and words for each
sub-corpus.

Figure 1.5.1 Saturation of CG1 sub-corpus

Table 1.5.1 Number of words and texts per sub-corpus

TIEMPO PAIS COLOMBIANO HERALDO
Texts Words Texts Words Texts Words Texts Words
P1 32 18154 41 17596 34 18154 36 18227
G1 32 20843 34 18491 31 17919 35 18675
P2 30 18178 40 15935 39 19871 38 15846
G2 30 21584 33 20080 32 22699 37 18058

From the table above we can observe that despite having a smaller number of texts, the
number of words of each of the guerrilla sub-corpora exceeds that of the paramilitaries. In
other words news reports of guerrilla actions are on average longer, and this trend increases
in the second period as illustrated by Figure 1.5.2, which graphs the text/word ratio for
each sub-corpus. The significance of this finding is explored in Chapter 7.

The following section outlines the structure of the thesis indicating the type of analyses
carried out with the corpus.

36
 Word/Text Ratio
800.0000

600.0000

400.0000

200.0000

0
C1 C2 H1 H2 P1 P2 T1 T2
Figure 1.5.2 Word/text ratio per sub-corpus
GUERRILLA PARAS

1.6 Thesis Overview

This dissertation follows the ‘thesis by publication’ format. This means that, except for the
first and last chapters, each chapter was written as an independent paper for publication in
a specialised journal or volume. Therefore, each of them addresses a specific aspect of the
representation of the illegal armed groups in the Colombian press.

Chapter 2 argues for the need to combine qualitative and quantitative research tools with a
strong foundation on SFL concepts, which can be applied to representative corpora in
CDA research projects. It illustrates the application and usefulness of the ‘Instantial
Weight’ tool (Butt, 2008) through the analysis of two texts from the corpus. This
preliminary analysis, and subsequent ones with a larger sample, pointed at the experiential
meanings as those more at risk in the reporting of violence in the Colombian conflict.
Hence, further analysis focused on aspects such as transitivity patterns and the
representation of social actors.

Chapter 3 examines two pieces of hard news reporting acts of violence, one committed by
the FARC guerrillas and the other by the AUC paramilitaries. The focus of the analysis is
on the experiential meanings, contrasting the lexicogrammatical selections used to refer to
participants, processes and circumstances. The analytical tools employed include an
adaptation of Hasan’s (1985/1989) cline of dynamism, and Van Leeuwen’s system network
for the representation of social actors (1996).

37
Chapter 4 responds to the need for a typological description of Spanish transitivity. It
suggests two modifications to this system as proposed by Lavid et al (2010). The first is to
revisit their concept of causation, which to them is limited to lexical ergativity, and remap
the different options to express this feature as more delicate choices of the voice system.
The second is to include the system of ER-participant explicitness, which provides
speakers with more choices to present crucial participants such as Agent and Medium
obliquely. This feature in particular will prove particularly relevant to the analysis of the
corpus.

Chapter 5 focuses on the more delicate grammar of death and killing, presenting a
typological and topological perspective of the options available to Spanish speakers to
construe violent death in the hard news register. It also contrasts the patterns present in
each sub-corpora, showing remarkably different construals of the violence inflicted by
each group. Chapter 6 presents the results of the analysis conducted with the whole corpus
using the analytical tools showcased in Chapter 3. Chapter 7 examines registerial variation
in hard news reporting of the conflict, focussing on El Tiempo sub-corpus. Chapter 8
concludes the thesis by summarising the results of the different analyses and offering a
discussion of the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results.

38
Chapter 2

Measuring Ideology in Texts: Using Quantifiable Tools in CDA6

Abstract

Throughout the last thirty years, Critical Discourse Analysis has built a consistent body of
research demonstrating ideological bias in discourses of major social relevance including,
but not limited to, media, political, legal, educational, and corporate discourse. However,
this discipline has been criticised with the argument that its interpretation of texts is more
the result of the analyst’s own biases rather than of the application of structured theoretical
tools. It is this author’s belief that this issue can be addressed with the implementation of
analytical tools that allow the CDA analyst to identify linguistic patterns either in
individual texts or a larger corpus that may indicate more clearly an ideological bias.

This paper shows the application of the concept of instantial weight (Butt, 2008) to two
news reports from the newspaper El Colombiano dealing with the internal conflict, more
specifically violent acts against civilians committed by Marxist guerrillas and right wing
paramilitaries. The instantial weight of the selected participants (the guerrillas and
paramilitaries in this case) is determined by assigning a numerical value to each instance
depending on a set of lexicogrammatical features from all four language metafunctions.
The results clearly show marked differences in the construal of the illegal actors in the
conflict in the selected texts. The identification of these patterns in a larger corpus may
provide strong evidence of a particular ideology about the conflict, that of the
paramilitaries as minor agents of violence, being promoted by this newspaper.

6This paper was published in Christina Gitsaki and Richard Baldauf (2012) Future Directions in
Applied Linguistics: Global and Local Perspectives. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars,
pp. 292-310.
39
2.1 Introduction

For over thirty years, Critical Discourse Analysis, and its precursor, Critical Linguistics,
has produced a consistent body of research demonstrating with tangible examples the
ideological content of socially relevant discourses that both reflect and reproduce unequal
relations of power.

Contrary to the popular view that opposes ‘just words’ to ‘real action’, CDA conceives
‘discourse as the instrument of the social construction of reality’ (Van Leeuwen, 1993:193).
As Fairclough (1992) points out,
Discourses do not just reflect or represent social entities and relations, they construct or
‘constitute’ them; different discourses constitute key entities (be they ‘mental illness’,
‘citizenship’ or ‘literacy’) in different ways, and position people in different ways as social
subjects (e.g. as doctors or patients), and it is these social effects of discourse that are focused
upon in discourse analysis.(p. 3-4)

Illustrative examples of research topics include the analysis of media, institutional, or legal
discourse to uncover bias against dominated social groups such as ethnic or religious
minorities (Van Dijk 1991, 2005; Richardson 2004; Reisigl and Wodak 2000), the working
classes (Meinhof and Richardson 1994), women (Caldas-Coulthard 1996; Clark, 1992). It
can also show how events can be construed from perspectives favourable to those in
power. For instance, a search of Discourse & Society, one of the leading journals in the
field, produced 50 hits for articles studying discourses on the US invasion of Iraq.

While there seems to exist a consensus on the types of issues subject to analysis, CDA has
been the object of criticism, among other aspects, on issues of a theoretical and
methodological nature. Wodak (2002) and Meyer, in the same volume, comment on the
need for a unified linguistic theoretical framework. Fowler (1996) advocates for the
original model based on the Hallidayan framework, warning that
‘nowadays it seems that anything can count as ‘discourse analysis’, and...there is a danger that
the compactness of the original analytic methodology will dissipate in the presence of
competing and uncontrolled methodologies drawn from a scatter of different models in the
social sciences.(p.12)

The argument for Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as the underpinning theory of
language in CDA is based mainly on their common view of language as both a shaper and
a reflection of society. Thus, unlike Chomsky’s ‘colorless green ideas’, the study of text, or

40
language in use, is inseparable from its cultural and historical context. Another powerful
reason is the centrality of the notion of choice to SFL. If an analyst claims that certain
wordings misrepresent a community or show a favourable bias towards a dominant group,
it is automatically implied that the system of language offers other possibilities to encode
the same instance of human experience. It is not the same meaning encoded in different
wordings, but different wordings construing different meanings. Since SFL conceives
language as socially constructed system of choices for the creation of meaning and
provides a detailed description of the choices available, its usefulness to CDA is
invaluable. The 2004 volume linking SFL and CDA is a significant contribution
establishing ‘a firmer relationship between the two’ (Young and Harrison, p. 2).

From a methodological standpoint, many CDA studies are considered as

‘fragmentary’ (Fowler, 1996:8), limited to ‘analysis of vocabulary and perhaps metaphor
with an occasional grammatical example’(Fairclough, 1992:207). While the input from
CDA scholars with a background in the social sciences is extremely valuable, a deep
understanding of linguistic phenomena is necessary to produce relevant analyses. As
Fairclough (2001:126) points out ‘one problem facing people who are not specialists in
linguistics is that there are many different aspects of the language of an interaction which
may be relevant to critical analysis’. More intensive training in linguistic theory may be a
solution to this issue. While little instruction is needed to spot the difference between
‘freedom fighter’ and ‘terrorist’, or ‘the police killed the protesters’ and ‘the protesters’
death’, it requires a trained eye to account for the ideological content of grammatical
features such as thematic choices, clause status, or finiteness. The production of analysis
based on the discussion of handpicked lexical or grammatical items also goes in
contradiction to the concept of language as inherently embedded in ideology. In this
regard, Lukin (2005) argues that
...the selection of particular words or phrases as carrying the ideological responsibility of the
text - a standard technique in CDA - raises the question of what the rest of the text is up to. If
only certain words, or certain features are ideological, doesn’t this leave the analyst in the
position of saying the rest of the text is an ‘objective’ representation, or at least some kind of
‘default’ mode? Can it be that only some linguistic features shape our reality, while others
merely reflect it? (p.540)

41
This anecdotal, exemplificatory approach to CDA practice detracts from the validity of the
claims made by the researcher and renders the analysis vulnerable to accusations of bias. In
order to demonstrate ideological content in discourse ‘what is criterial is the constellation
of a set of linguistic patterns - a configuration of patterns in rapport with each
other’ (Hasan, 1996:148). To establish the existence of a set of patterns, it is necessary to
make use of analytical tools that allow the researcher to make claims based on substantial
evidence. Jaworski and Coupland (1999: 36) state that ‘qualitative, interpretive studies of
particular fragments of discourse are not self-sufficient. They need support from other
traditions of research, even quantitative surveying.’ Likewise, the use of quantitative tools
may provide a level of systematicity for effective comparison along historical, registerial
or social variables (Stubbs 1997; Toolan 1997). Hence, developing the quantitative
linguistic tools that will allow researchers to identify more clearly ideological patterns in
texts is a necessary step for the development of the methodological rigour of CDA in order
to solve issues of validity, replicability, and comparability, and thus consolidate its status as
a scientific discipline.

This paper aims to demonstrate the use of the concept of ‘instantial weight’ (Butt, 2008) as
a quantitative tool to carry out detailed textual analysis from a comprehensive systemic
functional framework. In order to show its application, two news reports on actions carried
out by the two main violent non-state actors in the Colombian conflict, the Marxist
guerrillas and the right wing paramilitary groups will be analysed.

2.2 Instantial Weight

The concept of instantial weight is based on the potential for choice that language offers. In
encoding any aspect of human experience, the speaker makes a number of decisions from
particular lexical choices, to tense selection, to the organisation of the message. Most of
the time, these selections are made unconsciously and often respond to formulaic
expressions, such as greetings or simple requests. With higher stakes, such as a public
speech, a pay rise request, or an elaborate apology, careful consideration is given to every
word selected. The speaker chooses to give prominence to a certain element by placing it
in initial position or making it the subject of the clause, for example. Likewise, s/he may
downplay the element’s saliency by placing it in an embedded clause or collocating it with

42
an existential process. Hence, the instantial weight of an element in a text is calculated by
assigning values to the different grammatical selections on a scale in different categories
(Butt, 2008: 75).

The scale maps speakers’ grammatical choices (or non-choices) from the systems offered
by the three metafunctions of language (Halliday, 2005 [1995]:216): the ideational,
which‘construes human experience’, divided into the experiential and the logical
components; the interpersonal, which enacts social relationships; and the textual, which
organises discourse. Table 2.2.1 summarises the grammatical roles tracked in each
metafunction.

Table 2.2.1 - Choices mapped in each metafunction

Metafunction Choice

Logicosemantic Status

Type of Process
Experiential Agentivity
Voice

Subject
Interpersonal Finiteness
Person

Theme-Rheme
Textual
Given-New

Each set of choices for each metafunction is then placed along a cline and assigned a value
from one to five according to its degree of prominence. For instance, regarding the choices
available for Person in the interpersonal metafunction, if the element being tracked is
realized as first person in a clause, it is assigned the value of 5; if it is realized as second
person, 4, and so on with less prominent roles.The complete scale as originally proposed is
provided in Table 2.2.2.

43
Table 2.2.2 - Instantial weight (Butt 2008:77)
Status/depth Primary Hypotactic Hypotactic2 Rankshifted Hypotactic in Rankshifted
Rankshifted in
Rankshifted
↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Finiteness Tense Modality Non-Finite Minor Exclamative/

Predicator Vocative

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Process Material Behavioural Verbal Mental Existential Relational

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Voice Middle + Middle Effective Effective Effective / - Voice

Domain (Operative) (Receptive) + Receptive
(Circumstance/ Agent -Agent
Range)
5 4 3 2 1 0
↘
Agent/Role X acts X acts on Y X is acted upon X is Domain X is Experiential
(Medium/Actor) (Agent/Actor) (Medium/Goal) (Range like) Circumstance occluded

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Subject X is Subject Complement Predicator Adjunct Vocative Occluded

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Theme Marked as Adjunct Predicator 3rd Person 1st/2nd

Theme:
Complement

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

News Marked News News Only Non-final Marked Final Final Theme only
(Theme) (e.g. Unmarked
Predicator)

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0

Person Realized as 1st As 2nd As 3rd As 3rd General Thing/ No reference

(particular) (homophoric) Stuff

For illustration, examples of each choice in the dimension of Process are provided below.
The element tracked is in italics and the Process in underlined:
Material 5: The FARC killed three peasants
Behavioural 4: The soldiers slept in the trenches.
Verbal 3: The Colonel said the situation was under control.
Mental 2: The peasants thought the army would arrive.
Existential 1: There are guerrillas in the area.

44
Relational 0: The paramilitaries are responsible.
Thus, the instantial weight of an element will be the sum of the values resulting from the
analysis of the grammatical roles played by the element in question in each clause of a
given text. Having a defined set of criteria and a numerical value to establish comparisons
allows the researcher to make evidence-based claims rather than elaborate speculation on
the ideological bias of a text, or set of texts. Butt (2008) clarifies that
‘the technique can be straightforward in many situations in that...even a modicum of systematic
tracking across a few dimensions has a significant bearing upon evidence and inference in
discourse analysis. But not in all cases. A discourse tool is an aid to interpretation not a
substitute for it’. (p.76)

It is not being claimed that this tool can account for all ideological features of a text, but
can provide a strong basis for more informed interpretation.

This tool can also be adapted to the particular needs of the research question being asked
by expanding the number of dimensions and arranging the different set of choices in a
cline, or by expanding the cline to include more delicate choices. For example, the
dimension of mood could be included, where an element in an exclamative clause (e.g.
What a heinous crime this is!) may be considered to be more salient than the same element
in a declarative clause (e.g. This is a heinous crime.). Regarding delicacy, material
processes could be further classified depending on the type of outcome of the process
(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004). Thus transformative processes, which change some
feature of one of the participants, are subdivided into ‘elaborating’, changing the state,
make-up, shape or other physical features of the participant (e.g. kill, shoot), extending,
which have to do with changes in possession or accompaniment (steal, kidnap), and
enhancing, encompassing process effecting changes of location or motion (arrive, leave).
The scales can also be adapted according to typological considerations. That is, for
languages other than English, different dimensions will provide different sets of choices
that need to be accounted for.

The following section describes briefly the Colombian internal conflict and the reasons for
studying its reporting in the press. It then demonstrates how the instantial weight tool was
adapted to analyse two reports from the newspaper El Colombiano, in order to determine if
there were any differences in the representation of the violence committed by each of the
illegal actors.

45
2.3 The Study

Along its nearly 50 years, the Colombian internal conflict and the actors in it have evolved
to the point where it is hard not to reduce it to a territorial war for drug trafficking routes.
The FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia), the oldest Marxist guerrilla
movement on the planet, and the different right wing paramilitary groups who united under
the acronym AUC (United Self-defence groups of Colombia) in the late nineties, caused
the internal displacement of over three million people, killed over fifty thousand (more
than any South American dictatorship), disappeared at least thirty thousand, and kidnapped
over twenty thousand civilians (Attorney General’s Office, 2010).

While both groups increased their attacks against the civilian population during the turn of
the century, statistics from the Attorney General’s Office and different Non-governmental
Organisations point to the paramilitaries as the major agents of violence in the conflict,
with a record of fatal victims that doubles that of the guerrillas. (Coljuristas, 2007).
However, different opinion polls show that over 70% of Colombians point to the guerrillas
as responsible for most of the violence, while only 5% point at the paramilitaries (Ipsos-
Napoleón Franco, 2007). Likewise, while rejection of the guerrilla movement is almost
unanimous, around 40% of the population consider paramilitarism ‘a necessary
evil’ (Urtak, 2010), a justified response to guerrilla violence.

About 90% of Colombians have not had direct contact with the actors of violence (Ipsos/
CICR, 2009). The massacres, the attacks, the incursions occur almost invariably in rural
and remote areas. Hence, the average urban Colombian, who makes up for 75% of the
population, learns about the conflict mainly from the media. The striking contrast between
public perception and statistical evidence about the conflict calls for an examination of the
representation of the illegal armed groups and their actions in the media.

For this purpose, the instantial weight tool seems appropriate, since it provides a measure
of the saliency or foregrounding of particular textual elements, in this case the guerrilla and
paramilitary groups.

46
For this study, two pieces of news from the newspaper El Colombiano, the leading
newspaper from Medellín, the second most important city in Colombia, were selected. This
broadsheet paper has a readership of over 300,000 on weekdays and over half a million on
Sundays, making it the second most widely read newspaper in Colombia (El Colombiano,
2008). Both texts report on attacks on civilians: one committed by the Marxist guerrilla
FARC, and the other by the paramilitary group AUC. In both cases, the attacks consist of
armed incursions into remote villages with a similar number of civilian casualties and
damages to private and public property. Therefore, the selection displays similarity in the
degree and characteristics of the actual violence committed by the groups.

The first text, titled Incursión Armada dejó diez muertos en Urrao (Armed Incursion left
ten dead in Urrao) dated from February 5, 2000, will be referred to as the Paras text. The
second text, titled En nuevos ataques de la guerrilla, 6 muertos (In new guerrilla attacks, 6
dead) dated from February 4, 2002, will be referred to as the Guerrilla text. The Paras text
is 45 clauses long, while the Guerrilla text is 37. The Spanish originals, along with the
English translation, are provided in appendices 2.1 and 2.2.

Given the nature of the elements selected for analysis, some dimensions of the instantial
weight were revised and modified accordingly. It was considered that the type of Process
dimension required a greater degree of delicacy for the material processes and a lesser
degree for the other process types. Material creative processes (set up, build), and
transformative elaborating (kill, shoot, burn, explode) were assigned a value of five,
followed by material transformative extending processes (kidnap, steal, rob) with 4, and
enhancing (arrive, leave) 3. Mental and verbal processes were grouped and assigned the
value of 2, and existential and relational processes were given a value of 1.

Likewise, the scale of the dimension of Voice, which accounts for the distinction between
whether a process is ‘brought about from within, or from outside’ needed to be adapted for
the type of research question and also for typological reasons. Halliday and Matthiessen
(2004) distinguish between Middle Voice, where processes are brought about without the
participation of an external Agent (e.g. The peasants ran), and Effective Voice, where an
external Agent causes the Process (e.g. The guerrillas chased the peasants). Hence, in the
second example, the running of the peasants is externally caused by the guerrillas.

47
Furthermore, in the Effective Voice, the role of Agent can be conflated with that of Subject
of the clause as in the example, or it can be circumstantiated as in ‘The peasants were
chased by the guerrillas’. In the first case, the configuration is called Effective Operative
Voice, and in the second Effective Receptive Voice.

Since the question is how saliently violence by each group is represented in the texts, the
Effective Operative Voice was considered to have more weight than the Middle Voice. It is
important to clarify that Spanish offers the possibility of an Agentless Effective Operative
Voice, commonly used in headlines, where English is limited to the Receptive Voice. For
example, “Four arrested over murder” can be translated literally in the Receptive Voice
(Cuatro arrestados por asesinato) or in the Effective Operative without an Agent (Arrestan
a cuatro por asesinato - (they-impersonal) arrest four over murder). Following the same
rationale, in the Agentivity dimension, the distinction between X acting on human and X
acting on non-human was included and these choices were assigned the highest values.
This change would account for the difference between ‘The guerrillas killed the peasants’
and ‘The guerrillas burned the bus’. In these clauses, the values would be identical for the
dimensions of Type of Process and Voice, (and all the others), but in the Agentivity
dimension, the first clause would obtain a higher value.

In the Subject dimension, it was important to include the distinction between Subject
realized as Nominal Group and Ellipsed Subject offered by the typological features of
Spanish. In addition to this, the choice ‘Predicator’ was eliminated since the elements
being tracked are participants, not processes.

The dimension of Theme accounts for the message structure. Given the range of choices a
speaker has to organise a clause, the element selected for first position, the Theme, is
considered to be more salient than the rest. Contrast ‘In paramilitary attack, four peasants
die’ with ‘Four die in paramilitary attack’. In the first clause, the circumstance ‘in
paramilitary attack’ is the Theme of the clause and therefore more salient in this dimension,
whereas in the second clause ‘Four’ is the Theme. In Spanish, Processes, Participants and
Circumstances may be selected for Theme position (Arús, 2010). As in the Subject
dimension, the choice ‘Predicator‘ was eliminated, and replaced by the option ‘Clitic’,
which are pronominals that may precede or follow the verb. Experientially, they usually

48
play the role of Goal or Beneficiary, as in ‘Lo mataron.’ - Him kill-3PLPast - [They] killed
him or He was killed.

The Dimension of New from the System of Information, maps the speaker’s choices of
focus in intonation units. Thus, the analysis of this dimension is suitable for the research
with spoken texts. Matthiessen (1995) offers the alternative of the culmination system, but
given the typological differences of clause structure between English and Spanish, this
dimension will not be considered in this paper. The complete tool with all the adaptations
required for this study is provided below in Table 2.3.1.

Table 2.3.1 - Instantial weight (adapted from Butt, 2008)

Status/depth Primary Hypotactic Hypotactic2 Rankshifted Hypotactic in Rankshifted
Rankshifted in
Rankshifted

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Finiteness Tense Modality Non-Finite Nominalized Minor Exclamative/
Predicator Vocative

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Process Material Material Material Mental/ Verbal Existential/ Experiential
Creative/ Transformative Transformative Relational occluded
Transformative Extending Enhancing
Elaborating

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Voice Effective Effective(Recep Middle + Middle Effective - Voice
Operative + tive) + Agent Domain/Range Receptive/
Agent Operative
-Agent

5 4 3 2 1 0
↘
Agent/Role X acts on X acts on non- X acts X is acted X is Domain/ Experiential
human human upon Circumstance occluded
(Medium/
Goal)

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Subject X is Subject X is Ellipsed Complement Adjunct Vocative Occluded
realized as Subject
Nominal Group

49
 Status/depth Primary Hypotactic Hypotactic2 Rankshifted Hypotactic in Rankshifted
Rankshifted in
Rankshifted

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Theme Marked as Adjunct Clitic 3rd Person 1st/2nd Person
Theme:
Complement

↓ 5 4 3 2 1 0
Person Realized as 1st As 2nd As 3rd As 3rd General Thing/ No reference
(particular) (homophoric) Stuff

Having decided on the options for each dimension and their value in their scale, the next
step was to identify the clauses where the participants in question (paramilitaries and
guerrillas) are realized, including the ellipsed instances, and examine each instance against
the set criteria. The following section aims to illustrate and discuss the results.

2.4 Results and Discussion

The first important contrast between the Paras and the Guerrilla text is that although the
first is a few clauses longer, the paramilitaries are found in only five of the 45 clauses,
while the guerrillas appear in 14 of the 37 clauses. A more than double number of instances
will obviously make this element more salient. The clauses featuring instances of the
paramilitaries and the guerrillas from each text, along with the values assigned for each
dimension are provided below. The translation into English is also provided under each
clause. The element is bolded in each clause, and ellipsed forms are retrieved and indicated
with ^ and all capitals.

50
Table 2.4.1 - Instantial weight of Paras text
ID Status FinitenessProcess Voice Agent Subject Theme Person
1 Ayer, en Urrao, en el Suroeste
del departamento, una
incursión de las Autodefensas
Unidas de Colombia dejó diez
muertos
5 5 3 5 5 5 0 3 31
Yesterday, in Urrao, in the
South west of the department,
an incursion by the United
Self-Defense Groups of
Colombia (AUC) left ten
dead.

6.1 “A eso de las cuatro de la

madrugada, las AUC rodearon
el pueblo
5 5 3 5 4 5 0 3 30
“At about four in the morning,
the AUC surrounded the
village.
6.2 ubicándose en las veredas San
José, El Volcán, La Magdalena,
La Venta y La Honda
4 3 3 5 5 0 0 3 23
locating themselves in the
villages San José, El Volcán,
La Magdalena, La Venta and
La Honda

11.1 Según las versiones de algunos

campesinos [[que alcanzaron a
llegar al casco urbano]] ayer en
la mañana, el grupo armado
realizó otros dos retenes, a
parte del de la vereda La
Honda
5 5 5 5 4 5 0 3 32
According to the versions of
some peasants [[who managed
to reach the urban area]]
yesterday morning, the armed
group set up two more false
check points, besides the one
of the village “La Honda”

12.2 donde ^ELLOS retuvieron a

cuatro personas, 3 5 4 5 5 4 0 3 29
where ^THEY held four
people

22 23 18 25 23 19 0 15 145

51
52
Table 2.4.2 -Instantial weight of Guerrilla text
ID Clause Status Finiteness Process Voice Agent Subject ThemePerson
1.1 En nuevos ataques de la
guerrilla, 6 muertos 5 5 0 0 1 1 5 3 20
In new guerrilla attacks, 6
dead
2.1 Hombres de FARC fusilaron
a 4 campesinos 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 37
FARC men executed four
peasants
2.2 y ^HOMBRES DE FARC
desaparecieron a 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 0 3 32
and ^FARC MEN
disappeared five
7.2 que los rebeldes alcanzaron a
lanzar unas 26 bombas 4 5 4 5 4 5 4 3 34
that the rebels managed to
throw about 26 bombs
9.1 En otra acción insurgente, en
el corregimiento San Félix, de
Salamina, Caldas, cuatro
campesinos murieron
baleados en la cabeza 5 5 5 2 1 2 5 3 28
In another insurgent action,
in the village of San Felix, in
Salamina, Caldas, four
peasants were shot dead in the
head.
10.2 que un grupo de las FARC
entró a una finca de la región
en la madrugada del sábado, 4 5 4 2 3 5 4 3 30
that a FARC group entered a
farm in the area on Saturday
morning,
10.3 ^UN GRUPO DE LAS
FARC asesinó al
administrador y a tres
menores de edad 4 5 5 5 5 5 0 3 32
^A FARC GROUP murdered
the manager and three minors.
12.2 que los guerrilleros
ajusticiaron a sus víctimas 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 3 36
that the guerrillas executed
their victims
13.1 “^LOS GUERRILLEROS
Los hicieron arrodillar, 5 5 5 5 5 4 0 3 32
“^THE GUERRILLAS
made them kneel”
13.2 ^LOS GUERRILLEROS les
pegaron tiros de fusil en la
cabeza, 5 5 5 5 5 4 0 3 32
^THE GUERRILLAS shot
them in the head with rifles
13.3 ^LOS GUERRILLEROS
acabaron con la finca”, 5 5 5 5 4 4 0 3 31
^THE GUERRILLAS
destroyed the farm

53
 2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0
Status Finiteness Process Voice Agent Subject Theme Person

guerrilla paras
ID Clause Status Finiteness Process Voice Agent Subject ThemePerson
14.3 porque los dueños no pagaron
la extorsión [[que la guerrilla
les exigía]] 2 5 2 5 5 5 0 3 27
because the owners did not
pay the extortion [[that the
guerrilla demanded from
them]]
15.1 Las FARC intensificaron su
ofensiva 5 5 5 5 4 5 4 3 36
The FARC intensified their
offensive
16.2 que con estos hechos las
FARC pretenden 4 5 3 2 3 5 0 3 25
that with these actions, the
FARC aim to
43
62 70 57 56 55 60 30 42 2

As explained above, the instantial weight of the element ‘guerrillas’ triples that of the
‘paramilitaries’ mainly because of the latter’s reduced number of instances in the Paras
text. Figure 2.4.1 provides a visual summary of the results for the analysis for both texts. In
order to establish a more accurate comparison, the instantial weight of each clause was
divided by the total number of clauses of each text. The rationale behind it is if the number
of clauses of a text greatly exceeds the number of instances of an element, its instantial
weight will automatically decrease and viceversa.

Figure 2.4.1 - Instantial weight results of Paras and Guerrilla text

Leaving the analysis at this point would be simplistic. It is necessary to examine each
dimension and explore the selected options that make ‘the guerrillas’ more salient than ‘the
paramilitaries’ in the texts in question.

54
Regarding the dimension of status, in both cases about half of the instances of ‘guerrillas’
and ‘paramilitaries’ occur in primary clauses. The Guerrilla text, however, offers more
variation due to the larger number of instances, including not only hypotactic, but also
rankshifted clauses with a lexicogrammatical realization of the element.

Likewise, the dimensions of the interpersonal metafunction, Finiteness, Subject, and

Person do not offer great contrasts. All instances of both elements are in the third person,
which is typical of the register of journalistic reporting. Unlike other terrorist
organisations, guerrillas and paramilitaries rarely take responsibility for their actions in the
national sphere. Hence, a first person account of the events in their voice is exceptional.
Public authorities, witnesses, and victims, on the other hand, do frequently offer their
reconstruction of the experience. One feature of these accounts is that the Ellipsed Subject
form is often used, as can be seen in clauses 13.1, 13.2 and 13.3 in the Guerrilla Text.
Having had access to confirmed reports from officials and witnesses accounts, the veracity
of the events is not questioned, which is evidenced in the selection of the past tense.

On the contrary, the examination of the dimensions of the experiential metafunction offers
revealing contrasts. No instance of the paramilitaries is collocated with material
transformative elaborating processes, whereas in the Guerrilla text, eight instances of this
type of process are found including shooting, destroying, murdering and executing. While
all instances of the ‘paramilitaries’ are in the Effective Operative Voice, when mapping
these to the Agentivity dimension, it can be observed that only three select the choice ‘X
acts on human’, and one of this is a reflexive form as seen in clause 6.2 (locating
themselves). Hence, the saliency of the paramilitaries is diminished, since the action that is
the reason for the report is not construed in it, as can be seen in clauses 6.1 to 7.1 in
Appendix 2.1. “...the AUC surrounded the village...The bodies are already in the morgue.”
This contrasts greatly from the detailed account of the guerrillas action mentioned above in
clause complex 13 (see Table 2.4.2).

55
Similarly, the analysis of the dimensions of the textual metafunction reveals that the
guerrillas occupies salient positions much more frequently than the paramilitaries. Half of
the guerrilla instances occur in Thematic position, two of which are marked. This is the
opposite case of the paramilitaries, which are never found in Thematic position. As
Halliday and Matthiessen (2004:105) point out, through the thematic analysis of a text ‘we
can ... understand how the writer made clear to us the nature of his underlying concerns’.
Thus, the absence of the paramilitaries from Thematic position clearly works to
background their role in the semiotic space construed by the text, and the opposite applies
to the construal of the guerrillas.

2.5 Conclusion

This paper has argued that detailed textual analysis using SFL based quantitative tools may
contribute to counter the criticism of lack of systematicity and poorly supported claims in
CDA studies. While it is acknowledged that, as Einstein is rumoured to have said, ‘Not all
that can be counted matters and not all that matters can be counted’, CDA could be
strengthened with the use of quantifiable tools such as the instantial weight that is
proposed here by offering a more comprehensive view of the different roles that
lexicogrammatical features play in the construction of ideology, as well as a defined set of
criteria for comparison.

The application of the tool to the analysis of two news reports on events of the Colombian
conflict from the newspaper El Colombiano reveals that despite the similarities in the
contextual configuration of both events, there are remarkable differences in the construal
of the agents of violence. In addition to the reduced number of instances of the
paramilitaries in the news report about their actions, these are backgrounded through
particular selections in the experiential dimensions of Type of Process and Agentivity. The
opposite is valid for the guerrillas, which are collocated with material transformative
elaborating process and human goals which clearly depict their violent acts. Likewise, the
textual organisation of the Guerrilla text consistently places this group in salient positions
in the Theme dimension, while the Paras text occludes the role of the paramilitaries.

56
Before considering questions of the motivation behind this significant variation in
reporting equivalent acts of violence, and the effects of these choices in Colombian’s
perception of the actors in the conflict, it is necessary to establish that these differences
form a consistent pattern in a large corpus and not an isolated case of two handpicked
texts.

What this paper aimed to demonstrate was how the Instantial Weight tool can be used for
this purpose. The advantages of the tool include its multidimensional character, contrasting
a comprehensive set of lexicogrammatical features; its adaptability to the particular
research question by expanding or reducing the number of dimensions and/or by adjusting
the values in the scale; and its facility of replication and comparability.

The development and consistent application of quantitative tools in addition to the already
existing qualitative analyses may contribute to improve issues of reliability and validity in
CDA, a necessary step in the advancement of the discipline.

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59
Appendices

2.1 Paras Text

ID Clause Translation
1.1 Dos Muertos y Diez Heridos en Puerto Two dead and ten wounded in Puerto Asís
Asís
2.1 Incursión armada dejó diez muertos en Armed incursion left ten dead in Urrao
Urrao
3.1 Ayer, en Urrao, en el Suroeste del Yesterday in Urrao, in the province
departamento, una incursión de las southwest, and incursion of the United
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia dejó Self-defence groups of Colombia (AUC)
diez muertos left ten dead
4.1 Ocho fueron hallados en la carretera Eight were found on the road [[that leads
[[que conduce a la vereda La Honda]], to the village La Honda]],
4.2 otro fue encontrado a orillas del río another one was found by the river
4.3 y el último ^FUE ENCONTRADO en la and the last one was found on the road that
vía que conduce a Betulia leads to Betulia
5.1 Así lo informó el alcalde municipal, Iván So was informed by the town’s Mayor,
Darío Posada García Iván Darío Posada García
6.1 “A eso de las cuatro de la madrugada, las “At about four in the morning, the AUC
AUC rodearon el pueblo surrounded the village.
6.2 ubicándose en las veredas San José, El locating themselves in the villages San
Volcán, La Magdalena, La Venta y La José, El Volcán, La Magdalena, La Venta
Honda and La Honda
7.1 Los diez cuerpos ya están en la morgue The ten bodies are already in the morgue
7.2 y se les está haciendo su respectivo and the corresponding forensic
levantamiento examination is being carried out
7.3 para confirmar sus identidades”, to confirm their identities”,
7.4 comentó el funcionario commented the official
8.1 Al cierre de esta edición ya se conocían At the close, the names of four victims
los nombres de cuatro víctimas: León were already known: León Jaime Vargas,
Jaime Vargas, Argiro San Martín Urán, Argiro San Martín Urán, Arbey Montoya
Arbey Montoya Navarro y Adriano de Navarro and Adriano de Jesús Pérez
Jesús Pérez Higuita Higuita.
9.1 Estas personas iban en un carro escalera These people were travelling on a bus
[[que fue incinerado completamente en la [[ which was burnt to the grount on the
carretera [[donde fueron hallados los round [[where the bodies were found]]
cadáveres.]]]
10.1 Otros cuatro vehículos también fueron Other four vehicles were also burnt in
quemados en distintos lugares del several places of the municipality.
municipio
11.1 Según las versiones de algunos According to the versions of some
campesinos [[que alcanzaron a llegar al peasants [[who managed to reach the
casco urbano]] ayer en la mañana, el urban area]] yesterday morning, the
grupo armado realizó otros dos retenes, a armed group set up two more false check
parte del de la vereda La Honda points, besides the one of the village “La
Honda”

60
12.1 Uno fue en la vía [[que conduce a One was on the road [[that leads to
Betulia]], Betulia]]
12.2 donde ^EL GRUPO ARMADO where ^THEY held four people
retuvieron a cuatro personas,
12.3 y el tercero ^FUE en la vereda San José and the third ^WAS in the village San
José.
13.1 De estos hechos en particular no hay una About these events, there is no clear
información clara, information
13.2 pues por cuestiones de seguridad la since due to security reasons, the local
administración local no se ha desplazado administration officers have not travelled
hasta la zona to the area
14.1 Por ello, pidió la presencia del Ejército Therefore, he requested the presence of
the Army
15.1 “Ya informamos a las autoridades “We have already informed the Province
departamentales authorities
15.2 quienes siempre han estado pendientes de who have always been concerned about
la situación del municipio the situation of the municipality
16.1 Sé I know
16.2 que hablaron con la IV Brigada that they talked to the IV Brigade
16.3 para que enviaran una tropa so that they sent a troop
16.4 para inspeccionar, to inspect (the area)
16.5 pero aún no nos han confirmado nada”, but we have not received any confirmation
yet”,
16.6 agregó Iván Darío Posada added Iván Darío Posada
17.1 En el momento hay muy poca gente At the time, there are very few displaced
desplazada en el pueblo people in the village
17.2 pero, <<17.3,>> ya están preparados but, <<17.3>> they are already prepared
[[para atender cualquier emergencia en to attend any emergency of this kind”
este sentido]]
17.3 <<dijo el alcalde,>> <<said the Mayor>>
18.1 “El comité de emergencia para la “The emergency committee for the
atención a los desplazados está attention of the displaced population is
preparado para atender un posible prepared to attend a possible
desplazamiento”, displacement”.
18.2 comentó he commented
19.1 El transporte en la localidad está Transportation in the municipality is
interrumpido hacia todas las veredas interrupted to all villages
20.1 Incluso, <<20.2>>, algunos buses [[que Even, <<20.2>> some buses [[that were
viajaban hacia Medellín ]] también travelling to Medellín]] were also sent
fueron devueltos back
20.2 <<expresaron las autoridades>> <<the authorities expressed>>
21.1 “La gente está muy asustada “The people are very frightened.
22.1 Estamos tratando de recibir apoyo We are trying to receive support
22.2 para llegar a la zona to reach the area
23.1 En el pueblo hay Policía There are Police Forces in the village
23.2 pero necesitamos Ejército”, but we need the Army”,
23.3 concluyó. he concluded.

61
62
2.2 Guerrilla Text
ID Clause
1.1 En nuevos ataques de la guerrilla, 6 In new guerrilla attacks, 6 dead
muertos
2.1 Hombres de FARC fusilaron a 4 FARC men executed four peasants
campesinos
2.2 y ^HOMBRES DE FARC and ^FARC MEN disappeared five
desaparecieron a 5
Medellín Medellín
4.1 Al menos seis personas murieron el fin de At least six people died last weekend due
semana por la explosión de bombas e to the explosion of bombs and guerrilla
incursiones guerrilleras, incursions,
4.2 confirmaron ayer autoridades policiales y Police and military authorities confirmed
militares yesterday
5.1 Una mujer de 40 años y un soldado A fourty year old woman and a soldier
murieron died
5.2 y seis civiles resultaron heridos el sábado and six civilians resulted wounded on
Saturday
5.3 cuando guerrilleros de las FARC when FARC guerrillas threw bombs
lanzaron bombas desde un camión en from a truck in Tame
Tame,
5.4 reportó el coronel Jesús Antonio Moya, reported Cl. Jesús Antonio Moya, Police
comandante de la Policía de Arauca, Commander of Arauca, eastern province
departamento del oriente del país [[que that borders with Venezuela
limita con Venezuela]]
6.1 Los explosivos dañaron un colegio, la The explosives damaged a school, the
alcaldía y la estación policial, town hall and the Police station
6.2 dijo Moya a la agencia de noticias AP said Moya to the News agency AP
7.1 Agregó He added
7.2 que los rebeldes alcanzaron a lanzar unas that the rebels managed to throw about
26 bombas 26 bombs
8.1 Así mismo, técnicos antiexplosivos Likewise, antiexplosive experts
desactivaron 26 minas [[instaladas en los deactivated 26 landmines installed around
alrededores de la guarnición]] the garrison
9.1 En otra acción insurgente, en el In another insurgent action, in the village
corregimiento San Félix, de Salamina, of San Felix, in Salamina, Caldas, four
Caldas, cuatro campesinos murieron peasants were shot dead in the head.
baleados en la cabeza
10.1 El comandante de Policía de Caldas, The Police commander of Caldas Cl
coronel Mauricio Gómez, dijo Mauricio Gómez said
10.2 que un grupo de las FARC entró a una that a FARC group entered a farm in the
finca de la región en la madrugada del area on Saturday morning,
sábado,
10.3 ^UN GRUPO DE LAS FARC asesinó al ^A FARC GROUP murdered the
administrador y a tres menores de edad manager and three minors.

63
11.1 Anoche se desconocía el paradero de Last night, the whereabouts of other five
otros cinco labriegos peasants were unknown
12.1 El dueño de la finca, relató ayer a un The owner of the farm told a T.V. news
telenoticiero yesterday
12.2 que los guerrilleros ajusticiaron a sus that the guerrillas executed their victims
víctimas
13.1 “^LOS GUERRILLEROS Los hicieron “^THE GUERRILLAS made them
arrodillar, kneel”
13.2 ^LOS GUERRILLEROS les pegaron ^THE GUERRILLAS shot them in the
tiros de fusil en la cabeza, head with rifles
13.3 ^LOS GUERRILLEROS acabaron con ^THE GUERRILLAS destroyed the
la finca”, farm
13.4 dijo el ganadero, said the cattleowner
13.5 mientras retomaba el relato de algunos while he related the narration of some
testigos witnesses
14.1 Se sospecha It is suspected
14.2 que el ataque a la finca pudo ser that the attack to the farm may have been
14.3 porque los dueños no pagaron la because the owners did not pay the
extorsión [[que la guerrilla les exigía]] extortion [[that the guerrilla was
demanding from them]]
15.1 Las FARC intensificaron su ofensiva The FARC intensified their offensive
15.2 tras definir con el gobierno un after defining with the government a
cronograma [[ para discutir el inicio de timetable [[to discuss the start of a truce
una tregua con cese de fuego y with a ceasefire]]
hostilidades]],
15.3 que deberá mostrar los primeros that should show the first results by next
resultados el próximo 7 de abril April 7
16.1 En declaraciones a este diario, el In comments to this newspaper,
congresista Gustavo Petro, ex guerrillero Congressman Gustavo Petro, ex guerrilla
del M-19, sostuvo from the M-19, held
16.2 que con estos hechos las FARC pretenden that with these actions the FARC aim
16.3 mostrar poder militar to show military power
16.4 y mantener una posición más firme y and hold a stronger and more demanding
exigente en la mesa de negociaciones. CA position at the negotiating table. CA

64
65
Chapter 3

“As hard as it gets”: A preliminary analysis of hard news reports of the

internal conflict on the Colombian press7

Abstract

The turn of the century marked an escalation of the violence of the Colombian conflict by
both Marxist guerrillas and right wing paramilitaries. However, popular perception of each
group contrasts sharply with the statistics on responsibility for criminal acts. Since the
press is one of the main sources of information on the conflict for the general population,
analyzing the way in which it reconstructs these events may provide some insights into this
phenomenon.

Thus, as an initial step in this process, two pieces of news on violent acts perpetrated by
each group reported in El Tiempo, the leading Colombian newspaper, in December 1998
are analysed. Within a Systemic Functional Linguistics framework, it will contrast who the
participants are in each text and how they are nominated, what types of processes they
carry out, and how explicitly causation is attributed. The analysis shows how despite
having the same context, the experiential meanings realized in the lexicogrammatical
selections of each text construe a remarkably different semiotic space.

3.1 Introduction

The role of the press is considered to extend beyond informing the public about the events
of interest to society to become a former of opinion about those events (McQuail,
2005:163). In the case of the Colombian conflict, this preliminary study aims to explore
whether newspaper reporting of the actions of both Marxist guerrillas and right wing
paramilitary groups coincides with the popular perception of the guerrillas as the major
agents of violence despite the statistical evidence to the contrary.

7 This paper was published in Linguistics and the Human Sciences. 2008. 4(1), p. 5-30.
66
For this paper, two pieces of hard news published in El Tiempo in December 1998
reporting acts of violence against the civilian population are analysed from a systemic
functional perspective, more specifically the lexicogrammatical realization of the
experiential meanings. That is the linguistic construal of processes, participants, and
circumstances is explored using an adaptation of Hasan’s cline of dynamism (1985) and
Van Leeuwen’s representation of social actors system network (1996).

In the systemic functional approach, the context, which includes not only the immediate
“environment in which the text unfolds”, but also “the whole cultural history behind the
participants” (Halliday, 1985:5-6), is of the utmost relevance for any attempt at linguistic
analysis. Hence, the paper starts with an account of the historical and sociopolitical factors
relevant to the conflict and news production in Colombia. Next, the paper provides a
discussion of the role of language in the construal of human experience and a brief review
of previous research on the representation of armed actors in the Colombian press. The
paper then introduces the texts and their analysis using the tools mentioned above. Finally,
the conclusion argues for the application of this type of research in the field of media
studies and potentially in education.

3.2 Historical Context

Better known for cocaine than for coffee, Colombia, the most northern country in South
America, has sustained an internal conflict dating back from the late 1940’s when political
violence climaxed with the murder of the extremely popular presidential candidate Jorge
Eliécer Gaitán. This event marked the beginning of the historical period called “The
Violence”, during which thousands of Colombians were killed in the clash between the
liberal and the ruling conservative party (Ruiz, 2001). The bipartisan agreement reached to
end the bloodshed, called Frente Nacional (National Front) consisted of alternating terms
in the executive power while dividing equally the number of seats in congress between
both parties. Although it initially reduced the political violence, this agreement not only
eroded democracy through the elimination of the role of the opposition and the encrusting
of corruption through the practice of the even distribution of bureaucratic posts, but also
motivated the rise of insurgent groups rebelling against an excluding establishment unable

67
and/or unwilling to address the needs of the most vulnerable population (Dugas, 2009:
506).

In the tense political environment of the cold war, paramilitary groups were created “to
protect [the civilian population] and support [the army’s] combat operations”, as stated in
the 1969 Military Forces Manual (p. 310). Starting in the late 1970’s, assassinations of
leftist political leaders, unionists, and human rights advocates became as common as the
kidnapping and extortion of landowners and attacks against the country’s oil infrastructure.
With the dismantlement of the powerful cartels in the 1990’s, paramilitary and guerrilla
groups took control of the drug trade, whose skyrocketing profits allowed them to increase
their military power and control over extensive rural areas, which translated into atrocious
human right violations and displacement of the civilian population (Thoumi, 1995).

In 1998, the President Andrés Pastrana was elected on the promise of peace dialogues with
the FARC (Colombia’s Armed Revolutionary Forces, Spanish acronym), the largest
guerrilla organization. Only a year earlier, the different paramilitary groups that operated
separately across the territory united to form the AUC (Colombian United Self-Defense
groups, Spanish Acronym). The failure of the negotiations with the guerrillas due to the
escalating number of kidnappings and military attacks against army forces and civilians
alike led to the election of Alvaro Uribe in 2002, who proposed the military defeat of the
guerrillas and negotiations with the paramilitary groups.

The Colombian conflict is classified as a low intensity one (Restrepo, Spagat and Vargas,
2004:8) with an average of around 2000 victims a year, the same as Sri Lanka, which has
half the population of Colombia. Statistics from both official sources and Non-
Governmental Institutions show that the paramilitary groups are responsible for at least
75% of civilian casualties, reaching over 35,000, (CCJ, 2006) while guerrilla groups are
responsible for about 56% of kidnappings, around 23,000. (Pais Libre, n.d.) However,
Colombians’ perceptions of the illegal parties in the conflict seem to contrast sharply with
these figures.

The unprecedented, massive national and international marches against FARC’s

kidnappings on February 4th 2008 suggest that an overwhelming majority of Colombians

68
reject the guerrilla movement. In fact, according to a national poll, almost 50% point to
them as the single major agent of violence in the country, while only 5% point at the
paramilitaries. On the contrary, the paramilitaries are perceived as a “self-defense” group
whose existence, according to almost 60% of those surveyed, is justified by the inability of
the State to protect the population from the guerrilla attacks. Furthermore, a disturbing
25% openly expressed their support for the paramilitary groups indicating that the human
rights violations committed by them were unavoidable due to the irregular characteristics
of the Colombian conflict (Ipsos-Napoleón Franco, 2007).

Dudley’s (2004:204) quotation from a Colombian judge best summarizes this position: “In
any case…the guerrillas are much worse. They’re bloodsucking bastards. Not like the
others [the paramilitaries]. At least they have some ideals. They’re fighting the guerrillas.
Yeah, sometimes they do some things they shouldn’t, but whatever.”

This perception of the paramilitaries as the lesser of two evils (and for some even a
necessary one), which is in direct contradiction with their human rights record, is without a
doubt a complex phenomenon with a multitude of contributing factors. However, given the
statistics above, in a country of 44 million, it is evident that most Colombians have never
had direct contact with the parties in conflict. It would be fair to claim then that these
perceptions are constructed mainly from media reports, since as McNair (2003:23) points
out the media are “our window on the world; our means of contact with a world that,
though shrinking, is still largely beyond our direct personal experience”. Thus, it would be
important to determine whether the information distributed by the media is closer to
popular perception than to factual evidence. In this respect, Sacco (2006:30) points out that
“analyses of media content demonstrate that the news provides a map of the world of
criminal event that differs in many ways from the one provided by the official crime
statistics.” If this statement proves certain for the Colombian case, it may provide a
plausible explanation for the generalized distorted views on the conflict.

Aside from the increased accessibility of data through internet archives, there are two main
reasons to focus on the written press. The first is that while radio or television may provide
news sooner and to a wider audience, the actual amount of information delivered is
minimal compared to the written press due mainly to the time constraints characteristic of

69
the medium. Furthermore, Gunter (2000) argues that the levels of recollection and
comprehension of the information presented appear to be very low as a result of the
constant influx of data. Thus, research suggests “the largest gains in news information are
associated with newspaper usage” (Robinson and Levy, 1986:15). Moreover, the increasing
use of new technologies does not seem to have affected this trend. As d’Haenens et al
(2004:363) conclude “evidence has not been found that online readers consume and retain
news differently from readers of the print versions”.

The second reason is that every major Colombian newspaper was founded with the explicit
intention of defending the interests of one of the mainstream political parties. With the
ideological divide between the liberal and conservative party blurred after the “Frente
Nacional” period, most newspapers adopted a pro-government position, with members of
the board usually participating in local and national politics. El Tiempo, the leading
national circulation broadsheet paper and the source of the texts analysed here, is no
exception. In 1987, it openly supported the organization of “Self-defense” groups by the
army in order to protect “the most elemental rights of the individual consecrated in the
constitutions of the whole world” (El Tiempo, 1987). Ten years later, it rejected the
paramilitaries’ massacres as the solution to the conflict. However, its editorial line has
unfailingly supported the current administration8, whose political party coalition has over
70 congressmen being investigated for cooperation with paramilitary groups, and the
constitutional changes promoted for its permanence in power. Recently, the extradited
paramilitary leader, Salvatore Mancuso, has accused the vice-president, Francisco Santos,
member of the Santos family, traditional owners and until recently major shareholders of
the newspaper, of supporting the creation of paramilitary groups in Bogotá, the Colombian
capital. The legal responsibility of Santos is yet to be determined; however, he has
admitted to meeting with Mancuso on several occasions, one of them in the newspaper’s
headquarters in Bogota (El Espectador, 2009). These facts provide sufficient reason to
examine whether there are any differences between the reporting of criminal actions
committed by the guerrillas and the paramilitaries.
3.3 Theoretical Framework

8 Uribe counted on El Tiempo’s support since his candidature as seen in the editorial of February 3,
2002: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’. Later it supported his reelection bid as seen in the following
extract from May 28, 2006: “on more than one occasion we have said that we are in favor of the
President’s reelection. Moreover, it would be in the best interest of the country to reelect him today
in the first round”.
70
Analysing texts as a source of insights into social phenomena stems from the conception of
language ‘as the form in which human experience is construed’ (Halliday & Matthiessen,
1997:510). From this perspective, language does not passively reflect the world, but
interprets, categorizes, taxonomizes, and abstracts it. Thus, the act of killing a human being
can be categorized as ‘murder’ or as an ‘execution’ depending on the legal jurisdiction of
the perpetrator, or a ‘homicide’ or an ‘assassination’ depending on the status of the victim.
Military operations by super powers are not labeled as ‘terrorist acts’ and the victims are
merely ‘collateral damage’, but if the dead appeared in a wanted list, then it is a ‘positive’.
In Colombia, the term ‘fake positive’ was coined by the press to refer to the act of killing
innocent civilians for the purpose of presenting them as guerrillas killed in combat by the
military.

However, the power of language to construe experience extends beyond the selection of
particular lexical items. Events in the outer world and the inner workings of our
consciousness are organized through selections and combinations of participants,
processes, and circumstances expressed using the resources provided by the
lexicogrammar, more specifically, the transitivity system (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004).
In Hasan’s words (1988:63), transitivity ‘is concerned with a coding of the goings on: who
does what in relation to whom/what, where, when, how and why.’ In the attempt to report
these events – to construe an instance of others’ experience - the journalist relies mostly on
language-mediated information: witnesses’ accounts, official statements, forensic reports.
S/he may have some visual input (i.e. buildings in ruins, the victims’ bodies) useful to
describe the aftermath, but the event itself is rarely accessible in a different form than a
linguistic recount 9. This means that the final report has been construed in language at least
twice.

Therefore, identifying patterns in selections of types of processes, participant roles, and

agency among others, can shed light on the features of the semiotic space created by a
particular text. The purpose of this paper is to contrast the lexicogrammatical realization of
the experiential meanings in two news reports of violent actions, one committed by the

9This is the case at least for the Colombian context. Given the geographic conditions and the
sporadic nature of the attacks, there are no onsite journalists as in the Middle East, for example.
Attacks are also rarely caught on tape.
71
paramilitaries, and one committed by the guerrillas, as a starting point for research with a
much larger corpus.

A previous study on the representation of the armed actors in conflict in the Colombian
press by Pardo (2005) explores the nomination resources used to represent guerrillas,
paramilitaries, and the Colombian Army as well. Pardo’s findings show a sharper contrast
between the legal (the military) and illegal actors than between guerrillas and
paramilitaries. Regarding the forms of nomination, apart from the self-assigned names (e.g.
AUC, FARC) and the common nouns indicating ideological affiliation (e.g. insurgents,
extreme-right groups) the study finds eleven identical forms (p. 172) to refer to these
groups. Furthermore, in the synthesis of inclusion resources (p.190), nine out of thirteen
factors are common to both illegal groups. Thus, it was considered that further research
was needed to focus on the differences between the illegal groups.

3.4 The Texts

For this analysis, two pieces of hard news reporting violent acts carried out by guerrilla
and paramilitary groups have been selected. Both texts were published in El Tiempo in
December 1998. This month was particularly significant because during this time the
government, the Catholic Church, and social leaders requested from the violent groups a
Christmas truce, which was rejected by the guerrillas but supposedly accepted by the
paramilitaries.

The first text, dated on December 1st, is titled Paras Ejecutan Sentencia (Paras (short for
paramilitaries) execute sentence), while the second, from December 31st, reads Angy, Bebé
Víctima de las FARC (Angy, baby victim of FARC). For quick reference, the first will be
called the Paras text, and the second, the Guerrilla text. The letters (P) and (G) next to the
examples indicate the text where each extract was taken from. They are of comparable
length, with 60 and 72 clauses respectively. The context of both reports is violent attacks
on defenseless civilians, including murder, forced disappearance, and displacement among
others which constitute human rights violations. In both cases, the motive for the killings
was the victims’ alleged cooperation with the opposing party; the number of civilian
victims - seven in each case -, and the Modus Operandi - armed incursion, as opposed to

72
the use of explosives, for instance - were also the same. Interestingly, a linguistic act, the
accusation, is the detonator of the violence.

3.5 Analysis

According to Halliday and Matthiessen (2004:281), the modeling of experience can be

analysed from two complementary perspectives, the transitive model, which differentiates
the type of process and the extension of the process onto another participant, and the
ergative model, which does not differentiate between the type of ‘doing’ represented by the
process, but on whether the process is brought about by an external agent or not, as
illustrated by (1) and (2).

(1P) Los tres [[que desaparecieron]] el sabado

The three [[who disappeared]] on Saturday
Ergative Perspective Medium Process Circumstance
Middle voice
Transitive Perspective Actor Material Process Circumstance
Intransitive Process

(2G) La guerrilla quemó cinco vehículos

The guerrilla burnt five vehicles
Ergative Perspective Agent Process Medium
Effective operative voice
Transitive Perspective Actor Material Process Goal
Transitive Process

Within the typological description of Spanish, there are different approaches to the
modeling of these systems. Lavid et al (2010) see the ergative and transitive distinction not
as two different perspectives but as two different systems. That is, according to them,
processes are either ergative or transitive. Their argument rests on the fact that not all verbs
have an ergative and a transitive form, as seen in (3) and (4)
(3a) Los paramilitares desaparecieron a 4 campesinos
The paramilitaries disappeared four peasants

(3b) Cuatro campesinos desaparecieron.

Four peasants disappeared.
73
 (4a) La guerrilla asesinó a 4 campesinos.
The guerrilla murdered four peasants.

(4b) Cuatro campesinos murieron.

Four peasants died.

According to these authors, the fact that it is necessary to use a different lexical item (died)
to express the same process ergatively shows that the ergative-transitive divide is one of
class rather than of perspective. However, the nuclear transitivity system network proposed
by these authors is the same for English and Spanish. Thus, the decision to adopt this view
would obey to theoretical rather than typological reasons.

Ghio and Fernandez (2005), on the other hand, agree with the Hallidayan view of the
ergative and transitive models as complementary.3 Discussing the validity of each view is
beyond the scope of this paper; suffice to say that for the present analysis, the latter will be
adopted.

Exploring the texts from the ergative standpoint can tell us whether the semiotic space
constructed is one where the processes are ‘self-engendered’(middle voice) or caused by
an external entity (effective voice). Given the experiential domain of both texts (people
killing other people), it would be expected that the effective operative voice (an agent
inflicting the process onto a medium) would be dominant. In the Guerrilla text, the
percentages are divided almost equally, with 51% of processes in middle voice and 49% in
effective voice. In the Paras text, the picture is not so balanced. 72% of the processes are
in middle voice, and less than 20% are in effective operative voice. This means that in this
text, most of the events are presented as ‘happenings’ not as ‘doings’, and where humans’
actions on other humans are backgrounded.

From the transitive perspective, one of the aspects to explore is the pattern of paradigmatic
choices in the selection of process types, which will be examined for the two texts in
question as follows.

74
 paras
guerrilla 60

45

30

15

0
existential behavioural verbal relational mental material

As mentioned above, since the context of both texts is acts of violence on defenseless
civilians, it would be expected that the dominant type of process was material. This is
certainly the case for the Guerrilla text. (see figure 3.5.1)
Figure 3.5.1 - Types of Processes

On the contrary, in the Paras text, material processes are fewer than 50%. Relational
processes, on the other hand, reach 24%, almost three times as many as in the Guerrilla
text. (see examples (5) and (6)). This contrast in selection of process types construes a
world where guerrillas are attributed greater power to affect the world than the
paramilitaries.
(5P) el crimen fue perpetrado por doce encapuchados que pertenecen a
grupos de delincuencia organizada
the crime was committed by twelve hooded men who belong to organised
crime groups

(6P) Sin embargo el personero de Condoto, Carlos Hidalgo, indico que los
paras son los responsables...”y son los únicos que se mueven como
Pedro por su casa por esta zona…”
However, Condoto’s people representative Carlos Hidalgo indicated that
the paras are the ones responsible...”and (the paras) are the only ones
who move freely in this area…”

The scope of processes classified as material includes events as innocuous as circulating a

list or as detrimental as burning a person. Thus, it is necessary to move further in the scale
of delicacy to differentiate between types of material processes. Halliday and Matthiessen
(2004:183) classify these into creative (whose outcome is the existence of the Actor or
Goal) and transformative (whose outcome is some kind of change in the already existing
Actor or Goal). The latter, which constitute the bulk of the processes in these texts, are
divided into elaborative (changing physical characteristics), enhancing (moving, changing

75
 Material Processes paras
guerrilla
80

60

40

20

0
Elaborating Extending Enhancing

location), and extending (changing possession or accompaniment). Figure 3.5.2 shows the
percentages for each type of material transformative process in the texts in question.

While in the Guerrilla text there is an equal proportion of material transformative

enhancing and elaborating processes , in the Paras text the enhancing type reaches over
70%. This means that most of the events unfolding in this text represent motion, people
arriving or leaving a place, not killing others. This contrast is illustrated by examples (7)
and (8).
(7G) Los subversivos los persiguieron y empezaron a disparar
indiscriminadamente.
The subversives chased them and started shooting indiscriminately.

(8P) Pero los hombres que llegaron el sábado leyeron de nuevo la lista y
ejecutaron la sentencia.
But the men who arrived on Saturday read the list again and executed the
sentence.

Having explored the central element of the experiential structure of the texts, it is
necessary to move outwards to the second most important element, the participants, not in
isolation, but in relation to the processes. In other words, who does what to whom?
Initially, the roles of all participants will be examined, and afterwards, attention will be
focused on the contrast between guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Figure 3.5.2 - Material Processes

Hasan (1988:65) points out that “part of the basis of our perception of what a person is like
derives from knowing what sorts of participant roles are ascribed to that person”. In order
to establish patterns among participants across the different process types, s he introduces

76
the terms ‘–ER and –ED ROLES’ (1985:37). The first group includes the roles of Actor,
Sayer, Carrier, while the latter includes the Goal, Target, Range and Identity. For mental
processes, it is necessary to differentiate between ‘like’ type and ‘please’ type processes
(Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004:210). In the ‘like’ type, the Senser would have the ER-
role, where as in the ‘please’ type, the Phenomenon would.

In the Paras text, the large majority of the participants are humans; these in turn were
found to belong to one of three groups: the paramilitaries, the victims, or the authorities
(both civilian and military). As could be predicted from the process type analysis, the most
common role is that of Actor; however it does not exceed the other roles combined. Table
3.5.1 also shows an equal number of ER- roles assigned to the paramilitaries and to the
authorities. This focuses the report on events taking place after the crime was committed,
since the officials did not arrive until two days after the attack. Moreover, not only are the
victims assigned the role of Actor in only three instances (a fifth of the total), but they do
not carry out any mental, behavioural or verbal processes as well. This means they are
muted. In the semiotic space construed by the text, their voice, thoughts and feelings are
silenced.

Table 3.5.1 – ER roles in Paras Text

ER Roles Paras Victims Authorities Other Total

Actor 8 3 4 0 15

Senser/ Phe 0 0 4 0 4

Behaver 0 0 0 0 0

Sayer 1 0 4 3 8

Carrier 3 3 0 2 8

Total 12 6 12 5 35

Table 3.5.2 – ED roles in Paras Text

ED Roles Paras Victims Authorities Other Total

77
 Goal 0 1 0 2 3

Phen/ Sense 0 1 0 0 1

Target 0 0 0 1 1

Attribute 1 2 0 5 8

Total 1 4 0 8 13

Regarding the ED-roles, it is noticeable that they add up to less than a third of the ER-
roles. Furthermore, while the paramilitaries are assigned the role Actor in 8 instances, the
victims are assigned the role of Goal in only one instance. This shows a picture where the
paramilitaries have minimum effect on the victims, which contrasts sharply with the results
for this analysis for the Guerrilla text, as shown in Table 3.5.3.
Table 3.5.3 - ER roles in Guerrilla Text

ER Roles Paras Guerrilla Victims Other Total

Actor 5 15 24 2 46

Senser/ Phe 0 2 4 4 10

Behaver 0 0 4 0 4

Sayer 0 2 2 2 6

Carrier 0 0 3 3 6

Total 5 19 37 11 72

Table 3.5.4 – ED roles in Guerrilla Text

ED Roles Paras Guerrilla Victims Other Total

Goal 4 0 18 4 26

Phen/ Sense 2 0 2 0 4

Target 0 0 1 0 1

Attribute 0 0 1 0 1

Total 6 0 22 4 32

78
In this text, the victims have been assigned the highest number of both ER and ED roles.
This suggests that this text is mostly about the victims, not only what they do and what is
done to them, but also what they think, say, and feel. This means that the victims are
construed as conscious beings who are affected not only physically, but also emotionally,
which allows the reader to empathise with their plight, as seen in (9).
(9G) ...y apretando contra su pecho el diminuto cuerpo, se dio cuenta de la
tragedia. Gritó y lloró de desesperación sin soltar a su hija.
...and holding against the tiny body against her chest, she realized of the
tragedy. (She) cried and screamed in despair without letting go of her
daughter.

It is also observable that the guerrillas have been assigned the second highest number of
Actor roles, suggesting their actions are foregrounded. However, in order to determine how
effectual these actions are, it is necessary to take the analysis one step further.

Following Hasan (1985:46), participant roles may range from most passive to most
dynamic, depending on the grammatical realization of the participants’ ability to effect
change in the world around it. For instance, the role of Actor has a greater impact than that
of Sayer, as illustrated in (10) and (11).

(10) Las FARC anunciaron el ataque

The FARC announced the attack

(11) Las FARC atacaron el campamento

The FARC attacked the camp

Likewise, acting upon an animate Goal is considered more dynamic than acting on an
inanimate one:
(12P) Todas figuraban en una lista de presuntos colaboradores de la guerrilla
que hicieron circular las ACCU
They all appeared on a list of alleged guerrilla collaborators that the
ACCU made circulate

(13G) Un camión con paramilitares recogió a varios civiles que corrían en

busca de ayuda, entre ellos Betty con su hija Angy.
A truck with paramilitaries picked up several civilians who ran in search
for help, among them Betty with her daughter Angy.

79
Thus, in Hasan’s ‘cline of dynamism’, (see Figure 3.5.3) the different roles are arranged in
a continuum where the most passive is that of circumstance, and the most dynamic is that
of Actor with an animate Goal. Since the news analyzed deals with criminal acts, a more
dynamic participant would imply a higher degree of responsibility for violence than a
passive one, and consequently, a more negative representation.

Keeping in line with the distinction among material processes explained above, the cline
was adapted to accommodate for the differences between elaborating, extending, and
enhancing processes with an animate, inanimate or no Goal. Figure 3.5.4 illustrates the
final cline used in the present analysis.

A number was assigned to each participant depending on its role in each clause. Figure
3.5.5 shows the percentage of times each participant is assigned a particular role in both
texts. The categories with zero values in both texts were not included to facilitate reading.

Figure 3.5.3 - Hasan’s cline of dynamism (1985:46)

The most striking result is that paramilitaries never appear as Actors of elaborative
processes on humans. That is, grammatically, they do not kill anybody. Instead, the only
reference to the murder is realized as ‘paras execute a sentence`, a clause in which the
material process is paired with an inanimate Goal. Leaving the human Goal out of the

80
 Cline of Dynamism

um
rc
ci
er
rri
ca
e
ns
se
r
ye
sa
∅
nc
ha
en
o r∅
ab
el

-h
n on
c+
an
h
en

hu
n-
no
r+
o
ab
el

hum
c+
an
h
en

m
hu
or+
ab

0 7.5000 15.0000 22.5000 30.0000

el

picture diminishes the potential for their construal as agents ‘able to affect the
world’ (Hasan, 1985: 45). Furthermore, the most common role assigned to this group is
that of Goal, as illustrated in (14) and (15)
(14G) Luego del ataque de la guerrilla, los paramilitares pasaron por la
población de El Diamante. Los subversivos los persiguieron
After the guerrilla attack, the paramilitaries passed by the village
“El Diamante”. The subversives chased them

(15G) Las FARC sorprendieron a los paras con una ofensiva de

aproximadamente 300 hombres.
The FARC surprised the paras with an offensive of approximately 300
men.

Figure 3.5.4 - Cline of dynamism (adapted)

Value Role Process Goal Example

15 Elaborating Paras kill 5

14 Extending Human Guerrilla kidnaps peasants
13 Enhancing Paras displace 400

81
 paras
guerrilla

12 Elaborating Guerrilla attacks village

11 Extending Non-Human FARC steals 40 cattle heads
Actor
10 Enhancing The subversives moved the vehicles
9 Elaborating The guerrillas shot indiscriminately

8 Extending ∅ The armed men arrived by boat

7 Enhancing The front spread through the village

6 Sayer Verbal The men read the list

5 Senser Mental The FARC surprised the paramilitaries
4 Behaver Behavioural Castaño could sleep peacefully
3 Carrier/Identifier Relational The paras are responsible
2 Goal The insurgents chased the paramilitaries
5 soldiers were killed at the hands of the
1 Circumstance
FARC

The second most common roles are those of Carrier indicating location or affiliation to a
group, and Actors collocating with a material transformative enhancing process without a
Goal, such as arriving or moving from one place to another. (see examples 3 and 4 above)

Figure 3.5.5 - Participant Roles

On the contrary, the guerrilla’s most common role is that of Actor with an elaborating
process with an inanimate Goal, in other words the destruction of property. This is
followed by circumstance, usually the nominalization of a violent act plus either the
preposition ‘de’ (of) and the participant or an adjectival form of this, as illustrated in (16)
and (17).
(16P) De otra parte, cuatro militares y dos policías fueron heridos durante una
emboscada de las FARC…
In other news, four soldiers and two police officers were wounded during
a FARC ambush…

(17P) En la pasada incursión guerrillera, fueron muertos tres agentes de

policía…
In the past guerrilla incursion, three police officers were killed…

82
Nominalised constructions lack the impact and intensity of a transitive clause (Halliday
and Matthiessen, 2004), and they constitute a unit which is closed for negotiation. That is,
the responsibility for the attack or the incursion is not arguable. Moreover, this type of
structure is only slightly more frequent (6%) than congruent realizations of the ‘Actor +
material process + human Goal’ type. As mentioned previously, in these, the material
processes selected are of the transformative elaborative kind, which makes them stand out
for the graphic level of violence they depict. This aspect contrasts sharply with the absence
of even the fairly neutral matar (kill) in the report on the massacre by the paramilitaries.
Table 3.5.5 lists all material processes with a human Goal carried out by each group.

Table 3.5.5 – Material processes with a human Goal

Type Paramilitaries Guerrilla

Elaborating Wound - Herir
Murder - Asesinar
Burn - Quemar
Shoot - Disparar
Decapitate - Decapitar
Amputate – Amputar
Extending

Enhancing Desalojar – Evict Chase – Perseguir

Recoger – Pick up
Llevar – Take

In addition to the level of dynamism assigned to each participant, it is important to

consider the different lexical choices used to refer to them. Van Leeuwen (1996:66)
proposes a network mapping the choices available for referring to people (see figure 3.5.6).
Although drafted for English, the network is largely applicable to Spanish, including the
possibility of choosing from different systems simultaneously.

The first paradigmatic choice in the representation of social Actors is between inclusion
and exclusion. In the Paras text, the victims are, if not completely suppressed,
backgrounded in the clauses that construe the killing through its lexicalisation as the
execution of a sentence. Other excluded participants are victims’ relatives and the

83
inhabitants of the village where the action occurred, who are foregrounded in the Guerrilla
text.

In the system of inclusion, systems 3 to 5 refer to the transitivity roles carried out by the
participants. Since these have been thoroughly discussed above, we will move to system 6,
the choice between Personalisation and Impersonalisation. In the first, the concept of
differentiation proves useful since it sets apart social Actors carrying out similar roles, in
this case, Actors of violence. Table 3.5.6 classifies all forms of representation of Guerrillas
and Paramilitaries found in both texts.

It is observable that for the paramilitaries, vague forms that do not specify an affiliation to
the group are preferred. In fact, the only clause where a differentiated form of
representation is selected for a process with a human Goal is modalised.
(18P) No se sabe si están escondidos o los paras se los llevaron.
It is not known whether they are hiding or the paras took them.

It is important to add that Spanish does not have the option of a singular, collective noun
for the paramilitaries, as it does for “la guerrilla”, which can be used to refer to both the
phenomenon and to some of its members carrying out a specific action, as in the following
examples:
(19) La guerrilla ha destruido la economía del país.
The guerrilla has destroyed the country’s economy.

(20) La guerrilla secuestró dos campesinos.

The guerrilla kidnapped two peasants.

Its closest equivalent, el paramilitarismo (paramilitarism), could replace la guerrilla in

(19), but in (20) it would be ungrammatical.

In system 13, the choice between categorization and nomination, we find that the options
are often selected simultaneously. In the Paras text, we find examples of nomination and
functionalization (name and occupation) to represent the authorities, as seen in (21).
(21P) …aseguró el comandante del batallón A.M.F., coronel Rodrigo Perdomo
...stated the Commander of the Batallion A.M.F. Colonel Rodrigo
Perdomo.
Table 3.5.6 – Representation of social Actors

84
 Paramilitaries Guerrilla
Indifferentiated Generic
Hombres (men)
Encapuchados (hooded men)
Indifferentiated Collective
un grupo armado (an armed group)
Grupos de delincuencia organizada
(organised crime groups)
Differentiated Collective
Autodefensas Campesinas de Córdoba FARC – Colombia’s Armed
y Urabá Revolutionary Forces
(ACCU) ELN – National Revolutionary Army
Peasant self-defense groups from ERP – People’s Revolutionary Army
Córdoba and Uraba ERG – Guevarista Revolutionary
Army
Benkos Biojo Group
Members of the FARC’s 18 front
Differentiated Generic
Los paramilitares (paramilitaries) La guerrilla
Subversivos (Subversives)
Guerrilleros (Guerrillas)

The victims’ names are also mentioned, but only on one occasion in a paragraph listing the
dead and the missing. In the rest of the text, indeterminate forms that anonymise them are
preferred. Examples (22) and (23) illustrate this contrast

(22P) Las autoridades identificaron a los muertos como Chorina Perea,

inspectora del corregimiento, su hija, Yachira Sánchez, y su hermana,
Fidelina Perea.
The authorities identified the dead as Chorina Perea, inspector of the
village; her daughter, Yachira Sánchez, and her sister, Fidelina Perea.

(23P) Las tres personas muertas y las cuatro que desaparecieron el sábado
pasado tenían algo en común…
The three dead people and the four who disappeared last Saturday had
something in common…

85
Figure 3.5.6 - Van Leeuwen’s representation of social actors (1996:66)

86
On the contrary, in the Guerrilla text, the title Angy, Bebé Víctima de las FARC (Angy,
Baby Victim of FARC) reveals the focus of the story. In total, eleven instances of
semiformal (name and last name) and informal (given name only) nomination are found to
refer to the victim or her mother, as well as eight instances of relational identification
where the mother-daughter tie is reinforced, and six instances of physical identification
specifying the young age of the victim. (see examples (24) and (25))
(24G) Betty Fernández de Fabra, la joven madre que cargaba desde
tempranas horas del pasado lunes a Angy Diomedez
Betty Fernández de Fabra, the young mother who carried Angy
Diomedez from early Monday morning

(25G) La campesina Betty Fernández de Fabra apretó con todas sus fuerzas
a la pequeña recién nacida.
The peasant Betty Fernández de Fabra held the little newborn with all her
might.

Van Leeuwen (1996:47) points out at the differences in representing social Actors
depending on the social class of the newspapers’ target audience. While broadsheet papers
tend to use specific terms to refer to high status individuals (government officials, experts,
celebrities) and generic terms for ‘ordinary people’, the tabloids frequently refer to
ordinary people specifically. Since both texts were produced by the same newspaper,
which has a middle-class orientation, it is striking to find such differences in the
representation of victims and perpetrators alike.

Moving out of the ‘experiential centre of the clause’ (processes and participants), an
analysis of the circumstances may also prove revealing since they ‘construe the unfolding
of the process’ in space, time, and manner among others (Halliday and Matthiessen,
2004:176), thus expanding the experiential meanings. In each of the three guerrilla reports,
the percentage of circumstances per total number of clauses greatly exceeds that in the
Paras text. Out of these, the greatest percentile difference was in the spatial type, not only
for the total number, but for the specificity of the circumstance as well, as can be observed
in (26) and (27).
(26P) Sólo ayer, unidades de la Policía y el Ejército llegaron a este olvidado
municipio chocoano ubicado a 90 km de Quibdó para indagar acerca del
ataque.

87
 Only yesterday, units of the Police and the Army arrived in this forgotten
village in Choco, located 90 km from Quibdó (the province capital) to
investigate the attack.

(27G) Una señora, que no había sido identificada, fue quemada en la puerta de
su rancho.
A lady, who had not been identified, was burnt at the door of her hut.

All of the spatial circumstances in the Paras text refer to the village and its geographical
location without including details of where the crime was committed. On the contrary, in
the Guerrilla text, the route followed by the insurgents is clearly demarcated, providing a
detailed account of the events. The absence of more detailed circumstances in the Paras
text conceals for example how the victims reacted to the incursion and the way they were
killed, what kind of weapon was used, the specific location of the murder (e.g. a public
place or the victims’ homes) and time frame of the action (how long the group stayed in the
village, whether they arrived in broad daylight or at night), unlike in the Guerrilla text, as
seen in (28) and (29).
(28G) Tres hombres fueron decapitados a machete.
Three men were beheaded with machetes.
(29G) …y se perdió en el monte por varios minutos hasta que logró alcanzar
nuevamente el camino destapado que conduce a Tierralta.
…and (Betty) got lost in the bush for several minutes until (she) reached
again the unpaved road that leads to Tierralta.

3.6 Conclusion

The analysis of the experiential meanings of the texts Paras ejecutan sentencia (Paras
execute sentence) and Angy, bebé víctima de las FARC (Angy, baby victim of FARC)
shows clear differences between the reporting of the violent acts committed by the
guerrilla and the paramilitaries in these two discursive instances.

The transitivity analysis reveals that the percentage of material processes as a total, as well
as those of the transformative elaborative kind, construing changes in the physical features
of the participant in the role of Goal, is considerably higher in the Guerrilla text.
Furthermore, the configuration of process and participants as illustrated in Hasan’s cline of
dynamism construes the guerrillas as more dynamic, or capable of affecting the world,
obviously in a negative way. In addition to this, they are represented with more
88
differentiated terms which leave no doubt as to the responsibility for the crimes committed,
while the paramilitaries are often referred to with indifferentiated terms with the opposite
effect, especially in the clauses where authorship is assigned. The same principle seems to
apply for the representation of the victims. In the guerrilla story, the level of specificity
with which the victims are nominated and the roles ascribed to them add to the emotional
engagement of the reader, reinforcing the negative presentation of the insurgents. On the
contrary, the paramilitary victims are never recognized as such.

This image is reinforced when the texts are analysed from the ergative perspective. The
high percentage of processes in middle voice in the Paras text construes a picture where
most events unfold without the influence of an external agent. In the Guerrilla text, neither
voice is foregrounded, thus keeping a balance between ‘doings’ and ‘happenings’. It could
be claimed that in these texts, the effect of the foregrounding of the middle voice is a
mystification of the responsibility for the crimes reported.

The high level of specificity of processes, participants, and circumstances in the Guerrilla
text identified in the transitivity analysis offers the reader a front-row seat to the action
reported. We can almost see the blood on the mother’s hands and hear her screams of
agony. On the contrary, in the Paras text, the reader is unable to form a clear picture of the
events. The lack of details in the construal of the crime and the opaqueness of the victims
detach the readers to the point that they might well turn the page without much further
thought on the matter.

In line with Halliday (2003:271), this linguistic analysis aimed not only to explain the
lexicogrammatical resources through which these texts create particular meanings, but also
to determine ‘how far the text achieves what its context of situation demands (e.g. if it’s a
recipe, can you cook from it)’, and ‘to demonstrate its ideological force’. In this case, the
demand is basically to inform readers of the events answering the “six sacramental
questions of journalists” (El Tiempo, 1995: 52). While in the Guerrilla text, we know
exactly who did what to whom (about whom we know more than just their names and
occupations) where, when, and how, in the Paras text, a shadow of doubt is cast upon who
committed the crime, the where and when are very general, and the information on the
victims is very limited. In both texts, the unanswered question is ‘why’. This omission

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makes violence appear senseless and pointless, ignoring the complex rationale of the
calculated war for political, territorial, and economic power that underlies the Colombian
conflict.

Regarding their ideological force, this analysis has offered sufficient linguistic evidence to
claim that these two reports in particular construct a more favorable image of the
paramilitaries consistent with the generalized perception as ‘self-defense’ organizations,
while the guerrillas are portrayed as responsible for most of the violence. It is not the
purpose of this paper to make general claims about the ideological positioning of the
reporting of the conflict in the press, but to identify a set of features that if found recurrent
in a larger corpus could shed some light on one of the mechanisms contributing to the
legitimation of one form of violence in the Colombian context.

For this paper, the analysis has been focused on the experiential meanings. Nevertheless, it
is clear that these are not isolated from the logical, interpersonal, and textual meanings of
the text. For instance, textual analysis reveals that the Guerrilla text is structured
chronologically, unfolding with the events reported. This structure is possible due to the
high number of material processes and circumstances. In the Paras text, on the other hand,
the crime is construed in only one clause nexus. Likewise, interpersonal meanings, such as
the writer’s attitude towards the message, are reflected in the choices to represent
participants and the type of processes ascribed to them. These aspects will be taken into
account in the research with the larger corpus.

The results may be used to provide journalists with the tools to report without concealing
the responsibility of the perpetrators, neglecting the identity of the victims, and ignoring
the interests behind the crimes. However, considering the powers that control the
production and distribution of information in Colombia, the efforts should probably be
directed at how news reports are processed. Therefore, training educators to develop
critical reading skills and methodologies might prove a useful application of this research.

Finally, the motivation for the undertaking of this study is grounded in both the past and
the future. Regarding the past, it stems from a desire for fairness, not to the guerrilla
depicted as the mother of all evils, but to the victims of the paramilitaries who on top of the

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physical, emotional, and patrimonial damages inflicted on them, are often subject to not
only neglect by the state but also the verbal abuse by their perpetrators and sections of
society that see them as cooperators of the guerrillas. Looking to the future, the motivation
stems from the belief that for the construction of a civilized society respectful of most
basic individual rights, it is necessary to weed out from our hearts and our minds the
insidious idea of vengeance as a justification for violence. In this process, language
unavoidably plays a major role.

References

Comando General de las Fuerzas Militares (1969). Reglamento de Combate de

Contraguerrillas – EJC J-10, Disposición # 005 del 9 de abril de 1969. Manual de las
Fuerzas Militares de la República de Colombia.
Comisión Colombiana de Juristas. (27.10.2006) Total de víctimas muertas y porcentaje de
autoría por presuntos autores, según períodos julio de 1996 a junio de 2006.
Retrieved on 10 June 2009 from http://www.coljuristas.org/Portals/0/Vida96-06.pdf
D’Haenens L., Jankowski N., & Heuvelman A.(2004) News in Online and Print
Newspapers: Differences in Reader Consumption and Recall. New Media & Society,
Vol. 6, No. 3, 363--382
Dudley, S. (2004) Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia. New York:
Routledge.
Dugas, J.C. (2009) Colombia. In Vanden, H. and Prevost, G. (eds) Politics in Latin
America, the Power Game 495--523. Oxford: OUP.
El Espectador (2009, October). Reabren proceso contra Francisco Santos.
El Tiempo (1995) Manual de Redacción. Bogotá: Editorial Printer Colombiana.
El Tiempo. (1987, July 30) Legítima Defensa. p 2ª
El Tiempo. (1997, December 4) Paramilitares y Derechos Humanos. p 2A
Fundacion País Libre. (n.d.) Estadísticas Secuestro a 2006. Retrieved on 15 June 2009
from http://www.convecar.org.ve/docs/FPLColsecuesestad2006.pdf
Ghio, E. and M.D. Fernández. (2005) Manual de Lingüística Sistémico Funcional: El
Enfoque de M.A.K. Halliday y R. Hasan. Aplicaciones a la Lengua Española.
Santafé, Argentina: Universidad Nacional del Litoral.

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Gunter, B. (2000) Media Research Methods: Measuring Audiences, Reaction, and Impact.
London: Sage
Halliday, M.A.K. (2003) Is the grammar neutral? In J. Webster (ed) On Language and
Linguistics. 271—292. London: Continuum.
Halliday, M.A.K. and Hasan, R. (1985) Language, Context, and Text: Aspects of Language
in a Social-semiotic Perspective. Geelong: Deakin
Halliday, M. A. K. and C. M. I. M. Matthiessen (1999) Construing Experience through
Meaning: A Language-Based Approach to Cognition. London: Continuum.
Halliday, M. A. K. and C. M. I. M. Matthiessen (2004) An Introduction to Functional
Grammar. London: Edward Arnold.
Hasan, R. (1985) Linguistics, Language, and Verbal Art. Geelong: Deakin University
Press.
Hasan, R. (1988) The analysis of one poem: theoretical issues in practice. In Birch, D.
and O’ Toole, M. (eds) Functions of style. London: Pinter: 45-73.
Ipsos-Napoleón Franco (Mayo 3, 2007) Estudio de opinión sobre el paramilitarismo y la
para-política en Colombia. Semana. Retrieved on 15 June 2008 from http://
www.semana.com/Documentos.aspx?IdSeccion=23&Pagina=6
Lavid, J., Arús, J, and Zamorano, J.R., (2010) Systemic Functional Grammar of Spanish:
A Contrastive Study with English.London: Continuum.
Leeuwen, T. v. (1996) The representation of social Actors. In Caldas-Coulthard, C. R. and
Coulthard. M. (eds)Texts and Practices: Readings in Critical Discourse Analysis.
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McNair, B. (2003) News and Journalism in the UK. London: Routledge
McQuail, D. (2005) McQuail’s Communication Theory. London: Sage
Pardo, N. (2005). Representación de los actores armados en conflicto en la prensa
colombiana. Forma y Función. Vol. 18. pp. 167-196

Restrepo, J., Spagat, M. and Vargas, J.F. (2004) La dinámica del conflicto colombiano
1988-2003. Retrieved on 8 August 2008 from http://eprints.rhul.ac.uk/436/1/
Dinmica_del_conflicto_colombiano_1988-03.pdf

Robinson, J.P. and Levy, M. R. (1986). The Main Source, Learning from Television News.
London: Sage.

Ruiz, B. (2001) The Colombian Civil War. Jefferson, NC, US: McFarland & Co.

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Sacco, V.F. (2006) Media constructions of crime. In Potter, G.W. and Kappeler, W.E.
(eds.). Constructing Crime: Perspectives on Making News and Social Problems
29--41 (2nd ed.). Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc.

Thoumi, F.E. (1995). Political Economy and Illegal Drugs in Colombia. Boulder: L.
Rienner.

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Chapter 4

Construing experience in Spanish: Revisiting a Systemic Functional

Description of Nuclear Transitivity.10

Abstract

This paper examines the systemic functional description of Spanish Nuclear Transitivity as
proposed by Lavid, Arús and Zamorano (2010) and proposes two modifications to their
system network. The first is to reevaluate their concept of ‘causation’, which limits it to
‘lexical ergativity’ (He broke the window/The window broke). It is argued that causation
can be realized with a range of structures that include analytical (He made the boy run) and
synthetic (He chased the boy) versions. Furthermore, lexical ergativity is subdivided into
‘Instigation’ (He broke the window) and ‘Initiation’ (He rolled the ball). These options are
considered more ‘delicate’ choices of the ‘effective voice’ subsystem. The second
modification is the inclusion of the ER-participant (Actor, Carrier, Sayer, Behaver, Senser)
explicitness system, which is exclusive to Spanish. This set of options allow the speaker to
present crucial participants in Agent•Process•Medium and Medium•Process configurations
obliquely. Although the different realizations of this system (‘se’ passives, periphrastic
passives, impersonal ‘se’ and impersonal 3 person plural), have been widely discussed in
the literature from both systemic and non-systemic perspectives, these had not been
mapped into the system network of Spanish Transitivity.
Key words: causation, ergativity, er-participant, instigation, initiation

4.1 Introduction

The typological description of languages other than English from a Systemic Functional
Perspective is an area of increasing development. The past decade has seen the appearance
of works on languages as diverse as French (Caffarel, 2004, 2006), Vietnamese (Thai,
2004), and Pitjantjatjara (Rose, 2004) to name only a few. In Ibero-America, Halliday’s

10 This paper will be published in Revista Signos 46 (81) in March 2013

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model has increasingly gained momentum yielding important works such as Ghio and
Fernández’s SFL descriptive manual applied to the Spanish language (2005). The use of
SFL theory in Latin America has been mainly focused on educational practices (Moyano
2004, 2005a, 2005b, 2007; Natale, 2004; Oteiza, 2006; Vian et al, 2009) from which
some descriptive attempts have emerged (i.e. Moss et al, 2003). From a strictly typological
perspective, developments are being made in the description of verbal processes within the
framework of the ‘Systemic Across Languages’ (SAL) project led by Matthiessen, Bárbara
and Teruya. Yet, the most important typological work to date is Lavid, Arús and
Zamorano’s (2010) first monograph-long systemic functional description of Spanish,
providing a detailed metafunctional profile of the grammar of this language (cf. Quiroz,
2010). As argued in previous papers (Arús 2003, 2004a, b, and Lavid 2001; Lavid and
Arús 2004, 2006), in their treatment of the experiential metafunction, these authors step
away from Halliday and Matthiessen’s (2004) description of nuclear transitivity by
establishing ‘causation’ as a separate system from ‘Agency’, following Davidse’s (1991,
1992, 1996, 1999; and Geyskens, 1999) ergative/transitive divide.

This paper suggests two modifications to the system network for Transitivity as proposed
by Lavid et al. The first is remapping the different options for construing causation as more
delicate choices in the system of Agency, including the feature ‘Instigation’ as introduced
by Davidse (1992) and differentiated from ‘Initiation’ as proposed by Halliday (1968). The
second is to include a typological difference of Spanish, which although discussed in this
and previous works (Arús, 2006) has not been mapped into their system network. It is what
will be called ‘the ER participant explicitness’ category, which allows speaker to choose
whether to present central participants to the clause configuration explicitly or obliquely.

In the first section, the paper will introduce briefly the experiential metafunction and the
mapping of its resources in the lexicogrammar organised in the Transitivity system as
proposed by Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) in An Introduction to Functional Grammar
(IFG hereafter). This will be contrasted with Lavid et al’s Transitivity network as presented
in A Systemic Functional Grammar of Spanish (SFS hereafter). In the second part of the
paper, the sub-system of ER-participant explicitness is introduced as a differentiating
characteristic of Spanish. Furthermore, examples from different registers are provided to
illustrate how these resources are exploited by speakers/writers with different purposes.

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4.2 Theoretical Framework

It is a central tenet of the SFL model that language has ‘evolved in the service of certain
functions’ (e.g. Halliday, 1973, 2003), and that this evolutionary process has left its mark
on the organisation of language, so that its inner character is a function of what humans
have needed to do with it. One of these functions of language provides speakers with the
means to organise the complexity of human experience, both the world around and inside
us. As Halliday and Matthiessen (2004) argue that ‘our most powerful impression of
experience is that it consists of a flow of events, or ‘goings-on’. This flow of events is
chunked into a quanta of change by the grammar of the clause’ (p.170)

The never-ending flux of events is selected from and organized through the lens of a
community’s linguistic potential, a point which echo’s Whorf view of the relation of
language to our experience of the world:
We dissect nature along lines laid down by our native languages. The categories and types that
we isolate from the world of phenomena we do not find there because they stare every observer
in the face; on the contrary, the world is presented in a kaleidoscopic flux of impressions which
has to be organized by our minds-and this means largely by the linguistic systems in our minds
(1956 [1940], 213]).

In the case of English and Spanish, being these two languages from the Indoeuropean
family, similarities have been found in the way their grammars organize experience. The
flux of events is chunked into configurations of processes, participants and circumstances,
differentiating between events that take place in the outside world (i.e. The letter arrived;
the children are playing in the garden) and those in the realm of our consciousness (i.e. I
love you; she knows the lesson). It also helps us to establish relations between entities such
as ‘x belongs to y’, ‘x is a kind of y’ or ‘x is located in y’. (see IFG, chapter 5). These
different domains of experience i.e ‘doings’ and ‘happenings’, ‘sensing’ and ‘being’ are
modelled in the system of Process Type, which includes material, mental and relational
process as major types, along with verbal processes for clauses of ‘saying’. Each process
type requires different configurations of participants ascribed to them. For instance, the
obligatory participant in a material clause will be the ‘Actor’ or the one carrying out the
action (‘the dog’ in ‘The dog is running’), which may be extended to another participant
labelled as the ‘Goal’ (‘its tail’ in ‘the dog is chasing its tail’.) The label ‘Actor’ is

96
obviously inappropriate for participants in other types of clauses, i.e. in a relational clause
such as ‘The king is dead’, (since the king is not doing anything). Instead ‘the king’ is
given the label ‘Carrier’ of the ‘Attribute’ (dead). However, despite these similarities, as
Quiroz (2010) argues, it is necessary to establish clearly the criteria for distinction of
process types in Spanish.

As Halliday argues, ‘the grammar is indeterminate in the sense that there are often two or
more possible grammatical interpretations of an item, each of which relates it to a different
set of other items, thus making a particular generalization of a paradigmatic kind’ (Halliday
2003 [1985], 195), and he exemplifies this point by reference to ‘transitive and ergative
interpretations of English transitivity’. As well as differentiating among process types, the
grammar also generalises across them by presenting events as self-engendered (Halliday
and Matthiessen, 2004, 285) (i.e. ‘the vase fell’, where ‘vase’ is ‘Medium’) or brought
about by an external source (i.e. ‘The child dropped the vase’), labelled as the Agent (‘the
child’ in this case). These options are mapped in the system of Agency and together with
the system of process type form the system of Nuclear Transitivity, illustrated in Figure
4.2.1.

Unlike the descriptive categories for the participants in different process types (Actor,
Goal, Carrier, etc), the categories of ‘Medium’ and ‘Agent’ remain constant for all process
types. Furthermore, while in the system of process type, the variable is one of ‘extension-
and-impact’ (Halliday and Mathiessen, 2004, 285), that is whether the action extends from
the Actor to a potential Goal, in the system of Agency the variable is one of causation,
featuring the presence or absence of an external agent. These complementary systems offer
two different perspectives on the semiotic construal of human experience: the transitive
and the ergative models. These are encapsulated in one system, that of ‘transitivity’, which
includes both the ‘transitive’ and the ‘ergative’ models: ‘Ergativity’ is thus not the name of
a system, but of a property of the system of transitivity’ (ibid, 281).

In SFL, it is contended that most languages will organise experience along these general
lines, but will present variation as we move to the right in the system network mapping
more delicate choices (Matthiessen, 2004, 538; Teich, 2003, 56). This does not exclude

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other potential forms of organisation such as the centrifugal/centripetal model suggested by
Martin (1996, 2004) for Tagalog.

Figure 4.2.1 - System of Nuclear Transitivity in Matthiessen (1995: 206)

4.3 Lavid et al’s Transitivity Network

Arús and Lavid have published extensively (Arús 2003, 2004a, b, and Lavid 1999, 2001,
2002; Lavid and Arús 2004, 2006) on the Transitivity model as proposed by Davidse
(1992). The difference between this and the Hallidayan model consists of the separation of
“the system of Agency (concerned with the presence or absence of the feature Agent)”
from the “system of Causation (concerned with the variable of instigation)” (Lavid and
Arús, 2002, 75). Figure 4.3.1 presents the most general nuclear transitivity network for
both English and Spanish in SFS.

Their argument rests on the fact that not all verbs form ergative/non-ergative pairs using
the same lexical item. They explain this phenomenon using the following reactances11.
(1a) The baby’s broken the DVD
(1b) The DVD has broken
(2a) The baby’s picking her nose again
(2b) *The baby’s nose is picking

11A reactance is a Whorfian term (1945) that refers to ‘special type of sentence’ that evidences a
covert category, as opposed to an ‘overt category’ which has a formal mark (i.e. plural nouns are
marked with the suffixes –s, -es or a small group of variants). Covert categories, on the other hand,
need to be ‘uncovered’ by changes in sentence structure as in the examples from SFS.
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 Whereas the Agent in (1a), The baby is the external causer of the DVD breaking - hence (1b) -
the same Agent in (2a) is not externally causing any action by, or happening on, her nose,
which explains the agrammaticality of (2b).(SFS, 86)

According to this reasoning, in (3a), the baby “is not externally causing any action by, or
happening on” the bug.
(3a) The baby killed the bug
(3b) The bug died.

This position, I would argue, seems both too limited and too general. It is limited since it
reduces causation to lexical ergativity, and too general because it does not differentiate
between ergative/non-ergative pairs such as (1a) and (1b) with those with the variable
‘Initiation’, (i.e. The general marched the soldiers/ The soldiers marched), which will be
discussed later on.

Adopting a trinocular perspective (Halliday, 1996) to analyse this issue may prove useful
at this point. From above, or the semantics stratum, it is hard to argue that in (3a) the baby
did not cause the death of the bug. From roundabout, or the lexicogrammar level, (1a), (2a)
and (3a) show the same pattern Actor•Process•Goal from the transitive perspective, and
Agent•Process•Medium, from the ergative perspective. As clarified in IFG, the difference
between (1a) and (2a) or (2b) seems to be a matter of delicacy rather than opposition:
Some linguists have in fact thought that English is only lexically ergative. But this is not
a tenable position once we realize that lexis and grammar are not separate modules or
components, but merely zones within a continuum: ‘lexical ergativity’ in English is an
extension in delicacy of ‘grammatical ergativity’ within the experiential clause of the
grammar; and the explanation for the evolution of ergative patterning in English is
grammatical in the first instance is rather than lexical. (IFG, 286)

Figure 4.3.1 - The system of Nuclear Transitivity in SFS (Lavid et al, 2010:88)

99
Lavid et al’s claim that Agency has nothing to do with the variable of external cause
(2010,115) calls for revision when considered that causation can be realized with different
process participant configurations as illustrated by Halliday (1968:198) (see figure 4.3.2).
What this paper suggests, in line with the Hallidayan model, is that the lexicogrammatical
resources to express causation are varied and range from non-agentive structures, passing
by middle voice clauses to Initiator•Process•Actor configurations, as in Halliday’s
examples.

Figure 4.3.2 - Realizations of Causation

Likewise, Caffarel (2006) extends the system of Agency in French to include the variables
of synthetic and analytic causation in effective clauses to account for the difference
between John marched the prisoners and John made the prisoners march. Taking into
account Halliday’s conception of lexical ergativity as a more delicate choice of
grammatical ergativity, and Caffarel’s further division of causation, it is possible to map

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the ergative/non-ergative pairs identified by Davidse as a more delicate choice of the
synthetic form of causation in effective clauses, as shown in Figure 4.3.3.

The first sub-system in the network as proposed in Figure 4.3.3, the choice between
operative and receptive voice, accounts for the difference between I threw the ball and the
ball was thrown. The second option, analysed from below, is realized by the verbal group
in passive voice. In English, it consists of the auxiliary ‘be’ plus the main verb in past
participle form. In Spanish, in addition to this form, the passive voice can be realized with
what has been called the ‘reflex’ or ‘se’ passive (Alarcos, 1987, 1999; Arús, 2006; Cano,
1981; Real Academia de la Lengua Española (RAE), 2010; Seco, 1996), realized with the
use of the ‘se’ clitic and the verbal group in agreement with nominal group realizing the
Medium. (4b) and (4c) offer the two possible translations from the English (4a)
(4a) All the books were sold (by independent companies).

(4b) Todos los libros fueron vendidos (por compañías independientes)

VG
[be-3PastPl + sold]
All the books were sold (by independent companies)

(4c) Se vendieron todos los libros *(por compañías independientes)

VG
[‘se’ + sell-3PastPL]
‘se’ sold all the books *(by independent companies)

In Spanish, ‘se’ passives are more common than periphrastic passives (to be + past
participle) (RAE, 2010). For example a Google search of (4b) eliminating deictic markers
produced less than 400,000 hits, while (4c) yielded over 8 million results. Regarding
causation, clauses with periphrastic passives such as (4b) easily accept the inclusion of the
feature +Agent, but ‘se’ passives (4c) typically do not.

Figure 4.3.3 - Remapping of lexical ergativity

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The synthetic/analytic features show how causation can be realized either experientially
(orbitally) or logically (serially) (Matthiessen, 1995; Caffarel et al, 2004; Caffarel 2006).
In (5a) the clause is organised around a Process•Medium nucleus that is extended through
the incorporation of the feature Agent.

(5a) The boy walked the dog

Agent Process Medium

(5b) The boy made the dog walk

Agent Pro- Medium -cess

(5c) The brother made the boy walk the dog

Agent 1 Pro- Agent 2 -cess Medium

(5d) The mother had the brother make the boy walk the dog.
Agent 1 Pr- Agent 2 -oc- Agent 3 -ess Medium

In (5b), (5c), and (5d), causation is realized with increasingly longer verbal group
complexes introducing each a new Agent participant. Caffarel (2006) explains how in
French, analytic causatives can take up to two Agents. In Spanish, analytic causation has
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been studied from within the SFL perspective (Lavid and Arús, 2002) and other traditions
of linguistic enquiry (Soares da Silva, 2004; Maldonado, 2007; García-Miguel, 2007;
Curnow, 1993); however examples involving chains of causation such as (6) seem to be
absent from the literature.

(6) Mamá dejó que Pedro hiciera al bebé rodar la pelota.

Mum let that Pedro made to the baby roll the ball.
Agent 1 Pr- Agent 2 -oc- Agent 3 -ess Medium
Mum let Pedro make the baby roll the ball

Synthetic causation, on the other hand, would include all effective clauses where the
Process is not realized by a causative verbal group complex (i.e. make/let/have...do). This
is sub-categorised depending on the possibility of the clause to form an ergative/non-
ergative pair, that is to say, to be paired with a middle clause where the process is presented
as self-engendered.
(7) Tyree caught the ball with both hands.
(8a) John fed the baby.
(8b) The baby ate.
(9a) John broke the glass.
(9b) The glass broke.

It is not possible to pair (7) with a middle voice version, but both (8a) and (8b) and (9a)
and (9b) form ergative/non-ergative pairs. We will classify (8a) as grammatically (non-
lexical) ergative, and (9a) as a lexically ergative clause.

However, as will be discussed below, not all lexical ergatives are created equal, following
the initial claim that the ergative/transitive divide as proposed in SFS is too general. A
further distinction between instigation (Davidse’s term) and initiation (Halliday’s term) is
suggested.

The instigation/initiation divide is illustrated by the contrast between pairs such as (9a) and
(9b), and (10a) and (10b).
(10a) John rolled the ball
(10b) The ball rolled.

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Davidse (1992), on whose work Lavid et al base their argument, considers that in examples
such as (9a) and (10a) ‘the glass’ and ‘the ball’ are not ‘inert’ participants but ‘co-
participate in the process’. By ‘co-participation’, she means that there is an input of energy
from the Medium (the glass or the ball) (1991:108). She argues that “we can say both
What John did to the door was open it and What the door did was open”(1992,118).

However, the probe question “What did the glass do?” does not seem to work with (9b),
unless with particular speaker purposes such as to achieve a humorous effect as seen
below:
"So, what did the glass do this time?" Catherine asked standing just inside his door. She
had seen the glass fall to its demise. Grissom gave a half smile at Catherine's casual
attitude.
"I don't know. The police think it was suicide, but I'll have to investigate." He paused
listening to her chuckle.
Taken from ‘Shattered Glass’ by Mac 1 http://m.fanfiction.net/s/1037355/1/

On the contrary, “What did the ball do?” - “It rolled” is perfectly acceptable. This shows
the grammatical difference between the realization of doings and happenings, which could
be established as a more delicate choice of material processes intersecting with the middle
voice, as in Halliday’s initial transitivity networks (1968, 201).

In Spanish, as in French and Italian (Caffarel, 2006; Kemmer, 1993) this difference is even
more marked and can be identified when analysing the clause from below, in the
realization of the verbal group. (9c) and (10c) offer the translation of (9b) and (10b)
respectively.
(9c) El vaso se rompió.
(10c) La bola rodó.

Notice how (9c) requires the use of the clitic ‘se’ which implies the supervention of the act
of breaking, that is to say, a ‘happening to’ rather than a ‘doing of’ the glass. Arús (2006,
143) considers this particular use of ‘se’ as ‘semantically empty’, since it does not realize a
participant in the clause. However, notice the difference in meaning in (11) and (12), taken
from the CREA Spanish Corpus.

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 (11) Se le explotó una granada a un compañero”, pensé
se He-Dative exploded a grenade to a fellow soldier”, I thought
“A grenade exploded on one of my fellow soldiers”, I thought.

(12) cuando una granada explotó entre los tenderetes matando a 72

when a grenade exploded among the stalls killing 72
when a grenade exploded among the stalls killing 72

While ‘se’ in (11) implies the explosion was an accident, in (12) the grenade carried out its
intended function. Di Tullio (2003) refers to this use of the ‘se’ clitic as ergative or
‘anticausative’, which denotes change ‘without the intervention of an agent’, making (13)
ungrammatical. Its absence in (14) denotes, rather than a spontaneous happening, a
function of ‘the door’
(13) La puerta se abrió *deliberadamente.
The door opened *deliberately.
(14) La puerta abre hacia adentro.
The door opens inwards.

Going back to the original examples illustrating the contrast between instigation (9a) and
initiation (10a), another reactance demonstrating the difference between the two can be
found in (9d) and (10d):
(9a) John broke the glass.
(9d) John broke.
(10a) John rolled the ball.
(10d) John rolled.

By eliminating the Medium in (9a) and (10a), we can observe that the role of the Agent
(John) changes drastically. In (9d) John remains Agent with an unstated goal, but in (10d),
John becomes Medium. That is to say, in (9d) it is understood that John broke something,
but in (10d) John did the rolling himself (down a hill probably). Thus (9d) is likely to be
followed by the question ‘What did John break?’, but (10d) by ‘Where or Why did John
roll?’. This reactance is what establishes the difference between Actor (‘the ball’ in (10a)
and ‘John’ in (9a) and Initiator (John in 10a) (Halliday, 1967).
105
For Davidse (1992, 113) in both (9d) and (10d) ‘John’ is interpreted as Medium, but that
would constitute a different meaning of breaking from (4a). If it were so, in ‘John broke’,
the meaning of break would not be “to come apart or split into pieces” but “to fail in
health, strength, vitality, resolve or control” (Merriam Webster dictionary).
This detracts from Davidse’s (1992) argument that
It is precisely because the lexeme remains the same that a clause such as The glass
broke is perceived as a Medium•.Process constellation proportionate with an
Instigator•.Process•.Medium structure such as The cat broke the glass, rather than as an
Actor.(intransitive) •.Process constellation. (p.109)

(3a) The baby killed the bug is perceived proportionate with (3b) The bug died despite the
lexeme ‘die’ being different to ‘kill’. And (10a) cannot be perceived as proportionate to
(10d) even when the lexeme is the same. (15a) and (15b) show an example from Spanish:
(15a) Me rasca la nariz12.
My nose itches.

(15b) Me rasco la nariz.

I scratch my nose.

Whereas in Spanish (in many Latin American varieties) the same lexeme is used, these do
not form an ergative pair. (15b) does not necessarily imply (15a). (you can scratch your
nose without it itching and viceversa). The use of different lexemes in English (‘itch’ vs
‘scratch’) illustrates the difference.

In addition to this, the concept of co-participation of the Medium in lexically ergative pairs
favors the interpretation of an Agent causing the Medium to do something rather than an
Agent doing something to the Medium. Thus, (9a) is interpreted as ‘John causing the glass
to break’, rather than ‘John doing something to the glass’. However this interpretation is
largely dependent on context, more specifically on the implied or stated Agent’s volition,
as seen in (16a) to (18a):
(16a) The accident broke her neck and back and severed her spinal cord.
From ‘Ivory Watts’ at http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/prayer/ivory.asp

12Rascar’ is equivalent to ‘Picar’ meaning ‘to experience itching in the body’ in many areas of the
Caribbean including Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia and Venezuela. The Spanish Royal
Academy dictionary does not include this meaning of ‘rascar’ as a verb, but it does for its
nominalization ‘rasquiña’
106
 (17a) My 2 year old tripped just as Gracie ran in front of him. He feel [sic]
right on Gracie......he broke her neck.
From ‘Horrible Accident’ at
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/memory-r-i-p/21622-horrible-accident-5.html

(18a) As he dragged Clara's body into the bedroom, Suzy started barking at
him, so he broke her neck with the butt end of the gun.
From ‘Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate’ by Marilyn Bardsley at
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/starkweather/finale_7.html

It could be argued that in (16a) and (17a), both interpretations are acceptable and the action
could be rephrased without the Agent without much difference in experiential meaning, as
in (16b) and (17b), unlike (18b), which lends itself to the interpretation that the barking is
the direct cause of the neck breaking without any input from the male participant in
question, a complete departure from the original meaning. That is, the use of the middle
voice in this case is not simply vague, but plainly misleading.
(16b) In the accident, her neck and back broke....
(17b) ...He feel[sic] right on Gracie...Her neck broke.
(18b) ...Suzy started barking at him, so her neck broke.*

The following example from Spanish illustrates the same contrast.

(19a) Tres campesinos desaparecieron
Three peasants disappeared.

(19b) La guerrilla desapareció a tres campesinos.

The guerrilla disappeared three peasants.

While the disappearance in (19a) can be interpreted as an act of hiding or running away by
the peasants, in (19b) the peasants are clearly ‘done-to’, killed and disposed of by
incineration, dismemberment and further burial in mass graveyards, or else; this hardly
constitutes their co-participation in the process.

Another argument from Davidse (1992:117) to establish the ergative/transitive divide is the
different levels of grammatical independence of the Medium•Process complex in lexically
ergative and non-lexically ergative clauses. The first is the possibility of circumstances to
modify only the Medium•Process complex rather than the whole Agent•.Process•Medium,
as in (20), (21a) and (22b). The labels marked with an asterisk are those provided in SFS.
107
 (20) The boy built sand castles for an hour
Agent Medium
Process Circumstance
Actor Goal

(21a) The boy broke bottles for an hour

Agent Medium
Process Circumstance
Actor/Instigator* Goal/Affected*

(22a) The general marched the soldiers for an hour

Agent Medium
Process Circumstance
Initiator/Instigator* Actor/Affected*

In both (20) and (21a) the circumstance ‘for an hour’ is fully co-extensive with the
Actor•Process•Goal constellation. It is not possible that the boy was not involved in the
building of the castles or the breaking of the bottles at any point. Furthermore,
circumstances of duration do not seem to be compatible with the middle voice version of
the Instigator•Process•Affected structures, as in (21b) and (24).
(21b) Bottles broke for an hour.*
(22b) The soldiers marched for an hour.
(23)The ball rolled for an hour.
(24) Doors opened for an hour*

A google search of (24) resulted in only 10 hits, six of which were discarded because of
punctuation. In three of the remaining ones, ‘opened’ does not act as process but as
attribute (i.e. we left the garage door opened for an hour), and in the other ‘for’ does not
indicate duration but purpose (“for an hour of high caliber sports entertainment”).

So far it has been argued that rather than a black and white categorization determined by
lexical ergativity, causation can be realized with diverse participant-process structures that
can be arranged in a cline ranging from the operative receptive (the boy was bitten) to the
analytic causative (the smell made the dog bite the boy). It is also contended that even
within lexical ergatives, there are significant differences yielding the features of instigation

108
and initiation. These differences can be accounted for in the system network by expanding
the sub-system of Agency in delicacy, as shown in Figure 4.3.3.

This expansion might be valid for both English and Spanish. However, there will be
differences in the way the options combine in each language. As has been indicated
previously in SFS and Lavid and Arús (2002), in Spanish, lexical ergativity is more
common with mental processes (where the Phenomenon in the please-type processes is
labeled ‘Inducer’), which in English is often realized as a relational process plus an
attribute, as seen in (25a) and (25b).

(25a) La noticia me alegra muchísimo

The news me gladden-3PresSing very much
Agent Medium AdvGroup
Process
Phenomenon/Inducer* Senser
The news makes me very happy/ The news gladden me

Taken from http://www.cpca.org.ar/novedades/detalle.php?id=931

(25b) Me alegro muchísimo por la noticia

Me Rejoice-1PresSing very much because of the news
Medium Process
Circumstance: degree Circumstance: cause
Senser
I am very happy because of the news/ I rejoice in the news

Taken from http://antonio-m-ortega.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/por-fin-la-vista-de-la-demanda.html

Having discussed the similarities in the system network for both languages, we move on to
expand it by including the sub-system of ER-role participant explicitness, which is
exclusive to Spanish.

4.4 ER- role participant explicitness

In SFL, a clause is considered a figure representing a quantum of change, an abstraction of

human experience into meaning (Halliday & Matthiessen, 1999). Its main constituents are:
1. a process unfolding through time

109
 2. the participants involved in the process
3. circumstances associated with the process (IFG, 175)

These constituents are listed in order of nuclearity, with the process at the core of the
configuration. The second layer, the participants, relates directly to the process either
because they originate it or are affected or benefited by it. Together these two elements
form the experiential centre of the clause. Circumstances expand this centre by locating it
in time or space, or expressing cause, purpose, manner, etc.

In English, every clause needs at least one participant element, which is labeled the
Medium, or the participant ‘through which the process is actualized’ (IFG, 284), (i.e. ‘the
glass’ in (9b)). Effective clauses usually involve two participants, the Medium, and the
Agent, which externally causes the process (i.e. ‘John’ in (9a)). English offers the
possibility of presenting an effective clause without the Agent in receptive voice for
different reasons. The Agent might have been presented previously in the text, or its
presence is considered irrelevant for the context of situation (as in procedural texts such as
experiments). It might also be unknown to the speaker or s/he might not want to make it
explicit to avoid responsibility as in (26), a typical sentence in letters of dismissal.

(26) It has been decided that your services are no longer required.

Notice that in this example, not only is the Agent missing in the projected clause, but the
Medium is omitted in the projecting clause as well. Projecting clauses (mental and verbal)
and meteorological ones are probably the only clauses where the Medium can be absent in
English.

Spanish, on the other hand, offers speakers more resources to present participants
obliquely, which will be mapped in the system network as ER-participant explicitness. The
ER-participant role is an umbrella term introduced by Hasan (1985, 37) that covers the
Actor, Senser (or Phenomenon in ‘please’ type clauses), Sayer, Carrier and Token
participants. The purpose of the introduction of this term is to answer the question ‘Who
does what to whom?’ regardless of the different types of ‘doing’ under analysis. It
recognises the commonalities among ‘doers’ in material processes such as ‘running’ or
‘eating’, verbal processes such as ‘saying’ or ‘telling’, and mental processes such as

110
‘thinking’ or ‘deciding’. It also includes the ‘doer’ participant in processes of ‘happening’,
‘being’, ‘existing’ and ‘behaving’. Yet, it is different from Agent and Medium since these
do not correlate in all process types. For instance, while the Actor conflates with Agent in
material effective clauses (He ate the apple), Sayer conflates with Medium in verbal
clauses (He said ‘hello’). Table 4.4.1 illustrates the ER-participant (underlined) with each
of the different process types and how they correlate with the participant roles from both
the ergative and transitive perspectives.

While in English, to present the ER-participant implicitly, the most common realization is
the passive voice, Spanish offers speakers, in addition to this one, a wider array of options.
These are the impersonal ‘se’, the ‘se’ passives (or reflex passives), periphrastic passives,
and impersonal 3 person plural. Examples (27) to (30) illustrate the structure of these
different realizations, which have been thoroughly described in the literature (Alarcos,
1987,1999; Arús, 2006; Cano, 1981; Gómez, 1998; Mendikoetxea, 1999, 2002; Molina,
1997; RAE, 2010; Sánchez, 2002; Seco, 1996).

Table 4.4.1 - ER- participant roles from transitive and ergative perspectives

ER participant Process Type Transitive Role Ergative role

John ate the apple material Actor Agent

Lucy thought she was OK mental Senser Medium

Obama says “Let’s go” verbal Sayer Medium

The weather is gorgeous relational Carrier Medium

The baby is sleeping behavioural Behaver Medium

There is still hope existential Existent Medium

(27) Impersonal ‘se’

Se habla español y catalán

Impersonal marker speak-3SPres Spanish and Catalan
Sayer/Medium? Process: Verbal Verbiage
Spanish and Catalan spoken

111
(28) ‘se’ Passive

Se hacen llaves
Passive marker make-3PlPres keys
Agent/Actor? Process: material Goal
Keys made

(29)Periphrastic passive

La ley fue firmada el 21 de diciembre de 2000

The law be-3SPast sign-Past Participle on December 21, 2000
Goal/Medium Process: material Circ: Time
The law was signed on December 21, 2000

(30) Impersonal 3 person plural

Me ascendieron
I-Acc promote-3PlPast
Goal/Medium Process: material
(They) promoted me/ I was promoted

It is important to clarify that ellipsed participants traditionally identified as ‘Subject’ (cf.

Quiroz, 2008) and realized at group rank in the verbal desinence are not taxonomized as
implicit, since these are retrievable from the co-text. Instead, the implicit ER-participants
refer to impersonal, generic or unidentified entities. This contrast is exemplified in (31) to
(35) taken from García Márquez’s acclaimed Cien años de Soledad (One hundred years of
Solitude).

(31) En marzo volvieron los gitanos. Esta vez Ø llevaban un catalejo ...
In March the gypsies returned. This time they were carrying a telescope...

(32) Fue también José Arcadio Buendía quien decidió por esos años que en las calles
del pueblo se sembraran almendros en vez de acacias.
It was also José Arcadio Buendía who decided during those years to plant the
streets of the town with almond trees instead of acacias.

112
(33) ...los objetos perdidos desde hacía mucho tiempo aparecían por donde más se les
había buscado
... objects that had been lost for a long time appeared where they had been
searched for most
(34) Mientras le cortaban el ombligo, movía la cabeza de un lado a otro...
As they were cutting the umbilical cord, he moved his head from side to side...

(35) Ante la imposibilidad de conseguir intermediarios, convencida de que su hijo sería

fusilado al amanecer,...
Facing the impossibility of finding anyone to intervene, convinced that her son
would be shot at dawn
From “Cien años de Soledad” by Gabriel García Márquez

Whereas in (31), it is clear that the Actor of the process of bringing is ‘the gypsies’,
retrievable from the previous sentence, in examples (32) to (35) the ER-participants remain
unspecified. As Alarcón (1999, 208) points out “the experience being communicated is
reduced to manifesting an activity and that affected by it”. Hence the role of the Agent in
these cases is completely backgrounded.

(28) and (32) are examples of the ‘se’ or reflex passive discussed in section 3. The verb
desinence in 3 person plural agrees with the grammatical ‘Subject’ of the clause, ‘keys’
and ‘almond trees’ respectively. In (32) The translator opted for the also impersonal, non-
finite form ‘to plant’. (29) and (35) present the non-agentive receptive voice realized with
the passive verbal group, or periphrastic passive, as explained in example (4b). In (27) and
(33), ‘se’ functions as an impersonal marker. In both cases the verb endings (‘habla’ and
‘había’) are singular, while the Verbiage ‘spanish and catalan’ in the (27), and the Goal of
the process ‘search for’, the lost objects in (33), are plural.

In (30) and (34), the verbal desinence 3 person plural does not refer to any specific
participants. In (30) the promotion may have been decided by one or more people. In (34),
it is very likely that it was only one person doing the cutting of the umbilical cord. Thus,
the plural desinence is not a phoric reference to the Agent, whether this is a plural entity or
not, as seen in (36) and (37).
(36) Salvan a periodista de ser asesinado.
Save-3Pl journalist from being murdered.
Journalist saved from being murdered.
113
 El policía Carlos Pérez le salvó la vida a el periodista Pablo Cortinas...
The police officer Carlos Pérez saved the life of journalist Pablo Cortinas...
Retrieved from http://danielaalvarez88.blogspot.com/2007/05/salvan-periodista-de-ser-asesinado-el.html
(16/05/2007)

(37) Rescatan a bebé de escombros tras el terremoto en Turquía

Rescue-3Pl baby from the rubble after earthquake in Turkey.
Baby rescued from the rubble after earthquake in Turkey.
Miembros de los equipos de rescate trasladan a Azra, un bebé de 14 días...
Members of the rescue teams transport Azra, a 14-day old baby...
Retrieved from http://www.hoy.com.ec/noticias-ecuador/video-rescatan-a-bebe-de-escombros-tras-el-
terremoto-en-turquia-509822.html (25/10/2011)

In English, the impersonal ‘they’ selected by the translator in (34) is typical of informal
registers, (cf. Yule, 1982; Kitagawa ans Lehrer, 1990), while in Spanish it is a common
selection in news headlines.

In examples (32) to (35), the implicit participant is the Agent. Examples (36) and (37),
popular expressions with tens of thousands of google hits each, show how the Medium
can also be presented implicitly.
(36) En Barranquilla se baila así.
In Barranquilla, ‘se’ dance-3Sing like this.
In Barranquilla, people dance like this.

(37) No se gana, pero se goza.

No ‘se’ earn-3Sing, but ‘se’ enjoy-3Sing
You don’t earn (much money), but you enjoy yourself.

Notice that these implicit options are available not only for material clauses, but for mental
(37), relational (38), and verbal (39) clauses as well.
(38) No querer a los hombres, cuando se es mujer, es una patología.
Not loving men, when ‘se’ is woman, is a pathology.
Not loving men, when you are a woman, is a pathology.
Taken from http://lunamiguel.blogspot.com.au/2010/01/mujer-publica-y-verguenza.html

(39) Dicen por ahí que él te hace feliz.

Say-3Pl around that he makes you happy
They say around that he makes you happy
Rumour has it that he makes you happy.
Taken from popular song ‘Dicen por ahí’ by Pablo Montero

114
As has been explained, the ER-role participant explicitness is an important typological
feature of Spanish Transitivity that cuts across the sub-systems of process types and voice.
Thus, its inclusion in the system network is considered necessary for a more accurate
description of the language, as proposed in Figure 4.4.1.

4.5 Conclusion

This paper has proposed a restructuring of the system network for Spanish Nuclear
Transitivity as presented in SFS. Firstly, it has called for a reconceptualization of the
concept of Causation that limits it to lexical ergativity, as in the ergative/non-ergative pair
John broke the window/The window broke. If analytical causation is acknowledged (Lavid
& Arús, 2002), then logically, other types of causation must be accounted for. Hence, it is
argued that causation can realized using a variety of structures, as illustrated by examples
(40) to (44).
(40) analytical
John made the baby cry.
(41) synthetic: non-ergative
John kicked the ball (the ball kicked*/threw*)
(42) synthetic: ergative: grammatical (non-lexical)
John chased the ball (The ball rolled)
(43) synthetic: ergative: lexical: instigation
John opened the door (The door opened)
(44) synthetic: ergative: lexical: initiation
John walked the dog. (The dog walked)

As (43) and (44) show, lexical ergativity can be further classified by differentiating
between instigation and Initiation. Whereas in instigation, the analysis from the transitive
perspective yields an Actor•Process•Goal configuration, in initiation, the configuration is
Initiator•Process•Actor. That is to say, while ‘the dog’ in (44) is realizing a ‘doing’, ‘the
door’ in (43) is merely affected by a ‘happening’.

The second modification suggested is the inclusion of the sub-system of ER participant

explicitness which allows speakers to background nuclear participants in the configuration

115
of the clause, which constitutes a crucial typological difference with English. In English,
only the Agent can be omitted from the clause as indicated by the selection of the non-
agentive receptive voice, or presented obliquely as with the use of the impersonal pronoun
‘they’. Meanwhile, in Spanish, both Agent and Medium can be backgrounded with the use
of ‘se’ and periphrastic passives, the impersonal ‘se’, and the third person plural.

What this paper suggests is that English and Spanish (along with probably many other
Indo-European languages such as French) bear similarities in the options the transitivity
system offers to express causation, yet they portray significant differences in the options to
present participants obliquely. For this paper, the discussion has been limited to the
experiential aspect of the clause. However, this feature is likely to have repercussions for
the interpersonal and textual meanings as well, a topic that requires further research.

Figure 4.4.1 System of Spanish Agency.

While the remapping of the system of voice to account for the different causation variables
and the inclusion of the ER-explicitness system may enrich the typological description of

116
Spanish transitivity, the model still has room for improvement. For instance, a description
of process types with clear distinctions based on reactances is yet to be developed.

Looking beyond description and into practical applications, a context-based exploration of

the deployment of the implicit participant options may yield an approximation to the
connection of language, culture and thought. A Whorfian perspective into our ‘fashions of
speaking’ may provide some insight into the major issues that affect Spanish-speaking
community.

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Chapter 5

‘On the grammar of death’: The construal of death and killing in

Colombian newspapers.13

Abstract

Following Halliday’s 1998 paper ‘On the grammar of pain’, this study aims to map the
lexicogrammatical resources available to Spanish speakers in the register of hard news to
construe death and killing. Based primarily on a 300,000+ corpus of news reports of
violent actions by illegal armed groups in the internal conflict from four major Colombian
newspapers, it distinguishes between congruent and metaphorical construals of death,
accounting for the different roles of the participants involved in these different types of
constructions. In addition, it offers a topological perspective of the intersection of the more
delicate distinction of process types and the system of Agency. Furthermore, it applies
these findings to contrast the construal of violence by the actors in the conflict, Marxist
guerrillas and right wing paramilitaries. The results of the analysis show how the
deployment of the lexicogrammatical resources construe different semiotic spaces,
highlighting the role of one group while diminishing the responsibility of the other.
Key words: construal of death, process types, Colombian press, guerrillas, paramilitaries.

5.1 Introduction

To those familiar with Systemic Functional literature, the first part of this title will
certainly evoke that of Halliday’s 1998 paper ‘On the grammar of pain’. In there, Halliday
argues for the need to examine methodically how humans “transform experience into
meaning (Halliday and Matthiessen,1999:2), so creating the categories and relationships
that constitute our assumed reality”. He illustrates this process by focusing on the construal
of pain, considering it both in its own right as a crucial domain of human experience and
also its location in the lexicogrammar of the English language, “as an aspect of the overall

13 This paper is in revision by Onomazein

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construal of experience” (1998: 2). Given the centrality of the tenet of the construal of
experience through language to Systemic Functional Linguistics, it is important to explore
how other critical domains of human experience are construed in language, and more
specifically in the lexicogrammar of particular languages. This paper aims to contribute to
the task by exploring another such key domain of human experience: ‘death’.

A considerable body of literature has been produced on how humans talk about death.
Many of these works explore the linguistic construals of death, listing euphemistic
expressions and categorising them as conceptual metaphors following Lakoff and Johnson
(1980) (i.e. DEATH IS A JOURNEY, DEATH IS A PERSON). In addition to English (Bultnick,
1998), studies have been conducted on languages as varied as Spanish (Marín Arrese,
1996) Chinese (Cheung and Ho, 2004; Sun, 2005), Turkish (Özçalışkan, 2003) and Akan
(Afreh, 2011). Other studies focus on specific registers such as obituaries (Hume, 2000;
Hernando, 2001; Crespo, 2006; Phillips, 2007), death notices (James, 1981; Ferrer, 2003)
and epitaphs (Crespo, 2008). A critical area is the communication of death in patient-doctor
exchanges (Sexton, 1997; Barker, 2000; Marshall, 2006; Tsai, 2010).

The common denominator in these studies is the focus on the lexical resources deployed
by speakers to avoid direct reference to the taboo subject of death in contexts where
interpersonal factors are of the utmost importance. While inevitably, all humans are bound
to find themselves in one or more of these situations through their life span, death, in these
terms, is not an everyday matter. However, death talk creeps into our lives on an everyday
basis. The word ‘death’ appears in the Collins corpus (a collection of texts adding up to
over half a billion words) more frequently than common words such as ‘mother’, ‘pay’ or
‘weeks’. This is due probably to the reality of wars, violence and crime construed in the
news and the trite fantasy of murder solving shows that follow. The media are in the
business of communicating death, especially violent death, and addressing it directly and
explicitly. Journalists, for example, are required to be specific about the events reported,
including the description of forensic details that would be highly inappropriate in the
expression of condolences. They also write for an audience with no assumed direct relation
to the deceased; hence, their discourse is not intended to offer solace or comfort, but
probably to generate indignation towards the perpetrators and solidarity towards the
victims. In addition, news reports are structured so that the death itself appears in first
position in the headlines and lead, with no preparatory information, unlike in doctor-patient

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or doctor-relative communication for instance. Therefore, the linguistic resources
employed in the news will be significantly different from the ones explored in the existing
literature.

This paper explores aims to map the lexicogrammatical resources available in Spanish to
construe death and killing. It focuses on the register of hard news and is mainly based on a
corpus of news reports of violent events in the context of the internal conflict on four major
Colombian broadsheet newspapers. It examines both congruent and metaphorical
construals of death, including different types of process, and the role of the participants
involved. Furthermore, it applies these findings in the contrastive analysis of the
representation of the violence inflicted by the two illegal actors in the Colombian conflict,
Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries. The results show how the
lexicogrammatical patterns contribute to the highlighting of the violence by one of the
groups and the minimisation of responsibility from the other.

5.2 The experiential grammar of death

Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If we take eternity to mean not
infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the

present. Our life has no end in just the way in which our visual field has no limits.
(Wittgenstein, 1922:88)

Despite the evident logic in the philosopher’s claim, death is probably the most feared
experience of human life. It might be listed in the thesaurus as the opposite of life, but for
many cultures, it is a part of the process of living. At school, every student learns the
biological cycle: living beings are born, grow, reproduce and die. In this case, the
lexicogrammar is construing death as a process of doing or happening with one participant
directly involved (living beings). This figure 14 (living beings die) is realized congruently
as a clause part of a clause complex linked by paratactic relations of extension. (Halliday
and Matthiessen, 1999, 2004). The logico-semantic relation among the clauses reflects a
semantic parallelism among the figures realized by them. That is to say, ‘living beings are
born’ is parallel to ‘living beings grow’, ‘living beings reproduce’ and ‘living beings die’,
thus making death a part of the cycle of life. In some languages, the process of death can

14A figure is a configuration of elements (i.e. participants and processes) representing a

phenomenon of human experience (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999: 48)
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be captured temporally in the here and now and expressed in the present in present tense
(He is dying; Se está muriendo in Spanish; Hij is stervende in Dutch). As an element, the
experience of death can be sub-categorized as painful, slow, horrific or peaceful,
evidencing the feelings of the participant in question. These are only a few examples of
how death as a part of the human experience is construed through language.

In order to narrow down the discussion, the focus will shift to the construal of death in
Spanish. The phenomenon of death necessarily involves at least one participant (the
deceased) and the process of dying. This figure can be realized in the lexicogrammar with a
process represented as self-engendered, limiting the number of participants to one, or as
brought about by an external participant. In the first case, the most common lexical item
realizing the process is morir (to die) and in the second, matar (to kill) and asesinar (to
murder). But the figure can also be realized in the lexicogrammar as a nominal group, the
action of dying, whether brought about from within or externally, can be encapsulated as a
unit through grammatical metaphor, more specifically through nominalization (Matthiesen,
1995; Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999, 2004). In this case the most frequent lexical items
are muerte (death), matanza (killing), and asesinato (murder). These items were searched
in the CREA corpus, a 410 million word collection of texts compiled by the Spanish Royal
Academy, its newspapers sub-corpus, which accounts for 49% of the total, and a 300000+
word specialised corpus of news reports of violent actions by illegal armed groups from
the Colombian press, named COP corpus. Table 5.1.1 illustrates the frequency of these
lemmas 15. The first column in each corpus shows the raw frequencies, and the second the
normalised frequencies per 10000 words.

Table 5.1.1 - Frequencies of lemmas MORIR, MATAR, and ASESINAR

CREA CREA NEWSPAPERS COP
raw f normalised f raw f normalised f raw f normalised f
MORIR/MUERTE 64103 1.56 21475 1.07 716 23.84
(to die/ death)

ASESINAR/ASESINATO 15723 0.38 9658 0.48 1129 37.59

(to murder/ murder)

MATAR/MATANZA 13342 0.33 4461 0.22 393 13.09

(to kill/killing)

Total 93168 2.27 35594 1.77 2238 74.52

15A lemma is the term used for a ‘word’ which includes all inflected forms. In this case, the both the
noun and verb forms are presented. Given the high level of variation of the verb desinence in
Spanish, only the infinitive, participles, and third person past plural and singular were included.
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It is observable that in the CREA corpus and its newspaper sub-corpus, references to death
and killing account for about two words in ten thousand, with the middle forms highly
exceeding the effective ones, which is logical, since more people die of natural causes than
in violent circumstances. The COP corpus, on the other hand, given its text selection
criteria, presents the opposite picture. With almost 75 references to death per 10000 words,
it is ideal to examine how death, and more specifically, violent death is construed in the
press. Thus, the ensuing analysis will be based on the data from this corpus primarily, but
examples from the CREA corpus will be cited when necessary.

5.2.1 Participants in Congruent constructions

As mentioned above, death can be construed congruently as a self-engendered process or

as brought about by an external agent. The typical structure will include the Medium (the
participant undergoing death), and in effective structures, it may or may not include an
explicit Agent, as seen in examples (1), (2) and (3). Alternatively, the Agent can also be
presented obliquely as a circumstance in a Middle clause, as in (4).
(1) Murieron bebés, niños, mujeres y adultos.
Die-3PlPast babies, children, women and adults.
Material Process Medium/Actor
Babies, children, women and adults died.

(2) Los subversivos asesinaron a los campesinos

The subversives murder-3PLPast the peasants
Agent/Actor Material Process Medium/Goal
The subversives murdered the peasants.

(3) Dos conductores fueron asesinados en la autopista Medellín-Bogotá

Two drivers to be-3PlPast murdered on the Highway Medellín-Bogotá
Medium/Goal Material Process Circumstance: Location
Two drivers were murdered on the highway Medellín-Bogotá

(4) 22 campesinos habrían muerto a manos de paramilitares

22 peasants have-3PlCond died at the hands of paramilitaries
Medium/Goal Material Process Circumstance: Location?
22 peasants might have died at the hands of paramilitaries

Whether in middle or effective structures, the deceased has the highest degree of
participanthood (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999:167); that is to say, it is impacted the
most by its participation in the process. In effective clauses, the degree of participanthood

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can be tested through a series of probes, which for illustration purposes will be applied to
example (2). The first is the ‘do to’ probe. By asking ¿Qué le hicieron los subversivos a los
campesinos? (‘What did the subversives do to the peasants?’), the answer obtained is Los
asesinaron (They-ACC murder-3PlPast - They murdered them). The second probe is the
use of accusative clitic los, as opposed to the dative les. Thirdly, los campesinos (the
peasants) can be made Subject of a passive clause: Los campesinos fueron asesinados (por
los subversivos) (The peasants were murdered (by the subversives)). And fourthly, the
clitic does not appear when the Goal is realized as a Nominal Group and placed in
postverbal position (Cano, 1981): Asesinaron a los campesinos (murder-3PlPast the
peasants), as opposed to Los* asesinaron a los campesinos16 (They-ACC murder-3PlPast
the peasants).

Processes of dying and killing belong to the type material since they realize a phenomenon
of the outer physical world. These processes are further sub-classified into creative, if the
result of the process is the coming into existence of the Medium, and transformative, if the
outcome is a change in an already existing Medium (Halliday and Matthiessen: 1999,
2004). Since death and killing affect already existing participants, the congruent
realizations will be classified as transformative processes. Moving to the right in delicacy,
transformative processes are sub-divided depending on type of transformation that the
participant undergoes into elaborating (for physical changes), extending (for changes of
possession or accompaniment), and enhancing (for changes in motion and location). The
congruent realizations of the processes in question can therefore be classified under
material: transformative: elaborating. Following Halliday & Matthiessen (2004), who
present numerous examples of the more delicate sub-classifications of process type, and
Hasan(1996), who illustrates how the system closes at the lexis end by expanding to the
right the network of material processes of disposal, this classification can be further
extended in delicacy.

Elaborating processes of death and killing can be further sub-classified depending on the
meanings encapsulated in the different lexical items. For instance, lexical items indicating
only the change from living to dead are grouped under the label ‘state’. In middle
constructions (no external Agent), typical realizations are morir (to die) and fallecer (pass
away). Effective forms include matar (to kill) and rematar (to finish off). Added meanings

16
This construction is ungrammatical in Colombian Spanish, but acceptable in other Latin
American varieties such as Chilean and Argentinian Spanish.
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include, among others, ‘manner’ (i.e. degollar: slit someone’s throat) or ‘legality’ (i.e. dar
de baja: take out in legal operative), which in Spanish seem to yield more lexical items
than in English. The phylogenetic reasons for this development may obey to etymological
considerations, as the existence of the lexeme in Latin, or to more recent contextual
configurations that require differentiation between the killings carried out by criminals and
those resulting of the fulfilment of law enforcement authorities duties.

Another aspect of the construal of death in Spanish is that, in addition to the directly
involved participants (Medium and Agent), a third participant can be present in the role of
Beneficiary, understood as the participant “to whom or for whom the process is said to take
place” (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004:293). Given the obvious negative consequences of
the processes in question, the term ‘Maleficiary’ will be introduced, following Zúñiga and
Kittilä (2010). When new and non-identifiable, this participant is realized at clause rank as
a prepositional phrase with a (to) plus a nominal group, as in example (6). When Given
and retrievable, it is realized at group rank as a dative clitic in the verbal group, as in (5)
and (7). The reasons for identifying clitics as part of the verbal group are
lexicogrammatical and phonological. At the stratum of lexicogrammar, clitics are
invariably positioned adjacent to the verb. At the phonological stratum, clitics always form
a unit with the verb, and can never be stressed for contrastive or emphatic purposes
(Wanner, 1987). Unlike typical Beneficiaries in English, this participant can not be made
the Subject of a passive clause. The middle version with morir requires the use of the se
particle, which excludes the involvement of an external Agent. Hence no middle structures
with this verb and with a Maleficiary were found in the COP corpus. In the CREA corpus,
only three concordances were found from newspapers texts. The large majority of the
instances were either from the oral or literary sections of the corpus. (7) illustrates the
Maleficiary role in effective structures, which are more common with matar. With asesinar,
the structure is not common but still possible.

(5) Hace poco se

me

murió un caballo.
Ago little middle marker I -DAT die-3PlPast a horse
Circ: Time Maleficiary Mat Process Medium/Actor
Not long ago, one of my horses died.

(6) A Juan se

le
murió un caballo
To Juan middle marker he-DAT die-3PlPast a horse
Male... ...ficiary Mat Process Medium/Actor
One of Juan’s horses died.

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(7) Me

mataron a mi muchacho.
I-DAT die-3PlPast to my boy
Maleficiary Mat Process Medium/Goal
They killed my boy/My boy was killed

5.2.2 Participants in metaphorical constructions

The semantic resources to construe death are expanded by both lexical and grammatical
metaphor. Halliday and Matthiessen (1999:232) explain how lexical and grammatical
metaphor are part of the same phenomenon, which is basically “the reconstrual of one
domain in terms of another”. Since in SFL lexis and grammar are considered the opposite
ends of a continuum, the difference between the two is a matter of delicacy. Through a
specific type of grammatical metaphor called nominalization, the figure is realized as a
thing, which in turn becomes a participant in new constructions, causing a reordering of
the roles of the participants involved as described in the previous section. As in congruent
constructions, the process is still material, realizing a ‘doing’ or a ‘happening’. In the
nominalized constructions, the process is usually the coming into existence of the event of
death. Thus the process selected is material creative, but the resulting phenomena can be
presented as self-engendered, a ‘happening’, as in (8), where both Medium and Agent of
the equivalent congruent construction are backgrounded. Other material creative
intransitive verbs that can be used are presentarse (to appear) or producirse (to take place).

(8) La matanza
ocurrió
la noche del sábado
en el municipio de Ricaurte.
The killing

occur-3SPast the night of Saturday in the municipality of Ricaurte
Medium/Actor Process Circ: Time Circ: Location
The killing occurred in the municipality of Ricaurte on Saturday night.

If the process is construed as a ‘doing’ the Agent of the congruent construction becomes
Medium/Actor, and the nominalized process takes the role of Range, which has a lesser
degree of participanthood than Goal/Medium or Agent/Actor. In (9) the role of the Range
is to restate or further specify the process. One of the probes to differentiate between Goal
as Range is whether the process and the participant in question can be collapsed into one
process. Thus in (9) cometer una masacre (commit a massacre) can be replaced by
masacrar (to massacre). Likewise perpetrar un asesinato (perpetrate murder) can be
reworded as asesinar (murder). The most significant difference between the congruent and

130
the metaphorical versions is that what would be Medium in the first is left out of the
picture in the latter.
(9)
Encapuchados cometieron una nueva masacre en Antioquia.
Hooded men
commit-3SPast
a new massacre

in Antioquia
Medium/Actor
Process Range Circ: Location
Hooded men committed a new massacre in Antioquia.

Somewhere along the continuum between lexical and grammatical metaphor, we find the
domain of experience of death and killing, which is congruently construed with elaborating
processes, remapped as extending and enhancing processes. In Spanish, as an extending
process, the motif is the loss or taking of a possession (life) from the deceased or the
giving of a commodity (death). Thus, death can be given (10) and life can be lost, taken,
snatched, reaped, etc. In most of these constructions, the participant undergoing death
plays the role of Maleficiary, which has a lesser degree of participanthood. That is to say, it
is presented as less impacted by the process. When death is ‘given’, the Medium/Actor is
restricted to human participants, but when life is ‘taken’, this may include concrete things
such as bullets, as in (11), or abstract things such as ‘violence’ or ‘war’.

(10)
A otros les dieron muerte en la plaza de la iglesia.
To others they-DAT give-3PlPast death at the church square
Male... ...ficiary Process Range Circ: LocationOthers were
killed at the church square.

While otros (others) passes the ‘do to’ probe: ¿Qué les hicieron a los otros? (What did they
do to the others?) - Les dieron muerte (They-DAT give-3PlPast death →They gave them
death →They killed them), the remaining probes yield a different result. The clitic used is
the dative Les, as opposed to the accusative Los. Should this participant realized as a
Nominal Group be placed in post verbal position, the construction would still accept the
use of the clitic: les dieron muerte a otros. Otros can not be made Subject of a passive
clause: Otros fueron dados muerte* (Others were given death*). Other expressions with
the same pattern are causar la muerte a (cause the death to) and dar un tiro de gracia (give
a coup de grace).

(11) Las balas le

arrebataron

la vida en un instante.
The bullets
she-DAT snatch-3SPast the life in an instant
Medium/Actor
Maleficiary Process Range Circ: Time
The bullets snatched her life from her in an instant.

131
Table 5.2.1 offers a topological perspective of all of the different construals of dying and
killing found in the COP corpus, intersecting the most delicate features of the system of
process type with the system of Agency (Halliday and Matthiessen 1999, 2004), that
accounting for the difference between self-engendered and other-engendered processes.

Table 5.2.1 - Topological classification of different construals of dying and killing

The list provided in Table 5.2.1 is by no means exhaustive for the Spanish language, but it
provides a very detailed picture of the different construals of death as a process in the hard
news register of Colombian, and probably Ibero American broadsheet newspapers.

Having explored the construal of death as a process, let us now explore the construal of
death as a thing.
132
5.2.3 Death as Thing

Realized as a noun, muerte (death), and its hyponyms: matanza (killing), asesinato
(murder), masacre (massacre) play different participant roles in the semiotic space of news
reports. Its construal as a thing allows for its sub-classification into different types, and the
assignment of properties, which in this case tend to belong to the interpersonal domain
rather than the experiential. That is to say, they express the speaker’s attitude towards the
phenomenon, instead of an intrinsic quality. Table 5.2.2 lists the collocates found in
Nominal Groups with death or its hyponyms as Head.

Table 5.2.2 - Collocates for muerte (death), asesinato (murder) and matanza (killing)
muerte asesinato matanza masacre
(death) (murder) (killing) (massacre)
Classifiers cause violenta, accidental - - -
(violent, accidental)
number colectivas, múltiples, individuales - -
(collective, multiple, individual)

victims selectiva, indiscriminada

(selective, indiscriminate)

Epithets immorality brutal, vil, aleve, injusta, vulgar, cobarde

(judgement) (brutal, vile, treacherous, unfair, vulgar, coward)

shock horrible, horrendo, aterrador, fea

(affect) (horrible, horrendous, terrifying, ugly)

reason absurda, inexplicable, extraña, premeditada

(appreciation) (absurd, inexplicable , strange, premeditated)

It can be observed that some of the classifiers do not apply to every noun precisely because
that feature is already incorporated in the meaning, thus its pairing would be redundant.
For instance, it is the feature +violence which differentiates muerte (death) from asesinato
(murder), and the feature +multiple which differentiates the latter from matanza (killing -
in Spanish it always refers to the death of more than one). Also unsurprisingly, all of the
epithets collocating with these items are strongly negative.

133
At clause rank, ‘death’ can play the participant role of Actor. As such, death collocates with
material transformative processes for a metaphorical construal of death as a concrete,
animate entity, as in (12). Other material processes collocating with death are llevar (take),
tocar (touch), sacudir (beat), estremecer (shake). These are processes in transitive
constructions with concrete Goals, as in (13).

(12) La muerte

llegó con ‘El Panadero’.
Death arrive-3SPast with “The Baker’
Medium/Actor

Process Circ: Accompaniment
Death arrived with ‘the Baker’.

(13) Masacre de FARC estremeció a Urabá.

FARC massacre shake-3SPast Urabá
Agent/Actor Process Goal
FARC massacre shook Urabá.

To summarise, the phenomenon of death can be construed in the lexicogrammar of Spanish

in substantially different ways. The number and nature of the participants, their degree of
involvement in the process, and the type of process assigned to them construe significantly
different semiotic spaces. It follows that through these different realizations, it is possible
for speakers to point at or background the perpetrators, give prominence or discount the
victims, and/or accentuate or minimise the violence. Thus, the exercise of dissecting the
grammar of death may contribute, among other possible uses, to identify ideological
patterns in the reporting of fatal violence in the news, a task clearly in tune with the
objectives of Critical Discourse Analysis. As Halliday (1998:307) states:
To hark back to Fairclough’s earlier title, Language and Power (1989), it seems to me that the
language of power depends on the power of language; and if we seek to understand how
language has evolved to do all the prodigious things we readily ascribe to it (or accuse it of),
we need to analyse in considerable detail how we as a species make sense of our daily
experience by construing it in language.

The following section is an example of such an application.

5.3 The construal of fatal violence in the Colombian press

In the Colombian context, news reports about murders and massacres are an everyday
occurrence. Much of this violence is framed in the decades-long internal conflict which has
cost the lives of over 100.000 civilians since its upsurge at the turn of the century
(Redepaz, 2008). The illegal actors in the conflict are Marxist guerrillas and right wing
paramilitaries who carry out both indiscriminate and targeted attacks against the civilian
134
population in a ruthless war for territorial and economic control. While both groups are
responsible for severe human right violations, statistics from official and non-governmental
sources indicate that the paramilitaries are responsible for over 70% of the casualties. Yet,
different opinion polls show that Colombians overwhelmingly identify the guerrillas as the
major agents of violence in the conflict (Ipsos-Napoleón Franco, 2007). Even worse,
between 25% and 40% of Colombians find paramilitary violence justifiable (Urtak, 2010).

To explain this disparity between the statistical evidence and the popular perception, it is
necessary to consider the particular characteristics of the conflict. The scenario of most of
this violence is the rural areas of the territory, and despite the large number of victims, the
conflict is classified as a low-intensity one since it has affected less than 10% of the
population. (Ipsos/ICRC, 2009). Hence, to the majority of Colombians, the conflict is
mostly learned about from the media, a largely linguistic experience. Hence, contrasting
how lethal violence by these illegal groups is construed in the media may provide some
insight into the phenomenon.

For this purpose, the COP corpus was compiled from reports of violent actions by each of
these groups from the four major Colombian broadsheet papers: El Colombiano, from
Medellín; El Heraldo, from Barranquilla; El País, from Cali, and El Tiempo, from Bogotá.
The reports span from 1998 to 2006, covering two presidential periods, during which
failed peace negotiations with these groups were carried out: with the FARC guerrillas,
during the Pastrana administration from 1998 to 2002, and with the paramilitaries grouped
under the acronym AUC during the first Uribe administration from 2002 to 2006. The goal
is to contrast the representation of these groups and their actions across newspapers, and
across these two time periods. Thus, the COP corpus is divided into 16 sub-corpora
labelled as follows: The initial of the newspaper (C, H, P, or T), the initial of the illegal
actor (G for guerrillas, and P for paramilitaries), and 1 for reports of the period 1998-2002,
or 2 for those of the period 2002-2006. Each sub-corpus is between 16 and 24 thousand
words long and consists of 30 to 40 reports. Hence, the CG1 sub-corpus consists of the
reports of guerrilla actions during the period 1998-2002 found in El Colombiano.

Based on the choices available to journalists for the construal of death in Spanish within
the hard news register mapped in the previous section, the patterns of selection of each
sub-corpus will be contrasted.

135
5.3.1 Death as process

The most frequent lexical items in each of the COP sub-corpora are asesinar (to murder),
morir (to die), and matar (to kill), in that order. In general, these double the number of
other lexical forms of killing and dying in the Corpus. While there are no major variations
in the frequency of instances between the two periods in each newspaper, there are
important contrasts when the sub-corpora are compared among them. The trend is that
instances of death as process are much more frequent in the paramilitaries sub-corpora in
the first period, while in the second period, the gap between the two groups is considerably
reduced, with the guerrillas surpassing the paramilitaries in one of the newspapers. In El
Heraldo and El País, the contrast between the first and the second period is statistically
significant17, and in El Tiempo, it is suggestive. Figures 5.3.1 and 5.3.2 show the
normalised frequencies of instances of death and killing as a process per period.

Despite the statistical reduction in number of attacks and victims by both groups in the
second period, the guerrillas are portrayed as committing more of these actions, regardless
of the fact that the paramilitaries continued to be responsible for the majority of the
victims.

Regarding the contrast between the use of middle and effective voice, the latter greatly
exceeds the use of the first in all sub-corpora in both periods. However, when comparing
the sub-corpora of the same perpetrator across time periods, some remarkable contrasts
emerge. In El Colombiano, El Heraldo and El País, the use of effective voice increases in
the guerrilla sub-corpora, while decreasing in the paramilitaries’ in El Heraldo, El País,
and El Tiempo in the second period. Figures 5.3.3 and 5.3.4 summarise these results.

Focusing on the less common lexical forms, the contrast between elaborating processes
and extending and enhancing processes yields similar results. While elaborating processes
are considerably more frequent than extending and enhancing processes combined in most

17Significance was calculated using the Chi square test with a one-tailed P value. The significance
level was established as equal or lower than 0,05. All significance tests were carried out using raw
numbers, not percentages or normalised frequencies. Calculator for contingency table is available
online at http://graphpad.com/quickcalcs/contingency2.cfm
136
 1998-2002
Effective
Effective vs. Middle
vs. Middle
1998-2002
2002-2006
20.0000
50.0000
60.0000
150.0000
90.0000

15.0000
112.5000
67.5000
37.5000
45.0000
10.0000
75.0000
45.0000
5.0000
25.0000
30.0000
37.5000
22.5000
0
CG1
CG2 CP1
CP2 HG1
HG2 HP1
HP2 PG1
PG2 PP1
PP2 TG1
TG2 TP1
TP2
12.5000
15.0000
00
CG1
CG2 CP1
CP2 HG1
HG2 HP1
HP2 PG1
PG2 PP1
PP2 TG1
TG2 TP1
TP2
elaborating
elaborating extending/enhancing
extending/enhancing
0
0 CG2 CP2 HG2 HP2 PG2 PP2 TG2 TP2
CG1 other lexical
CP1 HG1 formsHP1 PG1 PP1 TG1 TP1
asesinar/matar/morir (to murder/ to kill/to die)
effective middle
effective middle
of the sub-corpora, there are notable differences between periods and perpetrators. With the
exception of El Colombiano, the number and frequency of elaborating processes increases
in the second period in every guerrilla sub-corpora, while decreasing in every paramilitary
sub-corpora. The frequency of extending and enhancing processes, on the other hand, does
not show a variation greater than 3 tokens per 10000 words among the sub-corpora of each
newspaper. Figures 5.3.5 and 5.3.6 allow the comparison of the frequencies per period.

Figure 5.3.1 - Normalised frequencies of death and killing as process in period 1

(1998-2002).
Figure 5.3.2 - Normalised frequencies of death and killing as process in period 2
(2002-2006).
Figure 5.3.3 - Normalised frequencies of Middle and Effective voice in period
1(1998-2002)
Figure 5.3.4 - Normalised frequencies of Middle and Effective voice in period 2
(2002-2006)

Figure 5.3.5 - Frequency of elaborating vs. extending and enhancing processes in period
1(1998-2002).

Figure 5.3.6 - Frequency of elaborating vs. extending and enhancing processes in period 2
(2002-2006).

5.3.2 Death as thing

137
Given the potential of nominalization in the construal of violent death for backgrounding
victims and/or perpetrators, the number of instances of death construed as thing were
contrasted with those construed as process in each sub-corpus. Instances of death as
process are all of those listed in Table 5.2.1 in section 5.2.2. Nominalizations of death
include, besides the ones already mentioned, homicidio (homicide), fallecimiento (passing,
demise), ejecución (execution), exterminio (extermination), and the superordinates crimen
(crime) and hechos (events), but only when referring to killings. Tables 5.3.1 and 5.3.2
show the normalised frequencies per 10000 words in each sub-corpus per time period. The
highest value is bolded for ease of comparison.

Table 5.3.1 - Construal of death as Nominalization or Process in period 1 (1998-2002).

Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo
CG1 CP1 HG1 HP1 PG1 PP1 TG1 TP1
nominalization 27 69 43 72 34 84 38 56
process 58 61 70 103 53 87 57 79

Table 5.3.2 - Construal of death as Nominalization or Process in period 2 (2002-2006).

Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo
CG2 CP2 HG2 HP2 PG2 PP2 TG2 TP2
nominalization 51 71 47 80 45 74 44 71
process 51 71 76 68 67 63 63 61

It is observable that the pattern of use of construal of death varies greatly from one period
to another. In the first period, with the exception of CP1, in every sub-corpus, death is
more frequently construed as a process than as a thing, regardless of the perpetrator. In the
second period, on the other hand, in three of the newspapers, nominalization is more
frequent in the paramilitaries sub-corpora. In El Heraldo, El País and El Tiempo, this
contrast is extremely or very statistically significant. El Colombiano shows a very
statistically significant contrast in the first period, while in the second period, construals of
death as thing and process are divided equally in both sub-corpora.

Focusing on the instances of nominalization, a relevant aspect is whether the structure

backgrounds or not the role of the perpetrators. In structures where death plays the
participant role of Range, the Actor/Medium can be stated explicitly, as in (17), referred to
using indifferentiated terms, as in (9), or occluded completely by using a passive form, as
in (18). Where death plays the participant role of Actor/Medium, the Agent of the

138
Explicit
ExplicitPerpetrator
Perpetrator Occluded
OccludedPerpetrator
Perpetrator
1998-2002
2002-2006
congruent construction, the perpetrator, can be either left out of the picture, as in (8), or
brought in as a Classifier in the Nominal Group, as in (19), or with the addition of a clause
specifying the authorship of the crime, as in (18).
(17) Al parecer la matanza fue cometida por presuntos paramilitares.
Apparently the killing was committed by alleged paramilitaries
! Range Process Actor/Medium
Apparently, the killing was committed by alleged paramilitaries.

(18) La masacre fue cometida el 19 de mayo en cinco veredas.

The massacre was committed on May 19 in five hamlets.
Range

Process Circ: Time Circ: Location
The massacre was committed on May 19 in five hamlets.

(19) El múltiple crimen, <<atribuido a las FARC>>,ocurrió en Puracé.

The multiple crime <<attributed to FARC>>, occur-3SPast in Puracé
Actor/Medium attributing clause Process Circ: Location
The multiple crime, attributed to FARC, occurred in Puracé.

Figure 5.3.7 - Perpetrator explicitness in period 1 (1998-2002).

Figure 5.3.8 - Perpetrator explicitness in period 2 (2002-2006)

Having determined that instances of nominalization in the different paras’ sub-corpora

greatly exceed those in the guerrilla’s, percentages will be used to compare whether the
perpetrator is realized explicitly or not. Figures 5.3.7 and 5.3.8 illustrate the contrast
between the explicit or occluded realization of the perpetrator in structures where death is
nominalized and plays the role of either Range or Actor/Medium.

From the figures, it is noticeable that in every newspaper in both periods without
exception, the percentage of explicit perpetrator is higher in the guerrilla’s sub-corpus than
in the paramilitaries’. In the case of El País, for both periods, and El Heraldo, in the
second period, the contrast reaches the level of statistical significance.

5.4 Conclusion

This study aimed to map the different lexicogrammatical resources available to Spanish
speakers to construe the crucial domain of experience of death and killing in the register of
hard news based on a corpus of Colombian news reports of fatal violent actions framed in
the internal conflict. It has considered distinctions between congruent and metaphorical

139
constructions, process types, and participant roles and their effect on the construal of
particular semiotic spaces. In addition, the findings have been used to identify patterns that
may highlight or background perpetrators and victims and/or the impact of the process
itself

The results show a drastic change in the reporting of guerrilla and paramilitary actions in
the period 2002-2006. When considering the construal of death as a process, it was
observed an increase in frequency of instances of death and killing, effective forms and
elaborating processes in the guerrilla sub-corpora in most of the newspapers in this period.
These patterns construe a semiotic space where guerrillas actions are foregrounded and
their responsibility in the killings highlighted. This pattern can be illustrated with the
contrast between Tres campesinos cayeron en el ataque (Three peasants fell in the attack)
and La guerrilla decapitó a tres campesinos (The guerrilla beheaded three peasants). While
in the first example, the selected voice is middle and the type of process is enhancing,
occluding the perpetrator and diminishing the impact of the action, in the second, the
effective operative voice and the elaborating process leave no question as to the
responsibility and the brutality of the attack. Regarding the construal of death as a thing, it
was observable that nominalizations of death and killing were more frequent in the
paramilitaries sub-corpora in the second period, and that the perpetrators were occluded
more frequently in these sub-corpora in both periods. That is to say, constructions such as
Masacre en Urabá (Massacre in Urabá - nominalized process, occluded perpetrator) are
more frequent in the paramilitaries sub-corpora than structures of the type Masacre de
FARC en Urabá (FARC massacre in Urabá - explicit perpetrator) or FARC masacró 19
campesinos en Urabá (FARC massacred 19 peasants in Urabá - death as process, explicit
perpetrator).

These patterns suggest a trend in the Colombian press to highlight guerrilla violence while
downplaying paramilitary actions, which may have contributed to the widespread ideology
of the paramilitaries as minor agents of violence. The identification of such patterns
depends on the systematic account of the resources available to construe a particular
domain of experience in a given language, which is a step towards the development of
what Halliday (2008:7) calls an appliable linguistics, “a comprehensive and theoretically
powerful model of language...capable of being applied o the problems...that are being
faced all the time by the many groups of people in our modern society who are in some
way or other having to engage with language”.
140
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Chapter 6

‘What’s in a name?’: The representation of the illegal actors in the

internal conflict in the Colombian press18

Abstract
This paper examines the linguistic patterns associated with the forms of representation of
Marxist guerrillas and right wing paramilitaries, the main illegal actors in the internal
Colombian conflict, on the reporting of their violent actions on the Colombian press. The
analysis is based on a 300,000+ word specialised corpus of hard news reports on the
conflict from four major Colombian newspapers. The analytical tools used are Van
Leeuwen’s (1996) network for the representation of social actors, an adaptation of Hasan’s
(1985) cline of dynamism. In addition, the epistemic modality of authorship for the crimes
reported is examined. The results reveal remarkable differences in the reporting of the
actions of both groups.
KEY WORDS: guerrillas, paramilitaries, linguistic patterns, differentiation, dynamism

6.1 Introduction

This paper examines the forms of representation of the illegal actors in the internal conflict
on the Colombian press. With the second highest number of internally displaced people in
the world after Sudan, more fatal victims than all Latin American military dictatorships
combined (Viera, 2009), and serious global ramifications such as the illicit drug trade, it is
clearly an issue worthy of attention. The results presented in this article are part of a
doctoral research project aimed at identifying linguistic patterns in the reporting of violent
actions committed by Marxist guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries in four major
Colombian broadsheet papers. The purpose is to establish whether there is a correlation
between these patterns and the generalised perception of paramilitaries as ‘self-defence’
forces protecting the population from guerrilla attacks in the absence of the State. Contrary
to this perception, Human Rights violations records show that the paramilitaries are
responsible for at least 75% of the killings in the conflict (CCJ, 2007).

18 This paper has been accepted for publication in Discourse & Society
145
Examining the media in order to attempt to find at least a partial explanation to this
disparity between public perception about the conflict and the statistical evidence seems
appropriate, especially when the fact that a large majority of Colombians (up to 90%
according to IPSOS and ICRC, 2009) have not experienced the conflict directly. Hence, it
is fair to assume that their main source of information about it is the mainstream media,
whose portrayal of events, despite their claims of objectivity, does not consist of ‘raw
facts’, but is rather an interpretation of events from the perspective, not of the journalist as
an individual, but as a member of a dominant institution with a particular set of beliefs and
interests (Fowler, 1991). As Bell (1998:64) points out:
...the media are important social institutions. They are crucial presenters of culture, politics and
social life, shaping as well as reflecting how these are formed and expressed. Media
‘discourse’ is important both for what it reveals about a society and because it also itself
contributes to the character of society.

The inequalities, injustices and prejudices of a society are bound to be evident in the
media’s construal of events and social actors. Members of the society sharing these values
are likely to accept these as ‘objective’ representations of reality because these
interpretations have been normalised in the language used everyday to construe them. For
instance, most Colombians seem to be blind to the oxymoronic nature of a headline such as
“Otra masacre de las autodefensas” (Another massacre by the self defence forces). Using
the word ‘self-defence’, with its clear denotation of legality and inalienable rights, to
denominate a group that massacres helpless peasants on a regular basis is probably
inconceivable in other societies. Yet, this collocation produced almost 10,000 google hits
from Colombian pages. It is precisely because of the daily repetition of this type of
linguistic patterns in media texts that ideologies such as the legitimation of violence by one
of the armed groups in the conflict can be successfully assimilated and reproduced in
society (Fairclough, 1989:54).

This study clearly falls within the scope of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), a discipline
which, among other goals, aims to unpack the ideological content of socially relevant texts
through linguistics analysis. Aided with tools and concepts from Corpus Linguistics, this
work is solidly grounded on systemic functional linguistics (SFL henceforth), which,
according to Chouliaraki and Fairclough (1999:139) is the linguistics theory “which...has
most in common with CDA and most to offer to CDA”. This paper focuses mainly on the
realization of experiential meanings (Halliday, 1978), more specifically the participants

146
and processes associated with them. The specific analysis tools employed are the concepts
of differentiation and indifferentiation from Van Leeuwen’s (1996) network for the
representation of social actors and an adaptation of Hasan’s (1985) cline of dynamism.

Before delving into the theoretical concepts briefly outlined above or their application to
the analysis of the reporting of the conflict, it is important gain some understanding of the
conflict itself and the complex network of political, economic, and territorial interests at
stake. For “discourse analysis is essentially historical: language cannot be interpreted
without understanding what is going on in a particular social and political context” (Fowler
& Marshall, 1985:5).

Rather than a report of statistics, the following section recounts one of the most tragic
attacks against the civilian population, the Bojayá massacre. This event was selected not
only because it illustrates the role of all the legal and illegal actors in the conflict, but also
because it marked a historical break in the treatment of guerrillas and paramilitaries by the
State, the civilian population and even the international community. In addition to
providing a detailed context for the analysis, it explains the motivation for conducting this
research.

6.2 Context and motivation

On the disturbingly long list of war crimes committed in the internal Colombian conflict,
the Bojayá massacre in the Chocó province stands out not only because of its devastating
consequences but also because it illustrates the complexity and the level of degradation of
the conflict. In early May, 2002, Colombians found out about the single most deadly event
in the history of the 40-year-old conflict: over a hundred people, mostly women and
children, had been killed by a homemade mortar launched against a rural church by the
leftist guerrilla FARC19. The event was presented by the media as a ‘genocide’, quoting the
then President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana, who requested international condemnation
for the insurgents. The tragedy not only made international headlines, but had serious
repercussions, as well. The European Union relinquished their hopes for a negotiated

19The reconstruction of these events is based on the UN (OACNUDH) and the Historic Memory
Group reports listed on the references.
147
solution to the conflict and decided to add FARC to their list of terrorist groups, which they
had refused to do even after this guerrilla’s inclusion in the US list released after the 9/11
attacks. This movement ended an era of FARC’s diplomatic visits to the old continent,
where they presented themselves as Robin Hoods fighting for the rights of the oppressed
classes (Carroll & Brodzinsky, 2007).

Nationally, the attack made the possibility of retaking peace negotiations with guerrilla
groups inconceivable. For the past three years, the FARC had enjoyed a 42,000 km2
demilitarised area as part of the conditions for a peace process with the government. Yet,
this had been used as a sanctuary for retreat after their increasing attacks against the
military and the civilian population alike. The negotiations were unilaterally ended by the
government in February 2002 after the guerrillas hijacked a plane to kidnap a senator. Most
of the presidential candidates in the ballot to be held at the end of May of the same year
had been promising to start the peace process anew, this time with clear guidelines and the
effective supervision of international bodies such as the UN and the OAS, but the images
of the broken Christ among the carnage in the ruins of the Bojayá church changed
everything. The winner was Alvaro Uribe, who never participated in the peace process and
advocated for a ‘get-tough’ military stand against the guerrillas. At the same time, he
started peace negotiations with the right wing paramilitary, who had committed at least
three times more murders than the guerrillas (CCJ, 2007), and who also played a major
role in the Bojayá massacre.

Bojayá is a humble riverside settlement in the province of Chocó, a rainforest area in mid-
western Colombia bordering with the Pacific ocean and Panamá. While 80% of its
population, mostly of African and indigenous descent, live in poverty (Bonet, 2007), the
region is extremely rich in biodiversity, palm oil plantations, mineral resources such as oil,
gold and platinum, and a vast hydroelectric potential, all in the hands of multinational
corporations20. In addition, its strategic location makes it a coveted target of the illegal
armed groups for drug trafficking and weapon smuggling (Richani, 2005). With so many
economic interests at stake, the region is no stranger to violence; the massacre of 2002 was
the deadly climax of a plot that had been developing since at least the late nineties.

20 Chiquita Brands has been fined U$25 million for financing paramilitary groups on the CIA terrorist
list, payable to the US treasury. No criminal liability or compensation to the victims has been
determined yet.
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In May 1997, paramilitaries of the ACCU (Peasant self-defence forces of Córdoba and
Urabá, Spanish acronym) murdered 22 civilians in different villages along the Atrato River
in the provinces of Chocó and Antioquia. Their aim was to obtain information about a
guerrilla front who had ambushed a military patrol and kidnapped 10 soldiers. They
suspected the guerrillas were hiding in the area with the cooperation of the civilian
population. The murders were their way of announcing their control over the area and
warning of the consequences of aiding the guerrillas. The massacre continued, but the
death toll cannot be calculated since the paramilitaries not only threw the bodies in the
river, but forbade anyone to recover them and bury them. Unlike the widespread coverage
of the 2002 massacre, these events barely reached a regional newspaper and generated no
response from the office of the governor of the time, Alvaro Uribe (Ferrer and Restrepo,
2010).

The paramilitaries continued to hold power over the area with the complicity of the local
authorities (OACNUDH, 2002) through the strict control of incoming fuel and food and
massacres aimed at generating terror among the population and selective murders. Yet, in
2000, FARC attacked the police station in Vigía del Fuerte, located across the river from
Bojayá, killing 21 officers, some of which were mutilated, and nine civilians, accused of
cooperating with the paramilitaries. The event was qualified as barbaric, and the military
did not hesitate to question the validity of the peace negotiations in progress with the
government. The press and the media in general covered in detail the aftermath,
highlighting the brutality of the attack.

In late April, 2002, the paramilitaries tried to regain control of the region. A group of 250
paramilitaries arrived in Vigía del Fuerte by boat, suspiciously escaping detection by three
military posts in the river. Again, they announced a ‘cleansing operation’ to rid the area of
guerrilla aides. The Red Cross, the United Nations and the Ombudsman repeatedly alerted
the government of the imminent tragedy, but were completely ignored. The guerrillas,
determined not to lose control of the area, attacked the paramilitaries, who were greatly
outnumbered. These fled across the river to Bojayá, where the people had sheltered in the
local church, the only cement structure in the village. The paramilitaries tried
unsuccessfully to enter the church and continued to repel the attack from its surroundings.
The guerrillas launched several mortars, one of which landed in the altar of the church.The

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survivors woke up in a pool of flesh, blood, and debris. The difficulty of gathering
scattered body parts set the initial body count at 119, but was later established at 79. The
army did not arrive in the area until four days later, when the image of a crying general
holding a bloodied baby shoe exploded in the consciousness of Colombians.

The Chocó situation, not only illustrates the complexity of the Colombian conflict, but
shows a distinct pattern of concealment and indifference towards paramilitary violence and
indignation and outrage at guerrilla’s actions. An initial version of the events published in
the press placed the paramilitaries in the area with the purpose of rescuing a kidnapped
governor (El País, 2002), and later the coverage completely omitted their role in the
tragedy, focusing on the guerrillas as the only ones responsible. The United Nations report
on the events, however, disagreed, assigning most of the blame to the guerrillas, but also
accusing the paramilitaries for using civilians as a shield in the confrontation and the State
for failing to protect its citizens despite the repeated warnings. Yet, to the public opinion,
FARC were the only culprits.

This trend in public opinion is not limited to the case of the Bojayá massacre, but to the
conflict in general. Two different polls showed that, to a significant percentage of
Colombians, paramilitaries were only minor agents in the conflict defending areas
abandoned by the State from guerrilla violence. (IPSOS-Napoleón Franco, 2007; Urtak,
2010). Despite the 5,000 killings committed during the peace negotiations with the
paramilitaries, there were no public outcries calling for an end to the dialogues. The peace
commissioner’s response to the denouncement of their violations to the truce by the United
Nations and Human Right organisations was that ‘the ceasefire is a metaphor that needs to
be handled with a lot of flexibility’ (Gallón, 2011). the mitigation, concealment, and
legitimation of paramilitary violence in the mainstream media suggested by preliminary
studies (Pardo 2005, 2007; García 2008, 2012) may be contributing to the perpetuation of a
social model where the fight against terrorism is used as an excuse to expand the economic
and territorial power of the ruling classes at the expense of the life, integrity and basic
rights of the common citizen.

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6.3 Corpus and analytical framework

In the field of the social sciences, and particularly in CDA, it is widely accepted that ‘mass
media and the apparatus of reaching out to collective minds gain a central role in
proliferating, topicalizing, de-topicalizing and creating knowings and/or
beliefs’ (Khosravinik, 2009: 478), which has made media discourse a central object of
study within the discipline. This influence in society is largely, although not exclusively,
achieved through language. Media representations of events in the outside world are
necessarily encoded in language. As powerful as visual images are, they cannot be
interpreted without the help of linguistic cues. This process of encoding and interpretation
is not the product of a single isolated individual, but one that involves and reflects the
value systems of a society. This has been referred to as 'the social construction of
reality' (Berger and Luckman, 1967), or 'the construal of experience through
meaning' (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999). As Bennett (2003:4-5) explains:
The “objects” of which language speaks are not “real objects,” external to language, but
“conceptual objects” located entirely within language. The word “ox,” according to Saussure’s
famous example, signifies not a real ox but the concept of an ox...This is not to deny that there
exists a real world external to the signifying mantle which language casts on it. But it is to
maintain that our knowledge or appropriation of that world is always mediated through and
influenced by the organizing structure which language inevitably places between it and
ourselves.

In the case of the reporting of the conflict, the layers of ‘signifying mantles’ pile up starting
from the witnesses and/or authorities’ account on the events, the journalist account based
on that information and occasionally his/her own observations and the editor’s revisions to
the journalist’s text. Hence, the final product is a hybrid displaying to different degrees the
interpretation of the events of the sources and the institution providing the information to
the public, which ultimately contributes to the establishment of a socially shared set of
beliefs on the issue being reported.

As mentioned above, these forms of interpreting the world or ideologies, are not the result
of one text, let alone one lexicogrammatical feature such as Agent deletion or
passivisation. Instead, they are the result of a syndrome of patterns across an increasing
number of texts. Whorf (1956) explored the connections between language and cultural
behaviour contrasting Hopi and Western European attitudes to time, space and matter and
how they are construed in language, concluding that

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 They do not depend so much upon ANY ONE SYSTEM (e.g. tense, or nouns) within the
grammar as upon the ways of analyzing and reporting experience which have become fixed in
the language as integrated “fashions of speaking” and which cut across the typical grammatical
classifications, so that such a “fashion” may include lexical, morphological, syntactic, and
otherwise systemically diverse means coordinated in a certain frame of consistency.(p. 158)

If concepts that appear as ‘common sense’ and uncontroversial as time and space are
understood by communities in the light of the language spoken as manifested by a network
of linguistic features, then, it can be assumed that the interpretation of complex social
phenomena such as the Colombian conflict is also largely influenced by the way it is
described and talked about.

The concept of ideology manifested in a set of linguistic patterns or ‘fashions of speaking’

is taken up by several linguists including Hasan (1996:148), who refers to ‘a configuration
of patterns in rapport with each other’ to explain the genesis of attitudes towards women’s
work. Butt (1983:34; 1988) refers to a ‘semantic drift’ as ‘the kind of meanings to which
the reader’s attention is being drawn’. Hence, in order to establish that an ideology
minimising paramilitary violence is being reproduced in the Colombian press, it is
necessary to uncover a consistent set of lexicogrammatical patterns backgrounding their
role in the conflict.

For this paper, the focus will be on three aspects: how guerrillas and paramilitaries are
named; what participant roles are assigned to them, and how they are introduced (or not) in
descriptions of violence. To answer the first question, concepts from Van Leeuwen’s
(1996) system network for the representation of social actors will prove useful. This author
maps the options through which social actors are included in or excluded from discourse.
One of these options is the dichotomy differentiation vs. indifferentiation. The first term
refers to a form of inclusion that ‘explicitly differentiates an individual social actor or
group of social actors from a similar actor or group, creating the difference between ‘self’
and the ‘other’, or between ‘us’ and ‘them’’’ (p. 52). Hence, indifferentiated forms make it
impossible to distinguish between similar actors or groups, creating the potential for
concealment of responsibility, overgeneralisation and mystification.

The analysis of the participant roles is grounded on the concept of transitivity from an SFL
perspective; that is to say, on ‘the type of process expressed..., with the participants in this

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process, animate and inanimate, and with various attributes and circumstances of the
process and the participants’ (Halliday, 1967). To this aim, Hasan’s (1985) concept of
dynamism will be applied. Dynamism is defined ‘as the quality of being able to affect the
world around us, and of bringing change into the surrounding environment’ (p.45). A
participant is said to have a more dynamic role depending on the type of process and the
impact of this process on other participants. Thus, a participant carrying out a material
process (e.g. run, cook) will be more dynamic than one carrying out a verbal process (e.g.
say, tell), for instance. Likewise, a participant acting on an animate entity will be more
dynamic than one acting on an inanimate one.

While the analysis of dynamism has the participants as a starting point, it is also necessary
to complement this perspective starting from the process. Thus, the most common
processes expressing violence asesinar (to murder) and matar (to kill) were examined to
determine what kind of participants (if any) were assigned to them.

In order to be able to make claims about the potential influence of the media in the
reproduction and dissemination of this particular ideology, the analysis of a few texts will
not suffice. It was necessary to build a specialised corpus according to a list of criteria that
would ensure appropriate representativeness for the phenomenon under study. The use of
specialised corpora is already a standard practice in discourse studies (see Baker, 2006;
Baker et al, 2008) and their analysis from a systemic functional perspective is gradually
gaining relevance (see Bednarek, 2010; Hunston and Thompson, 2006).

The corpus for this study consists of 554 news reports on violent acts committed by either
guerrillas or paramilitaries from the major newspapers of the four largest Colombian cities:
El Tiempo, from Bogotá; El Colombiano, from Medellín; El País, from Cali, and El
Heraldo from Barranquilla. The news reports were selected based on the number of
victims, their prominence, or their representativeness as members of a particularly targeted
social group (i.e. unionists, community leaders, journalists). The reports were classified
first according to the perpetrator of the violent act (guerrillas or paramilitaries), and
secondly according to the time period of the publication (1998-2002 or 2002-2006). In
order to establish a limit to the number of reports for each sub-corpus, the concept of
‘saturation’ (Teubert, 1999) or ‘point of diminishing returns’ (Matthiessen, 2006) was

153
adopted. This point is reached once the number of word types remains stable or shows little
variation despite the increase in the number of tokens. Matthiessen (2006:108) suggests the
limit for specialized corpora at 15000 words. The saturation measure based on the number
of type and tokens for these sub-corpora was established between 15 and 20 thousand
words, equivalent to 30 to 40 texts.

Each text was named with the initial of the newspaper where it was published (C for El
Colombiano; H, for El Heraldo; P for El País, and T for El Tiempo) followed by the initial
of the perpetrator (G for Guerrillas or P for Paramilitaries) and 1 or 2 depending on
whether the report was published in the first time period for analysis (1998-2002) or the
second (2002-2006). This three character combination was followed by an underscore and
the date of publication in the year.month.day format and another underscore followed by a
key word such as the location of the event or the name of the victim. For illustration
purposes, the news report about the paramilitary massacre in 'El Salado' published in El
Heraldo on February 23, 2001 was named HP1_2000.02.23_salado.

The following section explains the results of the analyses carried out.

6.4 The representation of the illegal actors in the Colombian conflict

This section aims to answer the following question: How are the illegal actors in the
internal conflict represented in the Colombian press? Part of this representation consists of
how these are ‘identified’, ‘named’ or ‘referred to linguistically’. As Hodge and Kress
(1979:5) point out, ‘Whatever has a name can become familiar, and is easier to classify and
remember. Only what has a name can be shared’. Hence, the different names assigned to
the illegal actors are a significant factor in the public’s perception of their role in the
conflict.

Using Van Leeuwen’s (1996) sociosemantic categories, it will be determined how

frequently guerrillas and paramilitaries are included in the discourse, and how explicit this
inclusion is. Furthermore, the level of dynamism (Hasan, 1985:46) of specific forms of
inclusion will be examined. And finally, it will be established how frequently and in what
ways the illegal actors are included in relation to the social activities of ‘murdering’ and

154
‘killing’. In other words, the goal is to obtain a picture of how violent actors are named in
general, what type of activities they are assigned when referred to explicitly, and whether
they are excluded or included (and if so, how explicitly) when violence is described.

It might be useful to start by defining the terms in question. The word Guerrilla, literally
translating ‘small war’, originated in the XIX century in reference to the Spanish resistance
against Napoleon (Laqueur, 1975). It is defined by the Espasa-Calpe Spanish Language
dictionary (2005) as:
1. group of armed civilians not belonging to the regular army, who fights attacking the
enemy by surprise and in skirmishes, thanks to their knowledge of the terrain.
2. This warfare technique.

This definition separates guerrillas from official State armies; however, it does not specify
who their enemy or what their motivation or goals might be. A look at a specialised
dictionary may help clarify the term. Verri (1988) describes guerrilla warfare as ‘used in
national liberation wars, as well as in non-international armed conflicts by dissident armed
forces or organised armed groups who act with aims to change by arms the State’s
constitutional order’. Hence, the illegality of the group is inscribed in this definition.

The word ‘paramilitary’, on the other hand, was coined in 1935 in France to refer to the
fascist-leaning leagues rioting for the imposition of an authoritarian regime (Jenkins,
2006). While its origins denote clear far-right tendencies, the definitions offered by
different dictionaries are void of such connotations: i.e. ‘civil organisation with military-
like structure or discipline’ (Espasa-Calpe, 2005). The Greek prefix ‘para’ means both
‘alongside, near, beside’, and ‘against, contrary’, but given other uses such as ‘paramedic’
or ‘paralegal’, it is more likely to be interpreted as the first. Furthermore, the specialised
definition clearly categorises it as an organisation with legal functions: ‘organ of a party in
conflict that, incorporated to its armed forces, is in charge of keeping public order’ (Verri,
1988).

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Combining manual analysis with frequency lists obtained with the freeware Antconc 3.2.4
(Anthony, 2011), a list of synonyms, meronyms 21 and superordinates22 of these two terms
was compiled. On the frequency list of each guerrilla sub-corpus, the most common lexical
word was FARC (also FARC), Spanish acronym for Armed Revolutionary Forces of
Colombia, with up to 70 instances per 10000 words. Given that each text is about 500
words long on average, this figure means the word ‘FARC’ statistically appears three to
four times per report.

The paramilitary sub-corpora offer a more heterogeneous picture. In El Colombiano (CP1

and CP2), the most frequent term is autodefensas (Self-defence forces). The word not only
denotes legality, but also an inalienable right. While it could be argued that this use stems
from the group’s self-proclamation as ‘United Self-defence forces of Colombia’ (AUC,
Spanish acronym), the FARC are never referred to as ‘Revolutionaries’, which has strong
positive connotations. The acronym AUC (also Auc) is the most common term in El País
(PP1 and PP2), and paramilitares, in El Heraldo (HP1 and HP2). In El Tiempo in the first
period (TP1), the most common term is autodefensas, and in the second period (TP2), it is
paras (short for paramilitaries). None of these terms rank as the most frequent lexical word
in any of the sub-corpora, and their normalised (instances per 10000 words) frequencies on
average reach only 35 instances in the first period and 25 in the second, that is to say,
between two and three instances per text, approximately half the times the guerrillas are
mentioned.

In addition to these, around 50 different terms were found to refer to guerrillas and
paramilitaries. That is not counting the proper nouns referring to specific members of these
organisations. Based on Van Leeuwen’s (1996) network for the representation of social
actors, it was established that these terms could initially be classified into two large groups:
indifferentiated and differentiated terms. The criteria for differentiation was whether or not
the term indicated to which of the two types of illegal actors identified in the Colombian
conflict, the group or member belonged. For instance, in (1), the term used hombres

21A meronym denotes a constituent part or a member of something i.e. ‘finger’ is a meronym of
‘hand’.
22A superordinate denotes a superior order or category within a system of classification: i.e. ‘flower’ is
the superordinate for ‘rose’.
156
armados (armed men) could refer to either guerrillas or paramilitaries. While insurgentes
(insurgents) in (2) clearly shows the affiliation of the illegal actors.

(1) CG1_2001.07.19_GRANADA.txt
...hombres armados asesinaron a las hermanas Claudia, Nancy...
... armed men murdered the sisters Claudia, Nancy...

(2) CG1_1999.06.10_PLOMO.txt
...de los cilindros cargados con explosivos que los insurgentes lanzaron en su arremetida.
...of the explosive loaded cylinders that the insurgents launched in their attack.

The differentiated terms were further subclassified into ‘generic’ and ‘specific’. The
‘differentiated generic’ category covers terms that apply to all the different groups of the
same ideology. For instance, paras (short for paramilitaries) and autodefensas (self defence
groups) apply to members of any paramilitary organisation, but AUC and ACCU refer to
particular groups. The first are differentiated generic terms, and the latter, differentiated
specific, as seen in examples (3) and (4).

(3)HP1_1998.10.26_rosario.txt
Paras matan a 20 en Bolívar.
Paras kill 20 in Bolívar

(4)HP1_2000.02.24_lasierra.txt
Entre tanto, las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC, en carta abierta al Director del
CTI, Pablo Elías...
Meanwhile, the United Self-defence Forces of Colombia, AUC, in an open letter to the CTI
director, Pablo Elías...

As their military structure suggests, each guerrilla or paramilitary organisation is divided

into smaller units that operate in assigned territorial areas. These are called Bloques (blocs)
covering large regions of the country, subdivided into frentes (fronts) or comandos
(commands) which control smaller areas and carry out military attacks. While all terms
apply to both types of organisation, ‘bloc’ is more frequently associated with paramilitary

157
groups, and ‘front’ with guerrillas. Since these terms denote parts of the larger
organisation, they were grouped under the heading ‘meronyms’. In the reporting of the
events of the conflict, the specific unit responsible for the attack may or may not be
specified in the text, as seen in (5) and (6).

(5) PG1_2000.09.18_CORREDOR.txt
Ya hace un mes en un ataque del 13 Frente de las FARC, los subversivos destruyeron el
cuartel...
A month ago, in an attack of FARC’s 13 Front, the subversives destroyed the
headquarters...

(6) PP1_2000.07.22_TIMBA.txt
...fuertemente armados y pertenecientes, según testigos, al bloque Farallones de las
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia...
...heavily armed and belonging, according to witnesses, to the Rocky Peaks bloc of the
United Self-defence forces of Colombia...

This level of specificity in the reporting depends largely on the information provided by
official military forces, and once established, it adds to the level of certainty of the
knowledge about those responsible for the event, or its epistemic modality (see Bednarek,
2006) or status (Hunston, 2011). In other words, once a particular military unit has been
pointed as responsible for the attack, it is harder for the reader to question the veracity of
that statement even when evidence is rarely provided for the claim. The use of meronyms
contrasts greatly with the choice of differentiated generic forms collocating with
expressions indicating low certainty such as presuntos (alleged), or al parecer (apparently),
as in (7).

(7) PP2_2003.01.22_NORTEAMERICANOS.txt
...luego de ser atacados el fin de semana por presuntos paramilitares colombianos.
...after being attacked on the weekend by alleged Colombian paramilitaries.

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Some of the members of these groups, typically their leaders, reach notoriety because of
their actions and/or their contacts with the media. Hence, their names and aliases appear so
frequently that it is possible to mention them without indicating their affiliation, as in (8).

(8) TG2_2003.05.06_ECHEVERRI.txt
...Llamó "matones" a Marulanda y Jojoy y reiteró que no faltará "firmeza en la lucha
...(the President) called Marulanda and Jojoy “killers”, and reiterated that “strength in the
struggle...

Less frequently, individual members of these organisations are mentioned in reports

because of their participation in a specific event where either witnesses’ reports or their
capture or killing has made their identification possible, as in (9). The names and aliases of
the illegal actors were categorised as forms of nomination.

(9) TG1_2001.10.02_CACICA2.txt
Los testigos aseguran que él y Amaury son los responsables de la muerte de la ex
ministra...
Witnesses state that he and Amaury are the ones responsible for the former Minister’s
death...

Hence, five categories for the representation of the illegal actors in the Colombian conflict
were identified. These are: indifferentiated, not distinguishing between groups of opposing
ideologies; differentiated generic, umbrella term for all groups of the same ideology;
differentiated specific, referring to specific organisations; meronyms, indicating subgroups
of these organisations, and nominated forms, or names of specific individuals. Figure 6.4.1
illustrates the different forms of representation. Appendix 6.1 contains all forms of
representation found in the corpus.

The questions now are first, how frequently each of these categories is used, and second,
whether there are any patterns in the assignment of participant roles to these different
forms of representation.

159
In order to answer the first question, each of the terms found for each of the five categories
were searched in the corpus; concordance lines were extracted and the number of instances
per newspaper recorded and normalised. Figures 6.4.2 to 6.4.5 show the results per
category for each of the newspapers. To facilitate comparisons, the results were grouped by
perpetrator and period.

Figure 6.4.1 - Forms of representation of illegal actors in the Colombian conflict.

In line with the first findings regarding the frequency of the terms ‘guerrilla’ and
‘paramilitaries’, the frequency of guerrilla terms exceeds that of the paramilitaries in every
newspaper by 27% on the first period and by 38% on the second on average. With respect
to similarities in the distribution among the five distinct categories, it is observable that
nominated forms and meronyms, are much less frequently used for both groups than other
forms of representation. However, notice that in the Guerrilla sub-corpora, meronyms are
used about twice as often as in the Paramilitaries’ on both periods. This suggests a higher
level of specificity in the reporting of guerrilla actions.

The most remarkable difference is the contrast between the frequency of indifferentiated
and differentiated specific forms by perpetrator, reaching extremely significant levels in all

160
 G2
G1
P1
P2

indifferentiated
indifferentiated
indifferentiated
differentiated
differentiated generic
generic
differentiated generic
differentiated specific
differentiated specific
differentiated specific
meronyms
meronyms
nominated
meronyms
nominated
0 15.0000 30.0000 45.0000 60.0000
nominated
0 27.5000 55.0000 82.5000 110.0000

Colombiano 0
Heraldo 22.5000 45.0000
País 67.5000 90.0000
Tiempo
Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo
Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo
newspapers on both periods. That is to say, in the reporting of the guerrilla actions,
authorship is assigned explicitly, whereas in that of the paramilitaries, responsibility is
attributed to ‘armed groups’ or similar expressions that may refer to any of the groups in
the conflict, thus obscuring their visibility.

Figure 6.4.2 - Representation of guerrillas 1998-2002.

Figure 6.4.3 - Representation of paramilitaries 1998-2002.

Figure 6.4.4 -Representation of guerrillas 2002-2006
.
Figure 6.4.5 - Representation of paramilitaries 2002-2006.

Furthermore, differentiated generic forms in the paramilitaries’ sub-corpora collocate more

frequently with expressions denoting low certainty such as al parecer (seemingly),
supuestos (alleged), and presuntamente (presumably), which cast a doubt over the
responsibility for the crimes committed. Before calculating the frequencies of these
collocations, it was necessary to examine the concordance lines to establish whether what
was being qualified as uncertain was authorship, the event itself, or any other aspect of the
report. Figure 6.4.6 summarises the results for every newspaper contrasting the two
periods.

Figure 6.4.6 - Frequency of low certainty expressions collocating with differentiated forms
of representation.

161
 Epistemic Modality

CG
CP
HG
HP
PG
PP
TG
TP
0 5.0000 10.0000 15.0000 20.0000

1998-2002 2002-2006
The graph shows that the frequency of low certainty expressions collocating with forms of
representation of the illegal actors in the conflict is higher in every newspaper and period
in the paramilitaries’ sub-corpora, with the exception of HP2. The newspaper with the
highest frequency of this kind of expressions is El País, which showed a proportional
number of differentiated forms. Thus, in addition to a preference for indifferentiated forms
of representation, the degree of certainty in the reporting of paramilitary actions is
diminished by the higher frequency of the type of modal expressions mentioned above, as
seen in examples (10) and (11).

(10) CP1_2001.08.16_AMALFI.txt
En Amalfi, el ataque de los supuestos Auc dejó seis víctimas.
In Amalfi, the attack of the alleged Auc left six victims.

(11) TP1_2000.01.19_ESTADOSUNIDOS.txt
...personas fueron asesinada por un grupo armado, presuntamente paramilitar,
...people were murdered by an armed group, presumably a paramilitary one,...

Up to this point, a pattern of vagueness versus explicitness in the reporting of paramilitary

actions contrasted with that of the guerrilla’s has been established based on the high
frequency of indifferentiated forms of representation and differentiated forms collocating
with expressions of low certainty.

The next step is to determine what participant roles differentiated forms of representation
are assigned. In other words, when illegal actors are named explicitly, what type of actions
162
 Actor

C1
C2
H1
H2
P1
P2
T1
T2
0 20.0000 40.0000 60.0000 80.0000
do they carry out? and who or what do they act upon? For this purpose, the linguistic tool
selected is an adaptation of Hasan’s cline of dynamism (1985:46). The criteria for
establishing a higher level of dynamism were three: the type of process carried out
(material vs. other), the type of goal impacted upon (human vs other), and the more
delicate material process type (elaborating vs. other). Unlike in Hasan’s original cline, it
was considered necessary to establish the human vs. non human criteria rather than the
animate vs. inanimate one in order to differentiate between ‘killing humans’ and ‘killing
cattle’ for instance. In the same line, a more delicate distinction of process type was
required to distinguish between elaborating processes effecting physical changes (e.g.
killing, shooting), and extending or enhancing ones indicating changes in possession (e.g.
stealing) or location (displacing).

The sample for analysis was selected randomly from each sub-corpus by extracting the top
50 concordance lines for the most frequent differentiated forms (e.g. FARC, guerrilla, Auc,
autodefensas (self-defence groups)) in alphabetical order. From these, lines with
participants in grammatical metaphors or not as the head of the nominal group were
eliminated. The final samples for each sub-corpus were between 40 and 50 concordance
lines, for a total of 692 lines analysed. Figures 6.4.7 to 6.4.9 show the percentages of each
type of participant role for guerrillas and paramilitaries for each newspaper and period.

Figure 6.4.7 shows that guerrillas are assigned the participant role of Actor more frequently
than the paramilitaries in every newspaper and period, and that the percentile gap is
statistically significant in the second period, indicating a higher level of dynamism for the
guerrillas, as seen in examples (12) and (13).

Figure 6.4.7 - Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor.

163
 Actor + Human Goal

C1

C2

H1

H2

P1

P2

T1

T2

0 15.0000 30.0000 45.0000 60.0000

GUERRILLA PARAMILITARES

(12) HG1_2000.03.28_vigiadelfuerte.txt
...Vigía del Fuerte, que fue destruido por el grupo guerrillero de las FARC durante un
cruento ataque...
...Vigía del Fuerte, which was destroyed by the FARC guerrilla group during a cruel
attack...

(13) HP2_2005.02.28_apartado.txt
Las Auc declararon en diciembre de 2002 un cese al fuego
The Auc declared in december of 2002 a cease fire...

A higher level of dynamism was determined by identifying participants acting on a human

goal, illustrated in Figure 6.4.8. In this case, only in two of the sub-corpora (CP1 and PP1)
did the paramilitaries reach a higher level of dynamism than the guerrillas, maintaining the
trend established in the first analysis, as seen in examples (14) and (15).

(14) PG2_2003.01.27_arauca.txt
... en hechos en los cuales al parecer la guerrilla secuestró a tres hermanos para que ellos
condujeran...
... in events in which the guerrilla apparently kidnapped three brothers so that they drove...
(15) PP2_2002.09.04_BARRAGAN2.txt
De acuerdo con los habitantes de la región, las autodefensas se han dedicado a asaltar
las 'chivas' que circulan...
164
 Actor + elaborating Process + Human Goal

C1

C2

H1

H2

P1

P2

T1

T2

0 10.0000 20.0000 30.0000 40.0000

According to the inhabitants of the region, the self-defence forces have devoted to robbing
the stair buses that circulate...

Figure 6.4.8 - Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor with a Human Goal.

Given the seriousness of the violence reported, it is not sufficient to establish how often
participants act on humans, but what kind of actions victims are subjected to as well. These
range from displacement and robbery to torture and massacre. Hence, a more delicate
distinction of material process type was employed contrasting elaborating processes (i.e.
wound, torture, kill) with extending (i.e. rob, kidnap) and enhancing (i.e. throw out, take
away) processes. Figure 6.4.9 shows the results.

Again, the samples from the guerrilla sub-corpora show a higher percentage of participants
in the role of Actor of an elaborating process with a human goal. The only exception are
the HP1 and PP1 sub-corpora. While in the previous analysis (Actor + Human Goal), El
Colombiano (CP1) showed a higher percentage of this type of structures in the
paramilitaries corpus, from the more delicate classification it can be deduced that most of
the actions inflicted upon the victims were of the extending or enhancing type, as
illustrated by example (16).

(16) CP1_2000.05.02_SANPABLO.txt
Allí, las Auc, con lista en mano, bajaron quince personas.
There, the Auc, with a list on their hand, took down fifteen people (from the bus).

165
Figure 6.4.9 - Differentiated forms in the participant role of Actor of an elaborating process
with a Human Goal.

Whereas El Heraldo and El País present more cases of Actor + elaborating process +
human Goal in the first period in the paramilitaries sub-corpora, the trend is reversed in the
second period. To summarise, in general, guerrillas are presented as killing people more
often than the paramilitaries, despite the statistics revealing the opposite.

This result poses the question of whether paramilitary violence is being reported at all.
With at least a 4 to 1 ratio of paramilitary to guerrilla victims, how can the subversives be
GUERRILLA PARAMILITARES
attributed most of the killings? The frequency lists reveal that in fact the lexical items
asesinar (to murder) and matar (to kill) appear more frequently in every paramilitary sub-
corpus. This contrast calls for a detailed analysis of the clause configurations used to
express violence, more specifically murdering and killing.

As a first step, all concordance lines for the lemmas asesinar (to murder) and matar (to
kill) were extracted from the corpus. From these lists, forms in nominal groups (i.e.
asesinato: murder, asesino: murderer, los asesinados: the murdered) were discarded.
Afterwards, the Agent was identified in each of the concordances, and grouped into
differentiated or indifferentiated forms. Whenever the Agent was ellipsed, a common
feature of Spanish, the co-text was searched for the referent and coded accordingly. Non-
agentive forms such as passive voice or 3rd person plural (see García, forthcoming) were
labelled as implicit. Examples (17) to (20) illustrate this classification.

(17) Differentiated
HG1_2000.01.24_tenerife. txt
...Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC, asesinaron a seis campesinos en
incursiones registradas...
...Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia, FARC, murdered six peasants in incursions
recorded...

(18) Indifferentiated

166
 Implicit or Indifferentiated forms

C1

C2

H1

H2

P1

P2

T1

T2

0 22.5000 45.0000 67.5000 90.0000

CP2_2003.12.01_MEDELLIN. txt
...luego de que hombres armados ingresaron al sector y asesinaron a cinco personas
...after armed men entered the area and murdered five people.

(19) Implicit - Non-agentive receptive voice

PP1_1999.01.12_LAHORMIGA. txt
Posteriormente, al menos 20 campesinos fueron asesinados en el caserío de El Tigre en el
departamento del...
Afterwards, at least 20 peasants were murdered in the hamlet ‘El Tigre’ in the department
of...

(20) Implicit - 3rd Person Plural

TP2_2004.05.23_WAYUU. txt
"Nos están matando a todos y lo que le pedimos al Gobierno es que no...
“(They) are killing us all and what we ask from the government is that...

Since indifferentiated forms do not allow the reader to identify the group responsible for
the crimes, these and implicit forms were grouped together and contrasted with the
differentiated forms. Figure 6.4.10 shows the percentage of implicit or indifferentiated
Agent in clauses where the process is murdering or killing.

Figure 6.4.10 - Percentage of Implicit or Indifferentiated forms realizing Agent in clauses

of killing and murdering.

167
Not only are implicit and indifferentiated forms more frequent in each of the paramilitaries
sub-corpora, but the contrast with the guerrilla sub-corpora is also statistically significant
in each case with the exception of El Heraldo in the second period. This means that in even
up to 88% of the instances of the reporting of killings and murders, the paramilitaries are
either completely excluded from the clause or referred to with indifferentiated forms such
as ‘armed men’ or ‘the armed group’. While they may be mentioned explicitly elsewhere in
the text, they are often not directly linked to the activity of killing.

GUERRILLA PARAMILITARES
6.5 Conclusions

The analysis shows remarkable differences between the reporting of guerrilla and
paramilitary actions. The contrast can be characterised as one of explicitness versus
vagueness, with the trend increasing in the second period under examination. While
guerrillas are frequently referred to with differentiated terms that allow for the
identification of those responsible for the attacks, in the paramilitaries reports,
indifferentiated forms are more frequently selected. In addition, paramilitaries’
differentiated forms collocate more frequently with expressions denoting low certainty,
casting doubt over the authorship of the crimes.

The examination of the participant roles assigned to the differentiated forms revealed that
guerrillas are in general construed as more dynamic, or capable of affecting the world,
than the paramilitaries. That is to say, guerrillas’ forms of representation more frequently
collocate with material processes, often of the elaborating kind (i.e. killing, wounding)
affecting humans. Focusing on this type of processes, more specifically asesinar (to
murder) and matar (to kill), the analysis reveals that in the paramilitaries’ reports, these
collocate significantly more frequently with either indifferentiated (i.e. ‘armed men’) or
implicit forms, again concealing the identity of the criminals.

These are only some of the linguistic patterns present in the reporting of the Colombian
conflict that construe a semiotic space where paramilitaries are minor agents of violence as
168
contrasted with the guerrillas. Other patterns to explore include the construal of death and
killing, evaluative language and textual organisation.

The mystification of the paramilitaries’ role in the conflict may have contributed to a
lenient attitude from civilian and military authorities as well as the population in general
that has remained indifferently unmoved in the face of the genocide and forced exile
imposed on the most vulnerable. As Whorf (1956:148) points out ‘people act about
situations in ways which are like the ways they talk about them’. Thus, one step towards
the solution of the Colombian conflict is to change the way it is framed in language,
assigning responsibility where it is due, identifying the motivations behind every act of
violence, and acknowledging the suffering of all victims.

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Appendix 6.1 - Forms of representation of Guerrillas and Paramilitaries

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174
Chapter 7

‘Horror stories’: Registerial variation and ideology in ‘hard news’ about

the Colombian conflict23

Abstract

Discourse studies of media have identified the nucleus satellite structure as the typical
organizational pattern of the ‘hard news’ register (or genre) in the English speaking world.
To determine how extended this reporting style is across cultures, comprehensive studies in
languages other than English still need to be carried out. One of the aims of this paper is to
contribute to the filling of that gap, starting with Spanish in the Colombian context, more
specifically with reports of the violence in the Colombian conflict. Using cohesive
harmony analysis (Hasan 1983), the paper identifies the structural and textural features of
alternative organizational patterns of news reporting and contrasts them with a typical
nucleus satellite report. It also explains how these alternative patterns create a more vivid
picture of the violence and its devastating effects, allowing the reader to connect with the
victims and generating condemnation for the perpetrators. Furthermore, it argues that the
selection of these alternative patterns of reporting, which is significantly higher in reports
of acts committed by Marxist guerrillas than in those of right wing paramilitaries, is
ideologically motivated. This claim is supported by the analysis of more delicate values of
the features of the context of situation as postulated by Hasan (1999).
KEY WORDS: ‘hard news’; nucleus satellite structure; logogenetic patterns; texture;
Colombian conflict; context of situation

7.1 Introduction

In the social sciences, it has been widely accepted that the role of news texts as produced
by the mass media is to distribute an interpretation of reality rather than presenting an
‘objective’ account of world events (e.g. Hall et al 1973). In light of Bernstein’s
sociological theory, news could be considered as a means of ‘symbolic control’, or

23 This paper is in revision by Text & Talk

175
‘cultural reproduction or production’ (1975: 149). That is to say, news, as well as many
other types of texts, rather than reflect, ‘construe’ reality, effectively contributing to the
establishment of systems of beliefs and attitudes towards what Halliday (2003: 113) calls
our ‘eco-social environment’. Hence, a deep knowledge of the features and inner workings
of this type of texts is crucial to the understanding of social phenomena. As Bernstein
(2000:4) recognized “what is missing from theories of cultural reproduction is any internal
analysis of the structure of the discourse itself, and it is the structure, the logic of this
discourse, which provides the means whereby external power relations can be carried by
it”.

7.1.1 Background and objectives of the study

In the field of discourse studies, substantial progress has certainly been made regarding the
analysis of news texts as (re)-producers of ideology (Fowler et al. 1979; Kress and Hodge
1979; Fowler 1991; Fairclough 1995; Richardson 2007, to name a few). While much of
this work has been focused on the analysis of lexicogrammatical features, other studies
have attempted to establish the structural characteristics of this type of text (Nanri 1993;
van Dijk 1988, 1998; Bell 1991,1998). Within the Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL
henceforth) framework, the notion of ‘register’ becomes particularly relevant to this
purpose, since, as Halliday (1977: 58) points out it is “the necessary mediating concept
that enables us to establish the continuity between a text and its sociosemiotic
environment”.

Simply put, registers are “ways of doing different things” with language (Halliday
1992:383). Thus, the language of paying for goods at a grocery is different from that of
writing a note to a teacher to that of giving a speech at a wedding. Different situations
require the deployment of diverse resources from the system of language. In SFL,
situations are modeled according to the three main parameters of ‘field’, ‘tenor’, and
‘mode’. Broadly, these terms describe respectively the social activity taking place (what is
going on), the status and relationships between interactants (who is taking part), and the
role of language (how the text is organized). The technical term encompassing these three
parameters is ‘context of situation’, referring to the environment in which semiotic acts are
performed and interpreted. (Halliday 1979: 201).

176
A group of SFL scholars, namely the Sydney genre school, has interpreted register as “the
expression form of genre” (Martin 1992:495), this being “a staged goal-oriented
purposeful activity in which speakers engage as members of a culture” (Martin
1984:24-25). The complex theoretical implications of this variation are addressed by Hasan
(1995) and beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice to say that for this work, the Hallidayan
framework of register and context of situation will be adopted, which does not
discount the use of the valuable descriptive work of the ‘hard news’ register (or genre)
offered by the Sydney school.

Iedema et al’s (1994) orbital model of hard news structure is based on English-speaking
media. However, as van Dijk (1988) had concluded earlier, the influence of international
press agencies has, to a considerable extent, homogenized news reporting styles in the
western world. Yet, it is still necessary to explore other journalistic traditions that may
exploit different textual resources. In this regard, Thomson and White’s volume (2008) is
an important step in this direction, providing an exploratory view of diverse journalistic
traditions from around the world, including countries as distant as Argentina, Vietnam,
Finland, and Japan.

While the nucleus satellite structure seems to be dominant in Colombian hard news,
alternative patterns of text organization have also been identified in the reporting of the
internal conflict. In the corpus compiled for this study, comprising over 500 hard news
pieces collected from the four major broadsheet papers of the country, nearly 30% were
found to display a logogenetic pattern other than the traditional nucleus satellite structure.
One of the aims of this paper aims is to present a preliminary description of these patterns
and to identify the differences in the contextual configuration (CC) (specific values of
field, tenor, and mode) of text production that yield these. Furthermore, it is argued that
these differences are ideologically motivated, creating remarkably different semiotic
spaces for the reporting of comparable acts of violence.

The interest in exploring the ideological content in the reporting of the internal conflict
stems from the disparity between statistics on acts of violence and the beliefs amongst
Colombians of the role of the main illegal armed actors, right-wing paramilitaries
identified with the acronym AUC (for United Self-defence forces of Colombia) and

177
Marxists guerrillas, of which the largest and oldest group is FARC (Armed Revolutionary
Forces of Colombia). The modus operandi of both groups is characterized by the constant
violation of International Humanitarian Law, such as attacks against the civilian
population, including massacres, selective murders, displacement, kidnapping and torture.
Statistically, paramilitaries’ record of victims exceeds by at least four times that of the
guerrillas (CCJ 2007). Yet, Colombians’ perception of these groups as agents of violence is
inversely proportional to these figures, not only pointing at guerrillas as responsible for
most of the violence, but even worse, minimizing and even justifying paramilitary crimes
(Ipsos-Napoleón Franco 2007; Urtak 2010). Hence, it is hypothesized that the press, one of
the main and most influential sources of information about the conflict may have
contributed to the reproduction of an ideology of mitigation and legitimation of
paramilitary violence.

7.1.2 Corpus and approach

The corpus for this study consists of 554 hard news reports taken from the leading
newspapers of the four major cities of Colombia: El Tiempo, from Bogotá; El País, from
Cali; El Colombiano, from Medellín, and El Heraldo, from Barranquilla, during the period
1998-2006. The main criteria for selection was the reporting of acts of violence committed
by each group, aiming to include those events with the highest death toll or those where the
victims where representative of a targeted community such as Aboriginal leaders, human
right activists, journalists or unionists.

The corpus was subdivided by newspaper, perpetrator and time period (1998-2002 and
2002-2006). This division coincides with two presidential periods during which failed
peace negotiations were carried out, initially with FARC guerrillas, and later with the AUC
paramilitaries. The result was sixteen sub-corpora comprising between 30 and 40 texts, and
about 20,000 words each. These were identified using a three character combination
starting with the newspaper initial (T, P, C, or H), the perpetrator initial (G or P) and 1 or 2
for the time period. Thus, the reports of acts of violence committed by the guerrillas during
the period 1998-2002 found in El Tiempo were labelled as TG1. Figure 7.1.1 illustrates the
word/text ratio of each sub-corpus.

178
 Word/Text Ratio
800.0000

600.0000

400.0000

200.0000

0
C1 C2 H1 H2 P1 P2 T1 T2
Figure 7.1.1 - Word/Text Ratio per sub-corpus
GUERRILLA PARAS

Figure 7.1.1 shows that the average text length of every guerrilla sub-corpus is higher than
that of the paramilitaries. Likewise, the median is also higher in every guerrilla sub-corpus,
and with only one exception (H1), both of these measures show a statistically significant 24
contrast between perpetrators.

Text length is a preliminary but meaningful indication of differences between the style of
reporting of the crimes committed by each group, more specifically, in the unfolding of the
text. Detailed reading of the corpora revealed that the longer the texts, the more unlikely
they were to follow the nucleus-satellite structure. That is to say, longer texts seemed to
follow different logogenetic patterns (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004) which needed to be
accounted for. Each text in the corpus was classified as belonging to either this type of
orbital structure or a different one which for now will be called ‘other’. For reasons of
space, this paper will focus on the results of El Tiempo, where the contrast in this
classification was found to be significant, as can be observed in Figure 7.1.2.

In order to explain the reporting style varying from the standard orbital structure,
Halliday’s trinocular perspective was adopted. This consists of exploring registerial
variation, in this case, from above, or the context stratum, indicating the values for
relatively delicate parameters of field, tenor, and mode; from roundabout, describing the
semantic strategies deployed including features of texture, structure and evaluation, and

24The measure of statistical significance was obtained with a contingency table and applying
Fisher’s exact test with a two-tailed calculated P value. The calculator is available from http://
www.graphpad.com/quickcalcs/contingency1.cfm.
179
from below, identifying salient lexicogrammatical features that differentiate each type of
text. Figure 7.1.3 taken from Matthiessen et al (2010:177) illustrates this approach.

Figure 7.1.2 - Text Structure in El Tiempo

The discussion begins by illustrating the Nucleus Satellite structure with a short text from
the TP2 sub-corpus and contrasting it with a report of a comparable act of violence from
the TG1 sub-corpus. The differences in semantic structure and texture are demonstrated
using results from cohesive harmony analysis (Hasan 1984,1985). This type of analysis can
show ‘how texts hang together’, not only through the identification of lexical chains linked
by cohesive relations (i.e. synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy) or coherence (i.e. pronominal
reference, substitution and ellipsis), but also through the grammatical patterns in the
interaction between chains.

Evaluation is analyzed using the well-known appraisal framework (Martin 2000; Martin
and White 2005) focusing on the resources for the expression of attitudinal meaning, more
specifically judgment (evaluation of social behavior) and affect (expressions of emotion).
It has been argued that a minimum deployment of this type of resources is a feature of the
‘hard news’ register. (White 2002, 2005, 2006; Thomson and White 2008; Thomson et al.
2008).

180
In addition to the analysis of the two texts, further extracts are provided to demonstrate the
use of techniques that are closer to a literary than to a journalistic style of reporting.
Finally, the differences in contextual configuration that may explain these contrasting
styles of reporting are explored.

Figure 7.1.3 - Approaches to register typology - Trinocular perspective (from Matthiessen

et al, 2010:177)

7.2 The Nucleus satellite structure: An example

The nucleus satellite structure has been identified as the typical of hard news reporting in
the English speaking world (Iedema et al. 1994; Iedema 1997; White 1997, 2000a, 2000b).
In the corpus of reports from Colombian newspapers, it has been found to still be
dominant, but facing competition from other more ‘colorful’ styles. As a starting point, the
report Denuncian Incursión Para ‘Para Incursion Denounced’ (1), published in El Tiempo
on August 28, 2004, is presented to illustrate the nucleus-satellite registerial features.
Clauses are numbered and separated with double vertical lines. Clause complex boundaries
are separated with triple vertical lines. The translation of each paragraph is provided under
the Spanish original.
(1)
181
 [headline]
1. Denuncian Incursión Para
1. ‘Para Incursion Denounced’

[lead]
2.1. La Asociación para la Promoción Social Alternativa Minga denunció || 2.2. que los
paramilitares están violando su compromiso de cese de hostilidades en la zona rural del
municipio del Valle del Guamues (Putumayo).|||

2.1. ‘The Association for Alternative Social Promotion Minga denounced ||2.2. that the
paramilitaries are violating their commitment to the cessation of hostilities in the rural area of
the municipality of Valle del Guamues (Putumayo).’|||

[elaboration- content of the denouncement]

3.1. Según la organización, las víctimas de los ataques denunciaron || 3.2. que entre el 15 y el
20 de agosto un grupo de unos 200 paramilitares, <<3.3. que se identificaron como miembros
de las AUC>>, incursionaron en varias veredas del municipio ||3.4. y habrían asesinado a por
lo menos 11 campesinos.|||

3.1. ‘According to the organization, the victims of the attacks denounced || 3.2. that between 15
and 20 August, a group of about 200 paramilitaries, <<3.3. who identified themselves as
members of the AUC>>, entered in several hamlets of the municipality || 3.4. and might have
murdered at least 11 peasants.’|||

[elaboration - addressees of the denouncement, requested actions]

4.1. La organización le pidió protección al Gobierno, ||4.2. y a la Procuraduría y la Fiscalía ||
4.3. que investiguen las denuncias.||| 5.1. Igualmente, solicitó a la OEA || 5.2. que verifique el
incumplimiento del cese de hostilidades de las AUC en el Putumayo.
4.1. ‘The organization requested protection from the Government, || 4.2. and to the Prosecutor
and the Attorney General’s office || 4.3. to investigate the denouncements.||| 5.1. Likewise, it
requested the OAS || 5.2. to verify AUC’s failure to comply with the cessation of hostilities in
Putumayo.’|||

7.2.1 Structure and Texture

This report is only 123 words long. It consists of a nucleus with a summarizing headline,
no byline, and a lead, and two elaborating satellites. The function of the nucleus is to
“launch the reader, without any background or preamble, directly into what can be seen as
the maximally newsworthy heart of the issue under consideration” (Thomson and White
2008). It is noticeable that the main event selected is a verbal, not a material process. Thus
the ‘news’ is that an organization denounced something, not that the paramilitaries did

182
something, that something being an ‘incursion’, a term used to mean the act of entering
into a territory to carry out a military action (RAE, 2001). Yet, the exact nature of the
military action is not identified. This mitigation of violence continues in the lead, where
the projected clause, the content of the denouncement 25, is a highly complex grammatical
metaphor preceded by a material, yet abstract, process, ‘violating their commitment to the
cessation of hostilities’. This structure does not allow the reader to know exactly what the
paramilitaries did or to whom they did it. The lead specifies who made the denouncement
and where the denounced event took place; but is rather vague about its content.

In addition to the lead, the report consists of two more paragraphs or satellites. The first
one elaborates on the content of the denouncement mentioned in the headline and lead. Yet
the main process, the murder of the peasants, is highly modalized, framing it as a
possibility, not a fact. The selections in the wording of the event show a different pattern to
that identified by Nanri (1993), who indicates that in the reporting of murders, events are
presented as a process first, and later retaken in nominalized forms. It is obvious that a
metaphorical structure is easier to decode if a congruent version has been presented earlier,
making it harder to explain the reasoning behind this text’s structure. The second and final
satellite elaborates, not on the crime itself, but on the verbal events that stemmed from it,
to whom the denouncements were made and the actions requested from them.

Focusing on the texture of the report, the cohesive harmony reveals four text-exhaustive
chains; two of these are identity chains (IC henceforth), referring to the same entities, one
for the the organization making the denouncement, labelled as NGO, and another one for
the paramilitaries. The other two threads are similarity chains (SC henceforth): tokens
closely related by semantic ties; thus ‘denouncing’, ‘demanding’ and ‘requesting’ are all
types of verbal activity, and ‘incursion’, ‘hostilities’ and ‘attacks’ are all kinds of violent
acts. In regards to this last chain, it was bifurcated since, for the conceptual framework of
the conflict as set by International Humanitarian Law, incursion and hostilities are actions
carried out against a legitimate enemy, while attacks and murders refer to aggressions
against the civilian population (Verri 1998). Hence, technically, the events reported cannot
be classified as an incursion, but as an attack. While in the text, they are treated as

25The original denouncement on which the example (1) is based is available at http://cpdh.free.fr/
denuncias/putumayo.htm. This text is remarkably similar to the example (2).
183
synonyms or co-hyponyms (kinds of the same thing, in this case, violent acts), the relation
is more instantial (context-dependent, see Hasan 1983) than lexical. The frequency lists
reveal that while ‘incursion’ is used slightly more often in reports of paramilitary actions
than in those of the guerrillas, ‘attack’ is up to 10 times more frequent in the guerrilla sub-
corpora, making the ideological motivation behind these selections evident . Figure 7.2.1
shows the main lexical chains from the text in question.

The second part of the analysis consists of identifying chain interaction based on
experiential patterns. It is observable that the NGO identity chain is not only text
exhaustive, but also shows four instances of interaction following the structural relation
Sayer- verbal process with the verbal activity chain. While the ‘paramilitaries’ chain
contains a similar number of tokens, it only interacts with the ‘violence’ chain on two
instances located in the same satellite. Hence, the topic of paramilitary violence is started
and dropped in the middle of the text, while the topic of the denouncements made by the
NGO becomes ‘the backbone’ of the text, effectively backgrounding the crime committed
by the paramilitaries.

7.2.2 Attitudinal assessment

This text can be considered an instance of ‘reporter voice’, as described by Martin and
White (2005), based on the absence of explicit (or inscribed) authorial judgment. The
negative evaluation of the paramilitaries about their violation of the cease of hostilities
(clauses 2.2. and 5.2.) are attributed to the organization making the denouncement. The
possible murder of the peasants is presented as an unconfirmed event, constituting more
experiential rather than interpersonal material. Furthermore, there are no instances of
observed affect (“emotional responses of third parties”. Thomson and White 2008:14) or
authorial appreciation26. This means there is no reference to the emotional reaction of the
victims or the community where the massacre took place. This pattern is consistent through
the paramilitaries sub-corpora. In every newspaper and for both time periods, instances of
inscribed judgment are fewer in the paramilitaries reports, and instances of observed affect
exceed those in the guerrillas texts in only two of the sub-corpora (CP1 and HP2).

26“assessments by the author of objects, artifacts, happenings and states of affairs by reference to
aesthetic and related systems of social valuation ”. (Thomson and White, 2008:14)
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Appendix 7.1 shows the number of tokens of judgment and appreciation in each sub-
corpus.

Figure 7.2.1 Partial cohesive harmony analysis of example (1)

7.3 Alternative text structures in hard news reporting of the Colombian conflict

The text selected for comparison is the report of an event on a very similar scale of
violence based on the number of victims and the modus operandi of the perpetrators2, the
FARC guerrillas in this case. It was published in El Tiempo on April 4, 2001, and is almost
four times as long as example(1) with 494 words. For reasons of space, the text (2) has
been slightly abbreviated and only the first 150 words are presented here.
(2)
1.Barbarie Total En Córdoba.|||
1. Total Barbarity in Córdoba.

2. La cruenta batalla entre las autodefensas de Carlos Castaño y el Bloque Noroccidental de

las FARC en el sur de Córdoba se esperaba desde el 11 de marzo.|||
2. The cruel battle between Carlos Castaño’s self defence forces and the Northwestern Bloc of
FARC in the south of Córdoba was expected from March 11.|||

3. Una serie de asesinatos de civiles sirvió de preámbulo.||| 4.1. El combate estaba casado
desde ese día || 4.2. cuando las FARC mataron a cuatro labriegos, || 4.3. quemaron cinco fincas
||4.4. y se robaron unas 1.400 reses.||| 5.1. Dijeron || 5.2. que esperarían “a los paras || 5.3.
para darles plomo.”|||
3. A series of civilian murders served as a preamble. ||| 4.1.The combat was set from that day ||
4.2. when FARC killed four labourers, || 4.3. burnt five farms || 4.4. and stole about 1400 cattle
heads. ||| 5.1. They said || 5.2. they would wait “for the paras || 5.3. to give them lead (shoot
them)”.|||

185
 6. Luego realizaron un recorrido sangriento.|||
6. Then they carved a bloody path.|||

7. En La Rica y Tierradentro, mataron a Enilda García, de 20 años, y a Jairo Martínez, de 19.

|||
7. In La Rica and Tierradentro, they killed Enilda García, 20, and Jairo Martínez, 19. |||

8.1. A él le abrieron el vientre, || 8.2. lo degollaron || 8.3. y después le dieron un tiro de gracia
en el rostro. |||
8.1. To him, they opened his abdomen, || 8.2. they slit his throat || 8.3. and then they gave him a
coup de grace (shot him) in the face.|||
9.1. A ella le dispararon un tiro de fusil en el corazón ||. 9.2. y le abrieron el abdomen.|||
9.1. To her, they shot her with a rifle in her heart || 9.2. and opened her abdomen.|||

10. En otra finca, degollaron al ganadero Facundo Llanos, de 67 años. ||| 11. Su cuerpo
presentaba múltiples golpes en la cabeza. |||
10. In another farm, they slit cattle-owner Facundo Llanos’s throat, 67. ||| 11. His body
presented multiple blows to the head.|||...

7.3.1 The headline

In this case, the function of the headline is more evaluative than synoptic. Other than the
location of the events, the headline does not reveal any other factual information to be
elaborated in the lead. The token of inscribed negative judgment Barbarie ‘barbarity’
suggests a highly destabilising event and functions as an attention-grabbing device
signalling urgency and significance (Iedema et al, 1994). This negative attitudinal
meanings of social sanction are elaborated on in the lead and the body of the report
through the use of adjectives such as cruento ‘cruel’ (2) and sangriento ‘bloody’ (6) and
the material elaborating processes27 describing the violence.

This attention-grabbing function is also fulfilled through the use of quotes from any of the
relevant participants in the event, whether victims, perpetrators or authorities. These quotes
usually contain evaluative meanings, as in (3) and (4), or resort to metaphors where
abstract nouns serve as Actors of material processes (see (5) and (6)).

27Material elaborating processes are those whose outcome is a transformation of the participant
being affected, usually a physical one (e.g. cook, peel, burn, kill) (Halliday and Matthiessen 2004)
186
(3)Eso fue como estar en el infierno
‘That was like being in hell‘
(4) Esa guerrilla no tiene corazón.
‘Those guerrillas have no heart’.
(5) En Chalupa llegó la muerte a San Pablo
‘By rowboat death arrived in San Pablo’
(6) El dolor arde en Machuca
‘Pain burns in Machuca’,

7.3.2 The opening

Bell (1991, 1998) claims that “the news story is always focused in its first sentence - its
lead or intro”. In this story, rather than the focus, or the “maximally newsworthy” element,
the opening sentence foregrounds important aspects of the event, including the participants
and a time reference, and elaborates on the evaluative meanings of the headline and
specifies its location. The event is also realized as a nominal group, a battle, with no
previous congruent reference to a participant-process configuration, concealing crucial
information such as the death toll of the attack. As with the headline, the purpose of this
opening seems to be to grab the reader’s attention rather than to provide the most important
information. That is to say, the pragmatic function of the news report is backgrounded
probably to accommodate for a more emotional type of reading more likely to keep the
audience engaged throughout the text (Jamet & Jannet 1999).

The length of this preamble to the main event being reported may range from a main
clause, with the main event realized in a dependent clause, to a whole paragraph. It may
refer to a prior or an ensuing event to the one being reported, include attitudinal meanings
of social sanction and/or observed affect, or provide a visual image of the setting, as seen
in (7) to (9).

(7)Main event in hypotactic clause - ensuing event

Saldaña, arrasada por las FARC
Saldaña, devastated by FARC

187
Uno tras otro, a orillas del río, el Ejército explotó los seis cilindros de gas que las FARC
dejaron abandonados tras asesinar a 23 pobladores y destruir a Puerto Saldaña.
One after the other, by the riverside, the army exploded the six gas cylinders that the FARC
left behind after murdering 23 villagers and destroying Puerto Saldaña.

(8) Evaluation:
FARC, coca leaf grower - Social Sanction: Negative Propriety
Four police officers, a soldier, and three guerrillas - Social Esteem: Positive Tenacity
Asesinados, A Pesar De Su Indefensión.
Murdered despite their helplessness
Un raspador de hoja de coca sepultó la valentía de cuatro policías, un soldado y tres
guerrilleros que desafiaron el poderío de las FARC y escaparon de sus trincheras, bajo el
mando del capitán Wilson Quintero Martínez.
A coca leaf grower buried the bravery of four police officers, a soldier and three guerrillas
who defied the power of FARC and escaped its trenches under the command of captain
Wilson Quintero Martínez.

(9) Visual Image

Niño futbolista perdió sus piernas
Footballer kid lost his legs
Las viejas zapatillas blancas, con las que el pequeño Fabio Urbano de 13 años, jugaba
fútbol en las calles y en la cancha de su vecindario, se quedaron colgadas en el patio de su
humilde vivienda del Barrio San Antonio Bajo de Miranda (Cauca).
The old white sneakers, with which the boy Fabio Urbano, 13, played football in his
neighborhood’s streets and field, were left hanging in the backyard of his humble home in
the San Antonio Bajo suburb in Miranda (Cauca).

After this preambling sentence, the report may unfold following the typical orbital
structure or present a different logogenetic pattern.

7.3.3 The body

188
In addition to the nucleus-satellite structure, the following modes of textual organization
have been identified in the corpus.

7.3.3.1 Spatiotemporal organization

Unlike example (1), example (2) follows a chronological order starting with the events of
March 11. References to sequential organization are underlined in both the original and the
translation and include different lexicogrammatical realizations such as circumstances of
time (from that day - 4.1), nominal groups (a preamble - 3.), and conjunctions (then - 6.,
8.1). In addition, thematized circumstances of location (In La Rica and Tierradentro - 7; In
another farm - 10.) contribute to the logogenetic patterning of the text. These patterns can
be observed in more detail through the results of the cohesive harmony analysis. Figure
7.3.1 shows the most important chains of this section of the text.

As in (1), two of the main chains are one IC for the perpetrator and one SC for acts of
violence. However, in (2), these chains contain twice as many tokens as in (1). Moreover,
the tokens in violence chain in (2) are mostly material elaborating processes, while the
thread in (1) consists of mainly nominalizations. Hence, interaction between the FARC
chain and the violence chain in the pattern Actor + Process is five times more frequent than
in the (1). Another important difference is the presence of a strong chain of civilians or
victims of the attacks, which complements the interaction pattern already mentioned in the
role of Goal. The body parts chain could be considered a bifurcation of this one, since it is
related through meronymy (part-whole relation). To summarize, what these findings mean
is that, as the text unfolds, the specificity of the type of violence inflicted by the guerrillas
on their victims increases.

7.3.3.2 Journalistic Character

Serrano (2005) identified a narrative organization around a journalistic character in human

interest stories about the conflict in El Tiempo. This type of textual organization is also
used in hard news. The selected character is usually a victim of the war act being reported.
While the event may have affected a larger group of people or an entire community, the
story is told from the angle of the selected character. This allows for a more personal
reading that may lead the audience to feel identified with the character and generate

189
feelings of solidarity. In addition to the description of the actual events, the text often
includes positive attitudinal meanings of social esteem and observed affect.

Regarding its texture, texts with this organizational pattern present a text-exhaustive
identity chain referring to the victim, interacting with material processes describing
violence in the role of Goal, and with other process types, including mental and
behavioral,in ER-roles28 (see Hasan 1984). This participant is also found frequently in
thematic position. Some of these features are illustrated by (10), which is the second
sentence of the story ‘Footballer kid lost his legs’ in (9).

(10) El hábil armador del equipo de niños de ese barrio no las volverá a usar, pues sus dos
piernas fueron amputadas, como consecuencia del impacto de las esquirla de un cohete
que cayó frente a su casa, durante el ataque que realizaron el miércoles, al mediodía,
guerrilleros de las FARC y del Jaime Báteman Cayón en su población.
The skillful midfielder of that neighborhood children’s team will not use them again, since
both of his legs were amputated as a consequence of the impact of a rocket’s splinter that
fell in front of his house during the attack that was carried out on Wednesday at noon, by
guerrillas from FARC and Jaime Báteman Cayón in his village.

28The ER-participant role is an umbrella term that generalizes across process types and includes
Actor, Behaver, Sensor, Sayer, Carrier, Identifier, and Existent.
190
Figure 7.3.1 - Partial cohesive harmony analysis of example (2)

Although in the attack four more people were wounded, these are only mentioned in
general terms without including their names or any other personal reference. The journalist
has selected the angle of the irony of a disadvantaged but talented child losing his legs,
thus destroying his only possibility of overcoming poverty. As mentioned above, this
approach may engage the audience more effectively and arouse feelings of solidarity.

7.3.3.3 Personal Narrative

The journalist may also decide to make the victim’s the main voice in the text. Hence, the
text is structured around the events as told by one of the survivors. Their narrative is
quoted verbatim interspersed with more general information introduced by the journalist,
as seen in (11).
(11)
Hablaban de sus hijos mientras los mataban.
They talked about their children while they were being killed.
“Nos iban a degollar, pero cuando yo me escapé y me fui por un rastrojo, empezaron a
disparar. Escuché muchos quejidos de mis compañeros, que hablaban de sus hijos mientras los
mataban salvajemente”.
“They were going to slit our throats, but when I escaped and I left through the bushes, they
started to shoot. I heard the moaning from my mates, who talked about their children while
they killed them savagely.
El relato es de Esteban Hernández, uno de los 7 sobrevivientes de la masacre de 34
raspachines de coca en la finca Río Chiquito, en el corregimiento de La Gabarra, hace dos
días, y quien alcanzó a recibir una bala en su pierna izquierda.
The recount is from Esteban Hernández, one of the seven survivors of the massacre of 34 coca
leave peasants in the Río Chiquito plantation, in the village of La Gabarra, two days ago, and
who happened to receive a bullet to his left leg.

In this case, the recount starts at the climactic point of the events and includes instances of
observed affect (quejidos de mis compañeros ‘moans from my mates’) and negative
judgment (salvajemente ‘savagely’). While these tokens of evaluative language are not
authorial, the inclusion of such a vivid description of events in the voice of one of the

191
survivors is very likely to elicit a more negative reaction towards the perpetrators than the
‘objective’ (see Allan 2004) style of (1).

So far, the contrast between these texts has shown a considerable number of differences
that may lead some to wonder whether the texts belong to the same register, but, as
Halliday and Hasan (1976: 24) point out, “Questions like [this] are in themselves
meaningless; we can only ask in what respects the texts, and the situations, are alike and in
what respects they differ.” Hence, the following section will contrast the values of the
context of situation for both texts based on Hasan’s (in Halliday and Hasan 1985/1989;
1999) parameters of field, tenor, and mode.

7.4 Contextual Configuration of ‘hard news’ reporting on the Colombian conflict

Given that the texts under consideration are produced by the same newspaper and with the
same general function, the reporting of violent events in the framework of the internal
Colombian conflict, it is expected that an analysis of contextual features will yield the
same results. However, it is possible, as suggested by Matthiessen (1993) and Hasan
(1999, 2004) to adjust the level of delicacy to identify the aspects that account for such
diversity in texts that are supposed to have very similar functions.
7.4.1 Mode

Mode of discourse or “the nature of contact for the conduct of speaking” (Hasan 1999:232)
includes the dimensions of CHANNEL and MEDIUM 29. Regarding CHANNEL, all texts under
consideration use a graphic channel; there is no visual contact between writer and
audience; the text is monologic, and hence there is no process-sharing. This means the
reader “comes to the text when it is a finished product” (Hasan in Halliday and Hasan
1985/1989). In addition, the addressee, El Tiempo readers in this case, are not known to the
journalist or editor, but conceived as a “stereotype” (Hasan 1999:238), a product of the
preconceived or informed ideas of what the newspaper as an institution fathom their
readers. This type of audience is labelled by Hasan (1999:238) as a “virtual addressee”. In

29Small caps and square brackets are the conventional notation to refer to systems and features of
systems respectively
192
this digital era, knowledge of the audience is crucial for the commercial survival of the
newspaper. The particulars of this aspect will be discussed in the section of Tenor.

As to MEDIUM, I would argue that rather than an either/or option between [written] and
[spoken], it is rather a continuum with more written-like and more spoken-like at the ends.
Features of ‘spoken-likeness’ include greater grammatical intricacy (higher number of
clauses per clause complex) and lower lexical density (number of lexical words per
clause), and the opposite is valid for ‘written-likeness’ (Halliday 2005 [2002]). Although it
is not possible to offer a statistical value for these two aspects, from the examples cited, it
is observable that the reports with structures other than the Nucleus-satellite present, albeit
not consistently, some features of spoken-like texts, especially those organized around
personal narratives for obvious reasons, as seen in (11), and others such as clause complex
8 in (2), for instance. This clause complex consists of three paratactic clauses with very
low lexical density (from 1 to 4 lexical words). This contrasts with clause complex 2 in
example (1), consisting of 2 clauses, one of which hypotactic, with 6 and 9 lexical words
respectively. Clause 2.2 also contains an example of what Hasan (1964) calls “depictive
nominal groups” (underlined below), a metaphorical construal of an event lacking location
in time due to the absence of finite and predicator.

From (2)
8.1. A él le abrieron el vientre, || 8.2. lo degollaron || 8.3. y después le dieron un tiro de
gracia en el rostro. |||
8.1. To him, they opened his abdomen, || 8.2. they slit his throat || 8.3. and then they gave
him a coup de grace (shot him) in the face.|||

From (1)
2.1. La Asociación para la Promoción Social Alternativa Minga denunció || 2.2. que los
paramilitares están violando su compromiso de cese de hostilidades en la zona rural del
municipio del Valle del Guamues (Putumayo).|||
2.1. ‘The Association for Alternative Social Promotion Minga denounced ||2.2. that the
paramilitaries are violating their commitment to the cessation of hostilities in the rural area
of the municipality of Valle del Guamues (Putumayo).’|||

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7.4.2 Tenor

Within the SFL tradition, tenor, or “the nature of social relation relevant to
speaking” (Hasan 1999) has been modeled using two different sets of parameters, the one
in the Hallidayan tradition (Hasan in Halliday and Hasan 1985/1989; 1999), which will be
explored here, and the one from the Sydney school perspective (Martin 1992; Martin and
White 2005). Martin and White’s model includes the dimensions of NEGOTIATION,

APPRAISAL, and INVOLVEMENT as realizations of power and solidarity . Lack of space

prevents a full discussion from the Sydney school perspective, but relevant comments will
be made where necessary.

From the Hallidayan perspective, tenor is modeled as consisting of three dimensions:

AGENT ROLE, SOCIAL RELATION and SOCIAL DISTANCE (Hasan 1985). The first of these
dimensions accounts for who the participants and in what terms they relate to each other.
The relation is then between El Tiempo as an institution and its readership. El Tiempo is
one of the oldest newspapers in Colombia and the one with the largest readership, with
over a million readers everyday and two million on Sundays.(El Tiempo, 2012). It was
founded in 1911 and bought in 1913 by Eduardo Santos, who defined an editorial line
adhered to the ideology of the liberal party, then a minority in congress. The newspaper
became instrumental in the retake of power by the liberal party after 44 years of
conservative ruling (Zapata 2011). Its director himself served as president of Colombia
from 1938 to 1942. During these years, El Tiempo kept an “extreme centrist” position
(Melo 1999) and secured its position as an enormously influential force in Colombian
politics, defining political candidates and advising ruling members of government. The
mid-century exacerbation of political violence between liberals and conservatives, which
spiraled out of control with the assassination of liberal opposition leader Jorge Eliécer
Gaitán in 1948, led to a coup d’etat by General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, initially celebrated
by the general population as an end to the ravaging violence, but arouse suspicion in the
ruling classes, who feared being left out of power. The newspaper was closed from 1955,
accused of being oligarchic, liberal and bourgeois, reappearing in 1958 after the demise of
the dictatorship and the establishment of the “National Front” agreement between the
liberal and conservative parties which consisted on the alternation of power between the

194
parties and the equal distribution of seats in congress, thus ending the partisan violence.
Yet, this arrangement excluded the participation of any other political forces and, in the
absence of opposition, entrenched corruption in the political system, and El Tiempo, was
the ideological voice of the government, attacking all others who dared to defy the new
system (Ayala 2009). Since then, this newspaper’s editorial policy, as well as that of most
of the Colombian press, has been characterized for its lack of criticism of the ruling
government (Melo 2004), where many of its owners have a long tradition of participation.

Regarding the coverage of the conflict, El Tiempo has published a manual for its reporting
which states that victims’ testimonies should be privileged over that of the armed actors
and official spokespeople (CEET 2003). Yet, it seems that some victims are more
important than others. León (2004) indicates that victims of kidnapping, a crime
committed overwhelmingly by the guerrillas mostly (but not exclusively), have a much
stronger presence in the media than those of forced disappearance, mostly committed by
the paramilitaries30. She claims that the reason for this bias is the similarities in social and
ideological alignment between journalists and victims of kidnapping, mostly (but not
exclusively) member of middle and upper middle classes. I would argue that the target
audience of El Tiempo, the middle class urban educated Colombian, is also part of the
equation. By extension, all other guerrilla victims seem to garner not only the attention but
also the solidarity of journalists and audience alike as evidenced in examples (2) to (11).

This ideological alignment with the audience is partly the result of the non-hierarchic
SOCIAL RELATION between readers and the newspaper. Readers’ choice is more likely to be
one that is ‘in tune with’ their values and perception of the world; at the same time, these
beliefs have been created at least partially by the media consumed in their households.
While SOCIAL DISTANCE between the newspaper and their readership is maximal,
marketing analysis provides the newspaper with a well-defined picture of their
demographics, their likes, beliefs and attitudes, allowing a tailor-made presentation of
events.

7.4.3 Field

30A search of El Tiempo database showed ten times as many instances of secuestro ‘kidnapping’
as desaparición forzada ‘forced disappearance’, even when official statistics show the opposite
ratio.
195
Hasan’s (1999) presents a system network for field with a level of delicacy sufficient to
guide this analysis. The first system is that of MATERIAL ACTION, where the selection is
[non-present:absent] since the reports exist independently from any physical activity. The
SPHERE OF ACTION can be analyzed from the perspective of production, where the option is
[specialized] due to the skills and knowledge required to produce a ‘hard news’ report,
especially in the particular case of the Colombian conflict. It was mentioned above that
manuals have been produced to guide the coverage in aspects such as dealing with sources,
which requires balancing the need to obtain information with respecting the victim’s pain.
Reporters of the conflict also need to have knowledge of International Humanitarian Law
and Colombian regulations regarding the publishing of material from the armed actors.
From the consumers’ end, the option [quotidian] characterizes the activity of reading
reports about the conflict in the newspaper.

Regarding the system of VERBAL ACTION, the option is [constitutive], since language is the
main activity of news reporting. This leads to the options of [practical] and [conceptual],
which is the one valid in this case since the texts do not call for any material action as in
the case of a recipe or an instruction manual. From [conceptual] three sets of options stem.
At this point in delicacy is where the differences between the traditional nucleus-satellite
style of reporting and the alternate options described above arise. The first set of options is
the choice between [relation based] and [reflection based]. While [reflection based] seems
to be the obvious choice for both types of reporting since the reports are semiotic
constructs describing “phenomena in the world of experience” (Hasan 1999: 289), the
frequent use of evaluative language and the dialogic style of personal narratives, among
other features of the reports with an alternate structure evokes [relation-based] texts.

The second set of options is the choice between [first order] and [second order] texts.
Example (1) is clearly a [second order] social activity, based solely on the denouncement
made by the NGO, while examples (2) to (11) can be classified as [first order] since they
do not depend on any pre-existing text. The writing of the latter examples must have
required the presence of the journalist in the place of events and interviews to victims and
relevant authorities, as indicated by the El Tiempo manual for the coverage of the conflict

196
(CEET 2003). This is evidenced in the texture of the texts by the inclusion of elements that
could only have been observed by the journalist such as las viejas zapatillas blancas ‘the
old white sneakers’ and su humilde vivienda ‘his humble home’ in (9); that is to say, the
report is told from the point of view of a witness narrator (Friedman 1955), where the
writer can make available to the reader his/her
“thoughts, feelings, and perceptions...he can talk to the various people within the story and can
get their views on matters of concern...he can have interviews with the protagonist himself...he
can draw inferences [emphasis in the original] as to how others are feeling and what they are
thinking” (p. 1174).

Example (12), which is the fourth paragraph of the report in (7) illustrates this point.

(12) Un pequeño de nueve años, vestido con un pantalón viejo, una camisa amarillenta y
raída y botas de caucho, movido por la angustia, relató cómo una guerrillera
degolló a su padre y luego con la ayuda de otro subversivo sacó el cuerpo al patio y
lo incineró delante de sus cinco hijos. El pequeño no entiende por qué la guerrilla
cometió el crimen...
A nine-year old little boy, dressed with an old pair of pants, a ragged yellowish shirt
and gumboots, moved by anguish, narrated how a guerrilla woman slit his father’s
throat, and then with the help of another subversive took the body to the backyard and
set it on fire in front of his five children. The little boy does not understand why the
guerrilla committed the crime...

This is a contrast with the reporter voice mode of hard news identified by Martin and
White (2005), where tokens of observed affect (underlined in the example) are present but
very limited. Personal narratives, as (11), are obviously another example of [first order]
texts. The question is then, what is the motivation behind the editorial decision of
mobilizing a journalist, with all the economic and safety implications, to cover a particular
event while others of a similar level of violence are limited to the summary of an internet
release (i.e. (1))? The statistically significant difference between the guerrilla and the
paramilitaries reports in this regard suggests a dichotomy in the treatment of guerrilla and
paramilitary victims (see García 2008, 2012, 2013).

197
Taking the option of [informing] and [narrating], hard news reports are considered to be in
the later category since they recount past events. Yet, there is a clear difference between the
recount of events in (1) and (2). The chains of material events and participants are
remarkably shorter in the orbital structure text. The scarcity of material processes reveals
lack of detail in the presentation of events, and the short chains of participants, who are
never mentioned by name, reinforces the point made before. This feature overlap with the
analysis of tenor from Martin and White’s perspective (2005). These authors, following
Poynton (1984), list ‘naming’ as a feature of the system of involvement realizing solidarity.
This means that the lexicogrammatical realization of participants with proper names,
especially short ones, is a manifestation of solidarity. An example of this is the report
source of examples (9) and (10). Initially, the boy is named in full as Fabio Alexander
Urbano Portilla, and as the text unfolds and more information is given about the
participant, the journalist opts for referring to his/her character using his first name only.
(13) is the seventh out of the nine sentences of this report.

(13) Todas las tardes, entre las 4 y las 6, los vecinos se habían acostumbrado a ver al grupo
de menores practicar en la cancha del barrio, ubicada detrás de la casa de la familia de
Fabio.
Every afternoon, between 4 and 6, the neighbors had become used to seeing the group
of children practice in the neighborhoods’s field, located behind Fabio’s family home.

For the readers, it is easier to connect with a participant who is not only named, but also
described in detail, including aspects which are not directly relevant to the events being
reported. This feature is also a manifestation of the more delicate choice [recounting:
personal] stemming from the [narrating] sub-system. The angle adopted by the journalist in
this text and others such as personal narratives focuses on the experiences of one person,
rather than of a nameless group of individuals, allows readers to empathize with the victim.

7.5 Conclusion

The analysis of texture and structure in El Tiempo corpus of news reports of violent acts in
the frame of the Colombian conflict has revealed important differences in the treatment of
guerrilla and paramilitary victims. While the nucleus-satellite structure is significantly

198
more frequent in the sub-corpus of reports paramilitaries actions, in the guerrilla sub-
corpora, alternative structures such as spatiotemporal organization, journalistic character
and personal narratives are more common. In addition to the structure, these types of texts
differ with the nucleus satellite reports in the high frequency of evaluative language used, a
crucial differentiating factor of ‘hard news’. These different organizational patterns are also
evident in the texture analysis, which reveals longer identity chains of participants,
similarity chains of acts of violence, and a higher level of interaction between the two in
the guerrilla sub-corpora.

These textual differences are a result in variations of values in the contextual configuration.
Regarding mode, alternative structures appear to have a higher level of ‘spoken-likeness’,
especially in personal narratives. As to tenor, the ideological orientation of El Tiempo and
its audience may explain the tendency to show more solidarity to guerrilla than to
paramilitary victims. This is evidenced in the more delicate values of field, particularly in
the selections of VERBAL ACTION. Texts with alternative patterns of organization select a
[first order] option and tend to adopt a [personal] angle, while the opposite is valid for the
orbital structure texts, more frequent in paramilitary reports. The personal, narrative style
is more likely to arouse feelings of solidarity in the readers and therefore a higher level of
rejection towards the perpetrators, the guerrillas. The alienation of the paramilitaries
victims not only legitimizes this type of violence, but also perpetuates the injustice which
is the fuel for this seemingly never-ending conflict.
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Appendix 7.1 Instances of Judgment and Affect per sub-corpus.

205
Chapter 8

Conclusions

1. Introduction

The question guiding this thesis arose from the bewilderment and frustration at the political
state of affairs in Colombia in the first decade of the century. The paramilitaries, engaged
in peace talks with the government, continued to murder peasants, community leaders,
academics, journalists and human rights activists at practically the same rate as before the
negotiation process (CCJ, 2007) while their leaders received standing ovations in congress.
The legislation passed to encourage the demobilisation of their troops provided for a
maximum sentence of 8 years for crimes that included the massacre and forced
disappearance of thousands of Colombians. The legislation’s name change from “Justice,
Truth and Reparation” to “Justice and Peace” reveals that the conditions of confession of
the crimes and economic compensation to the victims were not to be enforced. The few
voices in the opposition were accused of being Farc aides, “terrorists in civilian
clothes” (El Tiempo, 2007) by the President himself and were subject to illegal wire-
tapping by the DAS (Spanish acronym), the central organism of intelligence. Yet, the
incumbent, Alvaro Uribe, enjoyed popularity rates of 84% due to his military victories
against the guerrillas (El Tiempo, 2008) and was seeking to change the Constitution once
again to be elected for the third time. It seemed that defeating FARC justified any
wrongdoings, including paramilitary violence, which, even with a 75% reduction in
massacres during the negotiation period, still doubled the body count of the guerrillas
(CCJ, 2007).

In a nutshell, a considerable number of Colombians believe paramilitary violence are

actually ‘self-defence forces’, as they proclaim themselves, and a justifiable response to
guerrilla violence (Ipsos-Napoleón Franco, 2007; Urtak, 2010). Considering that up to
90% of Colombians have not experienced the conflict directly (ICRC, 2009), examining
the mass media, the press specifically, as a potential source for the dissemination of this
207
ideology about the conflict was considered relevant. A 300,000+ word corpus of ‘hard
news’ stories on violent acts committed by guerrillas and paramilitaries during both peace
negotiation periods (1998-2002; 2002-2006) was compiled. The sources selected were the
four major broadsheet papers from the four largest cities in Colombia. The purpose was to
determine whether there were any differences in the reporting of actions by these two
groups and in these two time periods. The consistency of the results of the various analyses
carried out makes a strong argument for the claim that while guerrilla violence is
highlighted and strongly condemned, paramilitary violence tends to be muted through well
defined patterns of lexicogrammatical selections. The following section consolidates the
results presented in the previous chapters.

8.2 Summary and interpretation of results

In light of Whorf’s (1956) ‘fashions of speaking’ and ‘configurative rapport’, it has been
argued throughout this thesis that, in order to demonstrate a particular ideology, it is
necessary to establish the prevalence of a set of linguistic patterns in a representative
corpus. The patterns identified strongly suggest a mystification of paramilitary violence
through various lexicogrammatical features that diminish the perpetrator’s responsibility,
the specificity of the violence, and the victim’s visibility. Based on the analyses presented
in chapters 3 to 6, Table 8.2.1 lists the linguistic features through which this ideology is
grammaticised for all four newspapers in both time periods. A (P) indicates the statement is
valid for the paramilitaries sub-corpora, and a (G) for the guerrillas. A split cell indicates
there is a variation between the time periods with the result on the right corresponding to
the second period (2002-2006).

At first glance, it is obvious that lexicogrammatical features mystifying violence are more
frequent in all of the paramilitaries sub-corpora in every newspaper. In fact, of the 12
features identified, the paramilitaries surpass the guerrillas in at least 8 of them in every
newspaper in both time periods. The first two items are based on the result of the analysis
of van Leeuwen’s representation of social actors introduced in chapter 3 and applied in
depth in chapter 6. For this study, indifferentiated forms are those that do not allow the
reader to identify to which of the illegal groups the perpetrators belong (i.e. the armed

208
group, hooded men, criminals, etc). These are more frequent 31 in the paramilitaries’ sub-
corpora. Furthermore, the most frequent processes of violence, asesinar 'to murder' and
matar 'to kill' collocate significantly more frequently with these forms of representation.
That is to say, it is much more likely to read hombres armados asesinaron a 10 campesinos
‘armed men murdered 10 peasants’ than paramilitares asesinaron a 10 campesinos 'the
paramilitaries murdered 10 peasants'. Likewise, the dynamism analysis, also explained in
chapters 3 and 6, shows that differentiated forms collocate more often with non-material
processes than with material ones, especially relational. An example of this is los
responsables del crimen serían al parecer las Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, AUC
‘those responsible for the crime would apparently be the United Self-defence forces of
Colombia, AUC’. Notice the high modalisation of the process, which is the feature
identified in item 5. In addition, nominalisations that indicate the perpetrator of the crime
such as Masacre de FARC ‘FARC massacre’ or asesinatos de las AUC ‘AUC murders’ are
less frequent in the paramilitaries’ reports. The comparatively low frequency of negative
evaluative language such as brutal or cruel adds to the construal of paramilitaries as minor
agents of violence when compared to the guerrillas.

Regarding process specificity, the results of the analysis of the construal of death,
discussed in depth in chapter 5, need to be examined taking into consideration the
differences in the type of violence being reported. First of all, while in the second period
there was a reduction in the number of crimes committed by both groups, the paramilitaries
were still responsible for at least twice the number of deaths than the guerrillas. This makes
the reversal in the frequency of the use of asesinar ‘to murder’, matar ‘to kill’ and morir
‘to die’ in three of the newspapers hard to explain. Secondly, the use of extending or
enhancing processes (i.e. perder la vida ‘to lose one’s life’) and middle voice (morir ‘to
die’) to construe killing is explainable in the guerrillas’ corpus due to the high number of
reports about terrorist activities using explosives. A construction like una bomba asesinó a
10 personas ‘a bomb murdered 10 people’ is ungrammatical; thus, middle voice
constructions such as 10 personas murieron en una explosión ‘10 people died in an
explosion’ are preferred. Yet, in the paramilitaries’ case, murder is the common modus

31When figures are based on the whole corpus, frequencies were normalised per 10,000 words
using the formula: raw frequencies/corpus size*10,000.
209
operandi. Hence, a construction such as 10 personas cayeron en una incursión ‘10 people
fell in an incursion’ is a very incongruent rendering of events.

Table 8.2.1 Lexicogrammatical patterns in the reporting of the conflict (Guerrilla vs.
Paramilitaries)

1998-2002 | 2002-2006
Lexicogrammatical features
Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo

1. more frequent indifferentiated forms P P P P

2. more frequent indifferentiated, implicit

perpetrator + asesinar murder/matar kill P P P P

3. higher percentage of perpetrator + non-

material processes P P P P

perpetrator’s 4. lower percentage of perpetrator +

responsibility elaborating process + human goal P G P G P P

5. more frequent nominalisation with

occluded perpetrator P P P P

6. more frequent low certainty modal

expressions + perpetrator P P G P P

7. less frequent tokens of negative judgment P P P P

8. less frequent instances of asesinar ‘to

murder’, matar ‘to kill’ and morir ‘to die’ G G P G P G P

process 9. more metaphors of killing as material

impact enhancing/extending processes> G P P G P P G

10. more frequent construal of death in

middle voice G P G P G P G

victim’s
11. victim as maleficiary P G P P P G
visibility
12. less frequent tokens of negative affect G P P G P P G

Regarding process specificity, the results of the analysis of the construal of death,
discussed in depth in chapter 5, need to be examined taking into consideration the
differences in the type of violence being reported. First of all, while in the second period
there was a reduction in the number of crimes committed by both groups, the paramilitaries
were still responsible for at least twice the number of deaths than the guerrillas. This makes
the reversal in the frequency of the use of asesinar ‘to murder’, matar ‘to kill’ and morir
‘to die’ in three of the newspapers hard to explain.
210
With some material extending and enhancing processes, the victims occupy the participant
role of maleficiary, rather than goal. This moves them away from the experiential center of
the clause, diminishing their degree of participanthood (Halliday and Matthiessen, 1999) or
‘affectedness’ in this case. That is to say, they appear to be less impacted by the process.
Examples of this are processes such as dar muerte ‘give death to’ or quitar la vida ‘take
the life’, which are more frequent in 6 out of the 8 paramilitaries’ sub-corpora. In addition,
the feelings of the victims such as horror ‘horror’, miedo ‘fear’, dolor ‘pain’ and their
behavioural manifestations such as llanto ‘crying’ or gritos ‘screams’ are also less frequent
in the paramilitaries sub-corpora. These two features make it more difficult for the reader
to empathise with the victims, who are often characterised as being guerrilla aides, and
therefore deserving their fate (Jaramillo et al, 2004).

Having established a clear difference between the reporting of guerrilla and paramilitary,
the question is whether this trend accentuated during the second period under study
(2002-2006), and the results strongly suggest that this is the case. It is important to
remember that peace negotiations with the paramilitaries started in July 2003 after an
apparent ‘cease of hostilities’ which was said to begin in November 2012. As mentioned
above, statistics show that despite a sharp decrease in the number of massacres, their total
number of victims still exceeded that of the guerrillas 2 to 1. Table 8.2.2 compares the
results of the paramilitaries corpus across time periods. A (1) indicates the statement is
valid for the first time period (1998-2002), and a (2) for the second one (2002-2006).

This table shows that in every newspaper, lexicogrammatical features mystifying violence
were more frequent in the paramilitaries sub-corpora of the second period (P2). Hence,
perpetrators were presented more obliquely, more metaphorical forms of ‘killing’ were
used, and victims were even less visible. The number of features presenting an increase in
this period ranges from 7 to 10 (out of 12) in each newspaper.

Table 8.2.1 Lexicogrammatical patterns in the reporting of paramilitary actions (1998-2002

vs. 2002-2006)

211
 Lexicogrammatical features
Colombiano Heraldo País Tiempo

1. more frequent indifferentiated forms 2 2 2 2

2. more frequent indifferentiated, implicit

perpetrator + asesinar murder/matar kill 2 2 2 2

3. higher percentage of perpetrator + non-

material processes 2 2 2 2

perpetrator’s 4. lower percentage of perpetrator +

responsibility elaborating process + human goal 1 1 2 2

5. more frequent nominalisation with

occluded perpetrator 2 2 2 2

6. more frequent low certainty modal

expressions + perpetrator 1 1 2 2

7. less frequent tokens of negative judgment 2 2 1 1

8. less frequent instances of asesinar

murder/ matar kill and morir ‘to die’ 1 2 2 2

process 9. more frequent metaphors of killing as

specificity material enhancing/extending processes> 1 1 2 2

10. more frequent construal of death in

middle voice 1 2 2 2

11. more frequent instances of victim as

victim’s maleficiary 2 1 2 2
visibility
12. less frequent tokens of negative affect 2 2 1 1

Up to this point, the focus of the analysis on the lexicogrammatical stratum may attract
criticism for not taking into account how texts work as a whole, or in technical terms, their
logogenetic patterns (Halliday & Matthiessen, 1999). The initial finding about
paramilitaries’ news reports being on average significantly shorter than the guerrilla’s
suggests that these may unfold differently, leading to a closer look at their texture and
structure (Halliday & Hasan, 1985/89). Although exploratory in nature, Chapter 7 shows
how the typical nucleus satellite structure (Iedema et al, 1994) of ‘hard news’ is competing
with other more ‘colourful’ text structure alternatives, more reminiscent of a literary
narrative than a news report. The latter were significantly more frequent in the guerrilla
sub-corpora from El Tiempo. The examples from the guerrilla corpus unfold in a fashion
that allows for the detailed construal of violence following a spatio-temporal organisation
and/or construing the victim as a character with thoughts, feelings, and a life before and
212
after the event reported. Meanwhile, the example from the paramilitaries’ sub-corpora
backgrounds violence by building a strong chain of verbal processes, as opposed to the
chain of tokens of violence, containing nominalisations occluding the perpetrators. This
reporting style is also observable in El Colombiano, where they reach up to 40% of the
texts. In El País and El Heraldo, the nucleus satellite structure is dominant with over 80%
of texts classified in this category. A determining factor for the selection of the alternative
reporting styles is the presence of the journalist in the place of events, but these two
newspapers relied heavily on information from press agencies, probably due to economic
or logistic constraints. In these conditions, the deployment of techniques such as personal
narratives or visual imagery is simply not possible.

This remarkable difference between the reporting of the paramilitaries’ crimes and those of
the guerrillas reveals an ideological orientation quite opposite to the adherence to the
democratic values these newspapers profess in their mission statements (Fonnegra, 1984).
This is no surprise since in a so-called democracy, it is not possible to support illegal
groups who commit serious crimes against humanity openly. What seems evident is that
the guidelines for the coverage of the conflict, which highlight the ethical duty of siding
with the victims (Restrepo, 2003; CEET, 2003) apply mostly to guerrilla crimes.

When questioned about the failure in identifying the perpetrators in the reporting of the
San Carlos massacre in January 2003 committed by the paramilitaries, El Colombiano’s
ombudsman argued that the scene of events are
“settings where the war’s fog reigns. There, nothing is logical, nothing responds to common
sense, nothing is explainable in the light of reason...There, people are terrified, beaten by
suffering, angry or desperate...Therefore, the reality that we are trying to show is
slippery” (Restrepo, 2003: 2A).

Apart from the point about the victims’ pain, I would argue that justifying the concealment
of the perpetrators in “the war’s fog” is an untenable position for a news institution, whose
mission is precisely to inform with veracity (El Colombiano, 2003). Vallejo (1999), the
former ombudsman in the same newspaper, had stated previously
“the excesses which any of the armed actors commits must, then, be denounced, wherever they
come from...In an armed conflict such as the Colombian one, the press cannot be neutral.
Journalists must take a position in favour of life, human dignity, respect for human rights and
condemnation to all forms of violence”. (p. 6A)

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The second point worthy of attention from the ombudsman justification is the framing of
the conflict as senseless violence. Although this aspect certainly requires further
exploration, a claim can be made about the illogicality of the conflict as a common motif
through the corpus, based on the frequency of tokens of negative appreciation:
composition: complexity (Martin & White, 2005) or comprehensibility (Bednarek, 2006).
That is to say, the conflict or the ‘war’, as it is often phrased, or its manifestations, the
attacks, massacres, and murders, are often described with epithets such as ‘absurd’ and
‘irrational’ or with mental processes with negative adjuncts (i.e. el pequeño no entiende
por qué la guerrilla cometió el crimen ‘the little boy does not understand why the guerrilla
committed the crime’).

The sole statement of qualifying these acts of violence as irrational or nonpurposive defies
logic. The massacres are not committed by an angry mob, but by trained and organised
armies with sufficient funding and logistics to import and distribute weapons, avoid the
law, and carry out highly planned military operations. Construing violence as senseless
conveniently conceals the legal and illegal economic interests at stake. Rather than
senseless or illogical, the massacres and selective murders are part of a methodic plan to
exterminate anyone who constitutes an obstacle to those in power, whether they be drug
lords, land owners, or multinational corporations. Chapter 5 explained the role of the
multinational fruit company Chiquita Brands in the expansion of the paramilitary
movement in the Urabá region. Likewise, the Drummond coal company and Coca-Cola
Amatil have been investigated for their role in the murder of several trade unionists by the
paramilitaries (Romero, 2011). Peasant organisations in the east of Antioquia have
denounced the massacres in this region, as the one in San Carlos mentioned above, obey to
their opposition to the building of several hydroelectric projects owned by international
corporations (ACANTIOQUIA, 2010). The attitudes towards the conflict would certainly
change if it were public knowledge that the reason behind the bloodshed is the bottom line
of local and foreign investors.

It is beyond the scope of this thesis to establish a cause-effect relationship between the
reporting and the perception of the conflict since, among other reasons, the press is only
one of the types of discourses that may influence such perception; in addition to other
media, these include governmental, educational, corporate, and private discourses. Yet,

214
given the agenda-setting power of the press, which is based on the premise that “mass
media do not tell people what to think, but what to think about” (Edelstein, 1993:85), it is
possible, at the very least, to establish a positive association between the ideology spread
by the press and Colombians’ views on the agents of the conflict. The minimum
responsibility attached to the paramilitaries in the print news is consistent with the attitude
of tolerance and/or indifference towards paramilitary human rights violations during the
negotiation period. Despite the numerous denouncements from the United Nations, the
OAS32 , the CIDH33, the Ombudsman, and many NGO’s (CCJAR, 2006), the response from
the government and from society in general was null, as evidenced in the completion of the
demobilisation process. This differs greatly from the abrupt end to the peace dialogues
with the guerrillas, which were cancelled amongst the public outrage at the guerrillas
constant attacks to public officers and the civilian population in general. In addition, the
members of the congress imprisoned for their paramilitary connections managed to get
their relatives elected for a new term in congress, retaining political control, and 13 out of
29 members of congress for the ‘Social Unity Party’, founded by the President, were being
investigated for the same reasons at the time of the election (Congreso Visible, 2010).

With such serious repercussions, it might be expected that this research contained a
prescriptive component about the reporting of the conflict. In that regard, I would have
little to add to what several media organisations have already stated. For instance, CINEP34
(2008), Media for the peace (2009), and FLIP35 (León, 2004) to name a few, have
published a variety of documents advocating for more victim visibility, the responsible use
of a variety of sources, and the contextualisation of events and analysis of the causes of the
conflict. El Tiempo itself, from its position as the most widely read and influential
newspaper in the country, published specific guidelines for the coverage of the conflict
aimed not only at its own journalists but to all the Colombian media. Some of these
guidelines include (CEET, 2003):

32 Organisation of American States

33 Inter American Court of Human Rights
34 Center for Research and Popular Education (Spanish Acronym)
35 Foundation for the Freedom of the Press (Spanish Acronym)
215
 Regardless of their personal inclinations and the newspaper’s editorial position, its journalists
must undertake the commitment of informing with total independence, rigour and veracity
about the events they either witness or can verify by their own means.

Despite the increasing degradation of the conflict, the journalistic information cannot reduce it
(the conflict) to a warlike or criminal confrontation, but must also attend to its underlying
causes.

...When the civilian population become the target of military action, they must be the object of
special informative attention from the journalist. (p. 1-2)

The manual also highlights the importance of “giving a voice and a face to the
victim...over the testimony of the armed actors or the official authorities” (p.3). Thus, the
alternative patterns identified such as personal narrative and journalistic character
identified in chapter 7 can be said to fulfill this requirement, yet in the report of the
paramilitary massacre, the victims not only remain voiceless but also nameless, even when
this information was available from the only source consulted. The issue is not then the
lack of knowledge about how to cover the conflict, but the differential treatment applied to
the victims of each group, and the lack of in-depth analysis of its causes, as explained
above.

The difficulties to address these issues in the Colombian context were explained in Chapter
1. Newspapers may be oriented in principle to favour this biased kind of reporting because
of their own interests and ideology, or they may be economically constrained by the
withdrawal of advertising from the companies with interests at stake, or worse, they, as an
institution, or its journalists, as individuals, may be threatened and indeed attacked because
of its denouncements. History shows that violent groups in Colombia are more powerful
than the united efforts of an independent press. In 1986, Guillermo Cano, director of the
newspaper El Espectador, was murdered by hitmen at the service of Pablo Escobar, the
late drug lord. The major newspapers decided to create the Pool de prensa ‘Press pool’, a
national investigative unit devoted to denounce the influence of drug money in politics and
business. In response, the mobsters threatened the companies which advertised in these
newspapers, exploded a car bomb in front of El Espectador headquarters and forced
several journalists into exile (Rondón, 2006). The paramilitaries have followed in the steps
of their predecessors, being responsible for an indeterminate number of threats, several
cases of torture, and the murder of at least 21 journalists (FLIP, 2009). Likewise, the
guerrillas are responsible for at least 18 murders and several kidnappings (ibid). In this
environment, a reporting of the conflict that is not only accurate, but that exposes the
216
interests behind the crimes may well be equivalent to a death sentence, which leads many
journalists to opt for self-censorship.

It is important to acknowledge, though, the special reports about the paramilitary atrocities
published by the press between 2007 and 2008. El Heraldo, from Barranquilla, published a
13 special report Sunday series titled Contra el olvido ‘Against oblivion’ about the most
representative cases of paramilitary violence on the Atlantic coast. The reports, exceeding
the thousand words each, present a background for the events, tell the story from the side
of the victims, and elaborate on the long-term human consequences of the crimes. El País
reconstrued the arrival of the paramilitaries in the South Pacific coast area and the
bloodshed it generated in Tras el rastro paramilitar en el Valle ‘After the paramilitary trace
in el Valle’. El Tiempo, from Bogotá, followed the grim task of the forensic units looking
for the mass graveyards where the paramilitaries buried their victims and the drama of
their relatives looking for closure in Colombia busca a sus muertos ‘Colombia looks for its
dead’. These reports were produced as a result of the paramilitaries’ confession as a
requirement for obtaining light prison sentences. Their impact cannot be measured , but
may have been diminished due to the lapse between the event and the publication. In a
country with new tragedies every day, it may be hard to be moved by one that occurred
five to ten years earlier.

Even if the implications of this piece of research for journalism are quite limited given the
difficulties of the context, there are some fields where it may potentially have an impact, as
discussed in the following section.

8.3 Theoretical, Methodological and Practical Implications

From the perspective of a critical discourse analysis (CDA henceforth), this thesis is a
contribution in a number of respects. The first is in making visible a Latin American issue
for the English-speaking world of academia. Although CDA has been widely popular in
Latin America for over two decades, (Van Dijk, 1997), not much of this work has been
published in English, probably due to the language barrier. This observation is by no means
a sign of imperialistic academicism, but an expectation for our issues to transcend our
borders and for our analysts to engage actively not only with scholars from Europe, the US

217
or Australia, but also from the Middle East, Africa or Asia, with whom we might find
contextual commonalities that may prove mutually useful. Thus, the social issue selected,
the Colombian conflict, is one that has not been discussed, to the best of my knowledge, in
the English speaking journals of the field. It aims to add to the increasing (Carranza, 1999;
Berardi, 2001; Oteiza & Pinto, 2008; Bonnin, 2009; Oteiza & Merino, 2012), but still
limited body of work when compared to that from other regions of the developing world.

Regarding the theoretical framework, this work is firmly grounded on SFL theory, which
contends that it is in the grammar where “we can appreciate the deeper ideological content
of the discourse” (Halliday, 1987[2003]: 126). In order to examine the grammar for
ideological content, it was necessary to develop descriptions to account for the relevant
typological differences between English and Spanish. In addition to the ER-participant role
explicitness system and the expansion in delicacy of the processes of ‘death’ and ‘killing’
discussed in Chapters 4 and 6.The analyses presented focus heavily on the experiential
meanings of the clause, with some exploratory work on interpersonal (appraisal, epistemic
modality) and textual (cohesive harmony) features. It is important to note that an aspect
that could have used further exploration is the classification of process types in Spanish.
The categories seem to have been transferred from the English description without
effectively identifying the reactances that differentiate each type. Delving into aspects such
as theme or subjecthood, where consensus has not been reached (Quiroz, 2008; Lavid et al,
2010; Moyano, 2010), would have required more typological research, which would have
been too ambitious within the scope of a doctoral research. Nonetheless, the range of
analytical tools applied and the level of delicacy of the analysis situate this work apart
from those CDA studies that have attracted criticism for being rather speculative in nature.
As Halliday (2003[2001]: 279) points out, “not all comparable efforts at critical analysis
are equally successful or convincing; some writers barely engage with the text at all, and
give little linguistic evidence for the interpretation that is being proposed”.

This type of criticism concerns not only the type of analysis applied, but the size of the
corpus to which it is applied. The size of the corpus (300,000+ words, 554 texts across an 8
year period) seems to be representative enough to make claims about the newspapers’
ideology about the conflict. Corpus linguistics analyses such as frequency lists served as a
starting point to guide the more detailed exploration of the corpus. An example of the

218
results yielded by this methodology is the analysis of the clausal configuration of the
process asesinar ‘to murder’, which ranked as the highest lexical verb in many of the sub-
corpora frequency lists. With a combination of results obtained from universal and
selective samples and quantitative results based on qualitative analysis, it was possible to
demonstrate consistency in the lexicogrammatical patterning mystifying paramilitary
violence.

Having explained the limitations of this work to have any significant effect on the
reporting of the conflict or the practice of journalism in general, the task is then to position
it as more than just an academic exercise. After all, the systemic-functional theory on
which this work is based aims to be “a problem-solving enterprise...which can be brought
to bear on everyday activities and tasks...an appliable linguistics” (Halliday, 2006: 19). The
problem to solve then is, in my opinion, not news production, but news reception. Despite
the tremendous bias demonstrated in this work, Colombian media enjoy high levels of
credibility (Observatorio de Medios, 2009). This suggests deficiencies in critical reading
skills. In fact, Colombia ranks 52 among 65 countries in the PISA 36 reading skills test
(PISA, 2009) with almost 50% of students failing it. Barletta et al (2002) found that only
2% of students of one of the top universities in the country demonstrated some level of
critical reading skills. In my view, this work could be a contribution to solving this issue by
integrating the analytical tools provided into language programs aimed at developing
critical reading skills. García (2008) reports a successful attempt in training tertiary
students in SFL concepts to develop this type of skills.

Achieving higher linguistic standards is an imperative task since, as Halliday (1993:4)

points out, “when children learn language, they are not simply engaging in one kind of
learning among many: rather, they are learning the foundation of learning itself”. The
inability to read critically has repercussions that extend beyond the personal realm. Our
decisions as citizens and consumers are largely based on media output. Accepting their
portrayal of events at face value as ‘objective’ prevents the construction of an inclusive and
democratic society.

36 OECD Programme for International Student Assessment

219
Coda
During the 12 million people march against Farc on February 4, 2008, protesters wore t-
shirts with this slogan: ‘In my family there are 3200 kidnapped’, referring to those in held
in captivity by Farc, some of whom had been held for over 10 years. Embracing the drama
of the victims of kidnapping as our own is, in my opinion, a very positive step in the
solution of the conflict. In fact, public rejectionof this crime was a determining factor in
the liberation of the last soldiers and police officers in their power.

Paramilitary victims, including most of 4 million displaced, over 150,000 murdered, and
20,000 disappeared, whose bodies for the most part are unlikely to ever be found, have not
been offered this massive demonstration of solidarity. Rather they are treated with distrust,
disdain or simply indifference. Thus, despite the completion of the demobilisation process
and the extradition of the paramilitary leaders, community activists fighting for their return
to their land continue to be killed amidst society’s mutism.

In asking about the progress of my thesis, my mother would ask ¿Cómo están tus muertos?
‘How are your dead?’. For me, the operative word is tus, i.e. ‘your’. Little Helen, who
died of thirst in the arms of a neighbor who tried desperately to save her with her saliva
while hiding in a bush at 35 ºC; Eudaldo, the mayor who pleaded the president to save him
from the politicians sitting by his side; Fabio, the promising football star who lost both of
his legs in an attack with explosives, and Alfredo, the wrongfully imprisoned sociologist
working with the displaced communities, and the only one I had the honour to meet, these
and many others, whose stories are seared in my memory, have become my dead. It is not
till they become ours, of all Colombians, that we will start to walk in the path toward
peace and reconciliation.

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228
Appendices

1. Sample text from El Colombiano, April 27, 2002 - CG1_2002.04.27_uraba

Retrieved from CINEP database

229
2. Sample text from El Heraldo, August 23, 1999 - HP1_1999.08.23_gabarra
Photographed at El Heraldo’s Archive in Barranquilla.

230
3. Sample text from El País, July 10, 1999 - PG1_1999.07.10_gutierrez
Photographed at the Luis Angel Arango National Library in Bogotá.

231
4. Sample text from El Tiempo, July 10, 1999 - PG1_1999.07.10_gutierrez
Retrieved from http://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-1304250

232
5. El Colombiano Guerrilla 1998-2002

HEADLINES CG1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 Fue una equivocación de los alzados en armas 568 20/10/98CG1_1998.10.20_machuca
2 Asalto de las Farc dejó 36 muertos 694 31/12/98CG1_1998.12.31_diamante2
3 Un Diamante en pedazos 950 31/12/98CG1_1998.12.31_diamante
4 Secuestro masivo en la Casa de Dios 843 31/05/99CG1_1999.05.31_iglesia
5 Farc reivindica matanza de Barranca 420 04/06/99CG1_1999.06.04_barranca
6 “Plomo pa’ que respeten a las Farc” 979 10/06/99CG1_1999.06.10_plomo
Puerto Lleras, en ruinas y en poder de las
7 926 27/07/99CG1_1999.07.27_puertolleras
Farc
Nariño madrugó a llorar sus muertos bajo las
8 1094 02/08/99CG1_1999.08.02_nariño
ruinas
Incierta suerte de 26 policías que combatieron
9 614 31/07/00CG1_2000.07.31_arboleda
con las Farc
10 Carmen de Atrato, sigue la infamia 669 07/08/00CG1_2000.08.07_carmendeatrato
11 “Soldados murieron como héroes”: Ejército 611 19/09/00CG1_2000.09.19_heroes
12 En el piso fue asesinado Diego Turbay Cote 620 28/12/00CG1_2000.12.28_turbaycote
Continúa persecución de los grupos armados
13 422 03/02/01CG1_2001.02.03_sanrafael
a campesinos
14 Farc arrasaron La Caucana 659 16/04/01CG1_2001.04.16_caucana
15 Los civiles ponen las víctimas en el Alto Sinú 479 30/05/01CG1_2001.05.30_sinu
16 Muertos 25 campesinos en Córdoba 493 01/06/01CG1_2001.06.01_tierralta
Los campesinos masacrados en Tierralta
17 402 02/06/01CG1_2001.06.02_tierralta2
serían más de 80
18 Armados “motilan” a Granada 591 19/07/01CG1_2001.07.19_granada
El bloque oriental atacó la población de
19 734 13/09/01CG1_2001.09.13_tame
Tame, Arauca
20 Incursión guerrillera en Córdoba 237 24/11/01CG1_2001.11.24_tierralta
21 Al finalizar tregua, Eln atacó en Cocorná 457 07/01/02CG1_2002.01.07_cocorna
22 Secuestro masivo de Farc en Bahía Solano 288 17/01/02CG1_2002.01.17_bahiasolano
23 Autoridades en alerta por ataques de las Farc 750 18/01/02CG1_2002.01.18_ataques
24 La guerrilla mantiene su arremetida 628 22/01/02CG1_2002.01.22_arremetida
Explosión de bomba en Bogotá dejó cinco
25 551 25/01/02CG1_2002.01.25_bicibomba
muertos
Nuevos ataques de la guerrilla dejan 6
26 416 05/02/02CG1_2002.02.04_salamina
muertos
27 Jornada de terror del Eln en Arauca 651 11/02/02CG1_2002.02.11_arauca
Presuntos guerrilleros desviaron avión y
28 327 16/02/02CG1_2002.02.16_avion
secuestraron al Senador Gechem
29 Guerrilla mata a tres civiles en ambulancia 410 22/03/02CG1_2002.03.22_ambulancia
30 Masacre de Farc estremeció a Urabá 658 27/04/02CG1_2002.04.27_uraba
Average number of words 604.7
Total number of words 18141

233
6. El Colombiano Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (CP1)

HEADLINES CP1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 Ataques armados dejaron seis muertos 246 15/08/98CP1_1998.08.15_sanvicente
2 El silencio oculta el temor y el dolor en Anorí 792 22/10/98CP1_1998.10.22_anori
3 Otro recorrido de muerte por Yolombó 642 21/11/98CP1_1998.11.21_yolombo
Ya son 50 los muertos por autodefensas en
4 815 11/01/99CP1_1999.01.11_antioquia
Antioquia
5 En Barranca lloran por los desaparecidos. 716 03/04/99CP1_1999.03.04_barranca
6 Siguen muertes selectivas en San Pablo 559 20/04/99CP1_1999.04.20_sanpablo
7 Grupo armado asesinó a siete personas. 601 12/05/99CP1_1999.05.12._alejandria
8 En Zambrano, éxodo campesino tras masacre 412 19/08/99 CP1_1999.08.19_zambrano
9 Incursión de las Autodefensas dejó 36 muertos 846 23/08/99CP1_1999.08.23_lagabarra
10 San Carlos, solo y olvidado por el Estado 812 12/11/99CP1_1999.12.11_sancarlos
11 Ocho muertos en Casanare 132 03/01/00CP1_2000.03.01_casanare
12 Con baile se cerró masacre de El Salado 826 24/02/00CP1_2000.02.24_elsalado
13 “Los vivos quedamos horrorizados” 829 27/02/00CP1_2000.02.27_elsalado2
14 San Carlos ayer olía a muerte 962 02/05/00CP1_2000.05.02_sanpablo
15 Incursión armada dejó diez muertos en Urrao 734 02/05/00CP1_2002.02.05_urrao
16 Plagio masivo en Barbosa 192 13/10/00CP1_2000.10.13_barbosa
17 Indignación por masacre de 11 civiles en Barbosa 902 14/10/00CP1_2000.10.14_barbosa2
18 Ataque a desplazados de Ituango 550 02/11/00CP1_2000.11.02_ituango
19 Cuatro muertos por incursión de las Auc 114 19/12/00CP1_2000.12.19_cisneros
20 Otra masacre en Yolombó 985 04/01/01CP1_2001.01.04_yolombo
21 Guatapé y El Peñol, en la ruta de las masacres 504 06/01/01CP1_2001.01.06_guatape
22 Matanza en Titiribí 211 17/01/01 CP1_2001.01.17_titiribi
Matanzas por el dominio territorial en Valle y
23 241 31/01/01 CP1_2001.01.31_quilichao
Cauca.
24 Otra vez, terror en Machuca. 364 14/02/01 CP1_2001.02.14_machuca
25 Masacre silenciosa en Oriente. 531 20/03/01CP1_2001.03.20_oriente
26 Ocho muertos en San Carlos y Granada 164 24/03/01CP1_2001.03.24_sancarlos
27 Temen masacre de 30 campesinos en Nariño 309 31/03/01CP1_2001.03.31_llorente
28 Masacre en Cañaveral, Remedios 796 10/07/01CP1_2001.07.10_canaveral
29 Masacradas 10 personas en Amalfi y La Gabarra 617 16/08/01CP1_2001.08.16_amalfi
Masacran a campesinos en Valle del Cauca y
30 575 11/10/01CP1_2001.10.11_buga
Magdalena
31 Asesinadas ocho personas en Oriente 346 14/12/01 CP1_2001.12.14_oriente
Violencia marca comienzo de año para
32 358 02/03/02CP1_2002.02.03_sindicalistas
sindicalistas
33 Incursión de Auc en Cesar 113 02/04/02CP1_2002.04.02_valencia
34 Ataques de Auc: catorce muertos. 158 02/05/02CP1_2002.05.02_3masacres
35 El miedo llegó a la vereda La Valeria de Caldas 610 03/06/02CP1_2002.03.06_lavaleria
Average number of words 530.4
Total number of words 18564

234
7. El Colombiano Guerrilla 2002-2006 (CG2)

HEADLINES CG2 WORDS DATE FIILE NAME

1 A Jaime, un mortero le voló la esperanza 539 10/08/02CG2_2002.08.10_posesion
2 Atentado en Bogotá atribuido a las Farc 181 09/12/02CG2_2002.12.09_bogota
3 El terrorismo volvió a golpear a Bogotá 616 10/12/02CG2_2002.12.10_bogota2
4 Cruenta toma a Cumbal, Nariño 392 13/12/02CG2_2002.12.13_cumbal
5 La muerte se ensañó en La Corporación 642 19/01/03CG2_2003.01.19_corporacion
Los habitantes de San luis están aislados y
6 1111 01/02/03CG2_2003.02.01_sanluis
asustados
7 A la Danta llegan más desplazados 580 25/02/03CG2_2003.02.25_danta
Repudio a FARC por utilizar un menor para
8 637 19/04/03CG2_2003.04.19_bicibomba
atentado
Cocorná llora y repudia el asesinato de la
9 891 27/04/03CG2_2003.04.27_maestra
maestra
10 Caicedo y Urrao son hermanos del dolor 697 11/05/03CG2_2003.05.11_caicedo
11 Chita llora a sus víctimas 733 14/09/03CG2_2003.09.14_caballobomba
12 El ELN asesinó a una maestra en Remedios 631 17/02/04CG2_2004.02.17_maestra
Desconcierto en el Huila por ataques de las
13 1326 26/02/04CG2_2004.02.26_huila
FARC
14 Asesinan a seis personas en Argelia 554 27/02/04CG2_2004.02.27_argelia
15 Samaná: FARC asesinó seis labriegos 718 04/04/04CG2_2004.04.04_samana
16 No quiero darle más hijas a la guerra 1227 18/04/04CG2_2004.04.18_urrao
17 En Tame, con miedo y a oscuras 682 06/05/04CG2_2004.05.06_tame
18 También San Luis llora una masacre 549 27/05/04CG2_2004.05.27_sanluis
19 Con 34 muertos volvió el terror a la Gabarra 802 16/06/04CG2_2004.06.16_gabarra
20 Mataron a los hombres de Samaná 813 13/07/04CG2_2004.07.13_samana
21 Masacre de FARC en Colosó 251 10/10/04CG2_2004.10.10_coloso
22 ONU condena muerte de lider arhuaco 395 10/11/04CG2_2004.11.10_arhuaco
A Jose Evaristo el rio Casanare lo salvo de
23 922 03/01/05CG2_2005.01.03_sansalvador
morir
FARC y ELN actuaron juntos en masacre :
24 720 04/01/05CG2_2005.01.04_sansalvador2
alcalde de Tame
Asalto de FARC en consejo Caquetá dejó seis
25 737 25/05/05CG2_2005.05.25_concejo
muertos
ELN reconoció masacre de dos párrocos y dos
26 689 20/08/05CG2_2005.08.20_parrocos
obreros
27 Por su hijo, Orlando hace lo que sea 892 26/08/05CG2_2005.08.26_puertovaldivia
Siete muertos en ataque de las FARC en
28 698 25/10/05CG2_2005.10.25_putumayo
Putumayo
Las FARC acabaron con el Concejo de Rivera,
29 1065 28/02/06CG2_2006.02.28_concejorivera
Huila
Incursion de FARC en Chocó habría dejado 13
30 569 15/07/06CG2_2006.07.15_choco
muertos
31 Familias buscan 11 cuerpos en Taparal 759 19/07/06CG2_2006.07.19_choco2
Campesinos creen que hay más víctimas en
32 1059 24/07/06CG2_2006.07.24_choco3
Taparal
Average number of words 721
Total number of words 23077

235
8. El Colombiano Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (CP2)
HEADLINES CP2 WORDS DATE
Ituango vuelve a quedar en medio de choque
1 689 14/08/02CP2_2002.08.14_ituango
FARC-ACCU
2 Granada carga la cruz de los muertos
3 La maquinaria de las desapariciones en la 13
4 Muertos ocho jóvenes en dos masacres en
Medellin
5 Muerte que no dejas dormir en San Carlos
6 Señalan a AUC por la muerte de
conductores
7 Más desaparecidos en Barrancabermeja
8 Mataron a Carlos José un lider de la plaza
minorista
9 Repudian muerte de una profesora
10 Indígenas acosados por sus territorios
11 Murindó perdió un médico y a un amigo
12 Masacran a cuatro civiles en Monteria
13 Rechazan crimen de líder en Barranca
14 Masacran seis personas en Soledad
15 Opogadó: persite el temor de los indígenas
16 Cinco muertos tras incursión en Guapi
17 Rechazan crímenes en Cúcuta de dirigente
político y su escolta
18 Masacre en barrio de Bucaramanga
19 Asesinan familia en San Rafael
20 Sepultan a la familia Henao
21 Sicarios asesinaron a 10 personas en finca
22 En Tame, hallaron cuerpos de 11 víctimas de
las AUC
23 En Cocorná, los muertos quedaron sobre el
corredor
24 Asesinado lider del Polo Democrático
25 Denuncian matanza de 12 Wayúu
26 Atropellos de las AUC en el Tarra
27 Los alcaldes de Huila están en la mira de los
violentos
28 por miedo, Alba tuvo que dejar a sus
muertos
29 Comisión buscará más cadáveres en San
José
30 Puerto Toledo, arrinconado por el miedo
31 Investigan una posible masacre en Apartadó
32 Múltiple sepelio en Apartadó
33 Dolor en La Ceja por María Rosalba y José
34 Sólo rumores rodean la masacre
35 Masacres dejan 11 muertos en Cartagena y
El Valle
36 Fiscalía Busca fosas y Auc intentan borrar
evidencias
37 Policía sindica a Farc de masacre
38 Asesinado líder comunal de Urrao
FILE NAME
1674 20/10/02CP2_2002.10.20_granada
1063 30/12/02CP2_2002.12.30_comuna13
864 12/01/03CP2_2003.12.01_medellin
1087 18/01/03CP2_2003.01.10_sancarlos
261 02/04/03CP2_2003.02.04_conductores
87 23/05/03CP2_2003.05.23_barrancabermeja
740 29/05/03CP2_2003.05.20_mercado
261 31/05/03CP2_2003.05.31_maestra
513 17/06/03CP2_2003.06.17_betoyes
572 24/06/03CP2_2003.06.24_murindo
94 05/08/03CP2_2003.05.08_monteria
278 18/10/03CP2_2003.10.18_lider
151 20/11/03CP2_2003.11.20_soledad
973 04/01/04CP2_2004.04.01_opogado
95 18/02/04CP2_2004.02.18_guapi
499 04/03/04CP2_2004.04.03_cucuta
142 21/04/04CP2_2004.04.21_bucaramanga
166 26/04/04CP2_2004.04.26_sanrafael
336 27/04/04CP2_2004.04.27_sanrafael2
651 10/05/04CP2_2004.10.05_finca
457 25/05/04CP2_2004.05.25_tame
802 26/05/04CP2_2004.05.26_cocorna
115 05/07/04CP2_2004.05.07_polodem
621 05/07/04CP2_2004.05.07_wayuu
326 01/10/04CP2_2004.01.10_eltarra
705 08/11/04CP2_2004.08.11_huila
605 02/01/05CP2_2005.01.02_alba
634 03/01/05CP2_2005.03.01_sanjosedeapartado
508 22/02/05CP2_2005.02.22_ptotoledo
250 25/02/05CP2_2005.02.25_sanjosedeapartado
398 27/02/05CP2_2005.02.27_sanjosedeapartado2
788 25/08/05CP2_2005.08.25_laceja
849 13/02/06CP2_2006.02.13_sabanalarga
447 23/02/06CP2_2006.03.23_valle
1012 20/03/06CP2_2006.03.20_fosas
104 17/05/06CP2_2006.05.17_campoalegre
123 24/06/06CP2_2006.06.24_liderurrao
236
 HEADLINES CP2 WORDS DATE FILE NAME
39 La Fiscalía exhuma restos de 32 posibles 341 04/12/06CP2_2006.04.12_fosas
víctimas de las Auc.
Average number of words 520
Total number of words 20281

9. El Heraldo Guerrilla 1998-2002 (HG1)

HEADLINES HG1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 45 muertos al estallar oleoducto 704 19/10/98HG1_1998.10.19_machuca
2 ELN reconoce voladura 421 20/10/98HG1_1998.10.20_machuca2
3 4 muertos en ataque de las Farc a Mitú 701 02/11/98HG1_1998.11.02_mitu
4 70 los muertos en Mitú 1,176 03/11/98HG1_1998.11.03_mitu2
5 30 los muertos en Tierralta 1,312 31/12/98HG1_1998.12.31_diamante
6 Ejército denunció que castraron a las 365 08/01/99HG1_1999.01.08_diamante2
víctimas
7 Guerrilla asesinó a 3 norteamericanos 368 10/03/99HG1_1999.03.10_indigenistas
8 Los matamos: Farc 205 11/03/99HG1_1999.03.11_indigenistas2
9 Farc incursionó en Cravo Norte 174 20/04/99HG1_1999.04.20 _cravonorte
10 ELN asesinó a dos y secuestró a tres 294 17/06/99HG1_1999.06.17_ptolopez
11 Farc destruyeron a Ataco 571 04/07/99HG1_1999.07.04_ataco.txt
12 36 horas de guerra 559 02/08/99HG1_1999.08.02_nariño
13 Farc mató a soldados que se escaparon 825 30/09/99HG1_1999.09.30_escapados
14 Guerrilla mata cinco en el sur de Bolívar 221 01/10/99HG1_1999.10.01_tiquisio
15 Retienen a 60 y desaparecen a 4 329 23/10/99HG1_1999.10.23_morales
16 Matan a cuatro personas y sacrifican reses 184 29/10/99HG1_1999.10.29_reses
17 Farc mató a 6 en Tenerife 391 24/01/00HG1_2000.24.01_tenerife
18 Farc arrasaron Vigía del Fuerte 2,008 28/03/00HG1_2000.03.28_vigiadelfuerte
19 Matan a 6 campesinos en Arenal 206 22/05/00HG1_2000.05.22_arenal
20 Farc mató a cuatro infantes de Marina 471 17/06/00HG1_2000.06.17_infantes
21 77 muertos en combates 392 02/09/00HG1_2000.09.02_montezuma
22 Asesinado el Representante Turbay Cote 393 30/12/00HG1_2000.12.30_turbay
23 ELN asesinó a un soldado 197 20/02/01HG1_2001.02.20_soldado
24 Farc asesinó a 5 en Córdoba 407 16/03/01HG1_2001.03.16_ptolibertador
25 50 muertos en ataque de las Farc 559 16/04/01HG1_2001.04.16_caucana
26 200 guerrilleros atacaron la Caucana 473 17/04/01HG1_2001.04.17_caucana2
27 “¡Esa guerrilla no tiene corazón!” 477 19/06/01HG1_2001.06.19_corazon
28 Asesinada la Cacica 1,197 01/10/01HG1_2001.10.01_cacica
29 Matan a 25 en Tierralta 490 24/11/01HG1_2001.11.24_crucitos
30 Farc asesina a 4 secuestrados 624 11/12/01HG1_2001.12.11_jardin
31 Farc mató a 13 uniformados 258 02/01/02HG1_2002.01.02_purace
32 Farc mató a 3 menores desertores 141 28/01/02HG1_2002.01.28_desertores
33 Guerrilla secuestró a Ingrid Betancourt 580 25/02/02HG1_2002.02.25_ingrid
34 Farc asesinó al Cabo Pérez 861 07/04/02HG1_2002.04.07_caboperez
35 100, los muertos en Chocó 540 05/05/02HG1_2002.05.05_bojaya
Average number of words 545
Total number of words 19,619

237
10. El Heraldo Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (HP1)

HEADLINES HP1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 20 muertos en ataque paramilitar 494 26/10/98HP1_1998.10.26_rosario
2 Presuntos “paras” mataron a diez 740 04/11/98HP1_1998.11.04_coloso
3 Asesinan a doce en Villanueva 633 09/12/98HP1_1998.12.09_villanueva
4 Matan a 20 en el Piñón 497 10/01/99HP1_1999.01.10_piñon
Matan a dos activistas de los Derechos
5 388 01/02/99HP1_1999.02.01_activistas
Humanos
6 Encapuchados matan a 4 en Fonseca 184 05/04/99HP1_1999.04.05_fonseca
7 5 tiros mataron el humor 952 14/08/99HP1_1999.08.14_garzon
8 ¿Nuevo Grupo paramilitar mató a Garzón? 698 15/08/99HP1_1999.08.15_garzon2.txt
9 Masacre “para” en Tibú 745 15/08/99HP1_1999.08.15_tibu
10 “Paras” mataron a 50 552 24/08/99HP1_1999.08.23_gabarra
11 Exodo por matanza en Estados Unidos, Cesar 288 19/01/00HP1_2000.01.19_estados.unidos
12 Asesinan a 11 personas 318 29/01/00HP1_2000.01.29_astrea
13 “Paras” matan a 7 244 12/02/00HP1_2000.02.12_cataca
Incursión armada en El Salado dejó 28
14 289 22/02/00HP1_2000.02.22_salado2
muertos
15 Paras ejecutaron a 45 campesinos: CTI 785 23/02/00HP1_2000.02.23_salado
16 Paras matan a 20 540 24/02/00HP1_2000.02.24_lasierra
17 Paras matan a 20 en Montes de María 367 13/03/00HP1_2000.03.13_montesdemaria
18 Matan a 21 en Tibú 352 07/04/00HP1_2000.04.07_tibu
19 Matan a 12 en Montes de María 560 19/10/00HP1_2000.10.19_macayepo
20 Matanza en la Ciénaga Grande 699 23/11/00HP1_2000.11.23_nuevavenecia
21 Ciénaga Grande sigue botando cadáveres 651 27/11/00HP1_2000.11.27_nuevavenecia2
22 Cinco muertos en incursión de “paras’ 682 02/01/01HP1_2001.01.01_repelon
23 Asesinados tres indígenas 225 08/01/01HP1_2001.01.08_paeces
24 Paramilitares matan a 27 en ovejas 937 18/01/01HP1_2001.01.18_chengue
25 AUC matan a 25 (naya) 519 15/04/01HP1_2001.04.15_naya
26 Se intensificó éxodo en el Naya 456 16/04/01HP1_2001.04.16_naya2
27 Catorce muertos en Cesar 239 20/05/01HP1_2001.05.20_codazzi
28 Violenta incursión en Los Tupes: 8 muertos 878 31/05/01HP1_2001.05.31_tupes
Asesinado presidente de sindicato de la
29 485 09/10/01HP1_2001.10.09_drummond
Drummond
30 Temor en la Ciénaga Grande 912 12/10/01HP1_2001.10.12.cienaga
31 Las AUC se atribuyen muerte de sindicalista 359 06/12/01HP1_2001.12.06_aurysara
32 AUC atacan en Bonda y matan a 2 hermanos 563 14/01/02HP1_2002.01.14_bonda
33 Matan a 4 en Aracataca 183 01/02/02HP1_2002.02.01_aracataca
34 AUC mataron a 5 en Sierra Nevada 481 01/02/02HP1_2002.02.01_sierranevada
35 AUC matan a 3 en barrio de Santa Marta 304 04/04/02HP1_2002.04.04_santamarta
Las Auc matan a 3 en Riohacha y 2 en San
36 437 09/04/02HP1_2002.04.09_riohacha
Juan
Average number of words 518
Total number of words 18636

238
11. El Heraldo Guerrilla 2002-2006 (HG2)

HEADLINES HG2 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 Masacrados 15 campesinos 527 05/09/02HG2_2002.09.05_nepomuceno
2 Asesinado Alcalde de Campoalegre 161 20/10/02HG2_2002.10.20_campoalegre
3 carro bomba en cúcuta: 4 muertos 416 21/12/02HG2_2002.12.21_cucuta
4 Carro-bomba en el Club El Nogal 530 07/02/03HG2_2003.02.07_Nogal
5 Farc dio muerte a soldado en la Sierra Nevada 446 24/02/03HG2_2003.02.24_sierranevada
6 ELN fusila maestra secuestrada en Cocorná. 201 27/04/03HG2_2003.04.27_maestra
7 ELN fusila maestra secuestrada en Cocorná 710 27/04/03HG2_2003.04.27_maestra2
8 Farc mató a Gobernador y ex Ministro 1808 06/05/03HG2_2003.05.06_Echeverri
9 Farc mató a ex-Miss Colombia 260 25/06/03HG2_2003.05.25_MissColombia
10 Asesinados ex señorita Colombia y su esposo 605 18/09/04HG2_2003.05.25_MissColombia2
11 12 militares muertos y 8 heridos deja ataque de 397 25/06/03HG2_2003.16.25_carmen12M
Farc
12 Farc, autoras de matanza en Pensilvania 158 09/01/04HG2_2004.01.09_pensilvania
13 Maletabomba en Apartadó: siete muertos 693 24/05/04HG2_2004.05.24_apartado
14 Escalada terrorista de las Farc en Plato 745 27/05/04HG2_2004.05.27_plato
15 Farc degüellan a 34 campesinos y Amnistía no 602 17/06/04HG2_2004.06.17_Amnistia
dice nada: Uribe
16 Nueva matanza por cultivos de coca 1568 17/06/04HG2_2004.06.17_gabarra
17 Carro-bomba en el Valle: 9 policías muertos y 103504/08/04 HG2_2004.08.04_bombavalle
3 heridos
18 Asesinan a cinco de una misma familia 278 10/10/04HG2_2004.10.10_coloso
19 Asesinado Mamo Arhuaco 871 09/11/04HG2_2004.11.09_arhuaco
20 Farc mató a 17 campesinos 288 02/01/05HG2_2005.01.02_sansalvador
21 4 campesinos asesinados en zona rural de 321 01/10/05HG2_2005.10.01_ovejas4
Ovejas
22 40 policías desaparecidos tras ataque de Farc 461 04/10/05HG2_2005.10.04_sipi
23 Guerrilla asesinó a ocho concejales 364 27/02/06HG2_2006.02.27_rivera
24 Farc matan a 3 policias en Tolima 194 20/03/06HG2_2006.03.20_tolima
25 Asesinada hermana de Gaviria 315 21/05/06HG2_2006.05.21_Liliana.Gaviria
26 Farc asesinaron a Liliana Gaviria 451 21/05/06HG2_2006.05.21_Liliana.Gaviria2
27 “Farc contrata niños para actos terroristas” 313 21/05/06HG2_2006.05.21_niños
28 11 muertos en ataque de Farc durante sesión 429 23/05/06HG2_2006.05.26_concejoPtoRico
del Concejo
29 Familias se desplazan en zona rural de Ovejas 42804/06/06 HG2_2006.06.04_ovejas
30 Farc asesinan a cinco pescadores 183 19/06/06HG2_2006.06.19_pescadores
31 Mueren 9 militares en emboscada de las Farc 512 24/06/06HG2_2006.06.24_emboscada9
32 Farc masacraron campesinos 264 16/07/06HG2_2006.07.16_choco
33 Aumenta número de campesinos muertos 264 16/07/06HG2_2006.07.16_choco2
34 Estos muchachos murieron como héroes 563 11/09/05HG2_2005.09.11_heroes
35 “me mataron a mi muchacho” 305 09/05/06HG2_2006.05.09_muchacho
36 Sobreviviente narra ataque contra Concejo 80127/05/06 HG2_2006.05.27_concejoPtoRico
2
37 “Ya basta de tanta violencia” 518 26/06/06HG2_2006.06.26_emboscada9.2
Average number of words 513
Total number of words 18985

239
12. El Heraldo Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (HP2)
HEADLINES HP2
1 Asesinados 6 campesinos en Cundinamarca
2 Paramilitares siembran el miedo en Puerto Asís
3 Masacre en La Guajira
4 Masacre en sur de La Guajira
5 Asesinan a siete vallenatos en Ipiales
6 Otra incursión armada en La Guajira
7 AUC asesinan a seis en La Guajira
8 Asesinan a cinco taxistas
9 Seis, los conductores asesinados en La Guajira
10 Repudio por asesinato de una profesora en
Valledupar
11 Asesinan a candidato a Alcaldía y a ex Concejal
de La Jagua
12 Asesinado alcalde de El Roble, Sucre
13 Asesinan dirigente sindical
14 Estudiantes denuncian asesinatos y amenazas
15 Asesinan maestra que había sido secuestrada
16 Asesinada la periodista Zully Esther Codina
17 Asesinan al Congresista Fernando Pisciotti V.
18 Denuncian tortura de defensora de DDHH
19 “Paras” asesinan a colaborador de ONG
20 Masacradas 9 personas en Cravo Norte Arauca
21 Solicitan protección para los wayuu
22 Asesinado otro líder indígena
23 Asesinados Alfredo Correa De Andreis y su
Escolta
24 Culpan a paras del Bloque Centauros de
matanza de una familia
25 Asesinan a siete campesinos en Antioquia
26 Hallan cadáveres mutilados de 8 desaparecidos
27 Denuncian desaparición de 5 campesinos más
28 AUC matan a 3 en La Guajira
29 Degüellan a pareja de esposos en una vereda
30 AUC habría masacrado a 28 personas
31 Asesinan a sindicalista en Valledupar
32 Paras asesinan a 22 campesinos en Cesar
33 Gobernador desvirtúa masacre en Curumaní
34 Córdoba llora al locutor del pueblo: ‘El Gaba’
35 Hallan fosas con 30 restos humanos
36 95, las fosas comunes halladas en San Onofre
37 Presidente habla sobre asesinatos y
desplazamientos wayuu
38 17 niños indígenas han muerto de hambre
Average number of words
240
WORDS DATE FILE NAME
171 05/05/02HP2_2003.05.05_cundinamarca
714 31/08/02HP2_2002.08.31_asis
240 04/09/02HP2_2002.09.04_limon
681 07/09/02HP2_2002.09.07_limon2
476 11/09/02HP2_2002.02.11_Ipiales
567 19/09/02HP2_2002.09.19_guajira
241 10/01/03HP2_2003.01.10_sanpedro
475 04/02/03HP2_2003.02.04_taxistas
382 06/02/03HP2_2003.02.06_taxistas2
467 20/02/03HP2_2003.02.20_profesora
241 20/02/03HP2_2003.02.20_jagua
474 05/03/03HP2_2003.03.11_Roble
161 03/05/03HP2_2003.05.03_sindicalista
361 10/06/03HP2_2003.06.10_estudiantes
396 06/11/03HP2_2003.11.06_maestra
963 12/11/03HP2_2003.12.11_zully
355 10/12/03HP2_2003.12.10_pisciotti
183 03/02/04HP2_2004.02.03_tortura
203 06/03/04HP2_2004.03.06_ong
400 16/03/04HP2_2004.03.16_cravonorte
368 13/05/04HP2_2004.05.13_wayuu
568 05/08/04HP2_2004.08.05_kankuamo
1548 18/09/04HP2_2004.09.18_correa
303 04/01/05HP2_2005.01.04_centauros
343 31/01/05HP2_2005.01.31_sancarlos
350 28/02/05HP2_2005.02.28_apartado
296 02/03/05HP2_2005.03.02_apartado2
869 11/05/05HP2_2005.05.11_mongui
345 18/06/05HP2_2005.06.18_sibarco
279 31/07/05HP2_2005.07.31_putumayo
451 13/09/05HP2_2005.09.13_sindicalista
149 11/12/05HP2_2005.15.11_Curumani
205 12/12/05HP2_2005.15.12_Curumani2
666 22/03/06HP2_2006.03.22_elgaba
313 03/04/06HP2_2006.04.03_fosa.txt
460 10/04/06HP2_2006.04.10_sanonofre
271 17/05/06HP2_2004.05.17_wayuu2
216 29/07/06HP2_2006.07.26_niños
425
 HEADLINES HP2 WORDS DATE FILE NAME
Total number of words 16151

13. El País Guerrilla 1998-2002 (PG1)

HEADLINES PG1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 Miraflores: Las 22 horas de terror 884 09/08/98 PG1_1998.08.09_miraflores
2 Así fue el ataque a bases del Putumayo 707 11/08/98 PG1_1998.08.11_putumayo
3 Asesinaron a seis mineros en Timba 331 08/10/98 PG1_1998.10.08_timba
4 En Timba sigue el temor 435 09/10/98 PG1_1998.10.09_timba2
5 EL fuego destruyó Machuca 685 19/10/98 PG1_1998.10.19_machuca
6 Los muertos llegan a 98 en Mitú 253 03/11/98 PG1_1998.11.03_mitu
7 Son más de 70 muertos 911 10/07/99 PG1_1999.07.10_gutierrez
8 Guerrilla causó cuatro muertes 529 22/09/99 PG1_1999.09.22_concepcion
9 Domingo de terror en Juradó 721 14/12/99 PG1_1999.12.14_jurado
La guerrilla asesinó a tres civiles en Argelia,
10 374 08/02/00 PG1_2000.02.08_argelia
Cauca
11 Asesinados cuatro labriegos en Cajibío 380 06/09/00 PG1_2000.09.06_cajibio
12 La guerrilla quiere desterrar a la Policía 440 18/09/00 PG1_2000.09.18_corredor
13 Ataque a El Encano, Nariño 439 19/09/00 PG1_2000.09.19_encano
14 Masacre en Florida 218 19/11/00 PG1_2000.11.19_florida
15 Guerrilla atacó cuatro municipios 204 19/11/00 PG1_2000.11.19_santacruz
16 Masacre en Santander de Quilichao 589 24/11/00 PG1_2000.11.24_quilichao
17 Farc asesinaron a once personas en Las Aguilas 222 18/12/00 PG1_2000.12.18_aguilas
18 Tres muertos en ataque de las Farc 426 13/02/01 PG1_2001.02.13_palestina
19 Asesinadas nueve personas en Cauca 377 13/02/01 PG1_2001.02.13_purace
20 La guerrilla no deja en paz a San Pablo 1001 14/03/01 PG1_2001.03.14_sanpablo
21 Almaguer, sitiado por los explosivos 524 03/04/01 PG1_2001.04.03_almaguer
22 “Farc buscan un corredor al mar” 765 06/04/01 PG1_2001.04.06_ataco
23 Barbacoas, el ‘imperio’ del silencio 872 04/06/01 PG1_2001.06.04_barbacoas
24 Barbacoas está otra vez indefensa 717 11/07/01 PG1_2001.07.11_barbacoas2
25 Serían 21 los muertos en La Gabarra 356 21/07/01 PG1_2001.07.21_lagabarra
26 Ataque guerrillero a Bolívar 562 23/07/01 PG1_2001.07.23_bolivar
27 Farc atacó en tres municipios del Cauca 350 29/09/01 PG1_2001.09.29_cauca
28 Bajo el miedo se ‘apaga’ La Sirena 711 11/02/02 PG1_2002.02.11_lasirena
29 Retén ilegal paralizó vía a Buenaventura 541 07/03/02 PG1_2002.03.07_reten
30 La guerra pasó del campo a la ciudad 524 12/04/02 PG1_2002.04.12_diputados
31 Bellavista, un campo de muerte 785 06/05/02 PG1_2002.05.06_bojaya2
32 “Esto fue un genocidio” 1163 06/05/02 PG1_2002.05.06_bojaya
33 Cauca se quedó sin 21 alcaldes 630 02/07/02 PG1_2002.07.02_alcaldes
34 Mataron niña de dos meses 231 01/08/02 PG1_2002.08.01_nina
Average number of words 555
Total number of words 18857

241
14. El País Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (PP1)

HEADLINES PP1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

‘Paras’ incursionaron en Tiquisio, sur de
1 290 19/09/98 PP1_1998.09.19_tiquisio
Bolívar.
Los indígenas de Jamundí insisten en
2 264 22/10/98 PP1_1998.10.22_jamundi
persecución
3 Masacre deja diez muertos en Colosó 438 04/11/98 PP1_1998.11.04_coloso
4 Masacre en Villanueva, La Guajira. 616 09/12/98 PP1_1998.12.09_villanueva
5 Paras’ sembraron el terror en La Hormiga 667 12/01/99 PP1_1999.01.12_lahormiga
6 Meta: asesinan a siete campesinos 431 16/01/99 PP1_1999.01.16_ptolleras
7 Asesinaron a dos activistas de DD.HH. 369 01/02/99 PP1_1999.02.01_activistasddhh
8 Trágica noche en Barranca 444 01/03/99 PP1_1999.03.01_barranca
9 Masacre en Barranca dejó ocho muertos 541 01/03/99 PP1_1999.03.01_barranca2
10 Masacre de indígenas en Juradó 335 11/08/99 PP1_1999.08.11_jurado
11 Asesinadas seis personas en Santander 238 30/01/00 PP1_2000.01.30_santander
12 Nueva masacre en Carmen de Bolívar 291 17/04/00 PP1_2000.04.17_carmendebolivar
13 Pánico en el Puerto por autodefensas 502 19/05/00 PP1_2000.05.19_buenaventura
14 Nueva masacre en Buenaventura 453 24/05/00 PP1_2000.05.24_buenaventura
15 Las AUC asustan a Timba 456 22/07/00 PP1_2000.07.22_timba
16 Temor en Timba por nueva masacre 441 24/07/00 PP1_2000.07.24_timba
17 Nueva masacre de AUC en el Puerto 745 28/08/00 PP1_2000.08.28_ buenaventura
Asesinadas seis personas anoche en
18 188 07/09/00 PP1_2000.09.07_ buenaventura
Buenaventura
19 Yurumanguí, de luto por masacre 425 08/09/00 PP1_2000.09.08_yurumangui
20 Otra masacre de las AUC en Tuluá 341 14/09/00 PP1_2000.09.14_jamundi
Asesinan a cinco personas en Timba y
21 204 27/09/00 PP1_2000.09.27_pradera
Pradera
22 Otra masacre de las AUC 450 06/10/00 PP1_2000.10.06_barrancabermeja
23 Atribuyen nuevas muertes a las AUC 563 12/10/00 PP1_2000.10.12_riocauca
24 Nueva masacre en el Valle 456 28/11/00 PP1_2000.11.28_riofrio
25 Asesinados siete labriegos 435 05/12/00 PP1_2000.12.05_suarez
26 Suárez está acosado por la violencia 555 09/12/00 PP1_2000.12.09_suarez
27 Barragán, sitiado por las autodefensas 461 20/12/00 PP1_2000.12.20_barragan
Otra matanza ayer en Santander de
28 493 21/12/00 PP1_2000.12.21_quilichao
Quilichao
29 Masacre fue un acto cobarde’ 539 10/01/01 PP1_2001.01.10_chengue
30 Recorrido mortal en Caloto 488 24/02/01 PP1_2001.02.24_caloto
31 El puerto petrolero afronta guerra territorial 520 10/03/01 PP1_2001.03.10_barrancabermeja
32 Nueva masacre de ‘Paras’ en Santander 403 16/03/01 PP1_2001.03.16_eltarra
33 Las AUC se toman Llorente 222 25/03/01 PP1_2001.03.25_llorente
34 Asesinan a sindicalista en Barrancabermeja 380 12/05/01PP1_2001.05.12_sindicalista
35 Encuentran cadáveres en el Naya 216 15/05/01 PP1_2001.05.15_naya
36 Dos masacres en Miranda, Cauca 478 19/06/01 PP1_2001.06.19_miranda
37 Asesinados tres desplazados del Naya 174 19/07/01 PP1_2001.07.19_naya2
38 AUC masacraron nueve campesinos 848 27/08/01 PP1_2001.08.27_calima
39 Zozobra en área rural de Riofrío 560 02/11/01 PP1_2001.11.02_riofrio
40 “La muerte se llevó a los hombres” 651 10/12/01 PP1_2001.12.10_alaska
Autodefensas asesinaron a diez hombres en
41 331 06/06/02 PP1_2002.06.06_timbio
el Cauca
Average number of words 437

242
 HEADLINES PP1 WORDS DATE FILE NAME
Total number of words 17902
15. El País Guerrilla 2002-2006 (PG2)

HEADLINES PG2 WORDS DATE FILE NAME

1 El Tambo sufrió un nuevo ataque
2 Farc asesinan a dos concejales de La Peña
3 Ataque a patrulla dejó ocho policías muertos
4 Farc están tras ataque a Fiscalía en Medellín”
“Las Farc se ensañan con los pobres”:
5 501
Mindefensa
Asesinadas cuatro personas en zona rural de
6 540
Ginebra
Explotó otro carrobomba en Arauca: siete
7 512
muertos
8 Trágica explosión en el club El Nogal
9 Crece dimensión de la tragedia
10 Farc atacaron procesión religiosa en el Tolima
11 Repudio general por asesinato de maestra
12 Estalla carro bomba en Florencia
13 “Fue una masacre de las Farc”
14 Masacran familia en Dolores
15 Farc siguen sembrando el terror en Arauca
16 Masacre en zona urbana del Puerto
17 Carrobomba en Saravena
18 Asesinado alcalde de Suaza
19 "Fui secuestrado el siglo pasado": César Lasso
20 Paquete bomba estalló en el río Ariari
El terror de las Farc campea en la Sierra del
21
Cocuy
22 Ex concejal habría sido ejecutado por las Farc
23 Cinco muertos por terrorismo
La guerrilla asesina a 34 campesinos en La
24
Gabarra.
25 Farc admiten autoría en masacre de La Gabarra 779
320 12/08/02PG2_2002.08.12_eltambo
200 14/08/02PG2_2002.08.14_lapena
423 08/01/03PG2_2003.01.08_quipile
869 17/01/03PG2_2003.01.17_fiscalia
20/01/03PG2_2003.01.20_sancarlos
23/01/03PG2_2003.01.23_ginebra
27/01/03PG2_2003.01.27_arauca
740 08/02/03PG2_2003.02.08_nogal
1029 09/02/03PG2_2003.02.09_nogal2
468 19/04/03PG2_2003.04.19_procesion
669 25/04/03PG2_2003.04.25_maestra
235 28/04/03PG2_2003.04.28_florencia
1794 06/05/03PG2_2003.05.06_gobernador
147 09/06/03PG2_2003.06.09_dolores
410 10/06/03PG2_2003.06.10_motobomba
505 16/06/03PG2_2003.06.16_buenaventura
989 08/08/03PG2_2003.08.08_saravena
227 19/08/03PG2_2003.08.19_suaza
715 19/08/03PG2_2003.08.19_cesarlasso
712 25/08/03PG2_2003.08.25_ariari
888 14/09/03PG2_2003.09.14_caballobomba
368 20/10/03PG2_2003.10.20_concejal
576 28/11/03PG2_2003.11.28_casabomba
524 16/06/04PG2_2004.06.16_lagabarra
18/06/04PG2_2004.06.18_lagabarra2

26 Mueren catorce militares en ataque de las Farc 922 02/02/05PG2_2005.02.02_iscuande

en Nariño
27 Ataque terrorista de las Farc en Toribío 750 15/04/05PG2_2005.04.15_toribio
28 Masacre en el Concejo de Puerto Rico, 1009 25/05/05PG2_2005.05.25_concejoptorico
Caquetá
29 Caldono se convirtió en blanco de las Farc 721 04/07/05PG2_2005.07.04_caldono
30 Confirman en ocho los concejales asesinados 229 28/02/06PG2_2006.02.28_concejorivera
por las Farc
31 Brutal asesinato de 8 concejales en el Huila 956 28/02/06PG2_2006.02.28_concejorivera2
32 Sigue confusión por suerte de campesinos 376 16/07/06PG2_2006.07.16_riosucio
33 Denuncian otra masacre de Farc 345 17/07/06PG2_2006.07.17_unguia
Average number of words 620
Total number of words 20448

243
16. El País Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (PP2)
HEADLINES PP2 WORDS DATE FILE NAME
1 El miedo volvió a Barragán, Tuluá 411 23/08/02PP2_2002.08.23_barragan
Hallan cuerpos de labriegos secuestrados
2 377 04/09/02PP2_2002.09.04_barragan2
por las AUC
3 Asesinados cuatro hombres en Timbío 602 05/09/02PP2_2002.09.05_timbio
4 Violencia acecha al Cauca 210 26/09/02PP2_2002.09.26_eltambo
5 Asesinan a campesino en Ginebra 203 10/10/02PP2_2002.10.10_ginebra
6 Temor por auge de AUC en el Valle 492 10/10/02PP2_2002.10.10_valle
7 AUC tienen a tres norteamericanos 659 22/01/03PP2_2003.01.22_norteamericanos
Autoridades investigan desaparición de
8 206 27/01/03PP2_2003.01.27_cazadores
once personas
Asesinado a bala líder comunitario de El
9 127 30/01/03PP2_2003.01.30_eltambo
Tambo
Asesinados tres labriegos en finca de San
10 501 20/05/03PP2_2003.05.20_sanpedro
Pedro
11 Investigan masacre 121 10/06/03PP2_2003.06.10_sanlorenzo
Masacradas seis personas en zona rural de
12 620 16/06/03PP2_2003.06.16_sabaletas
Buenaventura
13 El miedo reina en Sabaletas 349 17/06/03PP2_2003.06.17_sabaletas2
14 Paramilitares asaltan poblaciones 123 18/06/03PP2_2003.06.18_fondas
15 Asesinados dos policías por las AUC 141 18/06/03PP2_2003.06.18_policias
16 Asesinados seis campesinos 127 04/02/04PP2_2004.02.04_ptolibertador
17 Defensoría condena asesinato 132 16/02/04PP2_2004.02.16_elcastillo
18 Ultiman a líder de desplazados 220 03/04/04PP2_2004.04.03_loslagos
19 Pistoleros causan matanza en Villagorgona 794 05/10/04PP2_2004.10.05_villagorgona
20 Flandes, atemorizada por desapariciones 488 05/10/04PP2_2004.10.05_flandes
21 Extrañas muertes en El Queremal 250 23/10/04PP2_2004.10.23_elqueremal
Asesinadas cuatro personas en Maní,
22 262 03/01/05PP2_2005.01.03_mani
Casanare
Halladas fosas comunes en cercanías a
23 723 08/01/05PP2_2005.01.08_galicia
Galicia
24 Asesinado periodista en Cúcuta 111 11/01/05PP2_2005.01.11_periodista
25 Acusan a ‘paras’ por masacre 575 01/02/05PP2_2005.02.01_sancarlos
26 Asesinados indígenas en La Guajira 92 04/02/05PP2_2005.02.04_wayuu
27 Asesinado líder indígena 118 14/02/05PP2_2005.02.14_paez
28 Hallan cadáveres de ocho personas 111 25/02/05PP2_2005.02.25_sanjosedeapartado
29 Piden debate por masacre en Urabá 242 02/03/05PP2_2005.03.02_sanjosedeapartado2
30 Sicarios asesinan a representante 466 19/03/05PP2_2005.03.19_representante
31 Asesinan diputado en Monteria 83 11/04/05PP2_2005.04.11_diputado
32 Asesinan a 12 personas en el Puerto 1267 22/04/05PP2_2005.04.22_buenaventura
Las AUC, tras masacre de 12 jóvenes en El
33 1051 30/04/05PP2_2005.04.30_buenaventura2
Puerto
34 Entre el miedo y la esperanza 709 17/06/05PP2_2005.06.17_yalare
Denuncian desaparición de 16 personas en
35 218 08/07/05PP2_2005.07.08_ptotoledo
Meta
36 El Puerto vivió otro día violento 926 11/07/05PP2_2005.07.11_buenaventura
37 Tras los rastros de las fosas de San Onofre 959 02/08/05PP2_2005.08.02_fosas
38 AUC asesinan a 22 campesinos en el Cesar 654 12/12/05PP2_2005.12.12_curumani
39 Denuncian resurgimiento de "paras" 269 23/05/06PP2_2006.05.23_policarpa
40 Masacrados diez campesinos 285 15/06/06PP2_2006.06.15_olayaherrera
Average number of words 407
Total number of words 16274
244
245
17. El Tiempo Guerrilla 1998-2002 (TG1)

HEADLINES TG1 DATE WORDS FILE NAME

1 Adiós A Los Niños de Machuca 20/10/98 966 TG1_1998.10.20_machuca1
2 El Dolor Arde En Machuca 25/12/98 938 TG1_1998.10.25_machuca
3 Farc Profanaron Cuartel De Castaño 30/12/98 1099 TG1_1998.12.31_diamante
4 Angy, Bebé Víctima De Las Farc 31/12/98 739 TG1_1998.12.31_Angy
Exodo Por Matanza De Farc En El
5 07/01/99 397 TG1_1999.01.07_eldorado
Dorado
6 La Guerrilla Se Tomó A Batatas 18/02/99 593 TG1_1999.02.18_batatas
7 Contraorden de Farc Llegó Tarde 10/03/99 762 TG1_1999.03.10_indigenistas
La Guerrilla Asesinó A Dos Amigas De 20/04/99 401
8 TG1_1999.04.20_amigas
Militares Y Policías
9 Farc Asesinan A 13 Personas En Caquetá 17/06/99 264 TG1_1999.06.17_gnosticos
10 Nariño, En Ruinas 02/08/99 443 TG1_1999.08.02_narino
11 A Mi Hijo Lo Mató La Guerrilla 08/08/99 591 TG1_1999.08.08_hijo
12 asesinados a pesar de su indefensión 30/09/99 895 TG1_1999.09.30_policias
13 Farc Asesinan Otro Militar Secuestrado 20/10/99 458 TG1_1999.10.20_militarsecuestrado
14 Guerrilla masacra 6 campesinos 24/01/00 522 TG1_2000.01.24_tenerife
15 Saldaña, Arrasada Por Las Farc 09/05/00 628 TG1_2000.05.09_saldana
16 Masacre de Farc En Frontino 14/06/00 673 TG1_2000.06.14_frontino
17 Terror En Ruinas De Arboleda 01/08/00 725 TG1_2000.08.01_arboleda
Farc Llegaron A Ortega Llano Como
18 10/12/00 623 TG1_2000.12.10_ortegallano
Poseídas
19 Asesinado Diego Turbay 30/12/00 1026 TG1_2000.30.12_turbay
20 Barbarie total en Córdoba 04/04/01 494 TG1_2001.04.04_tierradentro
21 Sangre y fuego en la Caucana 17/04/01 571 TG1_2001.04.17_lacaucana
La Guerrilla Siembra El Terror En
22 03/05/01 377 TG1_2001.05.03_fuentedeoro
Fuentedeoro
23 24 Cadáveres En El Sinú 01/06/01 826 TG1_2001.06.01_sinu
24 Temen Por 47 desaparecidos 02/06/01 512 TG1_2001.06.01_sinu2
25 Barbacoas Volvió A Manos De Las Farc 10/07/01 440 TG1_2001.07.10_barbacoas
26 Le desfiguraron El Rostro A Consuelo 01/10/01 621 TG1_2001.10.01_cacica
27 Estoy seguro de que él la mató 02/10/01 1323 TG1_2001.10.02_cacica2
Más Víctimas Por Ataques De La
28 23/10/01 306 TG1_2001.10.23_ataques
Guerrilla
29 Farc mató a 4 de los turistas 11/12/01 525 TG1_2001.12.11_turistas
30 Campesinos Intimidados Por El Terror 22/03/02 523 TG1_2002.03.22_vistahermosa
Asesinado El Padre del Pequeño Andrés
31 07/04/02 793 TG1_2002.04.07_caboperez
Felipe
32 Crónica desde Bojayá 08/05/02 839 TG1_2002.05.08_bojaya
Average number of words 653
Total number of words 20893

246
18. El Tiempo Paramilitaries 1998-2002 (TP1)

HEADLINES TP1 DATE WORDS FILE NAME

1 11 muertos dejó incursión de paras 04/11/98 681 TP1_1998.11.04_chalan
2 Verifican Masacre En Puerto Gaitán 11/11/98 469 TP1_1998.11.21_machuca
3 Otras Dos Masacres Paras 21/11/98 983 TP1_1998.12.01_condoto
4 Paras ejecutan sentencia 01/12/98 733 TP1_1998.11.11_ptogaitan
5 Le Dispararon Sin Piedad 09/12/98 904 TP1_1998.12.09_villanueva
En Chalupa Llegó La Muerte A San
6 10/01/99 783 TP1_1999.01.10_sanpablo
Pablo
7 La Muerte Llegó Con El Panadero 02/03/99 904 TP1_1999.03.02_barranca
8 Masacre en caserío Caquetá 09/03/99 458 TP1_1999.03.09_yurayaco
9 La Muerte Tocó Nuevo A Curumaní 17/05/99 470 TP1_1999.05.17_curumani
Grupo Armado Asesina A 13 Labriegos
10 18/08/99 520 TP1_1999.08.18_zambrano
En Zambrano
11 De Aquí no se mueve nadie 24/08/99 1107 TP1_1999.08.24_lagabarra
12 29 Muertos dejan Paras En Putumayo 09/11/99 436 TP1_1999.11.09_lahormiga
Asesinadas 7 Personas en Incursión
13 19/01/00 365 TP1_2000.01.19_estadosunidos
Armada
Autodefensas atacaron en 5 veredas de 276 TP1_2000.02.05_urrao
14 05/02/00
urrao
15 Terror y dolor 18/02/00 954 TP1_2000.02.18_cataca
16 El Salado, 72 Horas Terror 27/02/00 1032 TP1_2000.02.27_elsalado
Grupo Armado Mató A 10 En Montes
17 17/04/00 295 TP1_2000.04.17_hatonuevo
María
18 Auc mataron a 12 campesinos 14/10/00 557 TP1_2000.10.14_barbosa
19 Paras Asesinan A 16 Personas 04/11/00 319 TP1_2000.11.04_granada
Paras dejan 19 Muertos En La Ciénaga
20 23/11/00 640 TP1_2000.11.23_nuevavenecia
Grande
Atribuyen masacre al grupo Walter
21 29/11/00 423 TP1_2000.11.29_cienaga
Usuga los Paras
Paras Mataron A 5 Campesinos En El 476 TP1_2001.01.02_repelon
22 02/01/01
Atlántico
23 Masacradas 25 Personas 18/01/01 1027 TP1_2000.01.18_chengue
24 Semana de Horror En Naya 16/04/01 803 TP1_2001.04.16_naya
25 Incursión de las Auc en Arauca 24/09/01 340 TP1_2001.09.04_arauca
26 Paras Matan A 31 Personas 11/10/01 687 TP1_2001.10.11_alaska
27 17 muertos en masacres 12/11/01 296 TP1_2001.11.12_cocorna
Asesinados cinco líderes indígenas en 430 TP1_2001.11.26_indigenas
28 26/11/01
Caldas
29 Asesinado Líder de La Uso 06/12/01 466 TP1_2001.12.06_aurysara
30 70 muertos deja guerra entre paras 26/01/02 150 TP1_2002.01.26_dea
31 Masacran a familia en Nariño 28/03/02 87 TP1_2002.03.28_tumaco
32 Asesinan A 8 Personas En Buenaventura 16/05/02 252 TP1_2002.05.16_buenaventura
Average number of words 573

247
 HEADLINES TP1 DATE WORDS FILE NAME
Total number of words 18323
19. El Tiempo Guerrilla 2002-2006 (TG2)

HEADLINES TG2 DATE WORDS FILE NAME

1 La Guerra Se Llevó A 3 Niñas 09/08/02598 TG2_2002.08.09_ninas
2 Son 15 los muertos en San Juan, Bolívar 06/09/02484 TG2_2002.09.06_nepomuceno
3 Mueren 8 Policías En Quipile 08/01/031252 TG2_2003.01.08_quipile
4 Por Miedo No Podrá Ir A Sepelio de Su Hijo 17/01/03551 TG2_2003.01.17_sancarlos
5 Veredas Se Quedan Solas 19/01/03577 TG2_2003.01.19_sancarlos
6 Terror En El Nogal 08/02/03818 TG2_2003.02.08_nogal
7 ELN asesinó a la maestra de Cocorná 27/04/03690 TG2_2003.04.07_maestra
8 Seguidilla de Crímenes En Buenaventura 30/04/03481 TG2_2003.04.30_buenaventura
9 Farc asesinaron a rehenes 06/05/03196 TG2_2003.05.06_echeverri
10 Echeverri Tenía Un Tiro De Gracia: Fiscal 07/05/03943 TG2_2003.05.07_echeverri2
11 Muere niño por moto bomba 24/06/03513 TG2_2003.06.24_motobomba
12 Tragedia Por Caballo Bomba 11/09/03555 TG2_2003.09.11_caballobomba
13 Samaria Cargó A Sus Muertos 10/01/04508 TG2_2004.01.10_samaria
14 Masacrados 34 Raspachines 16/06/041266 TG2_2004.06.16_gabarra
15 Hablaban de sus hijos mientras los mataban 17/06/04533 TG2_2004.06.17_gabarra2
16 Masacre y éxodo en Antioquia 12/07/04420 TG2_2004.07.12_samana
17 Otra masacre en el Catatumbo 12/08/04777 TG2_2004.08.12_pachelly
18 Asesinan a 5 personas 10/10/04247 TG2_2004.10.10_coloso
19 Asesinan a Mamo de la Sierra Nevada 09/11/04399 TG2_2004.11.09_mamo
20 Tensión en Chaparral 03/12/04642 TG2_2004.12.03_chaparral
21 No Sabemos Quién Nos Disparó 03/01/051666 TG2_2005.01.03_ptosansalvador
22 Nos Iban A Matar A Todos: Concejal 25/05/05682 TG2_2005.05.25_concejoptorico
23 12 muertos por acción de Farc 25/08/05290 TG2_2005.08.25_ptovaldivia
24 Eso Fue Como Estar En El Infierno' 28/02/061416 TG2_2006.02.28_concejorivera
Cilindros-Bomba de Farc Caían Cada Hora
25 06/03/06501 TG2_2006.03.06_montebonito
Sobre Montebonito
26 Las Farc, El Verdugo de San Vicente 07/03/061750 TG2_2006.03.07_sanvicente
27 En 38 Días Se Selló Suerte de Liliana 07/05/061668 TG2_2006.05.07_lilianagaviria
Las Farc Reviven Crímenes Selectivos Para
28 10/06/06467 TG2_2006.06.10_selectivos
Marcar Territorio
Aserradores confinados en riosucio tras ataque
29 17/07/06540 TG2_2006.07.16_choco
de Farc
El Valle, Vulnerable Ante La Última Escalada
30 05/08/06693 TG2_2006.08.05_valle
de Las Farc
Average number of words 737
Total number of words 22123

248
20. El Tiempo Paramilitaries 2002-2006 (TP2)

HEADLINES TP2 DATE WORDS FILE NAME

1 Arremetida de Paras En Cúcuta 15/08/02 662 TP2_2002.08.15_cucuta
2 Masacre En Chinchiná 14/10/02 367 TP2_2002.10.14_chinchina
3 Masacran A 8 Campesinos 02/12/02 725 TP2_2002.12.02_sancarlos
4 Día de Masacres En Cúcuta 11/01/03 799 TP2_2003.01.11_cucuta
5 La Guerra Visitó A Los Kunas 28/01/03 1387 TP2_2003.01.28_kunas
6 Masacre En El Sur De La Guajira 04/02/03 323 TP2_2003.02.04_guajira
7 Violencia En Ciudad Amurallada 14/02/03 652 TP2_2003.02.14_cartagena
8 Silenciaron A Pinino 19/03/03 571 TP2_2003.03.19_pinino
9 Presidente, Me Van A Matar 11/04/03 702 TP2_2003.04.11_alcalderoble
10 Asesinados evangélicos 08/05/03 68 TP2_2003.05.08_evangelicos
11 Masacran a cinco personas 24/07/03 359 TP2_2003.07.24_saravena
12 Asesinados Cinco Pescadores En Sucre 13/08/03 427 TP2_2003.08.13_sanjorge
13 Asesinan A Líder Femenina 18/12/03 543 TP2_2003.10.18_liderfem
14 Incursión Paramilitar desplaza A 240 Personas 10/01/04 811 TP2_2004.01.10_micoahumado
15 Sexta masacre en el valle 27/01/04 977 TP2_2004.01.27_yumbo
16 Seis Muertos Atribuidos A Paras 15/05/04 462 TP2_2004.05.15_espinal
17 Alta Guajira, En Pie de Guerra 23/05/04 1706 TP2_2004.05.23_wayuu
18 Veinte Muertos En Masacre Y Bombas 24/05/04 502 TP2_2004.05.24_tame
19 El alcalde al que todos querían 11/08/04 687 TP2_2004.08.11_alcalderivera
20 Denuncian incursión para 28/08/04 123 TP2_2004.08.28_guamues
21 El Pánico No Abandona A Potosí 08/10/04 408 TP2_2004.10.08_potosi
22 San Carlos, Conmocionado Por Segunda 01/02/05 747 TP2_2005.02.01_sancarlos
Masacre En Seis Meses
23 Hallan Ocho Cuerpos En Urabá 27/02/05 448 TP2_2005.02.27_apartado
24 Masacre de Buenaventura Habría Sido Un 30/04/05 610 TP2_2005.04.30_buenaventura
Ajuste de Cuentas del Narcotráfico
25 Alarma Por Masacre En La Que Solo 16/05/05 659 TP2_2005.05.16_cazuca
Aparecen 2 Muertos
26 Pánico Por Los Paras 03/06/05 941 TP2_2005.06.03_ortega
27 Tercera Masacre En Buenaventura 11/07/05 441 TP2_2005.07.11_buenaventura
28 En Curumaní Sí Hubo Incursión de 14/12/05 531 TP2_2005.12.14_curumani
Paramilitares
29 Masacre En Cúcuta 26/01/06 118 TP2_2006.01.26_cucuta

30 Se Abren Las Tumbas ‘Paras’ En El TP2_2006.04.16_catatumbofosa

16/04/06 893
Catatumbo s
621.63333
Average number of words
3333333
Total number of words 18649

249
250