Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics
Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics, 11(1), May 2026

Representing Corruption and Arabic Terms in Online News: An SFL Transitivity Study

Hanifah Mu'izah (Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta)
Frans Sayogie (Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta)
Abdullah Abdullah (Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta)



Article Info

Publish Date
31 May 2026

Abstract

This study examines the portrayal of corruption and the use of Arabic terms in four online news articles published by Kompas.com and Detik.com in May–June 2017. The case involved a member of the House of Representatives from the PKS faction, Yudi Widiana Adia, who was suspected of using Arabic terms as code in communications related to bribery surrounding road construction projects in Maluku and North Maluku. Adopting a qualitative-descriptive approach grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), this study focuses on the transitivity system within the ideational metafunction to analyze how each media outlet linguistically constructs the same corruption incident. The findings indicate that Kompas tends to represent corruption through material processes that position the actors as the agents of the action, whereas Detik more frequently employs verbal processes that position the source as the primary speaker. This difference also influences how Arabic terms are represented in the context of corruption. These consistent linguistic patterns indicate a difference in editorial orientation between the two media outlets in their coverage of the same corruption case, although broader generalizations require a more extensive corpus analysis.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ijefll

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media Social Sciences

Description

Indonesian Journal of EFL and Linguistics encompasses research articles, original research report, reviews, and scientific commentaries in education, literature, and ELT, including: English Language Teaching English as a Foreign Language Language and Linguistics Morphology Phonology Syntax Semantics ...