EDU-KATA: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Pembelajarannya
Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026): Februari 2026

Transitivity Analysis of CNN News Titles on the Israel-Palestine Ceasefire: Systemic Functional Linguistic Approach

Raisa Tanjia Ayesha Noori (Universitas Andalas)
zulprianto (Universitas Andalas)
Sawirman (Universitas Andalas)



Article Info

Publish Date
26 Feb 2026

Abstract

Language choices in news titles are never neutral. They systematically construct how readers understand who acts and who is affected. This study examines the transitivity structure in CNN news titles on the Israel-Palestine conflict following the ceasefire announced on January 19, 2025, using Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as its theoretical framework. Data consist of 322 titles (669 clauses) published between January 19 and July 24, 2025, collected from CNN’s Middle East section via the Internet Archive and annotated using UAM Corpus Tool 6. The analysis identifies the distribution of Process types, Participant functions, and Circumstantial elements across the corpus. Results show that Material Processes dominate CNN’s titles construction (62.93%), followed by Verbal Processes (20.48%). In terms of Participant functions, Actor (30.93%) and Goal (27.79%) are the most frequent, yet CNN consistently employs ambiguous pronouns (‘it’, ‘they’) and passive constructions without explicit agents, reducing the identifiability of causal actors. Verbal processes frequently position Western and Israeli officials as primary Sayers, reflecting an editorial tendency toward diplomatic and institutional framing. Circumstantial elements are limited, with Location dominant (70.76%). These patterns indicate that CNN frames the conflict through procedural language in which events are reported without consistently traceable agents or explicit causal context.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

kata

Publisher

Subject

Education Languange, Linguistic, Communication & Media

Description

The journal is published by the Master Program of Indonesian Language and Literature Education, Postgraduate Program, Islamic University Darul Ulum Lamongan as a medium of information, teaching facilities, and dissemination of research results, theoretical developments, and scientific writings on ...