Application of Selected Systemic Functional Linguistic Elements in Critical Discourse Analysis of Media: A Case Study of the News of Execution of 37 Saudi Subj

Critical Discourse Analysis, which aims at uncovering the mediational role of language in (re)producing reality, employs such analytical tools as the resources of Systemic Functional Linguistics. This study has set out to introduce to the reader and deploy a selected set of the said tools, and has attempted to apply the two systems of Thematic Structure and Transitivity to a sample of journalistic texts. In keeping with this, an editorial from the Iranian daily Keyhan, dealing with the execution of 37 Saudi Shiite dissidents, has been selected and scrutinized. The findings showed that, from an Thematic Structure perspective, the author has rendered opaquely his/her intended message, that is, criticism of reactions to the above event. Furthermore, having strategically employed themes, he/she has tried to show that it has had precedents, and that it is contextualized in relation to other events supposedly requiring reactions. The Transitivity Analysis pointed to the fact that Saudi leaders have been mostly represented as actors in such material processes as committing atrocities, and that the 37 prisoners have been rendered as goals, that is at the receiving end of actions such as torture, crime, etc.Keywords: Keyhan Daily, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis