An In-Depth Analysis of the Interplay of Syntax and Semantics in Modern English Prose: A Study of Selected Texts from Digital Media
Abstract
This paper examines the dynamic relationship between syntax and semantics in modern English prose, and centers on digital media genres in particular: online news articles, blogs, and social media posts. Building on a balanced corpus of 700 texts, we investigate syntactic complexity (such as clause embedding, T-unit ratios) and semantic framing strategies, foregrounding how genre and platform influence patterns of communication. Results uncover separate complexity hierarchies—news > blogs > social media—but also cross-genre hybridity propelled by platform affordances. Semantic framing is also systematically different across genres, a phenomenon that has been influenced by differences in the type of stance, authority, and multimodality. The paper argues that in digital spaces meaning is becoming more distributed across the linguistic and non-linguistic resource, and it is also becoming less centred on large corpus data, with consequences for corpus design, language teaching and models of the syntax–semantics interface.
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