IDEATIONAL REPRESENTATION OF AL JAZEERA ENGLISH’S DISCOURSE ON TRUMP’S VICTORY IN THE 2024 US ELECTION: A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study investigates the ideational representation of Donald Trump in Al Jazeera English’s coverage of his victory in the 2024 U.S. presidential election using the transitivity framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, the study analyses three news articles published between November 2024 and January 2025. The findings reveal that Material Processes (50%) and Verbal Processes (23%) are the dominant process types. These patterns construct Trump primarily as an active political actor and a prominent communicator, while Relational Processes further reinforce his institutional legitimacy. Referential choices, including personal names, pronouns, and political titles, strengthen his representation as a personalized, normalized, and institutionally validated leader. Overall, Al Jazeera English represents Trump as agentive in action, authoritative in speech, and legitimate within formal political structures. These findings demonstrate how transitivity functions as a linguistic resource for constructing political representation in international news discourse.