Cohesion in Persuasive Media Texts: An Analysis of Ghanaian Newspaper Editorials through the Lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics
Alhassan Mohammed
Business Senior High, Tamale, Ghana
alhassanmed27@gmail.com
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6525-6092
George Kodie Frimpong
University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
gfrimpong@ug.edu.gh
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3395-042X
Kingsley Cyril Mintah
University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
kcmintah@ug.edu.gh
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-1061-7289
Abstract
This study examines the use of cohesion in Ghanaian newspaper editorials, with the aim of exploring how cohesive devices are employed in persuasive editorial texts. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics’ Cohesion framework, the study analyzes twenty (20) editorials purposively sampled from two established newspapers in Ghana: The Ghanaian Times and The Daily Guide. A mixed-methods design was employed to analyze cohesive patterns linguistically across the corpus. The findings reveal a striking dominance of grammatical cohesion, particularly reference (75.1%) and conjunction (22%), while Ellipsis (1.8%) and Substitution (1.1%) appear only marginally. Lexical cohesion is primarily achieved through Reiteration (83.4%), with Collocation (16.6%) playing a secondary role. These patterns suggest a deliberate editorial strategy in which cohesion is not merely a linguistic necessity but a rhetorical tool for guiding reader interpretation, asserting ideological positions, and maintaining textual unity. Critically, the study argues that cohesive devices in editorial writing are instrumental in shaping the argumentative structure of editorials. The overwhelming reliance on reference and Reiteration suggests that Ghanaian newspaper editorials prefer maintaining topic continuity, reinforcing authorial stance, and foregrounding thematic salience: techniques that are central to the persuasive and ideological functions of editorial texts.
Keywords: Coherence, cohesion, editorials, newspaper, Systemic Functional Linguistics
How to Cite this Paper :
Mohammed, A., Frimpong, G. K., & Mintah, K. C. (2026). Cohesion in Persuasive Media Texts: An Analysis of Ghanaian Newspaper Editorials through the Lens of Systemic Functional Linguistics. Atras Journal, 7(1), 299-315
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