Who is Burning down Rohingya Villages? The Portrayal of Rohingya in Media through Transitivity Analysis

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the representation of the Rohingya in the comments in response to the online BBC News’ YouTube video “Who is burning down Rohingya Villages?” through Transitivity analysis. Transitivity analysis was applied to uncover the ideational meanings of language use. The data were analyzed in three main steps. Firstly, each comment was divided into clauses. Second, the process types were identified. Then, the process types were counted and calculated into percentages. The results from the transitivity analysis of the comments indicate that the Rohingya were represented as people who acted in both negative and non-negative ways, and in the material process were mostly acted upon negatively. The Rohingya were also given certain non-negative characteristics more than negative characteristics in the relational process. Thestudy suggests that representation of the Rohingya can be varied depending on the content providers’ perspectives. The comments from the international audiences appear to imply that the Rohingya might not be victims of the Myanmar government.