SOURCE ATTRIBUTION AND QUOTATION AS LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES OF CREDIBILITY IN ENGLISH AND UZBEK ONLINE NEWS

Abstract

This thesis examines source attribution and quotation as linguistic mechanisms through which credibility is constructed in English and Uzbek online news discourse. Rather than treating credibility as an inherent property of a news report, the study approaches it as a discourse effect produced by the interaction of source naming, reporting verbs, evidential markers, quotation patterns and degrees of journalistic distance. Selected examples from English-language Reuters reports and Uzbek-language Kun.uz materials are analysed comparatively. These choices influence perceived evidential strength, authorial distance and the reader’s assessment of reliability.