Some Typical Linguistic Features of English Newspaper Headlines
2014; Volume: 13; Issue: 13 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2471-0881
Autores Tópico(s)Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication
ResumoABSTRACT. Journalistic discourse represents a paradigm within mass communication. It is considered in relation to social contexts of language use. Headlines general impact is stronger than that affecting people who buy the newspapers, since they are often glimpsed almost everywhere. Discourse analysts have been attracted by the linguistic realization of headlines. Integrated in the journalistic discourse, headlines are very specific structural units of texts. Headlines are studied as independent and effective persuasive elements of articles. In dealing with headlines, the readers are always involved in seeking out meaning. English newspaper headlines represent interesting examples of language use. Those reading them need a special training in a wide range of skills in order to deduce the rules of headlines usage and use these rules in understanding meanings. Some of the most important grammar exceptions as typical linguistic features of newspaper headlines are: elliptical constructions, noun phrases, noun strings, a particular use of verb tenses, use of short words, use of puns, alliterations, etc. An exercise like deciphering headlines is a very necessary argument in our need to grasp the gist of newspaper articles.Keywords: English newspaper headlines; linguistic realization; skills; rules; exceptions1. IntroductionMedia discourse, to which journalistic discourse belongs, represents a paradigm within mass communication.Integrated in the journalistic discourse, headlines are very specific structural units of any newspaper text. They are the first elements of articles the readers face and, to a great extent, they determine the interpretation of texts. All people who buy newspapers will first glance at the headlines. Headlines impact is even wider than on those who actually buy the newspapers, since they are often displayed and glimpsed everywhere.The impact of headlines on readers is also strong because certain linguistic features make them memorable. The construction and the ideas generated by the headlines will establish the understanding framework of the whole article. They constitute a kind of shorthand, a simplification and condensation of ideas.Headlines play an important role in orienting the reader's attention and interpretation of the facts contained in the article. They are a particularly rich source of information about the field of cultural references, necessary to identify the content of the articles.It is essential for journalists to implement the most powerful persuasion strategies in the headlines of articles, as very often readers only look through the headlines and stop to read those articles with the most attractive headings.Headlines may be studied as independent and effective persuasive elements of the texts. They usually contain concise information which has a very persuasive power. Their main functions are: to attract the readers' attention and to give the gist of the story. Headline writers' responsibility is to create headlines able to catch the readers, to have an intriguing factor which should make readers have the curiosity of reading the article. So, headline writers try to catch the reader's eye by using as few words as possible. The language headlines use is, consequently, unusual in a number of ways.In dealing with English newspaper headlines, readers are always involved in seeking out and translating meaning.English newspaper headlines represent interesting examples of language applicability that have to be doubled by special training in a wide range of skills to deduce the rules of headlines handling and to use these rules in seeking out meanings.It is important to notice that there are lexical, structural and stylistic characteristics of the discourse of headlines. Brevity is such a defining characteristic. Being very compressed and condensed, popularized in half-understood forms, they are generated and maintained as a rich source of information about the national representations circulating in the society. …
Referência(s)