Features of English newspaper headlines---毕业论文.doc

【标题】features of english newspaper headlines 【作者】刘 勍 【关键词】新闻；标题；特点；原则 【指导老师】游 伟 【专业】英语 【正文】. introductionnow in the information age, media are playing a significant role in peoples daily life, crossing the barrier of time and space to provide people with the latest news in the world. with dramatic development in scientific technologies, media have evolved into such various forms as printing media(news, magazines, etc,), visual media(television, film, etc.), auditory media(radio, recordings, etc,), and electronic media(internet, etc,). this thesis will approach the features of news headlines in newspapers and magazines.in the realm of mass media, there has been no consensus on the definition of news yet, but people commonly regard news as recent events or happenings. a piece of news is usually composed of a headline, a lead and a body. a news headline, is caption printed at the top of a page or article in a newspaper, usually in large bold letters and often summarizing the content that follows it.1this definition discloses that news headlines do stay at a prominent position in news for their irreplaceable functions. what closely follow a headline are a lead including the first few sentences of the news report and a body covering the content of news.as many readers keep posted on daily happenings almost entirely by scanning the headlines, the copy-editor must incorporate as much information as possible in the headline, present it with accuracy and emphasize the important point or points of the news. headlines are deliberately accurate, alluring, seeking to tempt the reader into perusing what follows. the following are the basic principles of newspaper headlines.a). being accurate.the first principle of a headline is that it be accurate. this comes mainly from close and careful reading of the story. erroneous headlines result because the copy-editor doesnt understand the story, infers something that is not in the story, fails to give the full dimension of the story, or fails to shift gears before going from one story to another.b). being brief.the second principle of a headline is to be brevity. because the english news headlines act on concentrating on the main points, the usage of words need be more brevity.c). being clear.the mass media carries a great number of information, if it has not concise, striking, and funny headlines; the readers will chose the news they need difficultly.headlines not only need to sum up the content of news, also need to attract the attention of the readers. so it should be novel and grace, and should take on their own features.ii. language features of news headlinesanalysis of the linguistic devices applied in news headlines is unfolded in this section from such aspects as graphetics, graphology, vocabulary, and grammar.to scale the importance of stylistic features, there are two basic principles: the important stylistic feature in a presentation will be(a) that which occurs more frequently within the variety in question, and(b) that which is shared less by other varieties.2 for example, the use of the passive in some types of scientific english is a very important feature because it is one of the most frequently occurring features of this variety. it is also a distinctive feature of this variety, as it has a greater frequency of occurrence than in most other varieties. another example is that the use of“hereinbefore” in legal english is a distinctive feature of a unique kind, not occurring in any other varieties of english. it does not occur very frequently in legal texts. but when it does, it assumes every great stylistic importance, because of its uniqueness.as for news headlines，there also exist some unique stylistic features that occur more frequently within this variety and is shared less by other varieties. for example, the present tense expression, which is relatively constant in the headlines, is an important feature for it is one of the most frequent features of this variety. it is also a distinctive feature of this variety. as it has a greater frequency of occurrence than in most other varieties. such kind of stylistic features unique for news headlines include the excessive use of active verbs, subject omitted practice and so on.nils erik enkvist said,“all stylistic features are linguistic.”3 it is of help to start by examining the stylistic features of news headlines against a checklist of such linguistic devices as graphetics, graphology, vocabulary, grammar.a. graphetic and graphological featuresgraphetic and graphological variation is of great importance in defining the distinctiveness of news headlines: between the beginning and the end of a publication one always finds different sizes and shapes of type juxtaposedthe most noticeable device being of course the graphitic highlighting of the headlines. they can be used to meet the principles of news headlines, for example, different script and color can lead to different attractive effect of the page design; certain capitalization style man make the sentence easier to read; the proper use of punctuation can say more than words.the function of headlines are complex: headlines have to contain a clear, succinct and if possible intriguing message, to light a spark of interest in the potential reader, who, on average, is a person whose eyes move swiftly down a page and stops when something catches his attention; and the chief means of producing“eye-catching” effect is by making use of the full range of graphetic and graphological contrasts.4 these contrasts are found to vary from one publication to another; they from part of the consistent visual style, which any newspaper tries to maintain.in this section, such graphetic and graphological features as typography, capitalization and punctuation will be studied.1. basic typographythe headline is one of the elements of typographic color that combine to make attractive page patterns. the graphetic substance which carries language is the vehicle of another kind of meaning, conveyed simultaneously by the choice of script, letter, size, spacing and so on.to meet the principles for the news headlines, the choice of typography should be a clear signal, which is swiftly readable, economical in editorial and production time and in newsprint space, proportionate to the news, and flexible. scanning the headlines of various kinds of news, one may come across many of the typography techniques used to reinforce the eye-catching effect, such as spacing.the spacing of the headline refers to the location of the headline in the layout of the paper, the arrangement of white space between decks and lines, and its relationship with the other parts of the paper, i.e. the pictures and text.take the arrangement of white space as an example. one may come across the white space(a) between the first line of the headline and the cut off,(b) between lines of one deck,(c) between decks(d) between the last line and start of the text. the aim is to aid legibility and to use white space to unite the headline and relate it to its text. it is discovered that if the white space is not properly planned, disharmony could emerge for the page design.spacing between the lines of headlines is not so good on some news. some headlines are crammed with limited horizontal white, so they are hard to read. some are over-whited, so their impact is reduced and space wasted. for others, the irregular ascenders and descenders create their own white space against the formal spacing. irrespective of the visual need, they spoil the read-on effect of the headline as well as the scattering of its blackness.2. capitalizationin the book modern news design, edmund c., arnold referred functionalism as the study of certain presentation based on the function. he went on with“the application of functionalism to headline forms directs attention to capitalization style because this is a weighty factor in their effectiveness.”different capitalization styles create different visual effects. the following is the commonly used capitalization devices for news headlines: all-capitalized headlines.all-capitalized headline refers to the form which capitalizes every letter in the headline regardless of their nature. this form is found to be mainly used in shorter headlines. for example:(1) youre a genius(daily mail, february 2, 2001)capitalized letters are effective in catching the eye of the reader. but this is not true for long sentence as that most people are not accustomed to reading long sentences and unfamiliar words in capitalization.the fewer the words, the more easily the reader overcomes the handicap. because there are only a few words in a headline, the low legibility of all-cap is often overlooked.in case of long headlines, all-capitalized setting is not efficient. for example:(2) rap idols chainsaw shocker is a wow(the mirror, february 1, 2001)the reader may not exert great effort to understand the all-cap line. if he cant make sense from the headline, he merely looks at the rest of the news, and skips to another page.3. punctuationsince headlines are truncated sentences they need punctuation just as prose dose. the purpose of using punctuation is for clarity and ease of expression. 5writers use punctuation marks to tell when ideas are linked equally or unequally, expanded or ended.at the same time, there are also some distinctive features about the punctuation of news headlines. for example, it is not difficult to notice that the last word in the headline is the end of a“thought”. where two thoughts are joined together in one deck, a colon usually separates them. for example:(1) no security for sharon: israelis impatience growing(the new york times, february 19, 2002)the separation of two thoughts by a dash seems less pleasing, especially at the end of the line. for example:(2) johnson gets his surcharge througu, but a pricethe reason is probably that dash is reserved for creating extra emphasis. it tends to give a somewhat more dramatic and informal impression, suggesting an impromptu aside, rather than a planned inclusion. dashes are usually found in news headlines for feature stories.it is found that the american practice is to use a semi-colon where the british newspapers use a colon. the british practice is against the use of semi-colons at all on the ground of simplicity, typographical neatness and ease of read-on. however, comparing those with a colon or semi-colon，headlines with self-contained single thought tend to be unbroken by punctuation.the distinctive features of punctuation for news headlines are developed on such frequently used ones as comma, quotation mark, question mark, exclamation mark, and so on.a) commascomma is used in the headlines in the normal way to separate clauses. for example:(1)we were so proud, then this happens(daily mail, february 5, 2001)sometimes they are used in a tight corner to adopt the practice of using it to indicate the omission of the word“and”. for example：(2)beckham, figo, raul shortlisted(21st century, november22, 2001)when quotation marks are used, the comma normally separating quotation from attribution can be dropped for the sake of typographical neatness, for example, the use of(3a) instead of(3b):(3a)“preposterous” says councilor(3b)“preposterous”, says councilorb) quotation marksexample(3) shows that quotation marks around the word“preposterous” is necessary in some cases. one may notice that quotes are usually used when the actual words are important. quotation marks are very helpful in a number of ways in headlines. first, they are used to indicate external authority for a statement. secondly, they are used to indicate doubt(spoken or unspoken). for example:(1)india hails arrests as“a step forward”(the washington post, january 1, 2002)here the news is not yet prepared to lend its authority to the quoted words. the same implication always attaches to quotes round allegations or rumors or where a strong word needs toning down.some quotes tell the reader to take care. the word is not what it might seem:(2) skull cap tv“joke” of race claim firm(the mirror, february 1, 2001)the story tells that the workers at a firm of brokers placed a skullcap on the tv every time a jewish person appeared on screen. the practice came to light after a jewish broker who wore a costume with a skullcap claimed racial discrimination. here the word“joke”, though a relaxed word of its own, transmits the feeling of anger.c) question marksit is observed that the question mark is generally avoided in headlines. it is mostly used after genuine questions and then the text answers the question. these headlines turn up more often on the feature pages than news pages. because it is a convention that the headlines for news should tell the readers what has actually happened. and feature stories，which are relatively long and informative, might sometimes contain suspense in the headline and lead the reader to go on. for example：(1) sarah: murder charge?(daily mall, february 3, 2001)this is a headline for a feature story. the question mark can indicate doubt about the situation and lead to the core content of the report.(2a) supermarket art?(beijing weekend, august 24-26, 2001)however, this question mark is all advertisement of weakness because it conveys obscure idea and adds confusion to the readers. it is better to rewrite the headline as:(2b)modern art needs regulationd) exclamation marksexclamation marks are not frequently used in news headlines. for some copy-editors who want to leave a deep impression on the readers, they tend to use the exclamation marks to express their emotion. for example:(1)soccers a real ball!(beijing weekend, august 31-september 2, 2001)e) ellipsis dotssometimes the use of ellipsis dots is all interesting characteristic of headline writing. for example：(1) out of the mouths of birds(beijing weekend, august 31-september 2, 2001)short as it is, the headline is expected to carry as much important information as possible. ellipsis dots help to cancel any unnecessary information such as information that can be perceived by the reader. more importantly, the imagination of the reader can be triggered by the ellipsis. in this way, the simple punctuation mark may carry a much larger amount of information than what the copy-editor is able to put in a short sentence does.this section explores the graphetic and graphological devices from different aspects including the typography, capitalization and punctuation of news headlines. the study at this level shows so numerous and varied original uses of lettering, spacing and punctuation are made in news headlines. with a limited space available for headlines, copy-editors have no choice but to make full use of all the means, to realize the complex functions expected of the news headlines.b. lexical featuresin this thesis, lexical features of news headlines will be analyzed in a relatively macro sense. it studies from the word level and also refers to the usage of different kinds of combining words as well as the word coordination in a sentence.this part, which will be developed from word level, includes such features as highlighted verbs and word combination.1. active verbsthere is a saying that if the verb is the secret of the active headline, it should be the most active verb which fits the facts. if the verb is weak, the headline is weak.by comparing a pair of example headlines, one can find how a headline gains strength when a stronger verb is used:(1a) istanbul has earthauake(1b) earthauake rocks istanbulexample(1a) transmits to the readers accurately of the news. however, like a man saying something without any expression, it tells the news dully. the other one,(1b), with the verb changed, endows the headline with vigor and strength.2. word combinationheadline writers have developed a vocabulary that fulfils the principles of the headline, using words that are short, attention-getting and effective. to save space, to convey the style of the news and to make the headline forceful, colorful and active, many words are used in combination forms in the news headlines. the commonly used are abbreviations, acronyms and blending.a) abbreviationsa great number of english words have undergone the process of abbreviation in their etymological history. this device is commonly employed by the copy-editors to convey novel and economical effects. abbreviation is also called clipping, that is, a new word is created by:(1)cutting the final part(or with a slight variation)memo memorandumheli helicoptermod modernchamp championmath mathematicsdeli delicatessentelly television(2)cutting the initial part:phone telephonevan caravancopter helicopteron some rare occasions, both the initial part and the final part are clipped off with the middle part reserved, such as the word“tec” from“detective”.b) acronymsacronym is made up from the first letters of the namely of an organization, which has a heavily modified headword. this device is widely used in news headlines for it can emphasize authority and save space. for example:(1)wb world bankunesco united nations educational, scientific and cultural organizationcla central intelligence agencyplo palestine liberation organizationnato north atlantic treaty organizationhmso her majestys stationery officesalt strategic arms limitation talksthis process is also widely used in shortening extremely long words or word groups in science,