英语文体学论文Stylistic Analysis of News Report

1、Stylistic Analysis of News ReportI. IntroductionIn the modern society，news reporting is getting more and more important and indispensable in peoples daily life. News report refers to a general variety of language, which sends out hot news, news of important events, and interesting events to all part

2、s of the country or region by mass media. This paper makes an attempt to give a general analysis of a piece of cultural news through stylistic theories. The theory of register is one of the key theories in systematic functional linguistics. It puts forwards three factors of context which determine t

3、he language features. The three factors are filed，tenor and mode. Here I will focus on news report US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism.In terms of field, it can report events in all fields, such as politics, military affairs, economy, culture, medicine, science and technology, public secu

4、rity, sports, family events, etc. The news which I analyze is cultural news in terms of field.In terms of tenor, the relationship between the addresser and the addressee is that of journalist and masses. Although all the news reports have the same function: to send news to the masses accurately and

5、quickly, they are also different as they may be of different purposes. Some papers are formal and official. The focus is on accuracy and objectivity. Some are used to provide interesting events, anecdotes, and strange events, so they are light, humorous and entertaining. The news analyzed in this ar

6、ticle is light.In terms of mode, we have oral news report, such as radio broadcast, TV broadcast, and written news report, such as newspaper, magazine, brochure, booklet, etc. The news analyzed in this article is a written new report.The main idea of this news is what Americans do on the US Memorial

7、 Day and some patriotic events in USA. In this report, it provides information to the broad masses and influences the attitude, point of view and emotions of the readers. Also it stresses clarity, so it often directly expresses the meaning of the report to suit the readers needs. The reason why I ch

8、oose this news is that I was attracted by the title .Because I think the US isnt a country which is full of patriotism. People in the United States are just busy in minding their own business. And also I have seen a lot of articles describing the relationships between people in the US are alienative

9、, especially in New York City. “Years of living in New York City had trained me: The distress you hear is nothing serious. Its only a drunk or a bum. We regard it with the silence with which one sees everything in this city the silence of blasé acceptance.” (Suzanne Falter-Barns, 1995) So I am

10、curious about the news saying the excessive patriotism of the Americans and the US Memorial Day and want to read the news. After finishing reading the news, I have changed the opinion, or more exactly, the prejudice of the US. They are not indifferent people; instead they appreciate what the fallen

11、soldiers had done for them, for the country. But, on the other hand, this patriotism may make them feel that their ways of life, country or ethnic groups are superior to others, and such feelings can lead a country to impose their way of life on others. Therefore, I want to analyze this piece of new

12、s to better understand the patriotism of the citizens in US.II. Textual Analysis 1. At the Phonological Level Definitions of the term Phonology vary. Nikolai Trubetzkoy in Grundzüge der Phonologie (1939) defines phonology as "the study of sound pertaining to the system of language", a

13、s opposed to phonetics, which is "the study of sound pertaining to the act of speech" (the distinction between language and speech being basically Saussure's distinction between langue and parole). More recently, Lass (1998) writes that phonology refers broadly to the subdiscipline of

14、linguistics concerned with the sounds of language, while in more narrow terms, "phonology proper is concerned with the function, behaviour and organization of sounds as linguistic items”. According to Clark et al. (2007) it means the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human

15、 language, or the field of linguistics studying this use.Here I adopt what has been said in the stylistic book. Phonology is a science which transfers spoken sounds into written symbols.(1)The characteristics of written languageAs space is limited and it is often costly as it needs certain material

16、to write on, it has special grammatical features so as to put more meaning into it. There are many nominalizations to make sentences into groups. In this news report, for example, online, there are tests for US citizens to find out whether they are "patriotic" or "unpatriotic".Pu

17、rposeful and around one subject, for example, the news US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism, around one subject patriotism in the whole news.(2)Phonological TheoryIt is the study of the distinctive sound units and patterns they fall into. It consists of several levels: phoneme, syllable, f

18、oot, and tone group. Speak more specifically, they are mispronunciation and sub-standard pronunciation，stress，tempo (speed of speaking)，intonation patterns， onomatopoeia，pitch (relative height of speech sounds as perceived by a listener),repetition of sounds(alliteration，assonance，consonance ,rhyme)

19、.Here I will focus on the sound pattern and rhyme based on the news US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism.Certain phonemes can be put together to form some patterns, and such patterns can be used to achieve stylistic effects. These patterns include alliteration, assonance, and consonance. C

20、onsonance is the repetition of the final consonant (cluster) in stressed syllables. For example, Romney, the Republican hopeful for president, also busied himself in San Diego, laying wreaths and making patriotic and inflammatory remarks, pointing fingers at countries such as Russia and China. Osama

21、 bin Laden had been killed a year ago, jubilant students rushed into the streets of Washington DC at midnight, waving US flags and chanting "USA". In 2003, some US citizens launched a "boycott French goods" campaign in 2003 after France opposed the US invasion of Iraq.A rhyme is

22、a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words.In the specific sense, two words rhyme if their final stressed vowel and all following sounds are identical. In the general sense, "rhyme" can refer to various kinds of phonetic similarity between words, and to the

23、use of such similar-sounding words in organizing verse. For example, A Pew Center survey last November showed that nearly half (48 percent) say the US is the greatest country in the world. Another 42 percent say it is one of the greatest countries in the world. Knowing and unknowingly, patriotism ha

24、s permeated American life. And patriotism rises when the US is in conflict or war with another country. Right after Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed a year ago, jubilant students rushed into the streets of Washington DC at midnight, waving US flags and chanting "USA".On

25、line, there are tests for US citizens to find out whether they are "patriotic" or "unpatriotic".2. At the Graphological Level Graphology refers to the writing system of a language or the encoding of meaning in visual symbols. It studies symbols which are distinctive such as graph

26、ological deviation can occur in any sub-area of graphology, such as the shape of the text, format of printing, punctuation, indentation, capitalization, paragraphing, italics, graphic signs etc. Here I will focus on the shape of the text, namely, the text structure, paragraphing, punctuation, and ca

27、pitalization on the news report US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism.(1) Text StructureThe text structure of news report can be divided into three parts: headline, introduction and body.The headline in this news report is US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism. This is not a comple

28、te sentence is an elliptical sentence. What is omitted is the Predicate. The complete sentence should be The US Memorial is marked by excessive patriotism. Every news article starts with a lead the first 1-2 sentences that summarize the most interesting point of the article. In US Memorial Day marke

29、d by excessive patriotism, the author starts with a good reminder the Memorial Day weekend in order to lead to the topic “the excessive patriotism in the US”. As we know, each genre such as poem, pose, letter, and advertisement has its conventional graphological forms and requires different ways of

30、paragraphing. The main body of this news and the order of this news is listing method, presenting the events as a list and also it employs the deductive method, it first provides the general knowledge and then the particular kind, the news first starts with the 145th Kings County Memorial Day Parade

31、 in John Paul Jones on Monday, then states the additional ceremonies, such as laying wreaths at the graves of fallen soldiers and holding concerts featuring patriotic songs and music, the presidential patriotic speeches, and then answers why the US is almost always near the top in the rankings of pa

32、triotism.(2) Paragraphing The proper way of arranging paragraphs can contribute to the meaning of the text as well as attract attention and arouse the readers interest. For example, in this news report the journalist favors short paragraphs, regulations and rules are usually arranged in order .Often

33、 just by paragraphing, reader can understand the intention of the writer.(3)PunctuationThe importance of punctuation marks is to help to clarify the meaning of a sentence and sometimes, help to emphasize the meaning of a sentence. Here I will focus on the double quotation marks in the news report.Ac

34、cording to the convention of double quotation marks, when you define a word or quote the saying of other people, you need to add the double quotation marks .For example, A USA Today/Gallup poll about two years ago showed that the overall percentage of US citizens describing themselves as "extre

35、mely patriotic" was higher than at any point in the survey's history, including in the months after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks. A total of 74 percent of US citizens said they were "extremely" or "very" patriotic. But in this example, the author also adds the double quota

36、tion marks to extremely and very, they do not a definition or a quote. So what do the double quotation marks to extremely and very refer to? They actually refer to for an emphasis. The author add double quotation marks to extremely and very so as to emphasize the US citizens excessive patriotic. The

37、 author want to express the strong excessive patriotic of US citizens. (4)CapitalizationWhat need to be capitalized? The sentences, quotations, and letter parts, peoples names and titles, place names and other proper nouns and adjectives. We all know that the abbreviation and the first letter and th

38、e proper noun need to be capitalized. So here I will focus on two special capitalizations in US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotism. The first one is “The Stars and Stripes were everywhere, outside windows, on cars, pants and even on women's headwear.” The stars and stripes refer to the

39、nation flag, but why they are capitalized? I think because of the “excessive patriotism”. The author wants to emphasize the excessive patriotism of the US people .And also I think it can catch the readers attention and let the readers immediately feel the excessive patriotism. The second one is “In

40、fact, the kind of patriotism shown on Memorial Day is expected to peak on the Fourth of July, Independence Day, when US patriotic sentiment is on full display.” Why the “fourth” is capitalized? It is just the numeral. The reason is that the Fourth of July is the national day of The United States, so

41、 it needs to be capitalized so that it can form a proper noun. All in all, after reading, we have a vivid image of patriotism in our mind. And there is a touch of patriotism all through.3. At the Lexical LevelAs news report requires the speaker to use the least amount of form to express the most amo

42、unt of meaning, and it has to be fresh and attractive, so the words in news report is short and new. They are called journalese words. They include the following types based on the news report I analyzed. (1) Short and new-fashioned: such as “marked” in “US Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotis

43、m”; “headed” and “deliver” in “He then headed to the Vietnam War Memorial to deliver his patriotic speech on the 50th anniversary of the war.”； “permeated” in “Knowing and unknowingly, patriotism has permeated American life.” ； “expatriates” in “The news that 1,780 expatriates gave up their national

44、ity at US embassies last year, compared with only 235 in 2008, may be one of the few stories that hurts the US patriotic mood. ” (2) Short journalese phrase: “take part” in “In Brooklyn, New York, on Monday, thousands of military veterans, boy scouts, marching bands and supporters advanced to the Jo

45、hn Paul Jones Park to take part in the 145th Kings County Memorial Day Parade.”4. At the Grammatical LevelThe grammatical features of this news report are as follows:(1)Preposing adverbial The choice of sentence type has a stylistic effect. Inverted sentence has an emphasis effect. For example, In B

46、rooklyn, New York, on Monday, thousands of military veterans, boy scouts, marching bands and supporters advanced to the John Paul Jones Park to take part in the 145th Kings County Memorial Day Parade. Why the author the adverbial is preposing? I think it used for catch the readers attention and let

47、them know where and when happen at first sight. And it not only states clearly the place and the time, but also conveys the authors feeling for this patriotic parade. (2)Some direct speech"Thank you for your service," one woman onlooker shouted to several veterans in the parade. The direct

48、 of the woman used here can be made vividly so as to attract readers attention and can make “the excessive patriotism” sound more convincing and persuasive. It is not said by the author but said by other people, so it sounds more objective. George Orwell, the British novelist and journalist, defined

49、 patriotism as the "devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally". He described nationalism as "inseparable fr

50、om the desire for power", implying that nationalism is the feeling that your way of life, country or ethnic group is superior to others, and such feeling can lead a country to impose their way of life on others. 5. At the Semantic Level The semantic features of this news reports are, first, it

51、is a popular paper from China Daily，which is one of the most serious newspapers in China and is mainly focused on the reporting of Chinese current issues, second, according to the nature of news, it is hard news, and third, according to the contents of the coverage, it is cultural news. In terms of

52、interpersonal meaning, it stresses objectivity. They do not influence the ideology, point of view and emotions by directly revealing their views, but through the arbitrary choice of material, the selection of those aspects of the material that can best reflect their purpose. But they have to conceal

53、 their emotions and subjective judgments in order to make their material appear reliable and real. Just as I show you the above examples, the author often use direct speech of other people to clarify his opinion. In terms of textual meaning, as it tries to convey the most amount of meaning by the sm

54、allest space, it has the feature of meaning contraction. It stresses clarity, so it often directly expresses the meaning of the report to suit the readers needs. It often tries to be vivid and new so as to seize the readers attention. In this report, it provides information “the excessive patriotism

55、 on the US people” to the broad masses and influences their attitudes, point of view and emotions of the readers. III. Conclusion Through the above analysis，the stylistic features of the cultural news text can be summarized as follows. At the phonological level, it is purposeful and has rhyme.At the

56、 graphological level, it has three parts of the text, and it use the deductive method to the paragraph and also it has some special meaning punctuation, and capitalization on some special words.At the lexical level，words which are objective and specified in meaning are largely employed in the news t

57、ext. At the grammatical level，the news is mainly described in past and present tense；and use preposing adverbial and some direct speech.At the semantic level，I state the types of this news paper according to different criterions and the purpose of the news report.The analysis of these stylistic feat

58、ures of cultural news could facilitate peoples better understanding of the language used in it. Therefore，it is necessary to apply the stylistic theory to the analysis of other news texts to make the language used in them more scientific and standard.References：1 US Memorial Day marked by excessiveJ

59、/OLChina: China Daily, 2012 2012-5-31 2 Gerald LevinIn Chelsea, Back to SleepMNew York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 19952012-6-1 3 PhonologyDB/OL2012-6-3/wiki/Phonology 4(英文)标点符号用法总结DB/OL 2012-6-5 Appendix:AppendixAUS Memorial Day marked by excessive patriotismUpdate: 2012-5-30 08:02By Chen Weihua in New York (China Daily)For people who are unaware of the exc