B. Advertisements and announcements

Their principal function is also to inform the reader. There are two basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper:

1. classified (various kinds of information are arranged according to the subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name (births, marriages, deaths, in memoriam, business offers, personal, etc.);

The peculiar brevity of expression is a stylistic feature of advertisements and announcements which may take a variety of forms:

e.g. TRAINED NURSE with child 2 years seeks post London preferred. – Write Box C. 658, The Times, E.C. 4.

2.non-classified.

Here there is no call for brevity, as the advertiser may buy as much space as he chooses.

In non-classified advertisements and announcements the reader's attention is attracted by every possible means:

ü typographical;

ü graphical;

ü stylistic;

ü both lexical and syntactical.

C. The Editorial

The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts (political and other events of the day). Their purpose is to give the editor's opinion and interpretation of the news published and suggest to the reader that it is the correct one.

They contain different strata of vocabulary to enhance the emotional effect:

o emotionally coloured language elements (lexical and structural),

o colloquial words and expressions,

o slang,

o professionalisms.

Emotional colouring in editorial articles is achieved with the help of various stylistic devices, both lexical and syntactical.

o trite metaphors,

o epithets (a stylistic device based on the interplay of emotive and logical meaning of an attributive word or phrase used to characterize an object so as to give an individual perception and evaluation of some features or properties, e.g. wild wind, heart-burning smile, animal panic),

o periphrases,

o clichés.

But genuine stylistic means are also sometimes used, which proves to be a powerful means of appraisal, of expressing a personal attitude to the matter in hand.

Two types of allusions (an indirect reference to a well-known person, place, event, literary work, or work of art) can be distinguished in newspaper article writing:

a) allusions to political and other facts of the day, which are indispensable and have no stylistic value, and

b) historical, literary and biblical allusions which are often used to create a specific stylistic effect, largely – satirical.

The emotional force of expression in the editorial is often enhanced by the use of various syntactical stylistic devices:

- parallel constructions (the repetition of identical or similar syntactic elements (word or word type, phrase, clause),

- various types of repetition,

- rhetorical questions (a question asked for effect, to which no response is expected), etc.

Stylistic devices in editorials are mostly trite. Original forms of expression and genuine stylistic means are comparatively rare. However, the editorials in different papers vary in degree of emotional colouring and stylistic originality of expression.

D. The headline is the title given to a news item or an article.

The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. And meanwhile to attract the attention of the reader (graphical and stylistic devices are used).

Moreover, headlines often contain elements of appraisal, i.e. they show the reporter's or the paper's attitude to the facts reported or commented on, thus also performing the function of instructing the reader.

As a rule, headlines consist of a 'headline' proper (banner headline) printed in big letters (gives the most crucial idea of an article) and a 'lead' consisting of a few lines printed in smaller letters (in just a few lines it provides a short summary of an article).

The practices of headline writing are different with different newspapers. In many papers there is, as a rule, but one headline to a news item, whereas such papers as The Times, The Guardian, The New York Times often carry a news item or an article with two or three headlines, and sometimes as many as four. Such group headlines may be practically a summary of the information contained in the news item or article or just bright words and expressions (usually short and emotionally coloured (Murdered, Sticky Business, Catastrophic).

English headlines are short and catching. To attract the reader's attention they make use of a wide range of techniques and devices:

1. abbreviations may make the understanding hard, but they are usually explained in the article. The most widely used abbreviations are not explained. Abbreviations may be of the following kinds:

a. Names of parties, professional unions, organizations and posts (e.g. TO LOBBY THEIR MP – THE PM (MP = Member of Parliament, PM = Prime Minister); Names of international organizations (e.g. UN = United Nations, ECM = European Common Market, NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization);

b. Abbreviations of surnames or nicknames of well-known political or social activists (FDR = Franklin Delano Roosevelt; GBS = George Bernard Shaw; RLS = Robert Louis Stevenson);

c. Abbreviations of geographical names (S.P. = South Pacific, L.A. = Los Angeles, SF = San Francisco, Ont. = Ontario).

2. graphical means (headlines are published in bigger and brighter type or a type different from the one used in the article);

3. emotionally coloured (colloquial, slang) words and phrases create the effect of unexpectedness (e.g. End this Bloodbath; Roman Catholic Priest sacked);

4. direct speech, citations make the article look up-to-date (e.g. Don't Turn Your Backs on Us, Leaders of Former Yugoslavia Plead with Brussels);

5. idiomatic expressions;

6. deliberate breaking-up of set expressions and deformation of special terms (e.g. Cakes and Bitter Ale);

7. alliteration and assonance attract the readers and help to remember the titles (e.g. Miller in Maniac Mood, Beware Bites Abroad, Patten's Top Jobs);

8. rhyme in newspapers mostly appears between two words following one another which makes the heading intriguing and catching(Oregon Ruins Bruins in Their Den; Projection, Inflection, Election);

9. parallel constructions are characterized by rhythm (Caroline Sees Russians and Usher sees Reds);

10. metaphors, epithets, metonymies, similies make headings look striking and catching (Tender Embrace That Spans 99 Years);

11. allusions. Their aim is to reflect a certain idea in a short and descriptive way and evoke certain associations in the reader (A Real-Life Greek Tragedy of the Onassis Family; All is well That Ends Well in the Saga of the RSC's Stratford Home);

12. periphrasis expresses the authors attitude quite explicitly (the first lady – woman prime-minister, queen, or wife of a head of a state);

13. pun makes the heading look ironic and humorous, it may be black humour too (e.g. 'And what about Watt');

As a result many researchers identify a special language of headlines, often called "headlinese". The specific functional and linguistic traits of the headline provide sufficient ground for isolating and analyzing it as a specific 'genre' of journalism.

The choice of linguistic means depends on the type of a newspaper and the level of literacy of its readers.

The character of headlines depends on:

1. the type of the newspaper (e.g. a broadsheet national newspaper/ a quality newspaper; a tabloid; a local paper);

2. the editor's and commercial ideology of the edition;

3. the category of readers;

4. the talent, creativeness and beliefs of the author;

The pragmatic functions of headlines:

1. informational (these headlines shortly inform the readers about the contexts of the articles they refer to);

2. expressive (most headlines perform this function this or another way. Headlines which carry only this function are quite rare);

3. motivational (headlines with this function usually call for action. Structurally they make use of the imperative mood);

4. advertising (the aim of such headlines is to be catching, arresting the attention of the reader. Such headlines regularly include stylistic devices and emotionally coloured structures, phraseologisms, proverbs, and sayings. Sometimes reporters may even transform the well-known proverbs, sayings and phraseologisms for the sake of advertising);

5. intriguing (such headlines with the help of their stylistic peculiarities arrest the reader's attention. At the same time they do not contain information that could allow the reader judge about the context of the article in advance).

Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a variety of patterns. The following patterns are the most typical:

a) nominative sentences (e.g. Gloomy Sunday);

b) full declarative sentences (e.g. Allies Now Look to London. The Present Indefinite attracts the reader and deepens his interest. Past Indefinite is used in headlines if the event described refers to the past);

c) questions in the form of statements (e.g. The Worse the Better?);

d) interrogative sentences (e.g. Do you Love War?);

e) sentences with articles, pronouns, link verbs omitted (e.g. Blaze Kills 15 at Party). Articles are very frequently omitted in all types of headlines;

f) elliptical sentences as a result of the need to save space in a newspaper and a way to attract the attention of the reader namely to the notional words that carry the emotional load and meaning. As a rule the omitted words are easy to restore according to the context: (with an auxiliary verb omitted (e.g. Yachtsman spotted); with the subject omitted (e.g. Will Win); with the subject and part of the predicate omitted (e.g. Off to the Sun, Still in Danger);

g) phrases with verbals – infinitive, participial and gerundial (e.g. France Ballet to Visit Britain, Keeping Prices Down. The Infinitive with 'to be' helps express future action: To Get US Aid);

h) complex sentences (e.g. Senate Panel Hears Board of Military Experts Who Favoured Losing Bidder);

i) headlines include direct speech introduced by a full sentence (e.g. Prince Richard says: "I was not in trouble"; introduced elliptically (e.g. 'The Queen: "My deep distress";

j) inversion gives particular significance to single words or their combinations (e.g. Nice Smile. Enid Blyton She isn't)

Date: 2015-02-03; view: 2265