newspaper headline

INTRODUCTION Nowadays communicating with the outside world is becoming more and more vital. As a result, information plays an increasingly important role in our daily life. As we all know, 21st century is an information era. With the information you will be superior to others, or you will lose the chance to win. What carries information? How can we get the information? The questions are easy to answer. It is the news that carries the information and we obtain the information by reading the newspaper. One of the challenges posed by study of the press is how to arrive at valid conclusions, given that the time-consuming nature of discourse analysis makes it difficult to undertake the detailed analysis of a large number of articles. We thus sought a method which would allow us to gain an overview of an extensive corpus. The solution which we arrived at, the study of headlines, offers a number of distinct advantages which we outline in this article. A corpus of headlines facilitates quantitative analysis, for example, a longitudinal study of the frequency of headlines on a particular issue can reveal the evolution in the prominence given to a topic over time; a comparison between newspapers can reveal the relative importance each paper gave to an issue during a particular period. However this research note concentrates on the broader theoretical and methodological issues involved in using headlines in research and identifies the linguistic features which are typical of them. It argues further that headlines are particularly revealing of the social, cultural and therefore national representations circulating in a society at a given time. Journalistic English has a style all of its own, and this is most evident in headlines. The body text of an article should simply describe an event or occurrence, giving the details in a clear, well-ordered, easy-to-understand way, yet using such typical "journalese" expressions as, for example, the passive structures "is known to..." (for a definite fact), and "is thought to..." or "is believed to..." to express what people think. Headlines, however, have rules all of their own. By their very nature,

they (usually) have to be short and concise, and their function (and this applies not only to sensationalist newspapers and the so-called "gutter press") is to draw the reader’s attention to the article and make him/her want to read the body text. Basically, headlines fall into three categories. The first one is the headline that uses the Present tense to indicate that someone has done something. The second is the headline that uses the Past participle to show that something has been done. And finally, there is the headline that uses the infinitive to show that something is going to happen. It should be pointed out that for reasons of shortness and conciseness, supposedly superfluous words are left out of headlines. This concerns, in particular, the definite and indefinite articles, so it is rare to see the words "a", "an" or "the" in a headline. As we can see, headlines tend to omit function words (determiners, prepositions etc.) and concentrate on the information-rich content words, much like a telegram. The resulting brevity of headlines and the fact that for many aphasic people function words present great difficulty means that headlines seem to be relatively easy: hence the system does not attempt to simplify them. With regard to the main body of the stories, sentences tend to be around 32-35 words long in the broadsheets while the tabloids and local papers average 1620 words. Research done by Kniffka H., Bantas A., D.&Douglas A., Fowler, R., Evance, Bell A., Galperin I.R., Van Dijk, Crystal D., Mardh I., focuses on grammar and stylistics features of publicist articles in English and Romanian. The Diploma Paper is devoted to the study of linguistic peculiarities of newspaper headlines and to the analysis of their translation peculiarities. Taking into consideration the above mentioned, the main goal of this paper was set in the following way: to study the newspaper headlines on the whole and to analyse the linguistic peculiarities of newspaper article headlines. The objectives of the paper are the following: - to analyse the newspaper style; - to present and characterize linguistic peculiarities of newspaper articles;

- to analyse newspaper articles from the structural, grammatical and lexical points of view; - to analyse peculiarities of translating newspaper article headlines; - to suggest examples of headlines from different domains. The theoretical importance of the research carried out lies in giving information and analyzing linguistic peculiarities of newspaper headlines. The practical importance of the Diploma Paper is to serve as didactic teaching material for students and people who study English independently to improve their skills in translation of newspaper materials. In this Diploma Paper a Complex Analysis Method was used, which implied Analytical and Comparative Data Analysis. The Diploma Paper consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion, a summary, a bibliography and an annex. In the introduction, the main goal, objectives, the topic and the material of the research are formulated. In the first chapter “Newspaper headline from linguistic point of view” the theoretical preliminaries of the theme are analysed, and the professional language is studied. In the second chapter, “The analysis of newspaper headlines”, the research material is described, and the types and the objectives of the experimental analysis are formulated. Here I’ll analyze 150 examples of headlines form different spheres of activity. In the conclusion, the results of the research are mentioned, and the conclusions are drawn. In the summary, the main ideas of the Diploma Paper are rendered. In the bibliography, the quoted and reference literature is presented. In the annex, examples of translated headlines from newspapers are presented.The results can provide important data for translators who are interested in translating English articles taken from printed media in order to keep existing specific modern standards.

Chapter I. Newspaper headline from linguistic point of view 1.1 General interpretation of Newspaper Style Newspaper Style was the last of all the written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. At the close of the 16th century short news pamphlets began to appear. Any such publication either presented news from only one source or dealt with one specific subject. The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 23, 1622. The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown. With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before public a paper of its own – The London Gazette, first published on February 5, 1666. [1, p.45] The first English daily newspaper – The Daily Courant – was brought in March 11, 1702. The paper carried news, largely foreign, and no comment, the latter being against the principles of the publisher, as was stated in the first

issue of his paper. Thus the early English newspaper was principally a vehicle of information. Commentary as a regular feature found its way into the newspapers later. But as far back as the middle of the 18th century the British newspaper was very much like what it is today, carrying on its pages news, both foreign and domestic, advertisements, announcements and articles containing comments. It took the English newspaper more than a century to establish a style and a standard of its own. And it is only by the 19th century that newspaper English may be said to have developed into a system of language media, forming a separate functional style. The specific conditions of newspaper publication, the restrictions of time and space, have left an indelible mark on newspaper English. For more than a century writers and linguists have been vigorously attacking “the slipshod construction and the vulgar vocabulary” of newspaper English. The very term newspaper English carried a shade of disparagement. Yet, for all the defects of newspaper English, serious though they may be, this form of the English literary language cannot be reduced – as some purists have claimed – merely to careless slovenly writing or to a distorted literary English. This is one of the forms of the English literary language characterized – as any other style – by a definite communicative aim and its own aim and its own system of language means. Not all the printed matter found in newspapers comes under newspaper style. The modern newspaper carries material of an extremely diverse character. On the pages of a newspaper one finds not only news and comment on it, press reports and articles, advertisements and announcements, but also stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess problems and the like. Since the latter serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be considered specimens of newspaper style. It is newspaper printed matter that performs the function of informing the reader and providing him with an evaluation of the information published that can be regarded as belonging to newspaper style.

Thus, English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community as a separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader. Information and evaluation co-exist in the modern English Newspaper, and it is only in terms of diachrony that the function of information can claim priority. In fact, all kinds of newspaper writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. Van Dijk points out that, in news discourse, topics are organized according to the relevance principle which states that the most important information comes first, followed by less important information expressed in the lower levels of the news text. In addition, topics are organized according to the conventional structure of news discourse, which features seven conventional categories or schemata: Headline, Lead, Main Events, Background, Consequences, Verbal Reactions and Comments.[2, p.121] The function of these standard categories is to establish where topics should be inserted. Thus the main topic of the news text is to be inserted in the Headline, while the main topics are to be inserted in the Lead, which acts as the summary of the news story. It introduces the main participants of the story, describes briefly their actions or the situation they are faced with and provides some circumstances. The rest of the news schemata performs the function of developing the topics expressed by the Lead. The category of Main Events details information about the main participants (their background, age, profession, family) and their actions, which were little or vaguely described in the Lead. The Background category describes the context and the circumstances in which the event happened, while the Consequence category presents the consequences of the events. The category of Verbal Reactions is typical of news and introduces direct or indirect comments, impressions or evaluations of secondary participants such as eye-witnesses or potential opinion leaders (politicians, celebrities,

representatives of the state institutions). The last category may contain comments, evaluations or predictions regarding the events described by the news item. Given the fact that the underlying organizing principle is the relevance criterion, these categories do not have a well-established or strict order of occurrence, except for the Headline and Lead categories, which have a fixed order: first the Headline then the Lead. If the news writer assesses the Consequences as being more important than the Main Events, then they may follow right after the Lead. When the information inserted in the Verbal Reaction category enhances the plausibility or naturalness of a news item about an unexpected, rare event, such as a natural phenomenon, it may be placed immediately after the Main Events, before Consequences. Topic derivation is a subjective process in which the journalist deliberately assigns degrees of importance to events by giving them a certain place in the hierarchical arrangement of the news story. Events acquire maximum importance when they occur in the Headline and Lead categories, since they are given out and taken in as the most important and relevant information. English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means which is perceived by the community speaking the language as a separate unity that basically serves the purpose

of

informing

and

instructing

the

reader.

Since the primary function of newspaper style is to impart information, only printed matter serving this purpose comes under newspaper style proper. Such matter can be classed as: 1. 2. 3.

brief press

reports

articles

news

items

(parliamentary, purely

and of

court

informational

[3, p.101]

communiqués; proceedings, in

etc.);

character;

4. advertisements and announcements. The most concise form of newspaper informational is the headline. The headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the subject-

matter, also carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of emotionally colored words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows. a) Brief news items The function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states only facts without giving comments. Newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of: 1. special political and economic terms; 2. non-term political vocabulary; 3. newspaper cliché; 4. abbreviations;

5.

neologisms.

[2,

p.91]

The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of paramount importance, and may be regarded as grammatical parameters of newspaper style: 1. complex sentences with a developed system of clauses; 2. verbal constructions; 3. syntactical complexes; 4. attributive noun groups; 5. specific word order. The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states facts without giving explicit comments, and whatever evaluation there is in news paragraphs is for the most part implicit and as a rule unemotional. News items are essentially matter-of-fact, and stereotyped forms of expression prevail. As an invariant, the language of brief items is stylistically neutral, which seems to be in keeping with the allegedly neutral and unbiased nature of newspaper reporting; in practice, however, departures from this principle of stylistic neutrality (especially in the so-called “mass papers”) are quite common. b)

The

headline

The headline is the title given to a news item of a newspaper article. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly of what the news that follows is about. Syntactically headlines are very short sentences or phrases of a variety of patterns: 1. full declarative sentences; 2. interrogative sentences; 3. nominative sentences; 4. elliptical sentences; 5. sentences with articles omitted; 6. phrases with verbals; 7. questions in the forms of

statements; 8. complex sentences; 9. headlines including direct speech. 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 are almost a summary of the information contained in the news item or article. The widespread use of the present tense in headlines is one of the defining characteristics of the register of news headlines. In news discourse, the present tense is used conventionally to refer either to events which occurred in the past, or to present events (e.g. ‘state present’ and ‘habitual present’ as described by Quirk. The focus of the present paper is to identify the reasons why the present tense can be used in headlines to refer to past events, what its effects are, and what major patterns of use emerge. The headline present shares these characteristics with the historical present – its use highlights the urgency and topicality of the news story, thus substantially contributing to its newsworthiness and increasing its news value. The headline in British and American newspapers in an important vehicle both of information and appraisal; editors give it special attention, admitting that few read beyond the headline, or at best the lead. To lure the reader into going through the whole of the item or at least a greater part of it, takes a lot of skill and ingenuity on the part of the headline writer. [4, p.305]. c)

Advertisements

and

announcements

The function of advertisement and announcement is to inform the reader. There are 2 basic types of advertisements and announcements in the modern English newspaper: classified and non-classified(separate). In classified advertisements and announcements various kinds of information are arranged according to subject-matter into sections, each bearing an appropriate name. As for the separate advertisements and announcements, the variety of language form and subject-matter is so great that hardly any essential features common to all be pointed out. [5, p.139]

d)

The

editorial

Editorials are an intermediate phenomenon bearing the stamp of both the newspaper style and the publistic style. The function of the editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Emotional coloring in editorial articles is also achieved with the help of various stylistic devices (especially metaphors and epithets), both lexical and syntactical, the use of which is largely traditional. As for articles on sport characteristic features are: simple short sentences which express emotions, comprised information. Among tenses Present Simple is preferable. In such articles as well as in some others for instance in advertisements pragmatic aspect play an important role. The pragmatic aspect of translation involves a number of difficult problems. The pragmatics of the original text can not be as a rule directly reproduced in translation but often require important changes in the message. The communicative effect of a speech unit does not depend on the meaning of its components alone, but involves considerations of the situational context and the previous experience. A report that John has run a hundred metres in nine seconds will pass unnoticed by some people and create a sensation with others who happen to know that it is a wonderful recordbreaking achievement. e)

Scientific

prose

style

The language of science is governed by the aim of the functional style of scientific prose, which is to prove a hypothesis, to create new concepts, to disclose the internal laws of existence, development, relations between different phenomena, etc. There are following characteristic features of scientific 1.

style: the

logical

sequence

of

utterances;

2. the use of terms specific to each given branch of science; 3. so-called sentence-patterns. They are of 3 types: postulatory, argumentative and 4.

formulative. the

use

of

quotations

and

references;

5. the frequent use of foot-note, of the reference kind, but digressive in character. The impersonality of scientific writings can also be considered a typical feature of this style. f)

The

style

of

official

documents

In standard literary English this is the style of official documents. It is not homogeneous and is represented by the following substyles or variants: 1. the language of business documents; 2. the language of legal documents; 3. that of diplomacy;

4.

that

of

military

documents.

The main aim of this type of communication is to state the conditions binding two parties in an undertaking. The most general function of the style of official documents predetermines the peculiarities of the style. The most noticeable of all syntactical features are the compositional patterns of the variants of this style. The over-all code of the official style falls into a system of subcodes, each characterized by its own terminological nomenclature, its own compositional form, its own variety of syntactical arrangements. But the integrating features of all these subcodes emanating from the general aim of agreement between parties,

remain

1.

the

conventionality

2. 3.

the

absence

of

encoded

character

following: of

expression;

any

emotiveness;

of

language;

symbols

4. general syntactical mode of combining several pronouncements into one sentence. So newspaper style includes informative materials: news in brief, headlines, ads, additional articles. But not everything published in the paper can be included in newspapers we mean publicist essays, feature articles, scient. We find here a large proportion of dates, personal names of countries, institutions, individuals. To achieve an effect of objectivity in rendering some fact or event most of info is published anonymously, without the name of newsman who supplied it, with little or no subjective modality.

The Newspaper Style is a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means, basically serving the purposes of informing and instructing the reader. Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly and frequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events. Organizations such as trade unions, religious groups, corporations or clubs may have their own newspapers, but the term is more commonly used to refer to daily or weekly publications that bring news of general interest to large portions of the public in a specific geographic area. General circulations newspapers play a role in commerce through the advertisements they carry; they provide readers with information of practical value, such as television schedules weather maps and listings of stock prices; and these newspapers provide a coarse of entertainment through their stories and through such features as comic strips and crossword puzzles. However one of the most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a crucial function in a democracy) is to provide citizens with information

on

government and politics . The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europe shortly after Johann Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable type in the 1450s. in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of printed news books short pamphlets reporting on a news event ballads accounts of news events written in verse and usually printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, circulated in Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news report printed in the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico in 1541. The oldest surviving newspaper written in English appears to have been published in Amsterdam in 1620 by Pieter van de Keere, a Dutch and print engraver who had lived in London for a few year. According to the historian Joseph Frank along with their political coverage newspapers in England in the 1640s, were among the first in the world to use headlines, to print advertisements, to illustrate stories with

woodcuts, to employ a woman «a she –intelligencer» to collect news and to have newsboys, or more commonly newsgirls, sell papers in the streets. They are also among the first newspapers to complete with news books and news ballads in coverage of sensational events like bloody crimes. Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper style dates from the 17th century. Newspaper writing is addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 20, 1622. The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success, struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown. With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before the public a paper of its own – the London Gazette, first published on February 5, 1666. The paper was a semi – weekly and carried official information, royal decrees, news from abroad, and advertisements. [8, p.39] The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the essay and the article. The essay in English literature dates from the 16th century and its name is taken from the short « Essays» (= experiments, attempts) by the writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. According to Galperinan essay «is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished argument or a conclusive examination of any matter . Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on a writer’s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose.

The most characteristic features of essays, however remain 1) Brevity of expression 2) The use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated: 3) A rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas; 4) The abundant use of emotive words 5) The use of idioms and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on one particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism. To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyze the following basic newspaper features: · brief news items · advertisements and announcements · the headline · the editorial The headline is a dependent form of newspaper writing. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. In other words headlines are almost a summary of the information contained in the news item or article. The function of editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Editorials make an extensive use of emotionally colored vocabulary. The main function of advertisements and announcements is to give information about a product or service used to attract potential consumers; advertising takes place in newspapers and magazines, on hoardings, on radio and television and on the Internet .

The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. News items are essentially matter - of - fact and stereotyped forms of expression prevail.it goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary which is used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But newspaper style has also its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of: a) special political and economic terms like constitution president, etc. b) non – term political vocabulary such as public people unity etc. c) newspaper which are commonplace phrases familiar to the reader. Occur in newspaper headlines more often to give special coloring and emotiveness. e.g pressing problem, speaking realization etc. d) abbreviations names of organizations, public and state body, political associations, industrial and other companies etc – known by their initials are very common in newspapers. E.g UNO( united Nation Organization), FO ( foreign Office), etc. e) neologism a new word or sense of a word and the coining or use of new words and senses. Neologisms make their way into the langiage of newspaper easily. E. g coffee (the person upon whom one cough), abdicate (to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach) etc. Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes: · Broadsheets: generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards «compact» newspapers is changing this. · Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm, and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe. · Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom. While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business

newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community. A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Typically, the majority of these newspapers’ staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers. Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States, such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies. Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few, if any, national newspapers, and in almost every market one newspaper has an effective monopoly. Certain newspapers, notably The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are available at limited locations throughout the country. Large metropolitan newspapers with also have expanded distribution networks and, with effort, can be found outwith their normal area. There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterised as international newspapers. Some, such as Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or «international editions» of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled

down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers. But the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles) are characterized by the subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or articles and should rather be classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper. However, newspaper publicistic writing bears a stamp of its own style. Though it seems natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate phenomenon characterized by a combination of styles – the newspaper style and the publicistic style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids. English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means,which is perceived by the community as separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing, instructing the reader. In fact, all kinds of newspapers writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion or political and appraisal and other matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and the way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its one of the smartest ways to illustrate the topic and to direct it to the point is to use idioms in the article. Here are idioms found in popular newspapers. «Venture capitalist David Cowan is a professed chess-playing nerd who studied math and computer science at Harvard. Last year, though, he decided he needed a crash course in getting hip». – The New York Times «Many older tech investors, eager not to miss out, are going to great lengths to shed fuddy-duddy images and ingratiate themselves with the younger generation The New York Times (to) miss out - to miss an opportunity; to fail to make use of an opportunity (to) go to great lengths - to do a lot; to do a lot to achieve a certain goal fuddy-duddy - out of fashion; not modern; an old-

fashioned person who doesn't want to change «As she pushed her shopping cart down an aisle of the Super Stop & Shop near her hometown of Warren, R.I., recently, Ms. Cabrera, a retired schoolteacher, offered her thoughts on why she steers clear of high-fructose corn syrup: "It's been linked to obesity, and it's just not something that's natural or good for you." - The New York Times to steer clear (of something) - to avoid something; to stay away from something. (Note that "to steer" means to guide with a wheel or a similar device. When there's something in the road, you may need to steer your car around it). «No one is predicting that the iPod economy will be slowing soon. Mr. Baker said: "We've barely scratched the surface with the video iPod." - The New York Times «In some communities, efforts are being made to increase the amount of affordable housing. Celebrity-heavy Aspen, for example, has created 2,600 low-cost units over the past 30 years. But such measures only scratch the surface of the problem». - Financial Times to (barely or only) scratch the surface - to only begin to explore or understand something; to deal with something only superficially «Rap-metal, once all the rage in the '90s thanks to bands like Limp Bizkit, now seems as relevant as Beavis and Butt- head». – the New York Times "Condos are all the rage right now," Hodgett said. "People like to be close to downtown and walk to restaurants and shopping. They can come home in the evening and not worry about mowing the lawn." – The daily Mail all the rage - very popular, trendy Weber, the grill maker founded in Mount Prospect, in 1952, is refining its most expensive grill, the ,200 Summit Platinum D6, in response to buyers who want more bells and whistles, said Brooke Jones, a Weber product manager. "They are looking for stainless steel grills and more accessories like rotisseries, warmer drawers, side burners and hand lights," she said. - The New York Times bells and whistles - fancy features; product features that make a product more premium or expensive but that are not usually necessary; extras Just seven months after the city's bid to host the 2012 Olympics fell flat, a key booster of the effort has opened the door to a scramble for the 2016 games - statements that fly in the face of previous comments by Mayor Bloomberg and other city officials. –The Observer fly in

the face - contradict; go against It took Carolyn Fellwock and Charlie Watson only 11 months to tie the knot after meeting on Yahoo Personals – and three years more to call it quits. The Times to tie the knot – to get married to call it quits – to end something (such as a relationship, a job, a project, etc)/ Some people who met a spouse online and later divorced aren’t losing heart. Some even say they would date online again. – The Wall Street Journal to lose heart – to give up hope; to get discouraged. Diana Leal, a Woodland Hills paralegal, said that when she was working in Dallas, she immediately lost respect for her attorney boss when he asked her out for dinner. I couldn't believe it. I think he just fell for my beauty or something. And then when I said `no,' he fired me," Leal said. "Bottom line, you can't be friends with your boss. It complicates things." – Los Angeles Daily News bottom line – the main point is…; the conclusion is… Kids too into school have lost their love of learning (if they ever had any). They cram and forget. They're stressed. They're sleep-deprived. They compete with their "friends" and kiss up to their teachers. – The Times Have a good relations hip with your boss. That does not mean kiss up to your boss. If it gets too far along a bad path, it means you don't get the good assignments, don't get the promotions and don't have a chance to advance your career. Plus, you may just be miserable. Make sure your relationship with your boss is open and honest, casual yet also professional. – The News & Observer to kiss up – to flatter; try to gain favor with; behave in a way to make people like you more. But Vladimir Nuzhny, a toxicologist, said up to half of imported wine has not corresponded to the required quality since the fall of the Soviet Union . "It never killed anyone and Russian leadership used to turn a blind eye, but now relations are worsening with the Georgian and Moldovan leaders they don't see a need to ignore it any more," he said. - The Guardian to turn a blind eye - to ignore; to pretend that something is not happening; to let something illegal or wrong happen without saying anything. George W. Bush can be sure of one thing when he next visits China on official business. Chinese president Hu Jintao won't try to emulate the Texas

charm the US president dishes out at his Crawford ranch, dressing down to shoot the breeze over pork dumplings at a village restaurant. - Financial Times shoot the breeze - to talk; to chat; to make conversation Steve Girdler, director of services at Kelly UK, agrees that Sugar's methods are impressive. "Sometimes I think we can be too soft in our assessment of graduates. But what's the point when we know that in reality, business can be a dog-eat-dog world?" - The Guardian dog-eat-dog world - a cruel world; a challenging environment in which people just look out for themselves. [10, p.110] As the cost of living for young people rises, the helping hand from parents is extending well past college years. – The New York Times There was a table for the folks from Alcoholics Anonymous, another where people could sign up for food stamps and another where homeless veterans could find a helping hand. –The Guardian (the or a) helping hand – assistance; help. In one of his first acts as president, Obama was gagging for the prison at Guant'1namo closed within the first year of his presidency and ordered a review of the status of the roughly 245 men still detained there. The review is underway now.- The Guardian Be gagging for something-to want something or want to do something very much «Companies developing this technology are not necessarily cashing in».- The Times cash in (on something) - to make money doing something. 1.2.Specific features and functions of newspaper headlines Newspaper headlines are considered very important since headlines could attract someone to buy the newspaper. Newspaper headlines are able to reach much more readers than the articles because those who buy newspapers would generally glance at the headlines first before they decide whether a particular issue is worth reading to them or not. Besides, headlines are often glanced at public places such as at the bus stop, at the train station, displayed on fliers, and even on the road when drivers have to stop for the red light; therefore, it is not surprising if headlines, especially the front page headlines, have a great impact on the readers. Newspaper headlines should be brief, eye

catching and impacted; yet, they are memorable and effective. Therefore, they are written in short words which are quickly read and easily fitted into a small space on the newspaper. Thus, newspaper language headlines are important because they reflect the content of the whole issue or reported event. Mass media plays a very important role in lives of modern people. We start our day by searching news in newspapers and complete it by watching news on TV. And still at the age of vast possibilities of television and computers the importance of newspapers leaves the press in a central – and sometimes in a dominating – position. It is very actual especially for people with lack of time because papers are available everywhere: in transport, in office and cafe, at work and when at rest, at any moment convenient to people. It is always at hand. Furthermore, besides providing general information newspapers also bring particular news to particular people. Being the main source from which information,discussion and advocacy reach the public, press is supposed togive us reliable and complete information about the issues of the day, the argument for and against any policy, it contains social, economic, cultural and sport news, truthful account of different events, their background and courses. And it is a newspaper that saves our time when searching any news. Many readers skim the headline first and only then dip into the article here and there as the whim takes them. Due to pressure of business or from lack of concentration they may content themselves with perusing the headlines alone and relying upon them entirely for their knowledge of what is going on in the world. The headline is not only a mere title or a label, but a precise, brief, concrete conveyance of information. That is why it is very important for journalists to make the proper drafting of the headline and it is very important for translators to turn to the problem of deciphering and appropriate interpreting the headlines. Headlines reach an audience considerably wider than those who read the articles, since all those who buy the paper will glance, if only fleetingly, at the headlines. Moreover their impact is even wider than on those who actually buy

the paper, since headlines are often glimpsed on public transport, displayed on fliers etc. This is particularly true of front page headlines, which also of course draw the casual observer to conclude the importance of a particular issue which has been given prominence in this way. The impact of headlines on the reader is likely to be all the stronger because certain linguistic features of titles make them particularly memorable and effective: impact is deliberately sought (particularly but not exclusively in the popular press) through the use of puns, [6, p.83] alliteration, the choice of emotive vocabulary and other rhetorical devices. We will discuss some of these linguistic features in more detail later. Perspective refers to the role played by headlines in orienting the reader's interpretation of subsequent 'facts' contained in the article. As Claude Abastado argues headlines encapsulate not only the content but the orientation, the perspective that the readers should bring to their understanding of the article. With much press news drawn from external news agencies and shared with competitors, the headline is a newspaper's opportunity to stamp its individuality on what is otherwise a mass-produced product. Headlines, as they succeed each other through the newspaper, structure a particular view of the world by imposing on information a hierarchy of importance: a hierarchy from top to bottom of the page; according to size of headlines, font etc; and in order of appearance through the newspaper from front to back. We add in passing that this is even more true of section titles, which create a rigid classificatory system that imposes (highly problematic) distinctions between kinds of news items. The implications of such editorial choices are not merely conceptual, since section titles often imply a particular relation to the reader: for example: 'Local news' implies closeness to the readers and therefore, by implication, closeness to their preoccupations; 'International news' suggests that the issues are at one remove. [7, p.99] The recognition by the reader of various types of puns and plays on words also relies on general and cultural knowledge. This wordplay is a very typical feature of headlines and is generally confined to the headlines and found far less often in the body of articles.

Generally speaking, English news headlines have four functions: 1. Summarizing the news content Naturally readers buy newspapers in order to get the information they want, but in one single country, there are at least dozens of different newspapers published daily. Even a piece of newspaper has several pages with each containing many items. Literally no one can read all the stories processed every day. Therefore many readers have formed the habit of skimming headlines, which makes possible rapid news comprehension. Thus the first and most important purpose of headlines is to inform readers quickly, which means that a well-written head immediately tells them the gist of the subsequent story. Just glance at the headlines and the reader will know what the story is about. English headlines adopt accentuation, centering on the most important points

of

the

news.

If headlines do summarize the news content, careful skimmers will get the general drift of events and slow up for an article that they consider worth perusal. In this sense we say that headlines help merchandize newspapers, which

is

very

important

in 2.

such

a

Attracting

competitive readers’

society.

attention

Newspaper-reading is in fact a kind of communication—the communication between news writers and readers. And we know that a successful communication is possible only when the communicator has obtained, in one way or another, the attention of the receiver. In newspaper communication the attention-getting function is performed largely by headlines. In fact, this function is closely related to the first function. Just as we have said, a good headline which puts the gist across will draw readers’ attention to the article they want. Even to those they don’t want, the news writers may try means to make them appealing. That is why the typeface of headlines is so different from that of the body and its grammar so distinctive, and

why

headline

writers

employ 3.

so

many

Commenting

rhetorical

devices.

on

news

the

This function is most striking in the commentary and column headlines.

Newspapers, as a propaganda tool, are sure to express their standpoints in headlines

in

order

to

persuade

readers.

Besides, with different type sizes, headlines also grade the news; namely, they tell readers those of larger typeface are important and those of smaller typeface are

less

important

or 4.

Dressing

unimportant. up

the

page

A final purpose of headlines is to stimulate the reader’s artistic sense. A dull head makes a dull page. But when heads are well written and well placed in forms that have been thoughtfully designed, the pages are clean and goodlooking

enough

to

make

readers

interested

in

the

stories.

Obviously not all headlines can achieve all the four functions, but they always work towards these functions. A newspaper headline is often the only thing that readers read in a newspaper, or at least, it is the first thing that everyone notices in a newspaper. It serves as a guide for the reader that helps decide whether to continue on reading the whole report or to skip onto another one. Each headline should be a summary of the news which follows. A headline should be a sentence, and so it also should have a regular sentence structure containing a subject and a verb with the exception that headlines normally does not contain auxiliaries, pronouns, articles, or conjunctions. It means that only lexical, not grammatical words are used. The major reason for that is the space. There is only limited space provided for each headline and the problem of fitting the best words may occur. Then the rule of a sentence may be broken, only minor sentences are used, and such a headline can be rather difficult to understand. Sometimes this happens for a good reason, as space, but more often this happens on purpose to make the headline somehow special with the aim to attract the reader's attention to the report or even to buy the newspaper at all. In that case, readers are mystified, confused and in the end, after reading the report they can feel disappointed as it did not fulfil their expectations. This work studies grammatical features used in headlines but, as the space of this paper is limited, it tries to focus mainly on the difference between sentential and non-sentential

headlines. It analyses their structures in comparison with the common core. The analysis is based on a corpus consisting of 200 randomly chosen British newspaper headlines. The material used here is definitely limited and cannot exemplify all features; therefore the aim is rather to establish general characteristics with respect to the main areas which have been studied. In the first chapter the function of a headline is introduced and readers will also learn some basic characteristic features of headlines.[9, p.18] In English and American newspapers almost every sentence is printed in new line. It’s quite natural that translator should not always reproduce these paragraphs of source text when they are formed through technical reasons in the process of printing. He must be sure that each paragraph is logically justified. In this respect translation of newspaper materials is considerably different from that of journals, magazines and books where the division into paragraphs does not depend on editor’s wish but is precisely by the author himself. So translator must restructure newspaper material, into paragraphs depending on the logic of narration. The issue to be pointed out is that though translator first reads the article and then translates the title. It does not allow him to change the title arbitrary. He must do his best to render the peculiarities of the source text including its title still keeping in mind the norms of the target language and the standards of the genre. 1.3. Language features of English newspaper headlines In a generally accepted sense, the language features of English newspaper headlines are so different from other kinds of titles that they are often discussed separately. Why do these differences exist? This is because news is about the latest things happening home and abroad. Usually, it is short and full of information. And the news headlines are the summaries of the news. Often these headlines are condensed-written. In this way, readers will get what he wants at a glance. Therefore, we can tell that journalists attach much importance to news headlines. The language features of English news headlines will be researched in order to make it easier for readers to have a

better understanding of news. Generally speaking, the language features will be described in four aspects: the lexical features, the rhetorical features, the grammatical features and the features of the usage of punctuation. Lexical features Headlines must be of clarity and impact. What is clarity? It means that the wording conveys to readers what the copy editor intends to without confusion or ambiguity. And what is impact? It means that the effect of the words is strong enough to persuade readers to continue reading. The lexical features of headlines reflect these two functions. In order to use the minimum room to convey the maximum information, midget words, clipped words and initialisms are often adopted. And to attract readers, vogue words are often used. Here, these special words will be introduced in detail. •Use

of

midget

words

Midget words are extremely small words, that is to say, they are the words that are of less letters than the ones that have the similar meaning. Journalists like to use midget words to write headlines in limited room. The characters of these midget words are that they have few letters but a wide range of meanings. Here are some midget words that

are

Aid=assistance,

frequently crash=collision,

used

in

probe=investigation,

headlines. cut=decline,

poll=election poll, ties= (diplomatic) relations, glut=oversupply. Use

of

clipped

words

and

initialisms

Clipped words are those words that omit a part of letters in the word. TV is a clipped word, because it removes letters of E-L-E-I-S-I-O-N. There are more examples which are often used in headlines. They are listed as follows. Ad=advertisement, van=caravan, Calif. =California, St. =street, Capt. =captain,

Gov’t=government.

Initialisms are those consisting of the first letters of a phrase. In some aspect, they are newly-created words. We take WTO as an example. In the word of WTO, W stands for world, T stands for trade, and O stands for organization. An example is given to show the use of initialism in English

news headlines: Italy’s quake town marks anniversary with candles and whistles at PM. Here PM is the initialism of Prime Minister. Rhetorical features Using rhetoric can make the news more interesting and more vivid. Readers will be deeply attracted and they will feel that they were in the spot of the events. Therefore, news without rhetorical skills seldom appears in the newspaper [10, p.13]. Use of metaphor •Metaphor is a kind of frequently used rhetorical device. It is an analogy between two objects or ideas, conveyed by the use of one word in place of

another

[11,

p.32].

Different to simile, metaphor is a kind of substitute. In the headline of Fossil from cave is a ‘missing link’, fossil is compared to a ‘missing link’. The connection between them is that fossil is becoming less and less and it is not so easy for human beings to find out, so it is like something that is missing. On the other hand, fossil links the past and the present. The writer uses the metaphor to portray the fossil as a missing link in an image-bearing way. Use of rhyme Rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is more often used in poetry and songs. Using rhyme in news headlines can make it pleasant to hear. Rhyme also serves as a powerful mnemonic device, facilitating memorization, the regular use of tail rhyme helps to mark off the ends of lines, thus clarifying the metrical structure for the listener. There are two examples. In the headline of How Haiti Helped the U.S., How, Haiti and Helped make up the alliteration, which is of more readability. And another example is the headline of The Context of Content, the letter CON showing it clearly that this headline uses rhyme. Use of antithesis Antithesis is a counter-proposition and denotes a direct contrast to the original proposition. Antithesis is used to make the headlines emphasize much

on the importance of the articles. There is a headline from Times Judge with no jury convicts Heathrow robbery gang. In is very interesting to see the contrastive meaning of the two parts in the sentence. In common sense, no jury means one can not be judged guilty. However, Heathrow were convicted robbery gang. It is the use of antithesis. Use of pun Pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play that deliberately exploits an ambiguity between similar-sounding words for humorous or rhetorical effect. [11, p.33] In the headline of Drill baby, drill: Obama opens up America’s coasts to oil companies, the first drill is a noun, meaning tool or machine with a detachable pointed end for making holes, while the latter drill is a verb, meaning make a hole in some substance. The writer uses the different meanings of the word drill to show the humorous effect that is, America is a baby in drill, but Obama still opens up its coasts to oil companies to drill. Use of hyperbole Hyperbole is a rhetorical device in which statements are exaggerated. It is used to evoke strong feelings or to create a strong impression. Hyperboles can also create emphasis. This is an example: Jungle ambush leaves 75 policemen dead in bloodiest day of Maoist insurgency. It is a piece of news from Times, using the words bloodiest, the writer wants to tell the readers bombastically that the Maoist insurgency is unusually drastic. In this way, using hyperbole, the writer can achieve his political aim. Grammatical features Different styles of articles have different grammatical features. The news headline is regarded as a special style. As a result, it has special grammatical features. Generally speaking, there are four grammatical features. First, news headlines often omit some unimportant words, such as articles, conjunction words “and”, copula and auxiliary verb. Without these words, the headlines are briefer to express what is about in the news. Second, present tense is used instead of almost all the other tenses. This tense, which is often called Journalistic Present Tense, can make the news fresh to readers. Third, as to the

voices in headlines, active voices are dominant. Last but not least, there are two main types of headlines, headlines consisting of phrases and those consisting of sentences. •Omission It is necessary to omit some unimportant words in order to reduce the space of the headlines. Leaving important words or key words only can make readers know what happened in the news at the first sight. Here are some unimportant words that can be omitted. Tense Verbs are of great importance in the news headlines. However, due to the conciseness of the headlines, news writers always choose few tenses of verbs. In general ， there are there kinds of tenses that are often adopted ： Simple Present Tense, Simple Future Tense and Present Continuous Tense. Voice English writing has two kinds of voices; they are passive voice and active voice. In the news headlines, active voice is used as the main voice. The choice of active voice as the primary voice is based on the preference of readers. Why do readers prefer active voice to passive one? It is because active voice is much more likely to give the feeling that readers took part in what happened in the news. The headline of New England floods force out residents can be also transformed in this way: New England residents are forced out by the floods. However, journalists prefer the former one. Syntactic features Headlines are usually formed in two main types. They are headlines consisting of phrases and headlines consisting of sentences. Different types have different manifestations. Besides what has been discussed above, there are still many other features of English news headlines, such as features of punctuation. Different tones use different punctuations. There are comma, period，colon，question mark and so on. However, news headlines do not use all of the punctuations. Some punctuation in the news headlines has special

functions. [12, p.15] Newspaper headlines should be brief, eye catching and impacted; yet, they are memorable and effective. Therefore, they are written in short words which are quickly read and easily fitted into a small space on the newspaper. Thus, newspaper language headlines are important because they reflect the content of the whole issue or reported event. Headlines reach an audience considerably wider than those who read the articles, since all those who buy the paper will glance, if only fleetingly, at the headlines. Moreover their impact is even wider than on those who actually buy the paper, since headlines are often glimpsed on public transport, displayed on fliers etc. This is particularly true of front page headlines, which also of course draw the casual observer to conclude the importance of a particular issue which has been given prominence in this way. The impact of headlines on the reader is likely to be all the stronger because certain linguistic features of titles make them particularly memorable and effective: impact is deliberately sought (particularly but not exclusively in the popular press) through the use of puns, alliteration, the choice of emotive vocabulary and other rhetorical devices. We will discuss some of these linguistic features in more detail later. Perspective refers to the role played by headlines in orienting the reader's interpretation of subsequent 'facts' contained in the article. As Claude Abastado argues headlines encapsulate not only the content but the orientation, the perspective that the readers should bring to their understanding of the article. With much press news drawn from external news agencies and shared with competitors, the headline is a newspaper's opportunity to stamp its individuality on what is otherwise a mass-produced product. Headlines, as they succeed each other through the newspaper, structure a particular view of the world by imposing on information a hierarchy of importance: a hierarchy from top to bottom of the page; according to size of headlines, font etc; and in order of appearance through the newspaper from front to back. We add in passing that this is even more true of section titles, which create a rigid classificatory system that imposes (highly problematic) distinctions between kinds of news

items. Repetition both through synchronicity (co-occurring headlines within one issue of a newspaper ) and diachronicity (repetition over time) 'trains' the reader to develop certain expectations and imposes certain connections and interpretations. Thus anaphoric references relate headlines to previous events and situations, creating forms of classification that group under one heading possibly disparate phenomena. Mouillaud and Tétu give the example of the use of the rubric 'La crise', an anaphoric reference to a general socio-economic situation supposedly previously defined, yet whose exact definition and boundaries are almost certainly unclear to most readers. A similar process is at work in the use of terms such as 'ethnic cleansing', 'violence in schools' etc. To speak of the 'proletariat', or 'la Crise' or in our case 'England' is to presuppose a world where reality corresponds to the categories used, with their associated ideological and theoretical frameworks. This creates what Patrick Charaudeau calls an 'effet d'amalgame, encouraging the readers to link events in ways which they might not have done otherwise. In our corpus we find that the papers frequently group together articles related (sometimes distantly) to the issue of nuclear testing under one heading, for example on pages headed 'English nuclear testing: the Fallout'. Headlines are a particularly rich source of information about the field of cultural references. This is because titles 'stand alone' without explanation or definition; they depend on the reader recognising instantly the field, allusions, issues, cultural references necessary to identify the content of the articles. They thus rely on a stock of cultural knowledge, representations and models of reality that must be assumed to be widespread in the society if the headlines are to have meaning. Common shorthand in headlines such as references to the 'PM', 'le Président', 'Canberra', suppose not only a certain minimum of political and general knowledge, but also help to situate the readers within a national framework, since they must assume that the 'PM' referred to is their own. We have explored elsewhere the forms of national identification that are revealed in headlines.

Previous research into newspaper headlines has raised the question of whether similar features can be found in the press of varying cultures and languages; studies have not however involved headlines from a wide enough range of countries to allow for conclusions to be drawn. According to Kniffka, quoted in Bell, headline structures appear to be very regular across languages, but his analysis involved only German and American English texts. Other studies analyse headlines from only one country: Allan Bell analyses the 'distinctive telegraphic syntax' of English newspaper headlines; Ingrid Mardh offers an exhaustive study of the characteristic features of the headlines of a range of English newspapers. She identifies the following linguistic features as typical of headlines in English newspapers: the omission of articles; the omission of verbs and of auxiliaries (the verb 'to be' for example); nominalisations; the frequent use of complex noun phrases in subject position (in theme position); adverbial headlines, with the omission of both verb and subject the widespread use of puns, word play and alliteration; the importance of word order, with the most important items placed first, even, in some cases, a verb; and independent 'wh' constructions not linked to a main clause, a form not found in standard English. Language features of English news headlines are researched by many teachers and students, but they are not treated as a separate item to be studied intensively. The purpose of this paper is to make a full classification of the language features of English news headlines and give some exact examples to explain them. In conclusion to this chapter I’ll say that newspaper headlines are considered very important since headlines could attract someone to buy the newspaper. Newspaper headlines are able to reach much more readers than the articles because those who buy newspapers would generally glance at the headlines first before they decide whether a particular issue is worth reading to them or not. Besides, headlines are often glanced at public places such as at the bus stop, at the train station, displayed on fliers, and even on the road when drivers have to stop for the red light; therefore, it is not surprising if headlines,

especially the front page headlines, have a great impact on the readers. Chapter II. The analysis of newspaper headlines 2.1 A contrastive analysis of English newspaper headlines The press, one form of the media which has long become a means of communication, has an important role as well as a potential power in our society. It has an important role in human’s life since it gives people information about the surrounding situation or what is happening in the world. Through the language used in the newspaper, people get information about various news concerning economy, politic, sport or other local, national and international events. It is only through the mass media such as the newspaper that people know among other things, how the president and cabinet work together to improve the country, how far the government officials have run the democracy system in the country, what happens to the elite politico or how the economy condition in our country is. The newspapers even become the concern of the linguists for the way the information is written / presented to the readers and what meaning the information can give. The newspaper has the potential power in our society because it determines what news would be given to the society or who can get into the papers. The newspaper also has power in creating new words and expressions in the language used. Many new words especially slang and acronyms are used by the society because they read the words in the newspapers though sometimes people do not really know the exact meaning of the new expressions. Thus, for many people, newspapers “constitute the most substantial consumption of printed discourse”. As what is stated by Linda Thomas and Shan Wareing in their book Language, Society and Power, “One of the most important and interesting aspects of the potential power of the media from a linguistic point of view is the way people and events get reported”. However, Thomas et al. states that people should not be too quick to consider the media as all – powerful and the public as only “puppets of media control” because people can have their own choice not to read or buy the newspaper. Although it is right that people can have their own

choice not to read or buy the newspaper, I think the press still has significant power in the society through the news or messages presented. The society’s or laymen’s knowledge about certain events or government policies is only from the media (e.g. the newspaper) because actually they know nothing about the events or the policies. If the journalists are less objective in presenting the news, the readers will get bias information. Therefore, as Thomas et al. quoted Lee (1992), Simpson (1993), Montgomery (1996), it is stated that “since the early 1970’s, linguists have been interested in the relationship between how a story gets told and what that might indicate about the point of view that it gets told from. Thus, in this paper I would like to analyze how the linguistic choices and linguistic structures made in media texts of different newspapers as seen in The Jakarta Post and Indonesian Daily News can construct different linguistic representations of events in the world. In reporting news in the newspapers, journalists are free to use words and expressions, language style and linguistic structures. These differences in the linguistic choices, the language style and the linguistic structures lead to different versions and views of the same event in different newspapers. Therefore, people who read different newspapers about the same event will get different perceptions about the event, based on the journalists’ use of linguistic choices and linguistic structures. In other words, the sentences about the same event written in different newspapers are always syntactically and semantically different. Language has informational function; that is, to convey information which is also called the subject matter. The expressive function is used to express the speaker’s / writer’s feelings and attitudes (i.e.: the poetic use of language, swear words and exclamations). The phatic function is used to keep communication lines open and keep social relationships well. So phatic function is the function of maintaining cohesion within social groups. While the aesthetic function is the use of language for the sake of the linguistic artifact; that is, to create an artistic effect. The directive function is used to direct or influence the behavior or attitudes of others (i.e.: commands, requests, etc.).

Therefore, the orientation of directive function is toward the listener / reader, or the receiver’s end, rather than the originator’s end of the message. Similar to Leech, Jakobson (1960), also states that the language functions can be related to five essential features in any communicative situation: subject matter, originator (speaker / writer), receiver (listener/ reader), the channel of communication between them, and the linguistic message itself. In newspapers, the language used to present events clearly has informative function since it informs the news to the readers. Besides, it also has expressive function since the choice of words can represent the journalists’ feelings and attitudes toward them events. Through the newspaper, people can keep social relationships; for example, when they want to have reunion with their friends, they could give announcement in the newspaper. Thus, the language used in the newspaper has the phatic function. It also implicitly has directive function since the events presented often form people’s opinion and it is not rare that people are provoked to act or to respond based on the reporter’s point of view or just based on one’s ideas.[13, p.39] According to the standard theory of transformational grammar, every sentence has two distinct levels of syntactic structure, namely deep structure and surface structure, linked by rules of a particular kind called transformations. Besides, based on the standard theory of transformational grammar, the deep structure of a sentence is the output of the base component and the input to both the transformational component and the semantic component; the surface structure of a sentence is the output of the transformational component and the input to the phonological component. Newspaper headlines are considered very important since headlines could attract someone to buy the newspaper. Newspaper headlines are able to reach much more readers than the articles because those who buy newspapers would generally glance at the headlines first before they decide whether a particular issue is worth reading to them or not. Besides, headlines are often glanced at public places such as at the bus stop, at the train station, displayed on fliers, and even on the road when drivers have to stop for the red light;

therefore, it is not surprising if headlines, especially the front page headlines, have a great impact on the readers. Newspaper headlines should be brief, eye catching and impacted; yet, they are memorable and effective. Therefore, they are written in short words which are quickly read and easily fitted into a small space on the newspaper. Thus, newspaper language headlines are important because they reflect the content of the whole issue or reported event. Another common headline form is a string of three, four or more nouns together (i.e. Country Leader Question Time). These can be difficult because the words don't appear related by verbs or adjectives. Here are some more examples: Widow Pension Pay Committee Landscaping Company Disturbance Regulations Mustang Referral Customer Complaint Simple tenses used instead of continuous or perfect forms. For example: Forgotten Brother Appears = A forgotten brother has appeared (after a long period of time). Professors Protest Pay Cuts = Professors are protesting pay cuts (at the university). The infinitive form refers to the future. For example: Mayor to Open Shopping Mall = The mayor is going to open a new shopping mall. James Wood to Visit Portland = (Famous actor) James Wood is going to visit Portland soon. Auxiliary verbs are dropped in the passive form. For example: Man Killed in Accident = A Man has been killed in an accident. Tommy the Dog Named Hero = Tommy the Dog has been named a hero (by the mayor). Perhaps you have noticed in the examples above that both definite and indefinite articles are also dropped in newspaper headlines (i.e. Mayor to Choose Candidate). Here are some more examples: President Declares Celebration

= The president has declared a

celebration. Passerby Sees Woman Jump = A passerby has seen a woman jump (into the river). Match these newspaper headlines into with the following categories (some headlines fit two categories): Categories Noun Phrases Noun Strings Simple Tenses instead of Continuous or Perfect Auxiliary Verbs Dropped in Passive Form Articles Dropped Infinitive to Indicate Future Newspaper Headlines examples: Difficult Times Ahead Forgotten Brother Appears James Wood to Visit Portland Landscaping Company Disturbance Regulations Man Killed in Accident Mayor to Open Shopping Mall Mustang Referral Customer Complaint Overwhelming Response of Voters Passerby Sees Woman Jump President Declares Celebration Professors Protest Pay Cuts Tommy the Dog Named Hero Under Pressure from Boss Unexpected Visit Widow Pension Pay Committee Educational note from Ms. Nitpicker: note that while some of these are just inadvertently stupid, some may only be urban legends, and a few may be deliberate attempts at humor, some are caused by grammatical errors that can

easily be fixed. For example, in "Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years," if the modifying phrases had been put first, it would be "For Second Time in 10 Years, Killer Sentenced to Die," the headline would be clearer, though less funny. On the positive side, they usually don't contain spelling errors, except in the case of classified ads. Thinking before writing, and editing before printing, would also help. (Where are the good beta readers when we need them?) Examples The different types of newspaper headlines Straight headlines They simply relate the main topic of the story. They are the most common types of headlines and are the easiest to understand. Example: Chechen grave points to Russian atrocities Headlines that ask a question Most question headlines are not really typical questions at all. They are statements followed by a question mark. These question marks are used when: The headline reports a future possibility Example: Are hotels in shape for games? There is some doubt about the truth or accuracy of the story. Example: Hidden Treasures In Your safe-Deposit Box? Headlines that contain a quotation A quoted speech is used in headlines. It’s another way to begin a story with an unproven statement. Example: Mounties shot in Arctic ‘had no enemies at all’Quotation marks are used also to show a word is being used outside its normal meaning. Example: Microsoft service divulges e-mail addresses unless patrons ‘opt out’ Feature headlines

Headlines for some unusual or amusing stories don’t give a complete meaning. It’s often necessary to read the story to understand the headline. Example: Two shot dead at U.S. school Double headlines They are two-part headlines of the same story. They are often used for major events. Example: An experiment in simplicity Examples The language of newspaper headlines Headlines are almost always in the simple present tense. Example: Landry sways his party The simple present tense is used to describe something happening in the present or in the past. Example: Continent fears outbreaks The simple present tense is used to describe both something happening now, and something that happens repeatedly. Example: Nasdaq tumbles on recession fears The present continuous is sometimes used, mostly to give the meaning of something that is developing. The auxiliary is/are is omitted. Example: Bikers flexing their muscles The auxiliaries: is/was/are/were and has/have/had are often omitted. Example: Microcell cutting Fido rates The infinitive is used to refer to the future. Example: Liberals to spend $700-million on research and development projects

Articles and conjunctions are often omitted. Example: Investors snap up JDS, Nortel In passive forms, the auxiliary is omitted and only the past participle is used. Example: Race marshal killed in Villeneuve crash A series of nouns used as adjectives is often blocked together without any verbs or conjunctions. Example: Electoral popularity key consideration Acronyms and abbreviations are often used in headlines. Example: IOC comes calling, but hero athletes on I WANT A LIFE [14,p.86] Educational note from Ms. Nitpicker: note that while some of these are just inadvertently stupid, some may only be urban legends, and a few may be deliberate attempts at humor, some are caused by grammatical errors that can easily be fixed. For example, in "Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years," if the modifying phrases had been put first, it would be "For Second Time in 10 Years, Killer Sentenced to Die," the headline would be clearer, though less funny. On the positive side, they usually don't contain spelling errors, except in the case of classified ads. Thinking before writing, and editing before printing, would also help. (Where are the good beta readers when we need them?) 150 examples the newspaper headlines •4-H Girls Win Prizes for Fat Calves •After Detour to California Shuttle Returns to Earth •Air Head Fired •Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire •Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft •Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood

•Bank Drive-in Window Blocked by Board •Big Ugly Woman Wins Beauty Pageant (Newspaper in town of Big Ugly, WV) •Blind Bishop Appointed to See •Body Search Reveals $4,000 in Crack (from the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Michigan) •British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands •British Union Finds Dwarfs in Short Supply •Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy (from the Louisville Courier Journal) •Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing •Dealers Will Hear Car Talk at Noon •Deer Kill 17,328 (Damn it, who keeps selling guns to those deer?) •Disciples of Christ Name Interim Leader (from Los Angeles Times) (Apparently they got tired of waiting for Christ to return...) •Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case •Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in `84. (They were paid for being drunk? I want that job!) •Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide •Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax (First it's the deer, now it's the cows. Disarm those cows now!) •Eye Drops off Shelf •Farmer Bill Dies in House •Fund Set Up for Beating Victim's Kin •Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors (from the Providence Journal)(They grow 'em bic in Providence.) •Include your Children When Baking Cookies •Iraqi Head Seeks Arms •Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?

•Jerk Injures Neck, Wins Award (from the Buffalo News) •Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant •Kids Make Nutritious Snacks (Yum! Eat those kids, and reduce the population.) •Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years (from the Post News) •L.A. Voters Approve Urban Renewal By Landslide •Lack of brains hinders research (The Columbus Dispatch, April 16) •Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees •Lawyer Says Client is Not That Guilty •Lawyers Give Poor Free Legal Advice (In my experience, they give poor paid legal advice, too.) •Lawmen from Mexico Barbecue Guests •Legislator Wants Tougher Death Penalty (Is he suggesting adding torture and quartering to it?) •Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half (From the Valley News) •Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms •Man Jumps Off Bridge. Neither Jumper nor Body Found •Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing (from The Sun) •Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge •March Planned For Next August •Messiah Climaxes In Chorus Of Hallelujahs (The Anchorage, Alaska Times) •Milk Drinkers are Turning to Powder •Miners Refuse to Work After Death •Never Withhold Herpes Infection from Loved One •New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group •New Vaccine may Contain Rabies •Nicaragua Sets Goal to Wipe Out Literacy (And based on this headline, they are succeeding.) •Old School Pillars are Replaced by Alumni

•Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over (from The Overland News) •Patient At Death's Door--Doctors Pull Him Through •Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told •Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers •Prosecutor Releases Probe into Undersheriff (Bet that hurt!) •Prostitutes Appeal to Pope •Publicize Your Business Absolutely Free! Just send $6.00 (Entrepreneur Magazine ad) •Queen Mary Having Bottom Scraped (from The Times, in the U.K.) •Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead •Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge •Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted •Sex Education Delayed, Teachers Request Training •Shot Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66 •Some Pieces of Rock Hudson Sold at Auction •Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again •Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim •Stadium Air Conditioning Fails--Fans Protest •Steals Clock, Faces Time •Stiff Opposition Expected to Casketless Funeral Plan (Those bodies, always complaining...) •Stolen Painting Found by Tree •Stud Tires Out •Study: Long-Term Marijuana Use Harms Mermory (from Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northhampton, Massachusetts) Apparently it's rough on spelling, too.) •Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents (Thus making them Siamese twins parents...?) •Teacher Strikes Idle Kids (Mo less than they deserve...)

•Tiger Woods Plays With Own Balls, Nike Says •Two Convicts Evade Noose, Jury Hung (Headline from the Oakland Tribune) •Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter (This shortage of checkout workers must be ended.) •Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies •Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead (In the cemetery? Weren't they already dead?) •War Dims Hope for Peace •Woman Improving After Fatal Crash Workers Finish Boring Sewer Tunnel (Atlanta Journal Constitution headline) (Ever drill an INTERESTING sewer tunnel?) •3-year old teacher needed for pre-school. Experience preferred. •'83 Toyota hunchback -- $2000 •Amana washer $100. Owned by clean bachelor who seldom washed. •And now, the Superstore unequaled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivaled inconvenience. •Auto Repair Service. Free pick-up and delivery. Try us once, you'll never go anywhere again. •Bill's septic cleaning "we haul American made products" •Christmas tag sale. Handmade gifts for the hard to find person. •Creative daily specials, including select offerings of beef, foul, fresh vagetables, salads, quiche. •Dinner Special-Turkey $2.35; Chicken or Beef $2.25; Children $2.00 •Dog for sale: eats anything and is fond of children. •Exercise equipment: queen size mattress & box spring -$175. •For Rent: 6 room hated apartment. •For sale: a quilted high chair that can be made into a table, pottie chair, rocking horse, refrigerator, spring coat, size 8 and fur collar. •For sale. Three canaries of undermined sex. •For sale: antique desk suitable for lady with thick legs and large drawers.

•For sale: lee majors (6 million dollar man)$50 •Free puppies...part German shepherd part dog •Free: farm kittens. ready to eat. •German shepherd. 85 lbs. neutered. speaks German. free. •Get rid of aunts. Zap does the job in 24 hours. •Girl wanted to assist magician in cutting-off-head illusion. Blue Cross and salary. •Great Dames for sale. •Have several very old dresses from grandmother in beautiful condition. •Hummels largest selection ever "if it's in stock, we have it!" •Man wanted to work in dynamite factory. Must be willing to travel. •Man, honest. Will take anything. •Mixing bowl set designed to please a cook with round bottom for efficient beating. •Mother's helper--peasant working conditions. •Now is your chance to have your ears pierced and get an extra pair to take home, too. •Offer expires December or while supplies last •Our bikinis are exciting. They are simply the tops. •Our experienced Mom will care for your child. Fenced yard, meals, and smacks included. •Our sofa seats the whole mob and it's made of 100% Italian leather. •See ladies blouses. 50% off! •Semi-Annual after-Christmas Sale. •Snow blower for sale...only used on snowy days. •Soft & genital bath tissues or facial tissue 89 cents •Star Wars job of the hut -- $15 •Stock up and save. Limit: one. •Tired of cleaning yourself. Let me do it.

•Toaster: A gift that every member of the family appreciates. Automatically burns toast. •Used Cars: Why go elsewhere to be cheated. Come here first. •Vacation Special: have your home exterminated. •Wanted. Man to take care of cow that does not smoke or drink. •Wanted: Preparer of food. Must be dependable, like the food business, and be willing to get hands dirty. •Wanted. Widower with school age children requires person to assume general housekeeping duties. Must be capable of contributing to growth of family. •Wanted: Hair cutter. Excellent growth potential. •We build bodies that last a lifetime. •We do not tear your clothing with machinery. We do it carefully by hand. We will oil your sewing machine and adjust tension in your home for $1.00. [16, p.32] A headline draws attention to something other than itself; in the case of media headlines, they direct the reader to another text and in this way can be referred to as a metatext. Headlines have a particular discursive functioning, under the control of a collective enunciative event: the newspaper. In fact, usually the author of the article is not the author of the headline, the task being left to an editor or subeditor, who will produce it, taking into account the newspaper rules and policy and the content of the article itself. So, headlines are the first interpretation of media events, which are themselves interpretations of plain facts. Headlines are simultaneously autonomous verbal products (because they are separate from the remaining texts) and dependent products (because they communicate closely with those texts and refer to them explicitly), as well as being part of the textual cohesion and coherence, since they are condensed and have a cataphoric nature. Autonomy and dependence are the two main characteristics that make this text y a challenge for researchers. [15, p.37] From a semiotic point of view, and as the heading of a journalistic piece,

headlines attract reader‟s attention and initiate the communicative process. It is systematically highlighted in a larger font than the body of the article and therefore the most incisive textual feature to stimulate the reading of the text. At the content level, the headline has a basic cognitive function and a projective role in the decoding of the text. As it is normally elliptical, it encourages the reader to create the first ties of explicit participation, inviting them, through the use of their knowledge, to complete the news construction, recognise implicitness, identify common places, accept metaphoric games, and so on. The headline defines the issue, or at least the relevant field of social life it writes about, and corresponds to a preliminary semantic contextualisation: through its reading, the readers‟ expectations are guided by their understanding of the world. All of these give importance to the discursive workings of the headlines, and by consequence to the rhetorical mechanisms which result in these articles being perceived as true, plausible or wise. 2.2 Lexical Features and Structure Features and Rhetorical Devices of English Newspaper Headlines Every time we pick up a newspaper, what come into our sight will be lots of news headlines. A headline has become an indispensable part of newspaper. The editor means to attract the reader’s attention through headlines. As a result, news paper headlines are usually specially designed to be short, concise, and informative to convey different kinds of information. We may be confused by the headlines like “Cater’s War on Waste”, “UFO Sighted”, “Smugglers Get Jail and Fines”, “Weekly Mag for Stamp Lovers to Be Launched”, ect. Yet without some knowledge of news headline features, it is not easy for us to read English newspaper. This paper has summarized the study of newspaper development in recent years and presents the lexical features, structure features and rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines in details. [17, p.290] The study of English newspaper headlines can date back to 1990s. In the past ten years many scholars in China have carry out many study

concerning news headlines and many papers have been published. One of the papers, 《 On the Features of English Newspaper Headline 》 , is written by Zhang Qiong in 2001. That paper covers different features of newspaper headlines but it is not specific enough. This paper will concentrate on three aspects of news headlines, lexical features, structure features and rhetorical devices, which help to some extend make our understanding of newspaper headlines more deeply and specific. Lexical Features of English Newspaper Headlines Lexical features of English newspaper headlines can mainly include four parts. They are exemplified as follows. [1] Abbreviation Abbreviation, which is used in a large quantity in English newspaper, means “A shortened form of a word or phrase used chiefly in writing to represent the complete form”. Generally speaking there are 3 kinds of Abbreviations used in the newspaper. a.Abbreviation for organizations Examples: UNESCO = Uinted Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organization PLO = Palestine Liberation Organization IOC = International Olympic Committee NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration APEC = Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Conference FIFA = Federation Internationale de Football Association b. Abbreviation for profession and career Examples: MP = member of parliament PM = prime minister GM = general manager

PA = personal assistant

c. Abbreviation for our familiar things Examples: UFO = Unidentified Flying Object

DJI = Dow-Jones Index

AIDS = Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

GMT = Greenwich Mean Times Laser = Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation Radar = Radio Detection and Ranging Sonar = Sound Navigation Ranging TOEFL = Test of English as A Foreign Language IELTS = International English Language Testing System [2] Shortening Shortening of different words in newspaper aims to spare more space or to cut down the length of the headlines. Examples: grad – graduate hosp – hospital cig – cigarette Cell – cellular Sec – second Reps – representatives Info – information Int’l – international Deli– delicatessen Hi-fi – high fidelity Hi-tech – high technology 3-D – three dimensional G-7 – Group of seven A-bomb – atom bomb V-day – victory day [3] Compound Compound words in English newspaper are usually formed by two or over two words. By compounding, we can make complicated structure simpler, what’s more, save space. Examples: “Plan to aid school dropouts extended” ( China Daily, Feb.5.1998). Here “school dropouts” refers to “the student who drops out of school”. “Li stresses corruption fight” (China Daily, Feb.6.1998). Here “corruption fight” refers to “fight against corruption”. [4] Informal and Small Words Newspaper headlines are likely to use informal and small words because small words have more meanings than big words and can be used in many cases. In news English these words are refered to as “synonyms of all work”. Examples: aim——purpose, design, object intention, etc. meet——assembly, convention, congregation, exam,etc, pact——compact, contract,agreement,convention

deal——negotiationm,transaction,bargain,etc. d.Structure Features of English Newspaper Headlines Structure features of English newspaper headlines can be divided into two aspects. They are as follows: [1] Omission Omission is one of the major features of English newspaper headlines. Generally speaking, omission can be classified 4 types. e.Omission of articles Examples: Italian Ex-mayor Murdered ( = A Italian Ex-mayor Was Murdered) Tenth of British Mackerel Catch Ground into Feed (= A Tenth of the British markerel Catch Ground into Feed ) f. Omission of conjunction and pronoun Examples: USA, Vietnam Resume Talks ( = USA and Vietnam Resume Talks) Have Dollars, Will Sell ( = If You Have Dollars, Will Sell ) g.Omission of “be ” and auxiliary verbs Examples: Three Dead after Inhaling over Gas ( = Three Are Dead after Inhaling over Gas ) Married Women to Get Care Allowance ( = Married Women Are to Get Care Allowance ) PNC’s world views praised ( = PNC’s world views were praised ) h.Omission of verbs Examples: Ballots, Not Bullets ( = Algerians Want Ballots, Not Bullets ) Pom peii Reported Seriously Damaged ( = Pom peii Reported to Have Benn Seriously Damage) [19, p.38] [2] Use Noun to Replace Adjective, Phrase, and Verb Nouns are frequently used in newspaper Headlines to replace different words to form various structures. So nouns are the most animated words in news headlines.

Examples: Yugoslav pianist stirring music world ( “music world” = “musical world” ) Corruption Reports Against Police Rise ( “corruption reports” = “reports on corruption complaints ”) Female axe murderer executed ( “female axe murdered” = “ a female murderer who killed with an axe ” ) Export growth to beat crisis ( “growth” is used to replace “grow” ) i. Rhetorical Devices Of English Newspaper Headlines Rhetorical devices of English newspaper headlines mainly have six kinds. They are as follows. [1] Imitation Examples: The Son Also Rises

To Save or Not to Save

The Road That Must be Taken

Do as Maoris Do

The Great Mall of China

Candidate in the Wind

iPod, therefore, i am [2] Metaphor Examples: A Dove Taking Wing Whitewater May Drown Democrats Trouble Brewing [3] Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of initial identical consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables, esp. stressed syllables. Examples: Pride and Prejudice Kill or Cure? Solitary Soldier

Sense and Sensibility

Carrots and Clubs? Tiger Tied

Virtual Villains

[4] Rhyme Rhyme is the repetition of an identical stressed vowel sound, followed by identical consonant sound but preceded by different consonants Examples: Masculine rhyme: Foe/toe Feminine rhyme: Revival/arrival

meet/fleet

make/brake

mountain/fountain

Eye rhyme: Brain Gain/Drain

Dream Team

Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble

Wheels and Deals

It’s More Than a War

[5] Pun Pun is an expression that achieves emphasis or humor by contriving an ambiguity, two distinct meanings suggested either by the same word or by two similar sounding words. Examples: Why is the river so rich? It has two banks. Why are monkeys as talkative as women? Each monkey has a tail(tale). Why is that female movie star so cool? She has many fans. Which can run faster, heat or cold? Heat, because everyone can catch cold. What is the worst weather for mice? When it rains cats and dogs. Why is the bride always unlucky on her wedding day? Because she can never marry the best man. What is mind? It doesn’t matter. What is the matter? Never mind. [6] Idiom Examples: Rome is not built in a day. Third time lucky. The seven-year itch. [20, p.45] To sum up, English newspaper headlines can use different kinds skills of lexical features, structure features and rhetorical devices to create many effects. Besides the features mentioned above, there many other features in English newspaper headlines for us to analyze. Understanding the headlines of the news is a gateway to understand the whole news, so news headlines is an area worthwhile for us to go deep into. Conclusion In today’s hectic world one of the most important factors is information. The means of information provision are quite different which can be

summarized in one word: mass media. The media is the whole body of communications that reach large numbers of the public via radio, television, movies, magazines, newspapers and the World Wide Web.

All of them,

alongside their informative essence, are aimed at influencing huge audiences. That audience has been viewed by some commentators as forming a mass society with special characteristics, notably atomization or lack of social connections, which render it especially susceptible to the influence of modern mass media techniques such as advertising and propaganda. In the course of this paper we have tried to analyze one of the main components of mass media; we refer to newspapers. With the introduction of modern technologies and the emergence of Internet the informative character of newspapers may seem to fade away but, in fact, being the oldest means of information communication, newspapers have survived throughout

the

centuries and have proved their viability in historical context. The aim of this paper is to analyze one of the two main components of newspapers: headings. In most general terms, a headline is text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it. However, besides the upmentioned function, newspaper headings are also aimed at catching reader’s attention. It is worth mentioning that nowadays the shift is put on the last function, since in order to survive in the competitive world of mass media editors try to capture as much public attention as possible.

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