Lecture 6 Newspaper Article Interpretation

Lecture 6 Newspaper Article Interpretation

References:

1. Galperin, I.R. Stylistics. M.: Higher School, 1977. – 332 p.

2. Работа с англоязычным газетным текстом = Features of English Newspaper Articles : метод. рекомендации для студентов /сост. : Ю.В. Маслов, М.Е. Маслова, Н.И. Захарченя. – Барановичи: РИО БарГУ, 2008. – 78 с.

3. Знаменская, Т.А. Стилистика английского языка. Основы курса: учеб. пособие. – М., 2004. – 208 с.

4. Verdonk, P. Stylistics. – OUP, 2003. – 124 p.

Plan:

1. English newspaper style.

2. Vocabulary of English newspaper.

3. Basic newspaper features:

   1. Brief news items;

   2. Advertisements and announcements;

   3. Editorial;

   4. The headline.

1. English newspaper writing dates from the 17^th century. At the close of the 16^th century short news pamphlets began to appear. They appeared only from time to time and cannot be classed as newspapers. As far back as the middle of the 18^th 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.

The rise of the American newspaper, which was brought onto American soil by British settlers, dates back to the late 17^th, early 18^th centuries.

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 19^th century that newspaper English may be said to have developed into a system of language media, forming a separate functional style.

Not all the printed matter found in newspaper comes under newspaper style.

Stories and poems, crossword puzzles, chess problems and the like serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, but they cannot be considered specimens of newspaper style.

News and comment on it, press reports and articles, advertisements and announcements (newspaper printed matter) perform the function of informing the reader and providing him with the 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 (Galperin, p. 297).

Information and evaluation co-exist in the modern English newspaper. But in most of the basic newspaper 'genres' one of the two functions prevails (e.g. news is essentially informative; the editorial (leading article or leader) is basically evaluative).

Information in the English newspaper is conveyed, in the 1^st place, through the medium of:

1. brief news items, newspaper feature articles;

2. press reports (parliamentary, of court proceedings, etc.),

3. articles (purely informational in character),

4. advertisements and announcements.

The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on political and other matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed:

• in the very selection and way of presentation of news;

• in the use of specific vocabulary (e.g. allege, claim – cast doubt on the facts reported);

• in syntactic constructions indicating a lack of assurance on the part of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported or his desire to avoid responsibility (e.g. 'Mr. X. was said to have opposed the proposal; Mr. X was quoted saying…');

• the headlines carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and arrangement of the headline, the use of emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus indicating the interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows;

• the editorial (characterized by a subjective handling of facts;

The ratio of the informative and the evaluative varies substantially from article to article.

The structure of a newspaper article is as follows:

1. the title;

2. the subtitle;

3. the beginning of an article;

4. the body of an article;

5. the ending.

The text that follows the headline is characterized by:

• a careful subdivision into paragraphs;

• every paragraph has a key sentence that expresses its main idea. The sentence keeps key words. Identifying and understanding these words is a way to understanding the article;

• a clearly defined position of the sections of an article: the most important information is given in the opening paragraph, often in the first sentence;

• quite often namely the first paragraph works as a summary of the whole article;

• to capture the attention of the reader and keep it through the whole article the latter should be distinctly logical, sequenced, and rather short. As a result paragraphs often consist of one sentence only (the so-called 'blow-by-blow' effect, when each paragraph provides short but exact information on the topic of the article). This helps to understand and remember the information;

• to make the article more comprehensible and readable, and to evoke some emotional response of the reader (shock, disappointment, anger, amusement, excitement) authors use different techniques: parallel constructions, enumeration, infinitives, participles, gerunds, words and their combinations given in inverted commas (to underline certain expressions), citations, synonyms, imperative sentences, interjections, metaphors, idioms, epithets, etc.

• the use of proper names, geographical names, names of enterprises, organizations, institutions, statistics, references to the latter serves as a means of making the article look true-to-life, the information in which is not distorted;

• the use of abbreviations and acronyms (mostly explained in the first paragraphs, and later occurring in the article without explanations);

• the use of clichés, such as introductory words which indicate the resource of information (it is reported, it is claimed, our correspondent reports from, according to well-known sources…) and set expressions with trite imagery (to set the tone, to throw light, to lay the corner-stone, to give the lie);

• the use of photos, cartoons that may indicate the subject-matter of an article.

2. The bulk of the vocabulary used in the newspaper writing is neutral and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by:

1. Terminological variety (political, economic, scientific, sport, technical);

2. Newspaper clichés and set phrases, i.e. stereotyped expressions, commonplace phrases familiar to the reader (e.g. Vital issue, pressing problem, overwhelming majority, amid stormy applause). Clichés more than anything else reflect the traditional manner of expression in newspaper writing. They prompt the necessary associations and prevent ambiguity and misunderstanding.

3. Abbreviations and acronyms. Among them abbreviated terms – names of organizations, public and state bodies, political associations, industrial and other companies, various offices, etc. – known by their initials are very common, e.g. UNO (United Nations Organization), NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), EEC (European Economic Community), FO (Foreign Office), etc.

4. Neologisms. The newspaper is very quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science and technology. Hence, neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very easily and very often even spring up on newspaper pages.

5. Numerous proper names, toponyms, anthroponyms, names of enterprises;

6. International words;

7. Dates and figures;

8. Abstract notion words;

9. In headlines – frequent use of pun, violated phraseology, vivid stylistic devices.

The language of newspapers is alert to reflect changes and innovations taking place in lexis as a result of changes in the society.

3. The basic newspaper features are:

1. brief news items;

2. advertisements and announcements,

3. the editorial,

4. the headline.

A. The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. It states facts without comments, the evaluation is unemotional as a rule.

The basic peculiarities of news items lie in their syntactical structure. The size of brief news items varies from one sentence to several (short) paragraphs. The shorter the news item – the more complex is its syntactical structure.

Grammatical peculiarities of brief news items:

1. Specific word-order. The word-order in one-sentence news paragraphs and in what are called 'leads' (the initial sentences in longer news items) is more or less fixed. Journalistic practice has developed what is called the 'five w and h pattern rule' (who, what, why, how, where, when) and for a long time strictly adhered to it. In terms of grammar this fixed sentence structure may be expressed in the following manner: Subject – Predicate – (+Object) – Adverbial modifier of reason (manner) – Adverbial modifier of place –Adverbial modifier of time,

e.g. 'A neighbour's peep through a letter box led to the finding of a woman dead from gas and two others semiconscious in a block of council flats in Eccles New Road, Salford, Lancs., yesterday'.

However, in a half of all cases the traditional word order is violated.

2. Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses:

e.g. 'Mr. Boyd-Carpenter, Chief secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster-General (Kingston-upon-Thames), said he had been asked what was meant by the statement in the Speech that the position of war pensioners and those receiving national insurance benefits would be kept under close review' .

3. Verbal constructions (infinitive, participial, gerundial) and verbal noun constructions,

e.g. 'Mr. Nabusuke Kishi, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has sought to set an example to the faction-ridden Governing Liberal Democratic Party by announcing the disbanding of his own faction numbering 47 of the total of 295 conservative members of the Lower House of the Diet'.

4. Attributive noun groups,

e.g. 'heart swap patient', the national income and expenditure figures'.

5. Syntactical complexes, especially the nominative with the infinitive (largely used to avoid mentioning the source of information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported),

e.g.: 'The condition of Lord Samuel, aged 92, was said last night to be a 'little better'.

Lexical peculiarities:

1. Stereotyped forms of expression prevail.

2. The language is stylistically neutral, devoid if emotional colouring. Some papers, however, especially those classed among 'mass' or 'popular' papers, tend to introduce emotionally coloured lexical units into essentially matter-of-fact news stories:

e.g. 'Health Minister Kenneth Robinson made this shock announcement yesterday in the Commons'; 'Defense Secretary Roy Mason yesterday gave a rather frosty reception in the commons to the latest proposal for a common defence policy for all EEC countries'.

B. Advertisements and announcements

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

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

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

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

2. non-classified.

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

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

• typographical;

• graphical;

• stylistic;

• both lexical and syntactical.

C. The Editorial

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

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

• emotionally coloured language elements (lexical and structural),

• colloquial words and expressions,

• slang,

• professionalisms.

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

• trite metaphors,

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

• periphrases,

• clichés.

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

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

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

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

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

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

• various types of repetition,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. idiomatic expressions;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The character of headlines depends on:

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

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

3. the category of readers;

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

The pragmatic functions of headlines:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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