Upload
phungthien
View
245
Download
3
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A Research into the Stylistics of English and Slova k Newspaper Headlines
Diplomová práca
Gabriela Mitrová
Žilinská univerzita v Žiline
Fakulta prírodných vied
Vedúci diplomovej práce: Prof. PhDr. Stanislav Kavka, CSc.
Konzultant: PhDr. Danica Maleková
Komisia pre obhajoby: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatúry
Stupeň odbornej kvalifikácie: magister
Dátum odovzdania práce: 2006-04-15
Žilina 2006
Čestné prehlásenie
Čestne prehlasujem, že som túto diplomovú prácu napísala samostatne
s použitím uvádzanej literatúry.
2006 ...........................................
Poďakovanie
Ďakujem PhDr. Danici Malekovej za odborné vedenie pri písaní diplomovej práce
a za usmernenia pri konzultáciách.
ABSTRAKT
Práca sa zaoberá výskumom štylistického charakteru anglických a slovenských
novinových titulkov. Formálne je rozdelená do dvoch hlavných kapitol, ktoré obsahujú
niekoľko ďalších tematických podcelkov. V prvej kapitole sú teoreticky objasnené
základné pojmy štylistiky a sú v nej uvedené niektoré rozdelenia funkčných štýlov
podľa lingvistov zaoberajúcich sa touto problematikou v rámci štylistiky anglického
a slovenského jazyka. Druhá, praktická časť využíva prostriedky porovnávacej
štylistickej analýzy, ktorá zahŕňa skúmanie štylisticky príznačných morfologických,
lexikologických, syntaktických a grafických vlastností textu. Predmetom porovnávania
je korpus vytvorený z päťdesiatich anglických a päťdesiatich slovenských novinových
titulkov. Zdrojmi skúmaného materiálu sú denníky The Times a SME, ktoré sa podľa
prieskumov verejnej mienky v jednotlivých krajinách umiestnili na popredných
priečkach v rámci čitateľnosti. Všetky titulky uvádzajú články týkajúce sa
zahraničných udalostí vo svete a boli uverejnené vo výtlačkoch publikovaných
v rovnakých termínoch: 5.október 2005, 23.december 2005, 27.december 2005.
Skúmaním vybraných textov sme zistili väčšiu štylistickú príznačnosť a ekonomickú
úspornosť anglických novinových titulkov.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 7
1 THEORETICAL PART 9
1.1 The importance of newspaper headlines nowadays 9
1.2 Style as the main stylistic category 10
1.3 Approaches to the differentiation of styles 11
1.4 Functions and characteristic features of English and Slovak
newspaper headlines 14
1.5 General differences between English and Slovak newspaper
headlines 16
2 COMPARATIVE STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND
SLOVAK NEWSPAPER HEADLINES 19
2.1 General notes on the method of stylistic analysis 19
2.2 Notes on the particular analysis 21
2.3 Morphological level of newspaper headlines 21
2.3.1 Parts of speech in Slovak newspaper headlines 22
2.3.2 Parts of speech in English newspaper headlines 25
2.3.3 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper headlines
from the morphological point of view 29
2.4 Lexical level of newspaper headlines 31
2.4.1 Lexical level of Slovak newspaper headlines 32
2.4.2 Lexical level of English newspaper headlines 37
2.4.3 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper headlines
from the lexical point of view 43
2.5 Syntactic level of English and Slovak newspaper headlines 45
2.5.1 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper headlines
from the syntactic point of view 53
2.6 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper headlines
from the graphical point of view 54
2.7 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper headlines
from the stylistic point of view 56
CONCLUSION 59
BIBLIOGRAPHY 62
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1 Classification of styles 12
Table 2 Grammatical category of tense in Slovak
newspaper headlines 23
Table 3 Suffixes characteristic of the individual
parts of speech 38
Table 4 Number of words and sentences in English
and Slovak newspaper headlines 45
Figure 1 Density of Slovak parts of speech 22
Figure 2 Density of English parts of speech 25
LIST OF APPENDIXES
Appendix A Corpus of English newspaper headlines
Appendix B Corpus of Slovak newspaper headlines
INTRODUCTION
This thesis aims to compare the stylistics of English and Slovak newspaper
headlines. As this age of information makes people separate the information in the
most effective way, these ‘little texts’ have become the focus of a number of linguistic
studies. Among various types of ‘little texts’ (telegrams, product labels,
advertisements etc.), newspaper headlines are the most frequently analyzed. This
has many reasons—they are visible and attractive, they invite explanations for their
readers, and finally - the researched material is relatively easy to collect. Their
importance depends highly on the commercial atmosphere in the press business, as
they are primary means according to which readers decide to choose a particular
type of newspapers.
Our thesis is divided into two main chapters. The first one is introduced with the
section discussing the importance of headlines which is viewed as an extremely
increasing phenomenon of the last decades. It mainly concentrates on their
psychological and organizational functions. Further sections deal with the term style
as one of the main stylistic categories. We point out several different approaches to
style and choose the one that seems to be appropriate to define style of newspaper
headlines. In addition, we compare Galperin’s and Mistrík’s differentiations of
functional styles. As it is generally a contradictory discussion whether to classify
headlines under the publicistic or newspaper style, the main differences between
them are explained in more detail. In the next section, the main functions of
newspaper headlines are pointed out and the most significant features of English and
Slovak newspaper headlines are described. These features cover all the linguistic
fields – phonology, morphology, lexicology, syntax and graphology and the most
significant differences between English and Slovak headlines are compared.
As our material is researched by means of comparative stylistic analysis, the main
general features and steps of this process are introduced in the first section of the
second chapter. It also involves a brief presentation of particular material of our
analysis. Further sections compare English and Slovak headlines from the
morphological, lexical, syntactical, graphical and stylistic points of view.
In the field of morphology, we mainly concentrate on the density of particular parts
of speech used in the headlines of our corpus and on the stylistic effect which is
caused by their high or low frequency. In addition, we point out some other significant
morphological features and expressive means, for example the category of tense.
Morphology of English and Slovak headlines is researched separately and there is
one section devoted to the comparison of them.
In the same way, lexical character of English and Slovak headlines is described.
Firstly, we concentrate on the types of vocabulary which are specific for style of
newspaper headlines (informal words, publicisms etc.) and secondly some
expressive lexical means are analyzed and explained (metaphors, personifications
etc). Moreover, there are noted some of the most significant results of word-formation
processes.
The section dealing with the syntactical features involves comparison of English
and Slovak titles in the sense of their length, word-order and syntactic expressive
means.
As graphical means play a very important role in the attraction of headlines, they
are the subject of the next section.
The last section compares different approaches to the topics of articles discussing
the same event.
1 THEORETICAL PART
1.1 The importance of newspaper headlines nowadays
This time is often called ‘the age of information’. People have been receiving and
passing information by various means for several centuries. Since the time when the
bookprint was invented by Guttenberg, printed media have had a huge importance
for transmission of information. Principally, they are the main vehicles for information.
Nowadays, information of all areas of life can be found everywhere in an extreme
amount. This amount has increased especially during the recent decades when the
new types of e-media appeared.
In spite of this new phenomenon, the most popular and frequent kinds of the
media are still traditional newspapers. Due to the fact mentioned above, there is
a strong competitive rivalry among the traditional printed newspapers and the on-line
newspapers all over the world. Moreover, the printed newspapers do not resist only
the pressure of the new media but they have to keep abreast of the other printed
newspapers as well. Every publisher tries to gain and retain as many readers as
possible.
From the psychological point of view, the main result of this ‘information pressure’
is the fact that people are forced to chose the information which they are going to
read. Naturally, they do not lose their time by reading everything and they tend to
skim through newspapers quickly and then decide to read the article the headline of
which seems to be the most interesting for them. Due to this generally known fact,
journalists as the creative individualities have to be trained in writing newspaper
headlines properly to make them as attractive as possible. As we live in very
commercial time when success is measured according to saleability, which in the
case of newspaper business partially depends on the attractiveness of the headlines,
their importance is still getting increased. From the lay observer’s point of view,
interesting headlines can even sell the newspapers themselves. If we take the fact
that newspaper is a schematically organized unity into consideration then headlines
belong to the first opening category of this schema. They have to catch the reader’s
attention and at the same time to provide information about the content of the article.
These two main functions are moreover obstructed by the limited space which is put
at their disposal in the press.
1.2 Style as the main stylistic category
If we consider style as one of the main and basic terms used in stylistics, we
should take into account that there are no distinct boundaries which would
differentiate styles in general. Style is a very dynamic phenomenon which changes
and results from its new function in society. There are a lot of different definitions of
style but in fact it is very difficult to define it as there are several broad areas in which
it is used. In the field of newspaper headlines, one of the most appropriate seems to
be the Miššíková’s definition according to which “style can be seen as variation in
language use, whether literary or non-literary. The term register is commonly used for
systematic variations in linguistic features common to particular non-literary
situations, e.g. advertising, legal language, sport commentary” (Miššíková, 2003,
p.17). On the other hand, some authors prefer to use the term variety instead of the
terms style or register and the reasons are explained by R.Quirk and S.Greenbaum
as follows: “Varieties are often called ‘stylistic’, but ‘style’ like ‘register’ is a term which
is used with several different meanings. Variety includes the choice of linguistic form
that proceeds from our attitude to hearer (or reader), to the subject matter, or to the
purpose of our communication” (R.Quirk, S.Greenbaum, 1973, p.6). However, in this
thesis we subscribe to the theory according to which the term style is used to
describe a stylistic variation in language use. It is important to mention that: “Each
style of the literary language makes use of a group of language means, the
interrelation of which is peculiar to the given style. It is the co-ordination of the
language means and stylistic devices which shapes the distinctive features of each
style, and not the language means or stylistic devices themselves” (Miššíková, 2003,
p.114).
As we have mentioned above, every style has its own special function in society
and “in stylistics, the study of the function of linguistic elements in texts is central, not
only to their grammatical function, but more importantly to their function in relation to
the meaning of the text, their contribution to the overall theme and structure. This is
known as stylistic significance”(Miššíková, 2003, p.111).Generally, every style might
be characterized by certain number of language means and stylistic devices, the
interrelation of which makes it suitable to be used in different situations to achieve
different aims or effects. According to Miššíková: “A style of language can be defined
as a system of co-ordinated, interrelated and interconditioned language means
intended to fulfil a specific function of communication and aiming at a definite effect”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.114). Based on the idea of the fulfilling a specific function of the
language, stylistics in the tradition of Prague School which stresses function deals
with the term functional style.
1.3 Approaches to the differentiation of styles
In this section, we will mention some of the approaches which are used in English
and Slovak stylistics to divide the functional styles. Moreover, we will discuss some of
the most significant differences in the field of the accepted terminology and we will
pay special attention to the difference between the publicistic and newspaper style in
general.
The term ‘functional style’ is used both in English and Slovak stylistics to describe
the same phenomenon but there is a significant difference in the classification of
them. This noticeable difference is not only between the Slovak and English
classifications but it even differs from one linguist to another as well. In Czech and
Slovak linguistics we can find several traditional classifications of styles. The bases of
the theory of the functional styles were firstly found in Havránek’s work at the
beginning of the 30s. The first Slovak classification was described by Paulíny whose
work suggested one of the most representative and complex approaches introduced
by Jozef Mistrík. Mistrík outlined two main groups of styles: individual and
interindividual. These two groups were further subdivided as shown in the following
table:
Table 1: Classification of styles
Objective Objective-Subjective Subjective
scientific administrative aesthetic publicistic rhetoric essayistic colloquial
(based on Mistrík, 1985, p.423)
In the study of English stylistics, we can also find several different divisions for
example the classification of the Russian linguist Galperin who divided five basic
functional styles. It must be emphasized that this classification takes English
language for its starting point and thus it cannot be generalized for the other
languages. Every functional style is further subdivided into several substyles as noted
in the following part:
1. Scientific prose style
- style used in humanities,
- style used in the exact sciences ;
2. Style of official documents
- style of business documents,
- style military documents
- style of legal documents;
3. Belles-letters style
- poetry,
- artistic prose,
- drama;
4. Publicistic style
- manifestations in press,
- essays,
- articles in newspapers and magazines;
5. Newspaper style
- newspaper headlines,
- short reports,
- advertisements.
Comparing Slovak and English divisions of functional styles, we can notice several
differences of terminology. For example, the Slovak term ‘aesthetic’ corresponds to
‘belles-letters style’ in English and the English ‘style of official documents’ covers the
same area as the ‘administrative style’ in Slovak classification does. Another
significant and the most important for this thesis is the use of the terms ‘publicistic’
and ‘newspaper’ style. As we could notice above, these two styles are differentiated
only in the English classification and they both correspond to the term ‘publicistic’ in
the Mistrík‘s division. The boundaries between these two styles in English stylistics
can be better understood by using the definitions of them. While “the general aim of
the publicistic style, which makes it stand out as a separate style, is to exert
a constant and deep influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or the
listener that the interpretation given by the writer or the speaker is the only correct
one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.116), the newspaper style can be defined as the style which is
purely informational in its character. Thus, the articles which tend to express author’s
opinions, stories, poems, crossword puzzles and the other materials which can be
found in the modern newspapers in order to entertain or influence the readers,
cannot be considered specimens of newspaper style in general. On the other hand,
we cannot claim that Slovak stylistics does not consider these specimens. “What in
English is put in different styles, Mistrík divides into three genre categories that cover
all aspects of newspaper or journalistic style. These genres are news genres,
focusing on providing objective information (news story, interview), analytic genres, to
some extent allowing subjective opinion (leading articles, in English language press
editorials, columns, articles, gloss, commentary), and belletristic genres that are the
most subjective form all three categories (report, essay)” (Miššíková, 2003, p.117).
We discussed the difference between the publicistic and newspaper style in more
detail to find the category under which the newspaper headlines should be classified.
As the above mentioned definitions are not enough to do this, we should also discuss
the features and main functions of the headlines. Some of them are common both for
English and Slovak headlines, some of them not. These differences will be outlined
later.
1.4 Functions and characteristic features of Englis h and Slovak
newspaper headlines
In this section, we will deal with the main functions and the most characteristic
features of newspaper headlines. Since, not only semantic but even linguistic
character of them is closely connected to the cultural and social development of each
country, there are a lot of significant differences between the features of Slovak and
English writing of newspaper headlines. Another reason for this difference might be
the historical development of the ‘culture of newspaper writing’. However, these
differences will be outlined further down after pointing out the main features of the
English and Slovak headlines separately.
There is no doubt that the first thing which the English and Slovak headlines have
in common is their function. Thus we can note a universal definition of Crystal and
Davy who claim that: “The function of headlining is complex: headlines have to
contain a clear, succinct and if possible intriguing message, to kindle a spark interest
in the potential reader, who, on average, is a person whose eye moves swiftly down
a page and stops when something catches his attention; and the chief means of
producing ‘eye-catching’ effects is by making use of the full range of graphetic
contrasts” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.174). Although headlines are very short pieces of
information, carefully chosen constructions are required to fulfil their main functions.
Another phenomenon which should be taken into consideration is a type of reader
who is going to read the newspapers. Of course, headlines should address a
universal type of the reader who the newspaper is aimed at. All these functions are
the main essences of art of headlining.
The main features of the English newspaper headlines can be briefly
characterized according to the following points:
1. As the headlines are the most condense pieces of information, they should
bring maximum of information on minimum space. This can be realized by
using of special headline vocabulary (ban, bid, crack, cut, dash, hit, move).
This vocabulary consists of short, monosyllabic and polysemic words with
universal character.
2. Sometimes, even the slang words are accepted.
3. Abbreviated words, nominal constructions and abbreviations are often used.
4. Although numbers are very common in English newspaper headlines, we
could hardly find two numbers in one headline.
5. Another characteristic feature is the use of punctuation symbols like: quotation
marks, hyphens, colons, dashes etc.
6. Omissions of articles and auxiliaries are very frequent.
7. Finite verb forms are frequently omitted.
8. Replacements of periphrastic verbal forms, such as those of continuous
tenses or of the present, etc. by the historical present tense or by some
nominal form derived from the verbal basis are common.
9. Frequent use of gerunds and infinitives makes the text more condense.
10. Nominal/condensed constructions are very frequent.
11. Headlines often contain alliteration or puns.
12. Long words are replaced by the short ones which sound more dramatic.
13. The use of the graphetic contrasts is very common to produce ‘eye-catching’
effects.
As we can notice, above listed features cover all the linguistic levels –
morphological, lexical, syntactical, graphical and stylistic as well. Similarly, some
linguistically significant features of the Slovak headlines can be outlined as shown in
the following lines:
1. Slovak headlines tend to be very general in their content.
2. There is the tendency to use the nominal sentences.
3. Slovak headlines bring only the most important information which is often very
symbolic and brief.
4. The ellipsis of the subject, auxiliary verb and predicate is commonly used.
5. Dashes, colons etc. are used to make the headlines more economical.
6. Numbers are expressed by words; symbols are used very rarely.
7. Only generally known abbreviations like: NATO, OSN, WHO etc. which are
common in spoken language are used.
8. Special words with the character of cliché are very popular to make headlines
more dynamic and attractive.
All the features that were pointed out in the previous lines reflect most of the
linguistically significant features of newspaper headlines. However, some more
features can be worded in terms of communication as well. If we view headlines as
some imaginary communication channel through which information is returned from
the writer to the readers, we should have in mind the following features and
characteristics:
- public character
- official character
- written character
- monological character
- absence of an addressee or addressees
- communicative function
(According to Findra, 2004, p.186, translated by author)
1.5 General differences between English and Slovak newspaper
headlines
The basic features from the section 1.4 suggested some of the main differences
between the Slovak and English style of headlines writing. Generally, English
headlining is more specific and special attention is focused on them in the field of
stylistics. One of the main reasons for this specification can be naturally bigger number of
the language means which are used to make the text more condense,
comprehensive and attractive. According to Findra: “The choice and the structure of
the language means, which are integrated in the text, is subordinate to the main
functions of the text” (Findra, 2004, p.188, translated by author). In English language,
the features of condensation, comprehensiveness and attraction are realised mostly
by abbreviated words, nominal constructions, numbers, punctuation and omission of
the elements as articles and auxiliaries. On the contrary, Slovak language disposes
of markedly less number of such language means but Slovak headlines have to fulfil
the conditions of the comprehensiveness and sententiousness as well. The most
significant consequence of this lack of language means is the fact that the content of
the article is quite often just indicated by using as few words as possible in the Slovak
headlines. Natural result of this fact is that the Slovak headlines do not carry as much
information as the English do and thus the readers get only scrappy information.
However, this problem is often solved by means of the subtitles which can add more
information about the content.
As it is listed above, phonetic stylistic devices such as alliteration or pun are quite
common in English press but the Slovak headlines contain them very rarely. Knittlová
points out that some examples of alliteration or pun can be found in our press mostly
in the sport columns and she presents some published examples as: Veselý nás
rozveselil, Kladne o Kladne. (Knittlová, 200, p.68, translated by author).
Another noticeable feature, which is not so significant in Slovak headlines, is the
important and quite specific function of English punctuation, especially inverted
commas, colons and dashes. However, the function of the inverted commas in
headlines is different than it is in the other texts. “They are used to separate those
attributes which belong together according to their meaning. Thus it makes the
reader to decipher the headlines which are not luminous at first sight” (Knittlová,
2000, p.68, translated by author). Similarly, the function of colon is different. It divides
the headline into two parts and it functions as a semantic copula (Knittlová, 2000,
p.68).
In both languages, the authors of headlines are still trying to find some
expressions which are not very trite and which would catch the reader’s attention.
However, this could be very dangerous because “these new expressions may
become established in the press and thus they might get the qualities of cliché.
Those headlines are no more vivacious and the readers have the tendency to skip
them without any notice” (Knittlová, 2000, p.70, translated by author).
Except these linguistic features, it is important to mention the fact that headlines
are generally understood as a part of the publicistic style in Slovak stylistics. An
explanation of this understanding is given by Knittlová who claims that: “Subjective
passing of information is characteristic for newspapers articles and thus headlines
likewise editorials come under the publicistic style in Czech and Slovak stylistics”
(Knittlová, 2000, p.54, translated by author). On the other hand, as illustrated earlier,
Galperin’s classification of functional styles resolutely considers the newspaper
headlines to be the substyle of the newspaper style.
In addition, it is important to mention that all these differences can be based on
absolutely different linguistic natures of both languages and to a certain degree on
the process of the historical development of English and Slovak press, as well. While,
English newspaper writing dates back to the 17th century and “it was only by the 19th
century that newspaper English may be said to have developed into a system of
language means which forms a separate functional style” (Miššíková, 2003, p.119),
Slovak publicistic style was finally established only after the second world war
(Knittlová, 2000, p.11, translated by author) .
Based on all the theoretical differences that were mentioned in this section, the
hypothesis of our analysis could be proposed as follows: English newspaper
headlines are generally more specific and stylistically significant than Slovak
headlines not only from the linguistic point of view but also even from the way of
expressing idea and content of the article.
2 COMPARATIVE STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH AND
SLOVAK NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
2.1 General notes on the method of stylistic analys is
In this chapter, we will compare the stylistics of English and Slovak newspaper
headlines by means of the method which is called stylistic analysis. This way of
research must be viewed as a complex and multi-level procedure which “involves
taking the object of study – a particular piece of language, or text – and discussing it
in terms of a number of interrelated levels of description. At each level, we are
studying one aspect of the way in which language is organised: shall be
distinguishing phonetic/graphetic, honological/graphological, grammatical, lexical,
and semantic levels” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.15). According to this idea, our object of
study would be the corpus of English and Slovak newspaper headlines which were
chosen from daily ‘quality’ press in each country. Considering the interrelated levels
of stylistic analysis, it is important to mention that: “the order in which the levels are
studied is not significant” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.15) and there are no distinct
boundaries which would clearly differentiate these levels because of the overlaps
between the branches of linguistics.
It is also worth emphasising that: “the first step in any stylistic analysis must be an
intuitive one” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.12). This intuitive process makes a stylistician to
notice “a linguistic feature which he feels to be stylistically significant” (Crystal, Davy,
1969, p.12). Another important and the most complex step includes “using of
complex theoretical knowledge of all the linguistic branches by which a stylistician
can decipher the text and thus put the most significant features down on paper in
a systematic way in order to display their internal patterning to maximal effect”
(Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.12). The stylistician’s main competence is “to interrelate his
observations within the framework of some theory, and thus piece together any
general pattern of linguistic variation which may exist” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.12). In
other words, “the purpose of stylistic analysis is to explore the features which are
stylistically marked and thus stylistically relevant, i.e. they create particular style”
(Miššíková, 2004, p.8).
It is necessary to mention that “by ‘features’ here, we mean any bit of speech or
writing which a person can single out from the general flow of language and discuss
– a particular word, part of a word, sequence of words, or way of uttering a word”
(Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.11). These features are realised by certain number of
language means which can be generally viewed as “stylistic means because of their
capacity to create certain stylistic effects” (Miššíková, 2003, p.29). All stylistic means
of a language can be divided into expressive means and stylistic devices. “The
expressive means of a language are those phonetic means, morphological forms,
means of word-building, and lexical, phraseological and syntactic forms, all of which
function in the language for the emotional or logical intensification of an utterance”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.29) .On the other hand, “according to I.R. Galperin a stylistic
device is a conscious and intentional literary use of some of the facts of the language
(including expressive means) in which the most essential features (both structural
and semantic) of the language forms are raised to a generalised level and thereby
present a generative model. According to Miššíková, most stylistic devices may be
regarded as aiming at the further intensification of the emotional or logical emphasis
contained in the corresponding expressive means” (Miššíková, 2003, p.31).
Generally, it should be noted that the main difference between the expressive means
and stylistic devices “can be worded in terms of the theory of information” (Miššíková,
2003, p.31) as “stylistic devices carry a greater amount of information because if they
are at all predictable they are still less predictable than expressive means”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.31).
As was mentioned above, all stylistic means of a language are intentionally
chosen by the authors to make the text more attractive, interesting and less
monotonous. If we regard the main functions of newspaper headlines which were
pointed out before, there is no doubt that one of the most effective ways to fulfil these
functions can be appropriate using of the expressive means and stylistic devices.
In the next sections, we will discuss those linguistic levels which seem to be the
most important and stylistically significant from our point of view.
2.2 Notes on the particular analysis
The analysis included in this thesis deals with a detailed description of English
and Slovak newspaper headlines. They are separately described from morphological
and lexical points of view and after these individual analyses, the most similar or, on
the other hand, different features are compared. The main reasons for these
separate analyses are natural differences between particular characters of
morphology and lexicology of English and Slovak language. On the other hand,
syntactical and extra-linguistic features are compared in one section as it is way that
is more demonstrative and the differences in those fields are not so significant and
thus they can be compared more unequivocally than morphological or lexical
features.
The corpus of our research consists of fifty English and fifty Slovak newspaper
headlines which were published in the printed form of ‘quality press’ The Times and
SME. The dates of the publications were chosen by coincidence. Choosing of the
particular newspapers was based on the recent public opinion surveys according to
which The Times and SME are the most popular and widely read daily press.
Moreover, both these newspapers have a strong tradition in both countries and thus
they are really considered to be the trustworthy sources of information.
All the articles titled with the headlines of our corpus deal with world news as it is
supposed to be one of the most reliable fields from the point of comparison, it means
that considerable number of articles might discuss the same topics and events.
2.3 Morphological level of newspaper headlines
In this section, we will discuss those morphological means which are the most
characteristic for the style of newspaper headlines. Naturally, all these means take
the main functions of the headlines for their starting point.
2.3.1 Parts of speech in Slovak newspaper headlines
Parts of speech can be characterised as the lexico-grammatical word classes and
their occurrence can be even stylistically significant for particular style (Mistrík, 1988,
p.102, translated by author).
The density of the individual and the most frequent parts of speech occurring in
the Slovak headlines is shown in the following figure:
Figure 1: Density of Slovak parts of speech
As we can see in the graph, the most numerous group of parts of speech in
Slovak headlines is a group of nouns. Nouns represent almost one half of all words
contained in the headlines. It is important to mention that most of them are proper
nouns (approximately 37%) denoting names of persons, countries, cities, institutions
etc.: Putin, New Orleans, Urbi et Orbi, al-Káida, Christian Wulff, Turecko, Vianoce
etc. In term of grammatical category of number, most of the nouns have a form of
singular.
Although the adjectives are very often used in the publicistic and newspaper
styles their occurrence in the headlines is not so frequent. The only reason for this
reduction of adjectives can be the economical one. As the headlines should be as
short as possible, the author has to choose only those parts of speech which seem to
be really unavoidable and the most informative in their character. Though the
adjectives make the text more impressive, they must be sometimes avoided in the
case of Slovak headlines. Thus, only those adjectives which carry some important
20%
10%
45%
21%
4%
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Numerals
Others
information or are the obvious parts of set expressions, are used, for example:
nacistický lekár, vtáčia chrípka, americký vojak, rakúske stanice, dopravný
kolaps, varovný systém, bulharské sestričky, oranžová nákaza etc.
As the main task of the newspapers is to acquaint the readers with the events
which happened in the past and “the grammatical category of tense reflects the
relationship between the action expressed with the verb and the time of performance”
(Ondruš, Sabol, 1981, p.177, translated by author), it is natural in Slovak language
that most of the verbs used in the newspaper headlines have the form of past tense.
Another common phenomenon is the use of the present tense. Sometimes, also
future forms are used but it is hard to find the passive constructions which are very
rare in the headlines writing. The occurrence of the grammatical tenses used in the
Slovak headlines can be figured in the following table:
Table2: Grammatical category of tense in Slovak newspaper headlines
Tense Percentage Examples
Past
56,45 % Jed dorazil do Chabarovska
Odsúdili tureckých novinárov
Zomrel nacistický lekár Heinrich Gross
Present
35,48 % Na rakúskych staniciach platí zákaz fajčenia
V Čečensku sa rýchlo šíri záhadná epidémia
Britskí konzervatívci hľadajú lídra
Future
8,06 % Líbya bude znovu súdi ť bulharské sestričky
O vstupe budú komplikovane rokova ť ešte najmenej
desaťrokov
Kim Čong-il má predstavi ť nástupcu
In some cases, present and past tenses are used in one headline to put two
phenomena in opposition; as an illustration, the following examples can be pointed
out:
Orbán obchádza krajinu, Gyurcsány začal rozdávať
Pre moslimov sa začal mesiac ramadán, al-Káida sa vyhráža
Not very numerous but quite interesting is a group of numerals. Although they
occur with four-percentage density, their role in newspaper headlines is very
significant, especially comparing with the English equivalents. Most of the numerals
used in Slovak headlines are written as words, for example:
Státisíce ľudí ešte stále žije v stanoch
Gotovina dostal stotisíc pohľadníc
O vstupe budú komplikovane rokovať ešte najmenej desať rokov
The numeral character is mostly used when dates are expressed:
Proces prerušili do 24.januára
Chorváti by chceli byť v únii v roku 2009
The last group which is named ‘others’ in figure1 includes those parts of speech
that are not so significant and numerous, most of them have only an organisation
function in the unit, these are adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns and
particles. On the other hand, it is important to mention that adverbs and particles also
fulfil some stylistic functions; they make the text more coherent, subjective and
impressive.
2.3.2 Parts of speech in English newspaper headline s
Similarly as in the previous section, occurrence of English parts of speech can be
figured as follows:
Figure 2: Density of English parts of speech
According to this graphic presentation, the most numerous group of parts of
speech is a group of nouns as it was in the case of Slovak headlines. Approximately
20% of them are proper nouns, for example: Kofi Annan, The Times, UN, Beslam,
Pinochet, the Vatican, Japan, Sharon, Villepin, Lennon, Turkey, Perón, Bush etc.
Generally, concrete nouns are used more often but we can even find some abstract
nouns, as for example: euphoria, slog, impression, quality, life, response etc.
Approximately 23% of all the nouns have the form of plural, for example: supporters,
paedophiles, girls, years etc. Very significant is the group of compound nouns which
are generally more frequent and popular in style of newspaper headlines than in
other registers as they are able to condense the text effectively, for example: fair
play, checkpoints, footprints, cheesemakers, gunmen, showjumper, waterway etc.
Another group of parts of speech is the group of adjectives. They are used with 15
per cent density and some of them function only as adjectives, for example:
conservative supporters, hard slog, toxic spill, foreign students, free soup etc.
However, there is a huge number of adjectives which have the form of present
participle, for example: building plans, lasting impression etc. or past participle, for
33%
15%15%4%
4%
29%Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Numerals
Articles
Others
example: held hostage, unanswered questions, unborn girls etc. Almost all of them
have the predicative use as it is shown in the previous examples. The occurrence of
compound adjectives is quite frequent. Some of them are fixed in dictionaries, for
example: long-awaited talks etc. but some of them not and they are clearly
recognizable only after knowing some background of the news item, for example: oil-
for-Food questions, double-jawed trout etc. Due to this phenomenon, headlines are
a typical environment for new coinages.
Approximately with the same percentage (15%) as adjectives, verbs occur in
English newspaper headlines. We will mainly concentrate on the category of tense as
it is the most significant feature of headlines from the point of view of morphology.
“Among the morphological expressive means the use of the present indefinite instead
of the past indefinite is stylistically marked. This has already been acknowledged as
a stylistic mean and is named the Historical Present. In describing past event the
author uses the present tense” (Miššíková, 2003, p.29).
Historical Present is used with approximately 40 per cent density in our corpus of
English headlines. The main reason for this frequent and typical usage in English
press is its ability to make the text more topical and thus more attractive for readers.
Through this mean the topicality of events which happened in past is strongly
emphasized. Generally, the reader who is not familiar with this use of Historical
Present can decipher it only after reading the article and understanding its content
and meaning. For instance, in the article with the headline Nation rejoices at long-
awaited talks we do not know without reading the whole article whether the action is
held in present, or it is some scheduled action in future. However, if we take into
account a part of the article in which the following sentence is pointed out: “...Turks
celebrated yesterday the start of their accession talks with the EU” (The Times,
October 5 2005, p.39), it is clear that this article discusses the event which was held
in past. Similarly, the meaning of the title Gas attack on shops puts 66 in hospital is
more obvious after learning the fact that: “SIXTY-SIX people were taken to hospital
yesterday after inhaling a foul-smelling gas in St Petersburg”(The Times, December
27 2005, p.31).
Present Simple tense is used only to express direct speech as for example:
‘Let me prove I’m Perón daughter‘
I‘m still one of you, Bush tells angry conservative supporters
In the second example, the first part indicates the actual words of President Bush
which were told by him in past and thus Present Simple is used to express his words.
However, the verb ‘tell’ in the second part of this sentence has a form of Historical
Present as it refers to the past.
Futurity is not very frequent phenomenon (15, 7%) and it is usually expressed by
means of Present Simple or Present Continuous, for example: Simmering
exaspiration is beginning to boil over and thus, future character of verb can be more
obvious from context of the article or it is indicated by some adverbials of time, for
example:
Second toxic spill in two months poisons waterway
The most usual and frequent way of expressing futurity is using of to-infinitive in
English headlines, for example:
Killer to hang
Therapy and drugs to stop paedophiles committing sex offences
Future Present Simple is found only in one instance, for example: Villepin will find he
can’t have it both ways.
A significant number (approximately 25, 5%) of English headlines do not contain
any finite verb. In our corpus, most of such headlines introduce short articles
containing maximum three sentences. These are some examples of such nominal
constructions:
Massacre report
Trial for Pinochet
The unanswered questions
200 held hostage
Numerals create a four per cent group of parts of speech and one half of them are
written as words and the second half is realized by numerical symbols, for example:
Second toxic spill in two months poisons waterway
Today’s Joseph and Mary would face 15 checkpoints
The usage of cardinal numerals is more frequent and ordinals are used very rarely (in
only one instance): First Catholic for the Vatican.
As numerals usually denote some price or value, in English press the symbols of
currency are very common, for example:
Town celebrates €510m windfall
Missed lunch costs $172m
Articles represent approximately 4 percents of all words used to create English
headlines in our corpus. The ratio of definite and indefinite articles is 2:10; it means
there is a major part of definite articles. On the contrary, we researched density of
articles in random chosen text classified as a piece of scientific prose style contained
of the same number of words. In this text, articles occur with approximately 9 per cent
density and this comparison can indicate the fact that occurrence of articles in
headlines writing is less frequent than it is in the case of other styles, especially
scientific prose style; it means that articles are very often omitted.
Parts of speech that are included in the group named ‘others’ in figure2 are not so
significant and as it was mentioned in the case of Slovak parts of speech, their main
function is to organise the unit, these are: conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs,
pronouns and particles.
Another morphologically significant feature found in English newspaper headlines
is the specific usage of possessive case. Due to the economical reasons, genitive
forms are often omitted, for example: ‘Let me prove I’m Perón daughter ’.
2.3.3 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper he adlines from the
morphological point of view
One of the main significant differences between English and Slovak newspaper
headlines is the number of nouns. As we can see in the previous figures, Slovak
headlines contain considerably higher number of nouns. Although proper nouns are
the most dominating in both languages, they are more frequent in Slovak headlines
and thus they are significantly more nominal in their character.
According to our research, there is also slightly higher number of verbs in Slovak
headlines than there is in English ones. However, this predominance does not
express that English headlines are less dynamic. Moreover, it is only the result of
very frequent omission of finite verbs and auxiliaries and the use of passive forms in
English headlines.
On the other hand, English headlines dispose of higher number of adjectives and
thus they seem to be more expressive. However, all the adjectives have very
objective character and they are restricted to their informative function, it means that
they do not tend to express author’s subjective attitudes or impressions. Some of the
English adjectives have specific compound forms which is generally not common in
Slovak language.
Although, percentage of the use of numerals is the same in both Slovak and
English headlines, there is some significant difference between them. While the ratio
of numerals written in words and symbols in English headlines is 1:1, Slovak
numerals are mostly written in words and the ratio is 5:3. Furthermore, as was
mentioned above, English numerals are very often used to express value and thus
the symbols of currency are quite common, for example:
Missed lunch costs $172m
Town celebrates €510m windfall
However in Slovak language, wordy expressions are used instead of the symbols of
currency and thus we can usually find the expressions like: milión dolárov , tisíc eur ,
1, 5 milióna korún etc.
Another significant morphological feature of style of English newspaper headlines
is the use of articles. As noted earlier, there is a strong reduction of articles used in
English headlines writing. “Articles are usually omitted and they are maintained only
in those cases where they have referential function” (Knittlová, 1990, p.67, translated
by the author) or when the article is a part of some set expression or name, for
example:
After the euphoria, Turkey prepares for the hard slog.
In the article titled with this headline, author reacts to the euphoria of agreeing to start
talks about EU entry of Turkey and consecutive negotiations of EU leaders who ask
Turkey for great struggle to fully implement the harmonization laws.
Kofi Annan takes on The Times
It is clear that definite article ‘the’ is a component of the proper noun denoting the
name of newspaper.
First Catholic for the Vatican
Although this is a name of place, it is usually used with definite article.
Morphological expressive means the equivalent of which is not found in Slovak
language and the use of which is very specific even in English language is the
expressing of past by means of Historical Present. Generally, it is the most
dominating tense in English headlines. Due to this phenomenon, English and Slovak
headlines are hardly comparable from the point of view of tense. However, according
to its density and its semantic function in English headlines, past tense of Slovak
titles can be roughly seen as its equivalent although it is not so significant from
stylistic point of view. Historical Present is one of the main expressive means
emphasizing the topicality of the text and thus it causes strong effect on the receivers
of English headlines.
2.4 Lexical level of newspaper headlines
Language of newspaper headlines can be generally viewed as the written form of
language which is devoted to the public. Because of this fact, its vocabulary is
characterised by a significant range of lexical means that are often stylistically
unbalanced as it comes from different stylistic layers (Urbanová, Oakland, 2002,
p.36, translated by author).
Because newspaper headlines mostly share the features of objective styles, the
major part of used words and expressions belong to the standard and neutral
vocabulary of language. Although the occurrence of non-standard vocabulary is very
rare, it is not absolutely excluded. Sometimes even slang, familiar or dialect
expressions are used as they can make the text more expressive and genuine.
However, according to Urbanová and Oakland they are usually put in inverted
commas to denote that they are somehow ‘borrowed’.
If we consider the above researched frequency of usage of particular parts of
speech and the primary function of headlines which is to bring information, we can
generally declare that a group of nominal lexis is the most dominating group of
newspaper headlines from the lexical point of view. This group involves “lexis
denoting persons, animals, objects, materials, etc” (Miššíková, 2003, p.53). Although
it is significantly numerous group, it is usually stylistically unmarked and thus it is not
so interesting from the stylistic point of view. For example:
English nominal lexis: Turkey, Taleban, Bush, Nobel honour, The Times etc.
Slovak nominal lexis: Pakistan, Prezident Kaczyński, New York, iPod, Test DNA
etc.
On the other hand, qualifying lexis which “are mainly adjectives, adverbs and
numerals” (Miššíková, 2003, p.53) belong to the slightly less numerous group in our
corpus but they have a tendency to make the text more interesting and significant.
Those lexical expressive means which are able to bring the expressiveness to the
text are intentionally chosen by authors and their main task is to catch the readers’
attention or sometimes even persuade the readers. Thus, they are commonly used to
enrich the language of media. According to the psychologist L.V.Shcherba: “a
stylistically colored word is like a drop of paint added to a glass of pure water and
coloring the whole of
it”(http://ijl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/issue_pdf/frontmatter_pdf/8/4.pdf).
2.4.1 Lexical level of Slovak newspaper headlines
As the Slovak headlines of our corpus discuss the world news, the most
significant lexical feature is their notional character which is partially the result of
frequent usage of proper nouns. It mainly depends on the author’s effort to present
as much information as possible and thus we can find several proper nouns in one
sentence, as for example the title: Blair a Rumsfeld v Iraku . In those cases, the lexis
which would make the text more subjective and thus stylistically more expressive is
often omitted and these nominal titles seem too informative to the readers.
It is important to mention that all the observed headlines introduce the articles
reacting to the actual world news and thus the names of some main protagonists are
already notoriously known in society. Due to this fact, most of them are even used in
the informal way, it means that the first name and the social status of persons are
often omitted, e.g.: Šaron ide na operáciu and they are only mentioned in the context
of the article, e.g.: “Izraelský premiér Ariel Šaron sa má do troch týždňov podrobiť
angioplastike...“ (SME, December 27, 2005). On the other hand, if the name is not so
famous or it is non-essential from the informative point of view, authors tend to point
out only the status of the person, e.g.: Japonský minister : Čína je vojenská hrozba
and the name is noted in the article or as in the case of this headline it is put down
under the demonstrative picture. Full name along with the expression of his or her
status or occupation is usually mentioned in those cases when the person is the main
subject of the article, e.g.: Zomrel nacistický lekár Heinrich Gross or it is noted in the
subtitle which usually specifies the words used in the main headline in more detail.
As a result of strong influence of other languages, new words have penetrated
into Slovak language. However, some of them are so frequently used that they are
already fairly adopted among people and common reader could hardly recognise
their foreign origin. These words are also very often used and create quite numerous
groups of words, for example: šou, agent, teror/teroristi, prezident, signál,
humanitárne organizácie, epidémia, radikáli, kolaps, systém, šéf, policajt, operácia,
sirény, turisti etc. Special subgroup of foreign words involves those expressions and
words which had to be adopted to Slovak language due to the actual and sometimes
unexpected events in society. Some of them are written in their original spelling, e.g.:
Urbi et Orbi while some of them were already given Slovak spelling, e.g.: cunami, al-
Káida etc.
Some words belong to the “stylistically significant group of words which are very
often used in socio-political spheres of life” (Findra, 2004, translated by author) and
these words are known in Slovak stylistics as ‘publicisms’, it means they are used
especially in publicistic and newspaper writing. Majority of ‘publicisms’ are words of
foreign origin, e.g.: proces, opozícia, priorita, únia, líder, republikán, demokrati,
minister, teror, radikáli etc.
Terms as a subgroup of special literary words denoting objects, processes,
phenomena of science, humanities, and technique are not very often used in our
corpus and only two instances were found: iPod, Urbi et Orbi.
As the number of words used in Slovak newspaper headlines is limited,
sometimes the process of ‘univerbalisation’ can be found. The main idea of this word-
forming process is to “reduce a noun phrase into a single word expression”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.53) and as the result of this change, formal expressions are
made more informal. In our corpus of Slovak headlines, we can find the following
examples of ‘univerbalisation’:
Podľa domácich to bola šou pre turistov
Britskí konzervatívci hľadajú lídra
In the first headline, single word expression ‘domáci’ serves for the noun phrase
‘domáci obyvatelia’.Although, the word ‘konzervatívci’in the second example is
commonly used in present-day Slovak language, it is univerbalised form standing for
the expression ‘konzervatívni politici’.
Since “everyday speech often provides many examples of metaphoric
expressions” (Miššíková, 2003, p.40), metaphor as a lexical expressive means
arising from the interplay between dictionary and contextual meanings of words is a
very rewarding means of language used to enrich headlines. Most of the metaphors
used in Slovak headlines are considered to be trite or dead, it means
that “they are highly predictable and their (metaphoric) motivation is apparent”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.40), for example:
Ďalšie obete vtá čej chrípky
Od ničivého úderu cunami prešiel už jeden rok
Pápež: Nestaňte sa obeťou svojho rozumu
Plynový útok v Petrohrade nebol dielom teroristov
Very often used type of metaphor ascribing human features to non-living things is
personification, for example:
Od ničivého úderu cunami prešiel už jeden rok
Jed dorazil do Chabarovska
Do Betlehema sa vrátili Vianoce
However, sometimes even absolutely unexpected and unpredictable metaphors
created by author are used and the titles containing those expressions are very
impressive although a little bit ‘impenetrable’. Moreover, sometimes they can sound
more subjective than the ‘time worn metaphors’ and they might carry an ironic
connotation, for example:
Rusi prijali zákon proti oranžovej nákaze
Z kórejského Pána klonov sa stal Majster výhovorka
The article titled with the first headline deals with the passing of bill which would be
able to close out the appeal of non-governmental institutions supporting the
burdensome critics of regime as it was in the case of revolution in Ukraine the symbol
of which was orange colour. Thus, ‘oranžová nákaza’ symbolizes the possible danger
of similar redoubtable revolutions in Russia. The second headline contains two
metaphoric expressions with slight ironic connotations. By using the title ‘Pán klonov’
author denotes Korean scientist Hwang Wu-suk who was considered to invent
breakthrough in the search for a cure for diabetes and Parkinson’s disease by
cloning of human cells. Although, the results of his research were proved to be
rigged and fictitious, Mr. Hwang is still trying to defend himself and to find new
reasons for his excuses and thus the author of the headline labels him as ‘Majster
výhovorka’.
From the pragmatic point of view, authors of newspaper headlines sometimes
have to create new words to denote the phenomena discussed in the news items.
For example, the article titled Putin by mohol viesť Ruskostan, deals with
hypothetical idea to create a new land which would come into existence by affiliation
of Kazakhstan to Russia. Thus the word ‘Ruskostan’ is a result of process of blending
due to which two different elements: Rusko + Kazachstan are fused together.
Abbreviations are used very rarely in Slovak newspaper headlines. Most of them
are commonly used and familiar for public, for example: DNA to denote
deoxyribonucleic acid or CDU which is an abbreviated form of Christian-democratic
Party in German.
As was already mentioned, major part of numerals is written in words. Some of
the numerals written in numbers are expressed with Roman numerals, especially
when they are parts of proper nouns and they pre-modify or post-modify them.
Roman numerals are quite often used in Slovak written styles and they have always
the forms of ordinals, for example:
Benedikt XVI. Má za sebou vianočnú premiéru
Kaczyński chce odštartovať IV. Poľskú republiku
According to Mistrík, prefixation is mainly used to form verbs in Slovak language
(Mistrík, 1998, p.152, translated by author). Verbs containing prefixes are also often
used in the headlines of our corpus. In the following lines we will point out some
examples in their infinitive forms: okrádať, ponižovať, vymýšľať, obviniť, zabiť,
vymierať, predĺžiť, nastúpiť, posvätiť, odsúdiť, odštartovať, zažiť, zadržať,
po rozumieť, rozdávať etc. However, there are some instances of prefixed nouns, for
example: zabitie, nástupca etc. and also adjectives, for example: proti ústavné. All of
the noted prefixes are of native origin, although foreign prefixes are quite often used
in modern Slovak language (ex-, de-, ante etc.) but they do not occur in our corpus.
To intensify some features of the concept, authors sometimes use a device called
simile. This device makes the text more expressive and sometimes it tends to bring a
kind of subjective evaluation. In the article describing an event during which the new
Polish president is going to take a presidential vow, the magnificent character which
is slightly criticised in the article is expressed by using simile in the headline:
Prezident Kaczyński nastupuje ako krá ľ
As the possibility to use expressive means and stylistic devices in newspaper
headlines is limited by the space which is on their disposal, enumeration or repetition
is very rarely used. However, there is a possibility for authors to expand a content of
main headline by these means especially in subtitles which are quite often used in
the Slovak press. As the main headline Saddám: Biely dom, to sú klamári is very
austere and not very informative, an author uses the subtitle to bring considerably
more information. Moreover, the subtitle gives an opportunity to express the content
of the article in more detail and thus enumeration as a lexical expressive means
causing an effect of graduation can be used: Tvrdí, že Američania ho mučili,
okrádali a ponižovali.
To make the headlines more authentic and dynamic, the real words which are
further mentioned in the article are used. However, direct speech noted in the main
headline is always followed by the subtitle in which an author and the situation or
event during which the words were published is specified. For example, article
interviewing German politician Christian Wulff is titled with his words mentioned
during the interview: Netrafili sme do prázdnej bránky. Although, it sounds impressive,
there is a significant lack of information. On this account, more informative and
describing subtitle is followed: Hovorí premiér Dolného Saska a vplyvný muž
kresťanských demokratov (CDU) Christian Wulff. Moreover, in this headline we can
find another stylistically significant phenomenon and this is allegorical expression:
Netrafili sme do prázdnej bránky as it is used to express the failure of Christian-
democratic Party of Germany lead by Christian Wulff in the last elections. In the
interview, the politician compares it to a sport match during which the chance of
scoring is defeated.
2.4.2 Lexical level of English newspaper headlines
One of the most stylistically significant groups of words used in English language
is a group of compounds. In our corpus of English headlines, they can be found
among nouns and adjectives however compound nouns are more frequent. In the
following lines, some examples of compounds found in English headlines of our
corpus are pointed out:
Nouns: windfall, showjumper, build-up, waterway, checkpoints, footprints,
cheesemakers, gunmen, flea market
Adjectives: oil-for-food, double-jawed, wind-up, long-awaited, transatlantic,
skinhead
However, it is necessary to distinguish between compounds and syntactic groups.
“Syntactic group is analysable as the additive sum of its elements. It is an informal
meeting, never a union of the constituents”
(http://ijl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/issue_pdf/frontmatter_pdf/8/4.pdf). For example: gas
attack, toxic spill, bomb plot, heart defect, Lennon memorial etc.
Another common way of enriching vocabulary of English language is the process
of affixation which modifies meanings of words. This process involves two generally
known ways of forming words: suffixation (adding to the root of words) and prefixation
(placed in front of the root of words). In the following table we concentrate on the use
of suffixes which are characteristic of the individual parts of speech and all of them
occur in the English headlines of our corpus:
Table 3: Suffixes characteristic of the individual parts of speech
- er supporter, shopper, cheesmaker,
murder, showjumper, prankster, rider,
racer, killer
- ism criticism
- or collaborator
- ion question , generation , exasperation
- ity quality , minority
Nouns
- age hostage
- ing lasting , simmering , building , voting Adjectives
- ive conservative
As we can see in the table, there are no suffixed verbs. One of the reasons for this
lack can be generally lower number of verbs used in headlines and quite often use of
nominal constructions instead of sentences containing verbs. This economic reason
is also reflected in very rare occurrence of adverbs as no suffixed forms of adverbs
were found in the corpus.
Among prefixes the following examples can be found: unanswered, unborn,
impression etc.
Generally, historical development of English language is the most influenced by
Latin and Old French and thus huge amount of words of Standard English vocabulary
originate in these languages. For example:
Latin origin → collaborator, offence, generation etc.
Greek origin → toxic, euphoria etc.
Especially in English language, the process which is called conversion is quite
often used. This may be called derivation without a derivative morpheme (zero
derivation) or some linguists call it ‘functional change’. It means functioning of the
same word as a noun, an adjective or a verb, largely according to the place it
occupies within a sentence. Prof. Trnka called conversion a process which has
developed in English to a degree largely unknown in other languages and has
enriched the language by a great number of concrete, vivid expressions
(www.kaj.zcu.cz/cjkp/materialy/LA-Lexicology.doc). Generally, it is very often
phenomenon occurring in all spheres of English language. In the headlines, the
following instances of conversion are found:
verbs → nouns Second toxic spill in two months poisons waterway
Nation rejoices at long-awaited talks
UN calls for fair play in constitution vote
adjectives → nouns Battle Royal over castle’s flea market for the rich
nouns → adjectives Hurricane deaths
Skinhead racist murders spark protests from foreign
students
prepositions → adjectives Off the beer
Although, shortening or clipping are generally considered to be stylistically
significant phenomena used in English newspaper headlines, their occurrence is not
so frequent in our corpus. However, there is one example of word which was formed
by replacing a long word science fiction by its first stressed syllables and thus the
word sci-fi is commonly used, especially as its informal equivalent. Abbreviations
which are pronounced as words are another example of the phenomenon of
shortening, for example:
Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered...
(the abbreviation for the United Nations)
Court to rule on plea for former President to be exhumed for DNA testing (standing
for deoxyribonucleic acid)
Moreover, English headlines very often use the symbols and short forms for
expressing amount of money. The most frequent is the usage of letter ‘m’ standing
for the numeral ‘million’, for example:
Town celebrates €510m windfall
Missed lunch costs $172m
As the researched headlines deal with the world news, the most discussed topic is
political situation and interesting events held all over the world. Due to this
specification, quite significant group of vocabulary consists of terms and expressions
commonly used in the field of international politics and the spheres of life which are
closed to it, for example: military secrecy, Terror Bill, protest, trial, constitution vote,
minority, death sentence, massacre report, conservative supporters, former President,
plea etc.
Due to the fact that newspapers are ‘written form of language’ denoted to public,
standard vocabulary is the most frequent. However, sometimes it is enriched and
diversified by using words of informal language, for example: slog, Royal (denoting a
member of the royal family), breed (denoting a type of person) etc. On the other hand,
some very formal words are used, for example: exhumed, rejoice etc.
One of the ways which make the titles shorter from the lexical point of view is
omission of some components. However, these components are usually words the
omission of which does not influence the intelligibility of the sentence. Moreover,
these components are always specified in the news item. To demonstrate this
phenomenon we can point out the following headline: Three share Nobel honour
which does not say directly who or what share Nobel honour but author has probably
taken for granted that the context is clear even without any noting of more information.
Naturally, he or she completes all the omitted facts in the article using the following
words: “John Hall, 71, and Roy Glauber, 80, of the US and Theodor Hänsch, 63, of
Germany have won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics…” (The Times, October 5
2005).
Slight informal character of headlines language is also achieved with the used
contracted forms which are very common in informal speech, for example:
Villepin will find he can’t have it both ways
‘Let me prove I’m Perón daughter’
Another significant and quite common phenomenon is the usage of phrasal verbs,
for example:
Kofi Annan takes on The Times
UN calls for fair play in constitution vote
Simmering exasperation is beginning to boil over
Usually, authors of newspaper headlines tend to use as many impressive and
stylistically marked words as possible. Their intention and aim is very simple – to
catch the readers’ attention and make the article worth reading. Thus, they often
choose words and expressions which exaggerate the content of the article. The
exaggeration the main task of which is “to intensify one of the features of the object”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.49) is called hyperbole. In newspaper headlines, the hyperbolic
character of language is mostly realized by words and expressions carrying the
exaggerative connotations. For example:
After the euphoria , Turkey prepares for the hard slog
The word ‘euphoria’ is used to express extreme happiness sometimes more than is
reasonable, it means that author wants to highlight the atmosphere and joyfulness of
the time after starting talks about EU entry of Turkey and on the contrary there is
used a word ‘slog’ which stands for “a great struggle to fully implement the
harmonisation laws” (The Times, October 5 2005, p.39). Similarly, in the title: Military
secrecy alarms Japan the verb ‘alarm’ can be replaced by more neutral verbs ‘warn’
or ‘caution’ to express its meaning which is “to make people aware of the danger of
something” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2003, p.28). However, the
verb ‘alarm’ sounds more dramatic and thus it is more suitable to use it in this context.
Another lexical means used to enrich the text is based on the interaction of
dictionary and contextual meanings. These are the metaphoric expressions which are
“based on the affinity or similarity of certain properties or features of the two
corresponding concepts” (Miššíková, 2003, p.40). Although, the primary meaning of
verb ‘spark’ fixed in dictionaries is “to emit sparks of fire or electricity” (The New
Oxford Dictionary of English, 2001, p.1784), it is used in its figurative meaning which
is to cause the start of something in the following headlines:
Radio prankster’s joke call sparks transatlantic dispute
Skinhead racist murders spark protests from foreign students
Quite frequent usage of this figurative meaning of verb ‘spark’ can even suggest the
character of newspaper cliché. Similar and even metaphorically more significant is
the use of the word ‘hurdle’ in the following example:
Showjumper lowers the hurdles for a generation of black riders
Although the word ‘hurdle’ is known according to dictionaries as “a frame or fence for
jumping over in a race” (Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2003, p.616), it is
metaphorically used in this context to denote imaginary hurdles in racial prejudices
among people. However, especially foreign readers who do not have enough
language intuition can decipher this metaphoric meaning only after reading the article
which deals with the success of South Africa’s first black showjumper who proved the
fact that this sport is exclusive territory of white people.
Some English headlines are full of metaphors, for example: Wind-up handle
opens window on world . As the expression ‘window on world’ is very often used in
common speech, it is classified as dead or trite metaphor and due to its frequent
usage it is already fixed in dictionaries to denote “a means of observing and learning
about” (The New Oxford Dictionary of English, 2001, p.2115). Moreover, in the
above mentioned title there is used one more kind of metaphor based on ascribing a
human ability to non-living object and thus the phrase handle opens can be viewed
as personification.
The article discussing the rising frustration with American President is also titled
with the metaphorical expression the intention of which is to dramatize the real
situation. The annoyance of Bush’s critics is labeled as simmering exasperation and
the possible danger which it might cause is compared to boiling liquid which can be
soon boiled over: Simmering exasperation is beginning to boil over.
Another phenomenon which is able to enrich lexical character of English
headlines is the usage of proverbs which make the language of headlines more
interesting and familiar, for example: Villepin will find he can’t have it both ways.
2.4.3 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper he adlines from the
lexical point of view
Comparing all the mentioned lexical features of Slovak and English headlines, we
can find several differences in the vocabulary used. Some of them depend on the
natural character of both languages.
One of those differences is the frequent occurrence of compound nouns which is
generally significant feature of English language while it is very rare in Slovak
language.
On the other hand, very often usage of lexis as nouns and proper nouns makes
the Slovak headlines more nominal in their character.
As English is said to be the most widespread world language, it naturally
influences Slovak vocabulary. This influence has been expanded especially during
the period after the revolution in 1989, after which the usage of words originated in
English has started to be very popular. Due to their frequency in language of
common people, some of those words are already adopted and used in the language
of press, for example: šou, líder etc.
The influence of words and terms of Greek and Latin origin is significant in both
languages; however it is more characteristic for the English because of its historical
development.
One of the primary differences between Slovak and English newspaper headlines
is the number of contained words. Generally, Slovak headlines used in our corpus
consist of 419 words while English headlines consist of only 339 words. These
numbers also involve the subtitles which are quite long and more descriptive
especially in Slovak newspapers. Different character of sub-titles is mainly caused by
the lack of means of Slovak language to shorten the words. On the other hand,
English disposes of wide range of abbreviations and symbols due to which the
authors are able to solve the problem of space limitation more effectively. Moreover,
authors of English newspaper headlines often tend to use the shorter equivalents of
words (especially verbs) which are known as a group of ‘headline vocabulary’. This
group involves short monosyllabic words with the universal and polysemantic
character, for example: ban, bit, claim, crack, crash, cut, dash, hit, move, pact, plea,
probe, quit, rap, slash etc. (Knittlová, 1990, p.67). In our corpus we can find these
examples of monosyllabic words: call, flea, pay, plot, slog, spark etc.
What is more, one of the advantages of English language to create short pieces of
information is the ability of prepositions or phrases which have their own semantic
meaning. Although the title Off the beer is very short it effectively brings all the
important information in a very eloquent and economical way as the adverb ‘off’ can
carry the same meaning as the longer expression ‘no longer served’.
Although some abbreviations which were mentioned in the section dealing with
Slovak lexicology are used, the symbols of currency are almost excluded in Slovak
newspapers. From time to time, in Slovak headlines we can find some instances of
shortened words, e.g.: ‘Ruskostan’ which are caused by the process which is known
as ‘blending’ in English.
Comparing the metaphoric character of Slovak and English headlines, we can
declare that Slovak headlines are a little bit poorer in the occurrence of metaphors
and the most frequent kind of metaphoric expressions is personification. This lack
mainly depends on the limited space of titles and the tendency of journalists to bring
as much information as possible through these short pieces of text. Thus, they prefer
to use more informative and matter-of-fact titles. On the contrary, English authors of
headlines often try to make the text more expressive and attention-catching even by
using of phonetic expressive means which may sound rhythmical, for example: Sci-fi
to sky high or they use the means of alliteration or pun.
Some metaphoric expressions have already got the status of cliché due to their
frequent usage. This phenomenon is extremely popular in press and even in style of
newspaper headlines of both languages. These are some examples found in our
corpus:
Radio prankster’s joke call sparks transatlantic dispute
Od ničivého úderu cunami prešiel už jeden rok
2.5 Syntactic level of English and Slovak newspape r headlines
In this section we will deal with syntactical features of English and Slovak
newspaper headlines. Firstly, we can analyze them statistically; it means we will
concentrate on the length of sentences, number of words, types of sentences etc.
and secondly some syntactic expressive means will be discussed.
The first syntactical phenomenon which should be mentioned here is the number
of words and clauses contained in fifty English and fifty Slovak main headlines. From
this point of view, Slovak main headlines of our corpus consist of almost the same
number of words as English titles. Some of the main statistic particulars are
described in the following table.
Table 4: Number of words and sentences in English and Slovak newspaper
headlines
English Slovak
Total number of words 283 291
Average number of words in one
title
5,66 5,82
Total number of sentences 50 53
Scope of words in one title 2-14 2-12
It is worth noticing that length of sentence is one of the “features characterizing
particular style”(Mistrík, 1988, p.246, translated by author). According to Mistrík,
“titles have the forms of very short sentences as they only inform about the topic of a
particular idea and they do not analyze it” (Mistrík, 1988, p.246, translated by author).
It is evident from the previous table that no English title consists of more than one
sentence. On the other hand, some Slovak headlines include more sentences but at
most two sentences were found. Connection of one sentence formed as a question
followed by declarative sentence is the most common, for example:
Plechové domy? Tak v tom my bývať veru nechceme
Turecko v únii? Zatiaľ vzdialený sen
However, we can also find two declarative sentences used in one title, for example:
Na plážach hučali sirény. Ako spomienka. All these titles sound more dramatic and
the combination of more sentences of even different types posses strong emphatic
impact. On the other hand, English headlines exclusively consist of only one
sentence.
Analysing the number of words in more detail, we can declare that more than half
of the English and Slovak titles have the form of short sentences which do not consist
of more than six words. However, two-word sentences which are very frequent in
English headlines writing (18%) are very rare in Slovak press, except one found
instance: Japonsko vymiera.
Considering four major syntactic classes “whose use correlates with different
communicative functions” (Quirk, Greenbaum, 1973, p.191), we can declare that
most of the headlines, both English and Slovak, have the form of declarative
sentences. These “sentences expressing announcements are stylistically neutral,
unlike other types of sentences which are usually stylistically marked, expressive”
(Miššíková, 2003, p.60). In English titles there is found only one imperative sentence:
‘Let me prove I’m Perón daughter’ but there are not found any interrogative or
exclamatory sentences. Similarly, there is one imperative sentence used in Slovak
titles: Nestaňte sa obeťou svojho rozumu. It is quite interesting that all the examples
of imperative titles express direct speech and thus the possibility of authors’
subjective influence is avoided. Moreover, Slovak headlines include two instances of
interrogative sentences which are always used with the statements functioning as the
answers to these questions as was pointed out earlier.
As simple sentences are the most dominating types used in headlining of both
languages, we will deal with them in the first place. However, before analyzing simple
sentences it is important to mention that noun phrases which may be also called one-
member sentences are significant contributors to style of English headlines writing.
Main reason for their frequent usage (approximately 14%) is their economical
character. At the same time, they carry the most important information and thus they
are considered to be suitable means fulfilling the basic tasks of headlines. Usually
they consist of pre-modified noun, for example:
Beslan ruling
Lennon memorial
The unanswered questions
Noun phrases used to title the newspaper articles are separately used only in two
instances (approximately 4%) of Slovak headlines of our corpus. These headlines
usually consist of noun which is pre- and also pos-modified, for example:
Ďalšie obete vtáčej chrípky
Ďalšie obvinenie republikána DeLaya
Generally, noun phrases standing separately are less frequent in Slovak press than
in English newspapers. However, some of them are used in titles consisting of two
sentences, for example: Na plážach hučali sirény. Ako spomienka and sometimes
they function as the answer to the previous question or vice versa as the question
followed by the answer. One-member sentences used in such combinations make
the title very expressive and dynamic, for example:
Turecko v únii? Zatiaľ vzdialený sen
Plechové domy? Tak v tom my bývať veru nechceme
Noun phrases denoting the name or social status of the authors of ideas are usually
followed by colon and their occurrence is quite frequent in Slovak press, for example:
Pápež: Nestaňte sa obeťou svojho rozumu
Japonský minister: Čína je vojenská hrozba
All the mentioned noun phrases cause strong telegraphic effect which is quite
suitable for headlines writing because of its ‘space-saving’ character.
Due to the fact that “most of the endings of parts of speech were lost during the
historical development of English language, the relationships among the elements of
English sentence are mostly signalled by relatively fixed word order” (Urbanová,
Oakland, 2002, p.91, translated by author). The basic word order of English sentence
can be schematically presented as Subject-Verb-Object (S-V-O) and it is considered
to be unmarked or neutral. Neutral S-V-O word-order is quite often extended by
adding other clause elements, especially adverbials (A) or complements of subject
and object (Cs, Co).
On the other hand, Mistrík claims that Slovak is characterized as ‘flectional
language’ and thus the relationships and functions of words within a sentence are
signified by means of grammatical suffixes. Moreover, he compares Slovak and
English word-order and demonstrates the fact that although subject of English
sentence mostly precedes verb and object, it is not so obligatory in the case of
Slovak sentences (Mistrík, 1988, p.178, translated by author). Due to the fact that
Slovak word-order is more independent, there is a significantly higher number of
various types of word-order.
However, the most dominating type of word-order of both languages is already
mentioned S-V-O pattern which occurs in more than twenty percents of all simple
sentences of English and Slovak headlines, for example:
Kofi Annan takes on The Times
↓ ↓ ↓
S V O
Kim Čong-il má predstaviť nástupcu
↓ ↓ ↓
S V O
This pattern can be sometimes extended by using adverbials or one more object in
Slovak headlines, for example:
Taliansko obvinilo amerického vojaka za zabitie agenta
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
S V O A
Irán nechce dať svoje jadro Rusom
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
S V Od Oi
Although English adverbials are generally considered to be mobile elements
capable of occurring in more than one position in the clause; they usually tend to
come towards the end of a clause. “The stylistic point to be made is that when an
adverbial whose normal position is post-verbal is brought forward from this position,
and put anywhere near the beginning of the clause, then it fulfils a strongly emphatic
function” (Crystal, Davy, 1969, p.182), for example:
After the euphoria , Turkey prepares for the hard slog
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
AT S V O
This example can be viewed as ‘fronting’ from stylistic point of view. Simply said, it is
“syntactic shifting of elements, usually for highlighting or emphasis” (Miššíková, 2003,
p.63)
The unmarked S-V-O word-order can be changed by means of inversion. One of
the significant types of inversion is replacement of object in front of subject and verb.
This type of inversion is found in both languages but it is considered to be more
neutral in Slovak language, for example:
Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered...
↓ ↓ ↓
O S V
Tymošenkovú už Rusi nestíhajú
↓ ↓ ↓
O S V
Inversed V-S pattern is more common in Slovak headlines and it is not found in
English corpus, for example:
Zomrel nacistický lekár Heinrich Gross
↓ ↓
V S
Due to the significant flectional character of Slovak language, subject is omitted in
approximately eighteen percents of all the simple sentences. However, it is indicated
by the inflections of verbs and thus the agent of action could be represented by
personal pronouns which are usually covert, for example: V Pakistane zadržali
hovorcu Talibanu. In this example, the agent is not so important but theoretically it
could be substituted by personal pronoun ‘oni’. On the other hand, subject is
considered to be obligatory clause element in English language and thus it is not
omitted in any title of our corpus.
Because of space limitation, pre- or post-modifiers are considerably less frequent
in style of newspaper headlines than in other styles, e.g. prose style or even
publicistic style. Moreover, modifying elements tend to be as short as possible and
they usually carry only the most important and essential pieces of information.
Generally in both languages, pre-modifiers are more frequent than post-modifiers.
However the most significant difference is their length as English pre-modifiers are
considerably longer, for example: Radio prankster’s joke call sparks transatlantic
dispute than Slovak which hardly contain more than one element. This is natural
result of the different characters of both languages as long strings of nouns are more
common in English language. Although post-modifiers are not so often used, they are
usually longer, for example: Showjumper lowers the hurdles for a generation of
black riders and there is not so significant difference between English and Slovak
post-modifiers in their length. Moreover, in Slovak headlines we can notice modifiers
which occur in both pre- and post- position, for example: …zverejniť kompletné
zoznamy bývalých agentov tajnej služby je protiústavné.
Another typical phenomenon used in English headlines writing is the syntactic
expressive means known as ellipsis. According to Miššíková “elliptical constructions
are closely connected with the sitautedness of utterance” (Miššíková, 2003, p.61).
Moreover, these constructions are great contributors to headlining, as they are
capable of shortening the sentences. Naturally, only those elements which are not
essential can be left out, for example: Three share Nobel honour. Normally the
numeral ‘three’ followed by some noun would be expected but due to the contextual
consideration it can be omitted. There is no doubt that reader skimming this title will
easily recognize that Nobel honour can be only shared by a team of people acting in
science.
One of the most frequent types of ellipsis is realized by the omission of auxiliaries
in English style of newspaper headlines. However, they are considered to be
essential components from grammatical point of view, they can be omitted without
any influence on semantic structure of the sentence. Thus, we can notice the
following examples of omitted auxiliaries in English titles:
Chinese facing jail to protect unborn girls
↕
Chinese (are) facing jail to protect unborn girls
Colour as important as quality to new breed of Cape cheesemakers
↕
Colour (is) as important as quality to new breed of Cape cheesemaker
Especially in Slovak press, the headlines having the form of questions-in-the-
narrative are used from time to time. This phenomenon “changes the real nature of a
question and turns it into a stylistic device. A question in the narrative is asked and
answered by one and the same person” (Miššíková, 2003, p.76). For example:
Turecko v únii? Zatiaľ vzdialený sen
Plechové domy? Tak v tom my bývať veru nechceme
Complex sentences are generally very rarely used in headlines writing. Only few
of English titles have the form of complex sentences. Analysing their structural type,
all of them belong to the class of finite relative clauses and all the subordinate
clauses function as an object, for example:
Villepin will find he can’t have it both ways
↓ ↓ ↓
S V O
On the other hand, Slovak titles contain more complex sentences however most
of them are included in the subtitles. Similarly, almost all of them are finite relative
clauses functioning as an object, for example:
Test DNA ukáže, či Ameri čana nepopravili predsa len omylom
↓ ↓ ↓
S V O
Only one of the subordinate clauses functions as object complement, for example:
… bude to prvý signál, že Poľsko sa mení
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
V S O Co
Compound sentences do not occur in the English headlines of our corpus but they
sometimes used in Slovak one. The most frequent types of compound sentences are
copulative sentences. It means that one title actually consists of two sentences which
are put together by means of some conjunctions (a, i, aj keď…). However, the usage
of conjunctions is not very frequent in headlines because of space limitations and
thus the copulative function is realized by punctuation marks, especially commas, for
example:
Pre moslimov sa začal mesiac ramadán, al-Káida sa vyhráža
Orbán obchádza krajinu, Gyurcsány začal rozdávať
2.5.1 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper he adlines from the
syntactic point of view
The syntactic analysis shows several significant differences between English and
Slovak style of headlines writing.
Firstly, English titles tend to be shorter in their length even if the difference
between the average numbers of words is not so significant. However, from the lay
observer’s point of they seem to be shorter as the special “headlines vocabulary”
including short words is preferred. Moreover, suffixed words are more common in
Slovak language and thus most of them are longer than words of English vocabulary.
Another reason for the shorter character of English titles is frequent ellipsis of
auxiliaries, prepositions, articles and even some nouns. On the other hand subject is
usually covert in Slovak language as it is expressed by the inflected verb. Moreover,
Slovak headlines contain more sentences and even the subtitles which are usually
longer and more frequent in Slovak press.
Secondly, one of the main differences is viewed in the field of word-order. Even if
the S-V-O type is the most frequent in both languages, the Slovak titles are
considerably more independent from the fixed word-order due to its flectional
character. Thus, there is found much wider range of various types of word-order in
Slovak press and generally in Slovak language.
From the point of pre- and post-modification, we can declare that in both
languages it is very rare and limited. However, it is significantly more frequent and
longer pre-modification in English titles.
Analyzing complex and compound sentences, there is significantly higher number
of them used in Slovak headlines writing. It can be the result of more frequent and
structurally more complicated subtitles used in Slovak newspapers. However, the
complex sentences of both languages are mostly of the same type – finite relative
clauses functioning as object. No compound sentences were found in English corpus
though they were used in Slovak one.
2.6 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper head lines
from the graphical point of view
As newspaper headlines should mainly catch the readers’ attention, their
graphical character is significantly different from other parts of newspapers. Generally,
they are graphically differentiated as they are supposed to organize the whole
structure of newspapers and at the same time to present the main topics of the
articles.
Since modern printed newspapers cover various fields of social and political life,
particular parts must be differentiated as well. The headlines of our corpus discuss
the international events and thus they belong to the part which is marked as
“WORLD NEWS” in English The Times and “ZAHRANI ČIE“ in Slovak SME. These
headlines are typed boldly and they are put in header of every page as their main
function is to organize the structure and to help the readers to better orientation.
Moreover, their size is bigger and in English press even colored differentiated on the
first page of this part.
General graphical character of all the newspaper headlines is their bold type of
script. The only pragmatic reason for this differentiation is organizational and eye-
catching function of headlines. Usually, the titles introducing head and longer articles
are even bigger in size. In both languages, shorter, “telegraphic” articles are arranged
in columns. These columns are put at the end of “world news” part in The Times
while they always stay at the beginning of this part in Slovak newspaper SME.
Another significant graphical feature of newspaper headlines is omission of
punctuation. Although most titles are formulated as declarative sentences we would
hardly find punctuation marks at the end of them. In English headlines, punctuation
markers are sometimes put to indicate the unfinished idea the continuation of which
is given in another article, for example:
Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered...
...and the Annan response
Expressing direct speech is very specific from graphical point of view. Even if
some titles carry the real words, the inverted commas are very often omitted. In
English headlines, direct speech is indicated by comma which divides the title into
two parts, for example: I’m still one of you, Bush tells angry conservative supporters.
On the other hand, if the title does not involve any commentary and it only consists of
real words, the inverted commas are kept, for example: ‘Let me prove I’m Perón
daughter’. In Slovak press, omission of inverted commas is a very common
phenomenon as well, for example: Saddám: Biely dom, to sú klamári.
Headlines can be described in more detail by means of sub-titles. Their script is
not so big and bold but it is still more expressive than the script of text in the body of
article. English sub-titles usually do not involve only more detailed information but the
emphasized name of reporter is put there as well.
Newspaper headlines of both languages are often supported with pictures most of
which are black and white. The pictures are always introduced by short texts.
2.7 Comparison of English and Slovak newspaper head lines
from the stylistic point of view
Considering all the mentioned linguistic features of newspaper headlines, we will
now concentrate on their stylistic value. This section also involves the pragmatic point
of view that influences the effect of headlines on their readers. We must take into
account that it is the cooperation of the linguistic features, which plays the most
important role in the stylistic character of any piece of text.
Before comparing stylistic features of English and Slovak headlines it should be
reminded that there are three main functions of headlines: to attract attention, to
provide information and to manipulate opinion.
One of the primary means causing the attraction of readers’ attention is the
graphical presentation of newspaper headlines. However, this phenomenon is
subjectively influenced by authors’ points of view or by marketing strategy. By
marketing strategy here we mean hypothetic different interests of readers. These
differences might depend on cultural differences of society or on the individual
interests of readers. Since Britain is generally a more influential country in
international politics than the Slovak Republic we can find more articles discussing
the international British activities in English press. Moreover, those headlines are
usually put on the front pages of ‘world news’ part and they are visibly more
graphically emphasized.
As the headlines of our corpus were chosen from the English and Slovak
newspapers published on the same dates, some of them introduce articles
discussing the same topics. However, they are often discussed from different points
of view and thus the formulation and character of titles is sometimes different. For
example, the event of awarding Nobel Prize for physics was described in both
newspapers. While The Times discuss this event only by short telegraphic article
titled: Three share Nobel honour, Slovak newspaper brings a considerably longer text
supported by photo and also its title is more descriptive and informative: Nobelova
cena za to, že porozumeli svetlu.
On the other hand, natural catastrophe which happened in New Orleans is
discussed in more detail in British press however Slovak newspaper does not pay so
much attention to it. Comparing these two headlines, we can declare that English one
is more descriptive and even more impressive, for example:
Struggle for the living as search for the dead ends
V New Orleanse prestali hľadať mŕtve telá
As Slovak language does not dispose of so many means, which could shorten the
text, some titles are longer than the English equivalents and thus they sound less
dynamic, for example:
Taleban arrest
V Pakistane zadržali hovorcu Talibanu
Generally, headlines should provide those pieces of information which are usually
chosen from context of the article and seem to be the most important or attractive. As
importance and also attractiveness are very subjective phenomena there can be
found several differences caused by authors’ subjective attitudes to the topic. As we
can notice, both following headlines title the articles reacting to the same topic – gas
attack in St Petersburg:
Gas attack on shops puts 66 in hospital
Plynový útok v Petrohrade nebol dielom teroristov
Comparing them, we can sum up that the English headline pays more attention to
the victims of the attack while Slovak one concentrates more on the previous
hypothesis that this attack was probably a black-mail attempt.
Similarly, we can observe more subjective and impressive expression in the
English title of article discussing Sharon’s next operation. As we can see in the
following examples, English author uses the verb ‘need’ which makes the meaning of
the statement more impressive and it causes much stronger effect than Slovak usage
of ‘ide’, for example:
Sharon needs surgery on heart defect after stroke
Šaron ide na operáciu
Another phenomenon that should be mentioned talking about stylistics of
newspaper headlines is the usage of sub-titles. Generally, they are more frequent in
Slovak press and they are different in their semantic and stylistic character. Slovak
sub-titles usually add more information to the main headlines; it means that they tend
to provide more detailed information about the article and thus they are said to fulfil
the descriptive function, for example:
Na plážach hučali sirény. Ako spomienka
Indonézia, Thajsko, Srí Lanka a India spomínali na obete vlaňajšieho cunami. Podľa domácich to bola
šou pre turistov
The same descriptive function is obvious in English sub-titles; but they contain the
author’s name in addition. What is more the reporter name is sometimes even boldly
emphasized, for example:
Military secrecy alarms Japan
A minister’s criticism of the Chinese arms build-up departs from the official line, Jane
Macartney and Leo Lewis report
This form of expressing journalist’s name is more common in publicistic style and it is
avoided in newspaper style of Slovak language. The main reason for this difference
might be an effort to reduce possible subjective effect.
CONCLUSION
The main aim of this thesis is to compare style of newspaper headlines found in
English and Slovak press. The basic instigation for this research was the fact that
well-developed headlines influence the readers’ decision to choose particular type of
newspapers and because of this to increase the saleability of them. This
phenomenon which is generally considered to play predominating role nowadays, is
the main reason for frequent stylistic analyses of newspaper headlines.
Generally said, headlines create a special stylistic group. For this reason, the
question about their classification under one group of functional styles is discussed
frequently. There is polemic whether to put hem under the categories of publicistic or
newspaper style. All the researched features of headlines found in our corpus bring
us to our understanding of newspaper headlines as pieces of text sharing mostly the
features of newspaper style. However, they also include some expressive means
(personifications, metaphors, informal language etc.) and due to this fact, one might
not be sure about their proper sub-classification under the newspaper style. To solve
this problem we can look at the newspaper headlines as at the texts sharing the
features consolidating with the style of whole article.
Stylistics as a branch of linguistics involves the study of particular material from
various points of view. Our analysis compares the stylistically significant
morphological, lexical, syntactical and graphical features of English and Slovak titles
and their supposed effect on readers.
To summarize morphological character of English and Slovak headlines, we can
declare that English headlines consist of considerably less verbs which is mainly
caused by omission of auxiliaries and frequent usage of nominal constructions
standing in isolation. On the other hand, Slovak headlines are hardly used without
any verbs.
Talking about the parts of speech it is important to mention that English headlines
are considerably more distinctive than Slovak headlines and the difference between
the Standard English and language of headlines is more obvious. The main reason
for this is omission of articles and some prepositions which is very common in
English press. Another different phenomenon is the expression of numerals which
are written in symbols more often in English language of headlines.
The most stylistically marked morphological expressive means is dominating
occurrence of Historical Present. Its main role is to emphasize the topicality of
described events.
Comparing lexical character of English and Slovak headlines, we find the most
significant difference in more frequent occurrence of informal and compound words in
English press. On the other hand, Slovak headlines consist of higher number of
nominal lexis, especially proper nouns. In English language, special ‘headlines
vocabulary’ is very often used which is not significant in Slovak headlines.
On the other hand, we can declare that headlines of both languages are the same
from the point of view of the used metaphorical language. Especially, personifications
and metaphors are frequent, most of which have the character of cliché as the result
of their frequent usage. Alliteration can be found in English headlines while it is very
rare in Slovak press.
According to our research of syntactical character of English and Slovak headlines,
English headlines are significantly shorter and they do not contain more than one
sentence. On the other hand, declarative sentences are the most common types
used in both languages. As Slovak language is typical for its flectional character,
there is considerably larger extent of used types of word-order. However, all the non-
standard types of word-order in English headlines cause strong stylistic effect. Due to
the economical character of newspaper headlines, longer modifications are generally
avoided. Especially English headlines are typical for frequent usage of ellipsis as
their significant syntactic feature.
Newspaper headlines of both languages are very specific in their graphical
character. Generally they are emphasized by usage of bold script which is longer in
size. This is the main means which causes their eye-catching effect. Punctuation is
more specifically used in English headlines as it is usually omitted.
Another difference between English and Slovak headlines is represented by
different focusing of information. This phenomenon suggests subjective choice of
author who has the possibility to present his or her point of view.
To sum up all the mentioned features we can declare that the authors of
headlines try to use those language means which would attract the readers’ attention
and this is the main common feature of English and Slovak newspaper headlines.
Moreover, all the headlines of our corpus try to bring as objective pieces of
information as possible. Before we finish let us appreciate the work of those
journalists who follow the words of L.Sellers who claims that “Headlines should tell
the story”.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ALEXANDER, L.G.: Longman English Grammar. London: Longman, 2001
CRYSTAL, D., DEREK, D.: Investigating English Style. London: Longman, 1969
FINDRA, Ján.: Štylistika slovenčiny. Martin: Osveta, 2004
HANKS, Patrick.: The New Oxford Dictionary of English. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001
KNITTLOVÁ, Dagmar.: Funkční styly v angličtině a češtině. Olomouc: rektorát
Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, 1990
KVETKO, Pavol.: English lexicology. Bratislava: Pedagogická fakulta Univerzity
Komenského, 1996
MISTRÍK, Jozef.: Moderná slovenčina. Bratislava: SPN, 1988
MISTRÍK, Jozef.: Lingvistický slovník. Bratislava: SPN, 2002
MIŠŠÍKOVÁ, Gabriela.: Linguistic stylistics. Nitra: FF UKF, 2003
MIŠŠÍKOVÁ, Gabriela.: Working with texts in stylistics. Nitra: FF UKF, 2004
ONDRUŠ, Š., SABOL, J.: Úvod do štúdia jazykov. Bratislava: SPN, 1981
QUIRK, R., GREENBAUM, S.: A university grammar of English. London: Longman,
1973
ŠTEKAUER, Pavol.: Rudiments of English Linguistics. Prešov: SLOVACONTACT,
2000
URBANOVÁ, L., OAKLAND A.: Úvod do anglické stylistiky. Praha: Barrister &
Principal, 2002
Shcherba, L.V. 1995.International Journal of Lexicocraphy. [cited on 12 February
2006]. Available from world Wide Web:
< http://ijl.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/issue_pdf/frontmatter_pdf/8/4.pdf>
Štulajterová. 2005. Headlines/Captions/Titles. [cited on 15 January 2006]. Available
from world Wide Web: <http://www.anglistika.upol.cz/Headlines.pdf>
Trnka, 2005. Lexicology Seminar. [cited on 12 February 2006]. Available from world
Wide Web: <www.kaj.zcu.cz/cjkp/materialy/LA-Lexicology.doc>
APPENDIXES
Appendix A
The Times, October 5, 2005
1. Battle Royal over castle’s flea market for the rich
2. Villepin will find he can’t have it both ways
3. After the euphoria, Turkey prepares for the hard slog
4. Nation rejoices at long-awaited talks
5. UN calls for fair play in constitution vote
Sunni minority says that changes to voting rules would have left it no say in
country’s future, James Hider reports
6. Sci-fi to sky high: rocket racers set to leave Formula One in the pits
7. Death sentence for bomb plot
8. Massacre report
9. Taleban arrest
10. Hurricane deaths
11. Sars suspect
12. Lennon memorial
13. I’m still one of you, Bush tells angry conservative supporters
14. Simmering exasperation is beginning to boil over
15. ‘Let me prove I’m Perón daughter’
Court to rule on plea for former President to be exhumed for DNA testing, reports
Fiona McCann
16. Three share Nobel honour
17. Typhoon deaths
18. Off the beer
19. Struggle for the living as search for the dead ends
The Times, December 23, 2005
20. Kofi Annan takes on The Times
21. The unanswered questions
22. Oil-for-Food questions UN has still not answered...
23. ...and the Annan response
24. First Catholic for the Vatican
25. Double-jawed trout hooked out
26. Free soup causes offence
27. Town celebrates €510m windfall
28. Radio prankster’s joke call sparks transatlantic dispute
29. Showjumper lowers the hurdles for a generation of black riders
30. Military secrecy alarms Japan
A minister’s criticism of the Chinese arms build-up departs from the official line,
Jane Macartney and Leo Lewis report
31. Second toxic spill in two months poisons waterway
32. Missed lunch costs $172m
33. Collaborator jailed
34. Turkey told to pay
35. Killer to hang
36. Terror Bill passed
37. Today’s Joseph and Mary would face 15 checkpoints
38. Footprints in the sand give a lasting impression of life 20,000 years ago
The Times, December 27, 2005
39. Skinhead racist murders spark protests from foreign students
40. Gas attack on shops puts 66 in hospital
41. Therapy and drugs to stop paedophiles committing sex offences
42. Wind-up handle opens window on world
43. Sharon needs surgery on heart defect after stroke
44. Chinese facing jail to protect unborn girls
45. Colour as important as quality to new breed of Cape cheesemakers
46. Gunmen shoot five shoppers
47. 200 held hostage
48. Trial for Pinochet
49. Building plans
50. Beslan ruling
Appendix B
SME, October 5, 2005
1. Turecko v únii? Zatiaľ vzdialený sen
O vstupe budú komplikovane rokovať ešte najmenej desať rokov. Európa si stále vôbec nie je istá,
či o Ankaru stojí
2. Napätie a hromženie v Ankare
3. Ďalšie obvinenie republikána DeLaya
4. Kim Čong-il má predstaviť nástupcu
5. V Pakistane zadržali hovorcu Talibanu
6. Britskí konzervatívci hľadajú lídra
7. Chorváti by chceli byť v únii v roku 2009
8. Nobelova cena za to, že porozumeli svetlu
9. Maďarsko: zverejniť kompletné zoznamy bývalých agentov tajnej služby je
protiústavné
10. Orbán obchádza krajinu, Gyurcsány začal rozdávať
11. Pre moslimov sa začal mesiac ramadán, al-Káida sa vyhráža
12. Netrafili sme do bránky
Hovorí premiér Dolného Saska a vplyvný muž kresťanských demokratov (CDU)
Christian Wulff
13. Putin by mohol viesť Ruskostan
14. V New Orleanse prestali hľadať mŕtve telá
SME, December 23, 2005
15. Saddám: Biely dom, to sú klamári
Tvrdí, že Američania ho mučili, okrádali a ponižovali. Američania hovoria, že si vymýšľa. Proces
prerušili do 24.januára
16. Taliansko obvinilo amerického vojaka za zabitie agenta
17. Blair a Rumsfeld v Iraku
18. Ďalšie obete vtáčej chrípky
19. Srbi sú vraj bližšie k Mladičovi a Karadžičovi
20. Japonsko vymiera
21. Zomrel nacistický lekár Heinrich Gross
22. Japonský minister: Čína je vojenská hrozba
23. Senát Bushovi predĺžil zákon o terore iba o pol roka
24. Prezident Kaczyński nastupuje ako kráľ
Nový poľský prezident si dá moc posvätiť vo varšavskej katedrále sv.Jána, bude
to prvý signál, že Poľsko sa mení
25. Na rakúskych staniciach platí zákaz fajčenia
26. Kalamita v Japonsku
27. Odsúdili tureckých novinárov
28. Od ničivého úderu cunami prešiel už jeden rok
Státisíce ľudí ešte stále žije v stanoch, humanitárne organizácie hovoria, že do pol roka by sa
malo začať vo veľkom s výstavbou domov
29. Plechové domy? Tak v tom my bývať veru nechceme
30. V Čečensku sa rýchlo šíri záhadná epidémia
31. Fidesz desí svojimi radikálmi
32. Jed dorazil do Chabarovska
33. New York zažil dopravný kolaps
SME, December 27, 2005
34. Pápež: Nestaňte sa obeťou svojho rozumu
Benedikt XVI. má za sebou vianočnú premiéru. Požehnanie Urbi et Orbi predniesol iba v 32
jazykoch, kázeň bola strohá
35. Rok po cunami vyskúšali varovný systém
36. Do Betlehema sa vrátili Vianoce
37. Šaron ide na operáciu
38. Odsúdili egyptského šéfa opozície
39. Irán nechce dať svoje jadro Rusom
40. Rebeli v Iraku zabili päť policajtov
41. Líbya bude znovu súdiť bulharské sestričky
42. Plynový útok v Petrohrade nebol dielom teroristov
43. Na plážach hučali sirény. Ako spomienka
Indonézia, Thajsko, Srí Lanka a India spomínali na obete vlaňajšieho cunami. Podľa domácich to
bola šou pre turistov
44. Cheneyho iPod mal najvyššiu prioritu
45. Gotovina dostal stotisíc pohľadníc
46. Tymošenkovú už Rusi nestíhajú
47. Test DNA ukáže, či Američana nepopravili predsa len omylom
48. Rusi prijali zákon proti oranžovej nákaze
49. Kaczyński chce odštartovať IV. Poľskú republiku
50. Z kórejského Pána klonov sa stal Majster výhovorka