Newspaper Style.
Newspaper Style
Functions
- provides information without comment or appeal
- delivers ‘hot news’
- addresses general public
Forms
- primarily written
- newspaper reporting: short news, informative articles, interviews (called ‘journalese’)
- statements, announcements
- advertisements
- special form of headlines
Substyles
- the style of quality newspapers (The Times, independent; The Guardian, left-winged; The Daily Telegraph, right-winged; The New York Times, USA)
- the style of tabloids (The Sun)
- Sunday papers (The Sunday Times)
General Characteristics
- clear, concise, brevet
- stereotypical in terms of both lexicology and syntax
- reliance on situational context
- nominal character /‘according to WHO statistics, heart diseases are the no. 1 killer’/
- condensed character
- quotations for the sake of objectivity, immediacy, dramatic effect /‘I’m innocent, please God, I’m an innocent woman,’ she shouted./
Graphical Layout
- paragraphing
- different script types and sizes
- diagrams, charts, sketches, illustrations
Punctuation
- sometimes lack of commas to separate pre-posed adverbials, adjectives in a sequence, sentences in co-ordinating relationship
- frequent inverted commas
- frequent dashes (parenthesis) and colons (headlines)
Syntactical Features
- mostly declarative sentences, sometimes interrogatives and rhetorical questions, rarely imperatives
- sentence condensers and semi-clausal structures rather than dependent clauses
- co-ordinating sentences rather then subordinate clauses
- parenthesises separated by dashes
- mostly past tense, sometimes present tense
- no tense shift in reported speech
- anaphoric reference /‘When he is seeing X, Y could also discuss with him the nuclear non-proliferation draft treaty.’/
- shorter sentences for the sake of easy reading
- passive constructions for the sake of objectivity /‘the bomb, which is believed to have been put under a seat, could have been put on the train…’/
- complex pre-modification and post-modification
- inventive attributes /‘hoped-for; faster-arriving; computer-made’/
- noun groups /‘the Dundee full-time trade union officials’ group; a $ 13 million pre-tax profit increase’/
Word-order
- mostly neutral
- inversion with the verbs ‘declare, say, explain, laugh’ /‘said Dr Mason’/
- fixed in leads or intros (= opening sentences of a longer article)
- ‘five-w-and-h-pattern rule’ = who-what-why-how-where-when > ‘svompt’
- special formula ‘S ADV-TIME V’ /‘Bush yesterday said…’/
Focus > topic
- the crucial information in the 1st sentence or the main clause in a complex sentence
- main clause precedes the dependent clause
- the quotation precedes the identification of the source /‘…, X said, reported, announced’/
Lexical Features
- neutral expressions
- euphemisms and ‘politically correct’ expressions /‘chairperson’ for ‘chairman’; ‘differently abled’ for ‘disabled’; ‘visually challenged’ for ‘blind’/
- no words outside the standard language variety; no dialect, no slang
- no emotional words, no interjections, no phraseology
x but: colloquial words, slang words, jargon in headlines and quotations
- politic and economic terms
- neologisms /‘laser, sputnik, missile’/
- inventive word-forming /‘peacenik; nixonomics; highjacker’/
- semantic condensers /‘British-appointed civil servants; semi-skilled rate; anti-cut leaflets’/
- quotational compounds /‘flight-on pledge; stop-tour plea’/
- newspaper clichés /‘bitter end; calm before the storm; long arm of the law; leaving no stone unturned; lending a helping land; nipped in the bud’; also ‘generation gap’/
- proper names, numbers, figures
- acronyms /‘UNO, NATO, AIDS’/
- abbreviations /‘Gvt, Hq, Ltd; A-bomb, H-bomb, D-Day’/
- conventional symbols /‘©, ₤, %’/
- initials for names of political personalities /‘JFK’ for John Fitzgerald Kennedy; ‘FDR’ for Franklin Delano Roosevelt/
- no verbosity in ideal case /‘many’ for ‘a large proportion of’; ‘now’ for ‘at the present time’; ‘since’ for ‘in view of the fact that’/
- no redundancy in ideal case /‘35 acres (of land); blue (coloured) car; collaborate (together); dates (back) from; (entirely) absent; may (possibly)’/
- no abstract and vague longwords in ideal case /‘principles, assumptions, conclusions, assertions, requirements, arguments’/
Special Nomenclature
- acronyms: DNA /deoxyribonucleic acid/; laser /light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation/; CD-ROM /compact disc read on the memory/; WWW /world wide web/; AIDS /acquired immune deficiency syndrome/; FAQ /frequently asked questions/; BBC /British Broadcasting Corporation/; EU /European Union/; UNICEF /United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fond/; OPEC /Organisation of Petrol Exporting Countries/; GMO /genetically modified/; PIN /personal identity number/; NATO /North Atlantic Treaty Organisation/; CIA /Central Intelligence Agency/; WHO /World Health Organisation/
Headlines
Functions
- provides a basic idea about the content of the following article
- should tell the story
General Characteristics
- condensed, concise, catching and attractive /‘Ludwig van and his Era’/
- verbal character /‘Door Closes on South Africa’/
- punctuation: dashes /‘How Danag Became Free – Star Gets Full Story’/, colons /‘Sex Bias: Say How it Hits You’/, inverted commas /‘“Expel these ten” Demand’/
Morphological Features
- contractions
- omission of articles and auxiliaries /‘Union Leaders (are) on the Spot’/
Syntactical Features
- present tense for the sake of topicality and dramatic effect /‘Prisoners Revolt in Belfast’/
- past tense for older events seen from a new perspective /‘How Danag Became Free – Star Gets Full Story’/
- ‘to’ infinitive for future /‘Nuclear Danger to be Raised’/
- sometimes as if a fragment taken from a broader context /‘Lloyd Confirms he won’t Stand’/
- ellipsis /‘Still in Danger’/
- rhetorical questions /‘The Worse the Better?’/
- sentence condensers; semi-clausal structures /‘Fishermen Sailing Home’/
- semantic condensers; noun groups /‘Rail Safety Call’/
Lexical Features
- headline vocabulary: short, monosyllabic, polysemic /‘ban, bid, claim, crash, cut, hit, plea, quit, rush’/ > /‘Bid to Stop New Police Powers’/
- words outside the standard language variety
- colloquial words, slang words, jargon
- frequent use of ‘no’ /‘Youth Told: Say “No”’/
- puns /‘Target: Trade Union Unity’/
- alliteration /‘Teaming is Tops for Training’/
- numbers, abbreviations, conventional symbols /‘Last Hurdle! $ 80 Needed by 3 PM Today’/
- short forms and acronyms in title > full forms in text /‘Cig Ads Accused’/
Základní údaje
-
Přednáška
Stylistika. -
Semestr
Zimní semestr 2005/06. -
Přednášející
Václav Řeřicha. -
Status
Povinná přednáška pro III. blok.
Literatura
Gal'perin, Il'ja Romanovič. Stylistics. Moskva: Vysšaja škola, 1971.
Knittlová, Dagmar, Ida Rochovanská. Funkční styly v angličtině a češtině. I. díl. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého Olomouc, 1977.