英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題的語(yǔ)言特色【畢業(yè)論文】

1、<p><b>　　（20_ _屆）</b></p><p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)</b></p><p>　　英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題的語(yǔ)言特色</p><p>　　A Study of the Linguistic Features Of English News Headlines</p><p

2、>　　英語(yǔ) </p><p><b>　　摘要</b></p><p>　　英語(yǔ)新聞是融時(shí)效性、真實(shí)性和客觀性于一體的特殊文體。英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題，作為英語(yǔ)新聞的“文眼”，是新聞不可分割的組成部分，具有簡(jiǎn)明精煉、形象生動(dòng)、不拘一格的特點(diǎn)。它提綱挈領(lǐng),具有與一般英語(yǔ)語(yǔ)法不同的獨(dú)特的語(yǔ)法體系和語(yǔ)言特點(diǎn)。在新聞報(bào)道中起著舉足輕重的

3、作用。英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題在詞匯、語(yǔ)法、修辭、形式等方面具有自己鮮明的特色，構(gòu)成了獨(dú)特的標(biāo)題語(yǔ)言。本文將在國(guó)內(nèi)外英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題的研究成果的基礎(chǔ)上，分別從詞匯特點(diǎn)、語(yǔ)法特點(diǎn)、修辭特點(diǎn)這三個(gè)方面淺析英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題的語(yǔ)言特色。措詞上，它往往會(huì)更多得使用名詞和簡(jiǎn)短小詞的特點(diǎn)等來(lái)節(jié)省刊頭空間，一定程度上反映了報(bào)刊對(duì)新聞的立場(chǎng)和態(tài)度；語(yǔ)法上，它偏向于使用現(xiàn)在時(shí)等特點(diǎn)，以增強(qiáng)新聞的現(xiàn)實(shí)感和新鮮感；英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題通常會(huì)使用一些修辭手法等特點(diǎn)，引人注目增強(qiáng)新聞的感染力

4、。同時(shí)，本文將研究國(guó)內(nèi)外對(duì)英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題詞匯的運(yùn)用時(shí)出現(xiàn)的一些問(wèn)題給予分析，使讀者能更好更快得理解新聞的實(shí)質(zhì)內(nèi)容。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：英語(yǔ)新聞標(biāo)題；語(yǔ)言特色；詞匯特點(diǎn)；語(yǔ)法特點(diǎn)；修辭特點(diǎn)</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　English news is a special style which

5、has timeliness, authenticity and objectivity all in one. English news headlines, as the “eyes” of the English press, is the inalienable part to the news. They are concise, vivid and have different linguistic forms. Engli

6、sh news headlines focus on the vital parts and have a unique grammatical system and linguistic features which is different from general English grammar. They play an important role in news reports. English news headlines

7、 have their own distin</p><p>　　Key words: English news headlines; linguistic features; wording; grammar; figures of speech</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　1 Introduct

8、ion………………………………………………………………………...1</p><p>　　2 The Lexical Features…………………………………………….……………...…2</p><p>　　2.1 Use of Short Words and Nouns..........................................................

9、..................2</p><p>　　2.2 Use of Vogue Words……………………………………………………………4</p><p>　　2.3 Use of Abbreviations and Numbers………….………………….……….……..5</p><p>　　3 The Grammatical Features……

10、………………………………………………......6</p><p>　　3.1 Use of the Present Tense……………………………………………………......6</p><p>　　3.2 Use of the Non-finite Verbs…………………………………………………......7</p><p>　　3.3 Ellipsis……

11、….…………………………..……………………..………….........8</p><p>　　4 The Rhetorical Features…………………………………….…………………......9</p><p>　　4.1 Conciseness……………………………………………………………………..9</p><p>　　4.2 Different L

12、inguistic Forms…………………………………………….….….....9</p><p>　　4.3 Use of Slang Words……………………….…………………………….………9</p><p>　　4.4 Use of Idioms and Their Stories……………………………………………......9</p><p>　　4.

13、5 Use of Figures of Speech…………………………………………………..….10</p><p>　　5 Conclusion………………………………………..……………………………….12</p><p>　　Bibliography………………………………………………………………….……..13</p><p>　　Acknowledgem

14、ents….…………………………..………………………………….14</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　Systemic functional linguistics think language is a kind of meaning potential. The function of language is realized through the

15、choice in language system. Choice is meaning and form is the embodiment of the meaning. English news headlines, as news discourse eyes, have the function of monopolizing the discourse. The different language forms of the

16、 title reflect different aspects and meaning of the news.</p><p>　　Nowadays news is the main information channel via which people learn about the world. News headlines play the very important role in news. T

17、hey are “the eyes of news reports”. So it is very necessary to learn more about news headlines. It enriches the basic content of the news with economical text and extracts the essence of the news to attract readers. The

18、headline of the news is characterized by its conciseness liveliness and has different linguistic forms. English news is a special style of t</p><p>　　So far in the domestic research, some is about the Transl

19、ation of English news headlines including its principles, skills, and strategies. Some talk about the ambiguity of English news headlines. Others mainly focus on the features of English news headlines including its lingu

20、istic features, formal features and the differences between Chinese and English news headlines. This scope is too wide. But some just discuss one aspect of them. For example, in their linguistic features, they just talk

21、abo</p><p>　　So this paper will draw the strong points of others and offset the weakness, focusing on the linguistic features of English newspaper headlines. It briefly deals with their lexicological, gramma

22、tical and rhetorical features by collecting, analyzing data and giving examples. By means of its analysis and discussion, readers can better understand and master the characteristics and skills of English news headlines

23、and smoothly read English newspapers. As a result, readers can get more information fr</p><p>　　2 The Lexical Features </p><p>　　2.1 Use of Short Words and Nouns</p><p>　　Generally

24、speaking, masthead of newspapers and magazines is extremely valuable with the minimum length to accommodate the biggest information. But sometimes it needs sentences to express the information of English news headlines.

25、In order to save space, the function words (sometimes including link word “be”) are omitted and the notional words are remained, especially nouns. Sometimes even the function words in phrase titles are omitted. Thus the

26、nouns are placed together to express some semantic</p><p>　　In these nouns phrases above, other nouns before the last one serve as the function of adjectives. The phenomenon of noun used as an adjective is a

27、 sign of contemporary English towards brevity. This tendency appears especially clear in English news headlines. Compound nouns, verbal nouns, acronyms are all nouns phrases as well. They can not only take the place of a

28、djectives but also include phrases and clauses. The noun phrases concentrate the meaning of phrases. For example:</p><p>　　Palestinians Welcome U.N. Call, Israel Critical.</p><p>　　(聯(lián)合國(guó)撤軍呼吁巴勒斯坦人

29、的歡迎，卻遭到以色列人的批評(píng))</p><p>　　U.N. Call is short for U.N. Security Council resolution for an Israel withdrawal from Palestinian cities.</p><p>　　“Monkey Boy” Come Back from the Wild. (“猴娃”回家)</p&g

30、t;<p>　　Monkey boy is short for the boy like a monkey.</p><p>　　Atlanta Olympics Are the Biggest in History. </p><p>　　(亞特蘭大奧運(yùn)會(huì)——?dú)v史之最)</p><p>　　Atlanta Olympics is short for

31、the Olympics that have been held in Atlanta.</p><p>　　The noun phrases enrich the meaning of clauses, such as ,The Population Surprise (人口下降)——it replaces the sentence of The decrease of the population surpr

32、ises people; Super kids? (超級(jí)兒童之謎)——it replaces the sentence that can supermen create super kids? </p><p>　　But sometimes several nouns linked together would cause ambiguity so that it has difficulty underst

33、anding the news headlines for readers. For example, “Labor” in “Labor Milestone” means “Labor Party” or “Labor Movement” or has other meanings? It is hard to judge if you don’t read the news content. For another instance

34、, in modern American English, “burn bags” means confidential documentation package to be destroyed. Accordingly, the title “State Government Staff Burn Bags” can be understood as “S</p><p>　　English news hea

35、dlines always try to express the news content in words as little as possible. For this purpose, in wording, it pursues economical, short and clear expression to convey information and prefers to choose dapper verbs at le

36、ast letters. Two lines are avoided in news headlines but how to accommodate headlines in limited space? Minor terms are often used to solve this problem. Minor terms have less letters and wide meanings, lively and flexib

37、le. This expression is in favor. “Hit, harm,</p><p>　　Short words are also used in nouns. For instance, “Talk” equals to “address, lecture, oration, speech, monologue, allocation”. “Pact” equals to “compact,

38、 contract, convention, agreement, alliance, bond, treaty”. “Job” equals to “task, work, enterprise, undertaking, achievement, mission or business”. “Probe” equals to “investigation, inspection, inquisition, examination,

39、inquiry, exploration or search”. These words are called Synonyms of All work in journalistic English. When expressing each mean</p><p>　　In addition, “dad, cops, kids, Dem, GOP” instead of “father, police, c

40、hildren, Democrat, the Republican Party” is used in local news headlines. These all belong to minor terms.</p><p>　　2.2 Use of Vogue Words</p><p>　　“New” is the life of news language which is de

41、termined by news contents that are being reported. News reports are following the pulse of the times, closely related to our social life. All of the new things, new phenomena, new ideas and new fashion always first appea

42、r in the news media, and spread to the broad masses of the people. Therefore these words and expressions are so-call vogue words. So how these new words generate? The famous linguist Chen Yuan thinks that there are two w

43、ays to create </p><p>　　Buzz words are the products of the times, the crystallization of social and economic change and scientific and technological revolution. But whether these words is able to withstand t

44、he test of time needs to prove.</p><p>　　2.3 Use of Abbreviations and Numbers</p><p>　　Using abbreviations in English news headlines is also on account of the limited space in the masthead as we

45、ll as minor terms. Mr. Lu Guo-qiang (1984) divided abbreviations into two kinds: one is called lipped words, namely abbreviating a part of letters in the words. For example, omit the underlines part in the word “zoologic

46、al gardens” and get the abbreviation “zoo”; another is called acronyms, which is to link the initial letters in the main words of the word phrase. For example, laser= light</p><p>　　WTC Flag Returned to NY

47、Delegation</p><p>　　(世貿(mào)大廈重新成為紐約市象征)</p><p>　　“WTC” in this headline means the World Trade Centre; “NY” means New York.</p><p>　　Ex-NYPD Officer Indicted on Perjury</p><p&

48、gt;　　(前紐約市警察局警官被控作偽證)</p><p>　　“NYPD” in this title means the New York Police Department.</p><p>　　UNC Offers Multimedia Bootcamp For Journalists </p><p>　　(北卡大學(xué)為記者提供多媒體技術(shù)培訓(xùn)營(yíng))</p

49、><p>　　“UNC” means the University of North Carolina.</p><p>　　Study supports link between SIDS and Smoking </p><p>　　(研究表明嬰幼兒突然死亡與吸煙有關(guān))</p><p>　　“SIDS” means the sudden in

50、fant death syndrome.</p><p>　　There are also many lipped words in English news headlines. For example:</p><p>　　8) Wall St. Giants Offered Grants for Staying Put</p><p>　　(政府資助華爾街巨頭

51、以穩(wěn)定人心)</p><p>　　“St.” is short form of “Street”.</p><p>　　Feds Seek Fast OK for Water Release </p><p>　　(聯(lián)邦生態(tài)學(xué)家為放水尋求可行依據(jù))</p><p>　　Feds is short of “federal biologists”

52、.</p><p>　　Armenian Gov’t Will Close TV Station </p><p>　　(亞美尼亞將關(guān)閉其電視臺(tái))</p><p>　　“Gov’t” is short of “Government”.</p><p>　　Rain, Colder Temps Move In Wednesday </p&

53、gt;<p>　　(星期三有雨 氣溫下降)</p><p>　　“Temps” is short of “Temperature”.</p><p>　　Abbreviations in English news headlines are generally used in proper names like personal names, places, company

54、names, government agencies names and titles, months, and weeks. Besides using abbreviations, numbers are chosen to highlight key information, especially in financial news headlines, such as King Rout Rockets, 101-74 (國(guó)王隊(duì)

55、擊敗火箭隊(duì)，比分為101比74);Orient Crop Targets Group Debt￥1.7 Trillion By Mar 05 V ￥ 2.4 Trillion Now (集團(tuán)債務(wù)從三月五日的1.7萬(wàn)億元上升到現(xiàn)在的2.4萬(wàn)億元 東方公司計(jì)劃減債);Taiwan’s EVA Air Feb Revenue NT $ 4.</p><p>　　3 The Grammatical Features<

56、;/p><p>　　3.1 Use of the Present Tense</p><p>　　The present tense is widely used in sentences as English news headlines especially the simple present tense to replace almost all the tenses. This is

57、 an interconnected tradition of English news. At the same time, the present time can stick out the feeling of reality and novelty of what happened and increase bonding of emotional distance between the news and readers.

58、It is called Journalistic Present Tense in journalism, similar to Historical Present Tense in literature. For example, French Cultu</p><p>　　But sometimes in order to emphasize some time messages like that e

59、vents already have been past, are under way or have not happened, other tenses are often used. For example,</p><p>　　11) It Was a Good Barn (昔日，它曾是一座好谷倉(cāng))</p><p>　　The past tense is used in this

60、sentence to stress that the event happened in the past.</p><p>　　12) Women Are Becoming Exports at Home Repairs</p><p>　　(婦女正在成為家庭裝修能手)</p><p>　　The progressive tense is used to sho

61、w the event is happening.</p><p>　　13) U.S. Will Not Curb Arms for Israel </p><p>　　(美國(guó)無(wú)意對(duì)以武器援助)</p><p>　　The future tense is used in this headline to show the event has not happene

62、d.</p><p>　　3.2 Use of the Non-finite Verbs</p><p>　　The non-finite verbs in English include infinitive, gerund, the participle. There are many choices for journalists to circulate information b

63、y using a rich variety of expressions. Infinitives are used, such as Five Ways To Be Romantic (浪漫五法);Trials to Stabilize the Learning Tower of Pisa Look Very Promising (穩(wěn)定比薩斜塔的努力可望成功);New Efforts to Learn About Plant Mar

64、s (探測(cè)火星的新舉措);Arafat to Skip Arab Summit, Two Observers Killed (阿拉法特將不參加阿拉伯峰會(huì)，兩名國(guó)際觀察員罹難).</p><p>　　The future tense of verbs in English news headlines could use the expression of “will + base verbs”, like Cas

65、h Will Flow at Car Wash (洗車賺大錢). But in most cases, infinitive is directly used, like the last example above. When the infinitive and the former nouns are used together to show the future tense, the link verb “be” are us

66、ually omitted. The reason that “to” is preferred to rather than “will” to express the future tense may be its letter is less and succinct.</p><p>　　Gerund is used. For example, “Helping the Homeless to Help

67、Themselves” (幫助無(wú)家可歸者自強(qiáng)自立); “Hanging Up Their Hats”（英國(guó)警察傳統(tǒng)錐形頭盔將束之高閣); “Confronting New Challenge”（面對(duì)挑戰(zhàn)).</p><p>　　Participles are used. For example, America’s Beleaguered Bird（美國(guó)受到圍剿的鳥);Madeleine Albright Sta

68、nding for Freedom（維護(hù)自由的瑪?shù)铝?#183;奧爾布賴特);Film Star Clint Eastwood Honored in Gala Tribute（影星克林特·伊斯特伍德受慶典嘉獎(jiǎng)).</p><p>　　When expressing the passive voice, the structure of “be + the past participle” is not

69、used, and the past participle is directly put behind the recipients of action. “Be” is omitted and the performers of action are also elicited by using “by”. For example:</p><p>　　14) Girl of 18 Raped After T

70、hreat with Bread Knife.</p><p>　　（餐刀威逼下，18名少女遭強(qiáng)暴）</p><p>　　15) Van Gogh’s recovered After Theft.</p><p>　?。ㄨ蟾呙嫺`而復(fù)得）</p><p>　　16) Father jailed for murder of daughter&l

71、t;/p><p>　　Father is jailed for murder of daughter. </p><p>　　It is determined by the characteristics of headlines------succinct and highlighting key information. In some news reports, when the rec

72、ipients are more important than the performers or they do not know (or not immediately know) the performers, it is more appropriate to use the past participle so that readers can realize what happened to the person at th

73、e top speed. The structure “noun + the present participle” in headlines often means what is happening. Actually it is the variant of the structur</p><p>　　In addition to finite verbs, prepositional phrases a

74、nd adjective phrases are used in abundance, especially the former, such as, In Praise of Uselessness (稱頌無(wú)用的藝術(shù));Inside the Clinton White House (克林頓主政下的白宮內(nèi)情); 007 Movies in Retrospect (007電影回顧); Monarch at the Crossroads (

75、英國(guó)王室處在十字路口).</p><p>　　3.3 Ellipsis</p><p>　　In syntactic structure, ellipsis in headlines is the most obvious feature. We may say there is ellipsis in almost all English news headlines. Omitting

76、 the words without meanings can immensely shorten the length of headlines, concise and comprehensive. The corn information stands out. The words that can be omitted include articles, preposition, conjunction and the link

77、 verb-be and so on. In the common language and culture background, the notional words sometimes can be left out. For example,</p><p>　　17) Divorce New York Style (紐約離婚新樣式)</p><p>　　Definitive an

78、d preposition are omitted in this headline. The complete sentence is “The divorce of the New York Style”. </p><p>　　18) Andersen Chief Quits in Effort to Rescue Firm (安然總裁為挽救公司辭職)</p><p>　　Defin

79、itive and noun are omitted. The complete title is “Andersen, the Chief Executive Officer Quits in Effort to Rescue the Firm”.</p><p>　　19) Location of 2003 Grammy in Question (2003年度格萊美獎(jiǎng)?lì)C獎(jiǎng)地點(diǎn)未定)</p>&l

80、t;p>　　Definitive, noun and link verb are omitted. It means that “The Location of the 2003 Grammy Awards Ceremony is in Question”.</p><p>　　4 The Rhetorical Features</p><p>　　4.1 Conciseness&l

81、t;/p><p>　　From the immovable rhetoric’s perspective, the biggest feature in news headlines is conciseness. Using midget words, single part-of-speech titles and ellipsis in phrase-sentence titles are all marks

82、of conciseness. Midget words and ellipsis have been discussed. There are ingle part-of-speech titles, such as Endgame (最后一盤棋)——this word is to express the last chess; Playtime (歡樂(lè)時(shí)光)——this word is to show the happy time;

83、 Wineswomanship (婦女酗酒問(wèn)題)——this word is to express women’s alcohol problems.</p><p>　　4.2 Different Linguistic forms</p><p>　　There are many other characteristics of news headlines, such as pursu

84、ing novelty, features in wording and phrasing and different linguistic forms.</p><p>　　20) UK Writers Fly High on World Book Day (英語(yǔ)作家在世界圖書日獨(dú)領(lǐng)風(fēng)騷)</p><p>　　“Picture language” is used in this head

85、line.</p><p>　　21) Israel Pledges to “Put the Brakes on Terror” (以色列決心阻止恐怖活動(dòng))</p><p>　　Analogy is used.</p><p>　　22) Mr. Must-See TV (“必看電視”先生)</p><p>　　Coin words purs

86、ue humorous and unusual style.</p><p>　　23) Japan says tax reform to lift economy, details bare</p><p>　　(日本稱以改革稅收以提升經(jīng)濟(jì)，內(nèi)情不詳)</p><p>　　The structure of follow-up complements is used

87、.</p><p>　　4.3 Using Slang Words</p><p>　　In English news headlines, especially in local news headlines, slang words are often used as well to create a kind and witty, lively and vivid environme

88、nt, such as Cops: Man Wanted in N.J. Arrested (警方稱，新澤西州通緝犯已被抓獲); Lame-duck Presidents: a US Oddity (跛鴨總統(tǒng)：美國(guó)奇聞); Pioneer colleges face axe (一些實(shí)驗(yàn)學(xué)院面臨砍削); Tourism up and violence off, Jamaica says (牙買加稱，旅游業(yè)蒸蒸日上，暴力犯罪減少). “Co

89、ps”, “Lame-duck”, “axe” and “off” in those headlines above are all slang words.</p><p>　　4.4 Using Idiom and Their Stories</p><p>　　Idiom and their stories sometimes are used in headlines direct

90、ly or indirectly to enhance the nifty taste and add much to variety, strength and vividness of the language. For example:</p><p>　　24) In Sarah’s Town, Much Ado about Golden Girl </p><p>　　(莎拉歸故

91、鄉(xiāng) 金牌女遭遇煩心事)</p><p>　　“Much Ado about Golden Girl” is from the famous play of Shakespeare “Much Ado about Nothing”.</p><p>　　25) For many in cinema, all roads led to Wilder </p><p>　

92、　(對(duì)許多影迷來(lái)說(shuō)，條條道路通威爾)</p><p>　　All roads led to Wilder from the English proverb---All roads lead to Rome. (Billy wilder, a famous American irony film director, passed away in Los Angeles in March, 2002 aged 95.

93、) </p><p>　　26) Tumors fall to a Trojan horse (腫瘤變成了一具特洛伊木馬)</p><p>　　“Trojan” is from Hellenism which refers to internal damage group.</p><p>　　4.5 Figures of Speech</p><

94、;p><b>　　a) Simile</b></p><p>　　There are two main functions: one is to describe the features of the objects to make them vivid and impressive; the other one is to explain the complicated and e

95、lusive things with plain and familiar things so that readers can understand easily. In short, simile in headlines can bring out the people in the news and events. For example</p><p>　　27) At APEC，A Lame－Duck

96、 Gathering with Few Results</p><p>　　(APEC峰會(huì)，卸任者的聚會(huì)，成果甚微)</p><p>　　Lame-duck derives from “Aesop Fables” that means a crippled duck. In American it describes the dilemma where politicians’ presi

97、dency counts down. At APEC in 2007, there just four heads of government need to leave, including Australia’s Prime Minister Howard, America’s President Bush, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Korea’s President Hyun.&

98、lt;/p><p>　　28）The New Beetle Hits Town (城市流行甲蟲車)</p><p>　　Simile, “Beetle” here does not refer to the Beetles but a new car.</p><p>　　b) Metonymy</p><p>　　It is a lively,

99、 vivid and humorous figure of speech. Informally speaking, related people or events are cited instead of the direct ones. In news reports, borrowing the names of all the capital cities, famous buildings and the heads of

100、government to replace this country or its government and relevant agencies is very common, like, Pentagon/Penta (五角大樓)——it refers to the United States Department of Defense; Scotland Yard (蘇格蘭場(chǎng)，倫敦警察局)——it means London Po

101、lice; Thanks Heavens for Brussels (歐盟有救了)——Br</p><p>　　If metonymy is used better, the language expression can be concise, sprightly, specific and visual and avoid repetition and cumbersome, giving readers t

102、he novelty and increasing the readability.</p><p><b>　　c) Rhyme</b></p><p>　　Rhyme includes alliteration and end-rhyme aimed to create sound effort and make the news headlines have p

103、honetic beauty. Alliteration, concise and vivid, can render contrast, make the focal points stand out, balance rhythm and deepen our impression. So using alliteration in news has become a fashion. For example: Of Mice, M