The Secret Language of Newspaper Headlines in Britain

7/29/2019 The Secret Language of Newspaper Headlines in Britain

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VDBE - English 2001-2002

---The secret language of newspaper headlines in

Britain---

Pre-reading: what would the articles under these headlines be about?

JAIL MUM CAN KEEP HER BABY

LEAD RISK IN CITY GROWN VEGETABLES

BIN BABE RESCUED IN JAWS OF CRUSHER

Being able to use a language, like English, fluently, implies

understanding its words, the way they are pronounced and written, and

the way they are ordered into meaningful units through grammar. Butthat is not all. You also have, what is generally referred to as

"background knowledge", or "knowledge of the world".

If you don't know a thing about cricket, you won't be able to understand

a conversation or an article on that topic. The same lack of

understanding may occur in discussions involving the House of Lords,

the Commonwealth, snooker, BBC and other features of Britain's

cultural traditions, which, as you may know, are very well preserved. Being able to understand the language of the news, implies not only

being acquainted with British culture, but also with recent events. A

headline like "FIRST FEMALE SUCCESSOR TO THE THRONE" will only

make sense if you know who is meant here. (=

___________________________)

And this is only the beginning! Grammar, vocabulary and spelling of

headlines are determined by the special nature of a paper: a headlinetries to inform the reader of what has just happened, of what is

happening at the present moment, or of what will happen in the near

future. And it tries to do so briefly, simply and attractively.

Headlines often provide us with striking examples, because their aim is

basically to attract the reader's attention. Generally, style and language

of the headline, and indeed of the entire article will be influenced by

the type of reader who it is intended for, but normally editors of bothquality and popular papers prefer descriptive words in their hadlines,

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often with puns and other stylistic devices such as alliterations. But

they should reach their aim in an economical way, without waste. So

headlines often look like telegrams; structural elements have been

omitted and semantic elements have been stressed.

An article telling the reader that the President of the United States of

America has promised the British Prime Minister to give his support to

the defence of Great Britain, will be given a headline such as:

US PRESIDENT PLEDGES SUPPORT TO BRITISH PM

All the words that aren't really necessary to understand the message

have

been left out. Very often only nouns and verbs carry the meaning of the

sentence. The remaining words will often be abbreviated to their initials

(PM for Prime Minister) or shortened to more informal equivalents

("pledge" replaces "promise")

Another device of leaving out irrelevant words is to form "noun chains",

in which prepositions and articles have been omitted.

They should be read in the reverse order, if you want to make them

out: "The president of the United States of America" is turned into "U.S.

President"; forecast of the weather will be "weather forecast".

Obviously journalists also use simplified grammar. They adjust the rules

for the use of the tenses in English, when they invent headlines. For

recently completed actions, they use the simple present, instead of the

present perfect.

The headline:

ENGLAND BEATS FRANCE:

doesn't mean that the English team has the habit of beating the French

every time they meet, but only that they succeeded in doing so this

time.

The present participle instead of the present continuous is used for

present and immediate future actions:

QUEEN LEAVING FOR JAPAN:

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Future actions are rendered by "to+infinitive", which is a shortened

form of "be+to+infinitive". Parts of the verb "to be" are usually left out.

Reading exercise: skimming

1. Language = knowledge of:

(1) ____________________________

(2) ____________________________

(3) ____________________________

(4) ____________________________

(5) ____________________________

2. The language of the news = knowledge of the language +

knowledge of

____________________________

3. The language of newspaper headlines:

1) Headlines: aim at _____________________

are influenced by _____________________

2) their language:

a. vocabulary: d___________________________

st___________________________

headlines = ____________________________________________

structure words: ______________________________________

stress on n__________ and v_____________

absence of _____________________________b. grammar:

recently completed action: ___________________________________________

future action: ________________________________________________________

future intention: _____________________________________________________

Vocabulary-exercises

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Find words or expressions that mean the same as (the ex. is

built up in the order of the text)

* 1. to cause to be necessary, to require :

2. a subject :

3. a shortage, an absence :

4. to have as a necessary part or result :

5. characteristics :

* 6. to have met, to know :

* 7. the purpose :

8. complete :

9. the responsible person of a newspaper :

10. an amusing use of a word or phrase :

that has two meanings or of words with

the same sound but different meanings

11. a trick :

12. to drop :

13. of meaning in language :

* 14. to promise :

15. not very important :

16. to understand with difficulty :

17. clearly :

18. to adapt :

2. Use some of the previous words in the following sentences

1. "Is she sorry?" "___________________ not! Look at her mad behaviour.

2. Wet weather is a _____________________ of life in Scotland.

3. He made this _______________ : "Seven days without water make one

weak."

4. In writing this report I have ___________________ all unnecessary details.

5. Rights _______________ duties. It's not enough to speak, you should also

act!

6. The missile has a heat-seekign _________________ which enables it to find

its target.

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7. The job ___________________ travelling abroad for three months each

year.

8. The government _______________ to re-house the refugees. Will they

keep their promise?

9. If he can do the job well, his age is not important. It's

__________________.

10. I can't ___________________ how to use this new camera! It's really

complicated.

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The Secret Language of Newspaper Headlines in Britain