continued from No. 1,
3, 4, 6, 8, 10
The Use of Language in Newspapers
English newspaper writing dates from the 17th century. The first
newspapers carried only news, without comments, as commenting was considered to be against
the principles of journalism. By the 19th century, newspaper language was recognized as a
particular variety of style, characterized by a specific communicative purpose and its own
system of language means.
It includes a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and
grammatical means serving the purpose of informing, instructing and, in addition, of
entertaining the reader. As a result of this diversity of purposes, newspapers contain not
only strictly informational, but also evaluative material – comments and views of the
news-writers, especially characteristic of editorials and feature articles.
Not all the printed matter found in newspapers come under newspaper
style. The modern newspaper carries material of an extremely diverse character. On the
pages of a newspaper one finds not only news and comments on it, but also stories and
poems, crossword puzzles, and the like. Since these serve the purpose of entertaining the
reader, they cannot be considered specimens of newspaper style. Nor can articles in
special fields, such as science and technology, art, literature, etc. be classed as
belonging to newspaper style.
Since the primary function of a newspaper is to impart information,
only printed matter serving this purpose comes under newspaper language variety. Such
matter can be classed as:
1. brief news items and communiquйs;
2. press reports (parliamentary, of court proceedings, etc.);
3. articles purely informational in character;
4. advertisements and announcements.
The function of brief news items, communiquйs and reports is to
inform the reader. They state only facts without giving commentary. This accounts for the
total absence of any individuality of expression and the lack of emotional colouring. The
vocabulary used here is neutral and common literary. It is essentially matter-of-fact, and
stereotypical forms of expression prevail. But apart from this, a newspaper has its
specific vocabulary that can be found in its other features – editorials, articles, and
advertisements.
As the newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion on various
social, political or moral matters, its language frequently contains vocabulary with
evaluative connotation, such as to allege (the person who allegedly committed
the crime), to claim (the defendant claims to know nothing about it). These
cast some doubt on what is stated further and make it clear to the reader that those are
not yet affirmed facts. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and
way of presenting the news, not only in the use of specific vocabulary but in syntactic
constructions indicating a lack of surity on the part of the reporter as to the
correctness of the facts reported or his/her desire to avoid responsibility, e.g., Mr.
J Brown was said to have opposed the proposal. He was quoted as saying… (The
Complex Subject).
The headlines of news items, apart from giving information about the
subject-matter, also carry a considerable amount of appraisal (the size and placement of
the headline, the use of emotionally coloured words and elements of emotive syntax), thus
indicating an interpretation of the facts in the news item that follows.
But the principle vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the
newspaper article, and the editorial, in particular. Editorials (leading articles ) are
characterized by a subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise, and therefore
have more in common with political essays or articles and should rather be classed as
belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper. However, newspaper publicistic
writing bears the stamp of its own style. Though it seems natural to consider newspaper
articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style, it
is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate phenomenon characterized by a
combination of styles – the newspaper style and the publicistic style. In other words,
they may be considered hybrids.
The bulk of the vocabulary used in newspaper writing is neutral and
literary. But it has as well its specific features such as the intensive use of:
a) Special political and economic terms, e.g., stability,
elections, anti-terror war, military facilities, terrorist network, opinion polls, human
rights, budget deficit, immigration, presidential vote, race, opponent, business,
security, to devastate, blast.
b) Non-term political words, e.g., officials, hostages,
kidnappers, protest, breakdown, regime, local terror cells, popularity rating, emergency
anti-terror funding. A characteristic feature of political vocabulary is that the
borderline between terms and non-terms is less distinct than in the vocabulary of other
special fields. The semantic structure of some words comprises both terms and non-terms,
e.g., crisis, agreement, progressive, nationwide, unity.
c) Lofty, bookish words including certain phrases based on
metaphors and thus emotionally coloured: war hysteria, escalation of war, overwhelming
majority, a storm of applause, post attack cleanup, global hunt for terrorists, a
shot of power.
d) Newspaper clichйs, i.e., stereotyped expressions,
commonplace phrases familiar to the reader, e.g., public opinion, free markets,
long-term agreements, a melting pot, to cast a veto over, crucial/pressing problems, zero
tolerance, political correctness, to go postal (extremely hostile). Clichйs
more than anything else reflect the traditional manner of expression in newspaper writing.
They are commonly looked upon as a defect of style. Some clichйs, especially those based
on trite images, e.g., captains of industry, pillars of society, bulwark of
civilization are pompous and hackneyed. But nevertheless, clichйs are indispensable
in newspaper style: they prompt the necessary associations and prevent ambiguity and
misunderstanding.
e) Abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines are
full of abbreviations of various kinds. Among them abbreviated terms – names of
organizations, public and state bodies, political associations, industrial and other
companies, various offices, etc. known by their initials are very common; e.g., EU
(European Union), UNO (United Nations Organization), WTO (World Trade
Organization), EEC ( European Economic Community), CNN (Cable News Network),
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), CEO (Chief Executive Officer), MBA
(Master of Business Administration), DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), BAC
(Blood Alcohol Concentration). The widespread use of initials in newspaper language has
been expanded to the names of persons constantly in the public eye, and one can find
references to LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson), JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy), W/Dubya
(George W. Bush). Sometimes the whole statements are referred to by their initials, e.g., WYSIWYG
(What you see is what you get), FAQ (Frequently asked questions), BTW (By
the way), 9/11 or 9–11 (September 11, 2001).
f) Neologisms. They are very common in newspaper vocabulary. The
newspaper is very quick to react to any new development in the life of society, in science
and technology. Hence, neologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very
easily and often even spring up on newspaper pages. Now, in the early 21st century,
neologisms relating to computers and the Internet outnumber all others, for example, cybersickness
(a feeling of illness caused by using a computer for long periods of time), keypal
(someone with whom one regularly exchanges e-mail), online auction, access provider,
MP3, PDA (Personal digital assistant), animatronics.
Finance has also launched numerous new words, such as dead cat
bounce (a situation in which the price of shares rises a small amount after a large
fall, sometimes before falling further), stealth tax (a tax that you pay on
something that you buy rather than tax you pay directly to the government, and which you
are less aware of paying than, for example, direct tax on your income). Sometimes finance
and computers come together, as with dot-com (a person or a company whose business
is done using the Internet),
e-cash (money that can be used to buy things on the Internet, but that does not
exist in a physical form or belong to any particular country).
Many new words have come from medicine and biological science, e.g.,
biologically engineered, genetically modified; from the world of business: benchmark
(to use a company’s good performance as a standard by which to judge the performance of
other companies of the same type), best practice (a description of the best way of
performing a particular activity in business).
g) Foreign words. These have come from different languages. Some
are traditionally used in newspaper writing, others have recently come from the areas of
new technology (computers, Internet, business, entertainment and changes in society), for
example, beaucoup (= a lot of money; from French); ad hoc (= specialized;
from Latin); bona fide (= real, true and not intended to deceive somebody (from
Latin): I wanted to prove my bona fides; curriculum vitae (CV) (= resume;
from Latin); sine qua non
(= something that you must have; from Latin); carte blanche (= complete freedom;
from French); nouveau riche (= someone who has only recently become rich and spends
a lot of money; from French); tкte-а-tкte (= a private conversation; from
French); glitch (= a small fault in working of something; from German); macho
(= a man who is always trying to show that he is strong, brave; from Spanish); schlock
(= careless work / odd jobs, catchpenny job; from Yiddish).
The above-listed peculiarities of brief news items are vocabulary
parameters used in an English newspaper. These vocabulary groups are also commonly found
in headlines and newspaper articles. They are generally devoid of any emotional colouring.
But some popular papers tend to introduce emotionally coloured elements into the
matter-of-fact, linguistically neutral news items, e.g., In Ohio, O’Gara-Hess and
Eisenhardt Armoring Co. says it is flush with new orders to crank out 300
“up-armoured” Humvees per month. (Newsweek, 2004);
Health Minister made his shock announcement in the Commons.
(Time, 2003).
Important as vocabulary is, it is not so much the words and phrases
used in brief news items that distinguish them from other forms of newspaper writing. The
basic peculiarities of item news lie in their syntactic structure. As the reporter is
obliged to be brief, he naturally tries to cram all his facts into the space allotted.
This tendency predetermines the peculiar composition of brief items and the syntactical
structure of the sentences. The size of brief items varies from one sentence to several
short paragraphs. And generally, the shorter the news item, the more complex its
syntactical structure.
The following grammatical peculiarities of brief news items are of
paramount importance, and may be regarded as grammatical parameters of newspaper writing:
a) Complex sentences with a developed system of clauses, e.g.,
Although Mayfield denied any connection – he insisted his passport
had expired last October and he hadn’t been out of the country in years – he was
detained as a “material witness” in a grand-jury investigation while the FBI tries to
build its case (Newsweek, 2004). (6 clauses)
b) Verbal constructions (infinitive, gerundial,
participial), e.g.,
Since 9/11 Donald Rumsfeld has insisted on personally signing
off on the harsher methods used to squeeze suspected terrorists held at
the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (Newsweek, 2004).
c) Syntactical complexes, especially the Nominative with Infinitive
(The Complex Subject). These constructions are largely used to avoid mentioning the source
of information or to shun responsibility for the facts reported, e.g.,
Demands from Washington are likely to worsen Blair’s
relationship with serving generals. The White House wants more troops in Iraq –
2,000 is the rumoured figure – to replace the departing Spanish. If the Poles cut
their forces, too, as they’re hinting they may, Washington will likely urge British troops
to take over command of the holy Shiite city of Najaf, home to rabble-rousing imam
Moqtada ai-Sadr (Newsweek, 2004).
d) Attributive noun groups are another powerful means of
effecting brevity in news items, e.g., classic cold-war-style telephone diplomacy;
government anti -terror policies; a new patented smoking cessation program; an exclusive
worldwide assistance network; the normally self-assured Pentagon chief; the national
income and expenditure figures.
e) Specific word order. Newspaper tradition, coupled with the
rigid rules of sentence structure in English, has greatly affected the word order of brief
news items. The word order in one-sentence news paragraphs and in what are called leads
(the initial sentences in longer news items) is more or less fixed. Journalistic practice
has developed the “five-w-and-h-pattern rule” (who-what-why-how-where-when) and for a
long time strictly adhered to it. In terms of grammar, this fixed sentence structure may
be expressed in the following way: Subject – Predicate (object) – Adverbial modifier
of reason (manner) – Adverbial modifier of place – Adverbial modifier of time, e.g.,
The US Consul-General, Mr. Maxwell McCullough, snooped incognito
round the anti-Polaris art exhibition ‘Count Down” in the McLellan Galleries here this
morning (Daily Worker, 1971).
A noticeably leaner Nestor Kirchner granted a rare interview last
month to NEWSWEEK’s Joseph Contreras in Buenos Aires after he was hospitalized for six
days for treatment of stomach bleeding (Newsweek, 2004).
The “five-w-and-h” structure long claimed to be the only right
pattern to use in news reports is nowadays often violated. And it is obvious that the
newspaper has developed new sentence patterns not typical of other styles. This
observation refers, firstly, to the position of the adverbial modifier of time. Now,
statistics show that there are approximately as many cases in which the traditional word
order is violated as those in which it is observed. Compare other patterns typical of
brief news sentence structure;
President Pervez Musharraf says it was “destiny” that saved him
from an assassination attempt on the rainy evening of Dec. 14, when several bombs
destroyed a bridge just moments after his motorcade sped across (Time, 2004).
On November 5, “The Matrix Revolutions” premiered
simultaneously in every major city in the world (The World of English,
2004).
On the day after Super Tuesday, a ghost of politics past
materialized in Los Angeles: George W. Bush the Candidate (Time, 2004).
There are some other, though less marked, tendencies in news item
writing of modifying well-established grammatical norms. Mention should be made of
occasional disregard for the sequence of tenses rule and the rules for reporting speech.
What is ordinarily looked upon as a gross violation of grammar rules in any other kind of
writing is becoming increasingly common as a functional peculiarity of newspaper style.
So when he (Saddam Hussein) surrendered without a single shot
from the pistol at his side, Arab diplomats and journalists say the once-admiring
Arab masses were dismayed and embarrassed by his meekness (Time, 2004).
ACTIVITIES
Questions
1. What is the primary function of a newspaper?
2. How does a newspaper influence public opinion on political matters?
3. What linguistic means are used to indicate a lack of surity on the
part of the reporter as to the correctness of the facts reported?
4. What are the principle “vehicles” of interpretation and
appraisal of the events described in a newspaper?
5. List the basic newspaper language features.
6. Describe the specific features of vocabulary in newspaper writing.
Give examples.
7. Comment on the “five-w-and-h” pattern of sentence structure.
Give examples.
8. Describe the grammatical parameters of the newspaper style. Give
examples.
9. Comment on the violation of grammar rules in newspaper writing. Can
it be considered as a functional peculiarity of the style?
10. What accounts for the lack of emotional colouring and individuality
of expression in brief news items?
EXERSISES
Exercise 1. Read and translate a report from “The Daily
Telegraph”. Comment on the vocabulary peculiarities and syntactical patterns used.
BUSH IS ‘JUST AS BAD AS SADDAM’
While President George W. Bush drew applause in America for his plans
to destroy the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, in Baghdad yesterday there were only jeers and
scoffs.
“Bah. These are just gestures that mean nothing,” said Zaineb
Hamid, a 30-year-old typist.
“Anyway they can just build another jail if they want. Saddam and
Bush: they are one and the same.”
Bayan Kubeysi, a professor of Arab literature, said: “Abu Ghraib is
not the issue. The issue is the way the Americans treat us Iraqis. They must leave at once
and that’s it. Anything is better than this.”
If six months ago many educated Iraqis still wanted the American troops
to stay, today that support has withered to almost nil. Dhaher Sadoon, 35, who runs a
furniture shop in the smart Mansour suburb of Baghdad, is typical of the middle-class
Baghdadi who has turned against them. “The situation here is ground zero,” he said.
“There is no security, no life. The Americans simply look after themselves. If they
leave, there will be chaos but there is chaos anyway. I would prefer to take my chances as
a citizen of a free country. Saddam humiliated us but he never went this far.”
In his speech to the US Army War College, Mr. Bush said the destruction
of Abu Ghraib would be “a lifting symbol of Iraq’s new beginning.” But Hamid
al-Bayati, the deputy foreign Minister, said the decision was not one for Mr. Bush to
take. It should be left to the new interim government which takes over on June 30, he
said.
The reasons for the growing hatred of the Americans are not difficult
to fathom. Since they took over, Baghdad has become a virtual war zone. Explosions rock
the city day and night. There are shootings, roadside bombs and banditry is rife. The
military’s reply has been to erect miles of barbed wire and concrete barricades, block
major bridges and close dozens of important roads. Many Iraqis are forced to spend hours
queuing at US-manned checkpoints in the baking sun. The main motorway to Basra has been
requisitioned for sole US military use, forcing locals to make a long detour through
bandit-infested towns.
With each attack against westerners, new security measures are
enforced.
The so-called Green Zone – where ordinary Iraqis are not allowed –
is now far larger than any of the restricted areas Saddam Hussein inflicted on his people.
Meanwhile stories are legion of undisciplined shooting and bullying of
locals. Scores of cars have been crushed by US armour.
Falah Jassan Hassim, 37, a co-owner of an outside billiard bar favoured
by students, said: “If we don’t move our cars quickly enough they smash our
windscreens.”
Ahmed Hussein, 27, was selling petrol in dirty plastic canisters near
Freedom Square, where the Americans famously toppled Saddam Hussein’s statue. “They
helped us to get rid of Saddam,” he said. “But now they must go. Every action they
take provokes people further. If they leave, things will be more peaceful.”
A restaurant manager in central Baghdad said: “We have got to the end
of the movie only to find out that Saddam was the son of the Americans all along.”
By Julius Strauss,
May 26, 2004
Exercise 2. Read the following brief news items. What accounts for the
matter-of-fact vocabulary and the lack of emotional colouring in these newspaper features?
a) ENGLISH LANGUAGE BELONGS TO EVERYONE, SAYS HOWARD
Michael Howard yesterday called for all immigrants to learn English and
to contribute new words from their cultures to make the language even richer.
The Tory leader said the “core” English language was a part of
British culture that should be open to all people who chose to live in this country. “It
belongs to all of us wherever we came from originally,” he told an audience in
Birmingham. Spelling out his belief in a form of multiculturalism that has Britishness at
its heart, he said language was the most obvious “binding” element in society.
“It is important that people who come here to live and to work learn
the language of the notion,” he said. “The English language has never been fixed. Its
richness springs from its absorption of new words from around the world. But the core of
the language remains constant and enables communities to have a dialogue with each other
rather than put up barriers.”
b) EXPORT OF OLD MASTER HALTED
The Government has temporarily banned the export of an $8.1 million Old
Master bought by a Dutch museum. The ban gives British buyers two months to raise the
money for The Burgher of Delft and His Daughter by the 17th-century Dutch
painter Jan Steen.
The painting, which hung in a Welsh castle for 150 years, was bought by
the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is believed to be the most expensive purchase the Dutch
museum has ever made.
By Galina Goumovskaya
to be continued
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