The Use of Language in Newspapers.

Every day in the UK alone, over 12 million newspapers are sold. That's 1 newspaper to every 5 people in the UK. This shows how large the newspaper business is in the UK. It is likely that every time you read a newspaper, you will learn something new, whether this be from the main headline on the front page or from the Sudoku's in the core.  Personally, I just like to flick through and look at the pictures!

My general opinion on the matter was that journalists would use short snappy headlines which grab the attention of the reader. This was backed up by John Burkardt who says that a headline is "an early precursor" and is a "short and snappy summary intended to entice the reader". Burkardt then goes on to explain that an author he investigated, Michael Frayn, identified headlines as monosyllabic so it is easy for the reader of the newspaper to get the message of the headline straight away.

Elena Gomez talks about the use of nouns and verbs in headlines and how often verbs are completely left out of headlines and it can be a string of nouns put together to form a headline.  

Alex Case has an interesting opinion on how the language in headlines differs from how it is used in other areas of English. These include things such as using a greater incidence of some words, a greater use of puns and grammatical changes such as words being left out.

If we look at some newspaper headlines, such as one which reads "Slam Drunk", it is clear to see the play on words that is used in order to sell papers. The person pictured next to the headline is a basketball player, where the term 'slam dunk' is a type of basketball shot as well as field specific lexis as you wouldn't hear this anywhere else. The newspaper has changed 'dunk' to 'drunk' because he was caught drink driving. This pun supports Alex Case's idea that there are a greater use of puns in this area of English.

 

An example of what Elena Gomez was describing, that headlines can have no verb phrase, only a noun or a string of nouns, can be seen in "On The Moon". This headline of 'On The Moon' is not a play on words either. This is likely to be because it is a more serious and important to many people as when man landed on the moon, the world changed. Alex Case's point of words being left out here can also apply because there is no suggestion as to what is on the moon or who is on the moon until you read down.

 

By Tom Mison