中英新闻标题的语言修辞比较研究.doc

中英新闻标题的语言修辞比较研究 新闻标题在新闻报道中起着至关重要的作用。新闻写作中，新闻标题往往是新闻故事重心的高度概括。在竞争激烈的现代社会中，很多人都没有充裕的时间从头到尾地看完一篇新闻报道，所以大多数读者都试着花最短的时间得到最多的信息。由此可见，新闻标题标题特殊作用不容忽视。而一个完美的新闻标题就像新闻报纸的脸蛋和眼睛，只有当脸蛋迷人眼睛动人这篇文章才能抓住读者的眼球才能体现其价值。为了吸引读者，新闻标题通常会使用多种多样的修辞手法。而修辞手法是一种运用准确、独特、生动的语言来表达思想的技巧。因此，修辞技巧被频繁地用于新闻写作中以此达到说服、透明化和表达优美的效果。 以往对中英新闻标题的研究大都从文体特征、翻译技巧等分别进行宏观性的研究。本文将运用归纳论证、演绎论证与对比论证等等研究方法对中英新闻标题中的修辞进行对比研究 ，使研究更具有现实感和指导意义。Introduction News is usually composed of three parts: headline, lead and body. The headline is a concentrated generalization of the news content, revealing to the reader the main idea of the news in the most concise form. In order to attract readers, both Chinese and English headlines usually use various rhetorical devices in the forms such as clipped words, initialisms, acronyms, short words, loanwords, invented words, slangs, etc. Rhetoric is a kind of artifice that use accurate, distinct and vivid language to express ones mind. Researches carried out in the past are mostly on the styles of writing characteristic, translating artifices and so on with a macroscopical view. On the basis of some research results about Chinese and English headlines in the past, this paper analyzes and compares the rhetoric between Chinese and English headlines. Then I will set forth concretely the major factors affecting the differences between them. The main body of my thesis is unfolded mainly from following aspects: Part I is to explain the universality of rhetoric in the headline, and it includes the definition, categories and necessity of rhetoric in news headlines. Part II is the main point of this paper. This part analyzes characteristics of rhetoric both in Chinese and English news headlines and differences between them.Part III illustrates several typical examples of Chinese and English headlines to contrast. Part IV is also a comparatively important part, concretely analyzing the factors affecting the differences: different cultures and modes of thinking.This paper makes use of many study methods such as illustration, comparison, analogism and so on., which make my study have more. real feelings and guiding significance.from 1. The Universality of Rhetoric in News Headlines1.1 Definition of Rhetoric Rhetoric is a branch discipline of linguistics. It is not a new subject.It has a long history both in the West and in China. The word “rhetoric” originated from Greek “rhetorike” and was first defined as the art of persuasion, equivalent to argumentation by Aristotle. Rhetoric has ever been given different definitions by many scholars in the history. Such as Aristotle, in the 4th century B. C., first defines rhetoric as the art of persuasion which was found to suit any subject. And John Locke, an English philosopher of the late 17th century, describes rhetoric as the science of oratory or the art of speaking with propriety, elegance and force. In The Philosophy of Rhetoric, I. A. Richards(1893一1979)defines rhetoric in two ways: “how words work in discourse” and “the study of misunderstanding and its remedies”(Hu Shuzhong, 2002).According to Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, “Rhetoric is traditionally a discipline concerned with the effective use of language, to persuade, give pleasure, and so on”In fact, the word can be used in various contexts, and sometimes it takes on a derogative meaning, that is, elaborate language which is intended to impress but is often insincere, meaningless or exaggerated. But as an academic term, it is now widely acknowledged that “rhetoric” refers to the “art of using language impressively or persuasively, especially in public speaking” (Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary, Fourth Edition). In China, Chen Wangdao, in his Origin of Rhetoric，defined rhetoric as an effort to adjust the language so as to convey thought and feelings appropriately. Luo Xiaosuo in his Modern Rhetoric(1994 ) states that rhetoric refers to methods, techniques or laws of language application, whose purpose is for a better conveyance of thought and feeling as well as a good adaptation to a certain context. While the book Comparison and Translation (1994) explains that rhetoric is a kind of language activity, a science exploring the rules on how to enhance the language expressiveness.These definitions show that different people have studied and defined rhetoric from different perspectives. These definitions also reflect the functions of rhetoric in a language, especially in speeches. Rhetorical devices are quite largely applied to achieve the purpose of persuasion. Apparently, rhetoric can efficiently embody the speakers mind, arouse emotional climax, create magical charm, promote mutual understanding and so on. In general, rhetoric is closely concerned with language form (lexical form, phonetic form and grammatical forms for the purpose of strengthening the expressiveness.) There are three basic elements in rhetoric: fact, reason and feeling. Any piece of written discourse contains a combination of these elements. Knowing how to combine these elements will help writers shape, elaborate and refine their own work in order to achieve a better rhetorical effect.1.2 Classifications of Rhetorical Devices Rhetorical devices are generally classified into two categories: communicative rhetorical devices and aesthetic rhetorical devices. They are also respectively equal to passive rhetoric and active rhetoric in Origin of Rhetoric raised by Chen Wangdao. Communication rhetorical devices emphasize the diction and sentence organization, stressing the logical thinking and accurate narration, while aesthetic rhetorical devices mainly focus on the use of figures of speech. Figures of speech refer to those rhetorical devices dealing with the way words are made to mean other than what they would normally imply. For example, it is more vivid and colorful to say that sun “jump from the horizon like a yolk” in the sky instead of saying simply that it “rise from the horizon” in the sky. Here “jump from the horizon like a yolk” is both a simile and a personification. Such figures of speech as simile, metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, personification, and paradox, make up the most commonly used ones nowadays. They are ways of making our language figurative. Figures of speech can be divided into three groups in light of the linguistic level they are practiced. They are figures of speech as practiced with sounds, figures of speech as practiced with words, and figures of speech as practiced with sentences.The news rhetoric as a kind of tactic meaning must obey certain principles in the news execution. Firstly, it should be correct and frondose, fresh and vivid, popular and understandable. Finally, it should obey the principle of truth, balance and neutrality.1.3 The Necessity of Exploring Rhetoric in News Headlines Newspapers serve mainly to provide information on events from all over the world. It is, however, difficult and impossible for most readers to read all the news articles in the daily newspapers because of their various interests and the time constraint. They have, therefore, to be selective in reading newspapers and readers rely on the headlines in making such a selection. The main function of news headlines is to provide a gist of the main content of the news articles so that readers still have the general picture of the news stories even without reading the texts. In addition, the special typographical layouts of news headlines, such as large and colorful fonts, can make them stand out so that readers can locate them easily and at the same time, attract readers attention.Bell and Baskette et al. note that the reading process and the production process of newspapers are different. Generally, we read newspapers in this order: Headlines -News texts However, The creation of news headlines actually is the final stage of the newspaper production. The spatial constraint in newspapers does not allow editors to put every thing into the headlines. Instead, they have to pick out the salient information from the news stories to be highlighted in the headlines. They will choose appropriate linguistic expressions, sentence structures or rhetorical devices which can best fit the information to be expressed in the headlines. In addition, information which is assumed among the readers or can be inferred from the context is always elicited from the headlines (Chin & Tsou 1997). Therefore, the language used in the news headlines is not a random choice. Whats more, the language used in news discourses is not just to convey information to readers, but it also can manifest the use of language in the community and subsequently, namely, it can “reflect and influence the formation and expression of culture, politics and social life” (Garrett & Bell 1997). It is admitted that headlines are one of the key components in newspapers and they are considered to have their own characteristics and status in the news discourses (van Dijk 1986 and Bell 1991).It is claimed that the features embodied in news headlines are not solely linguistic phenomena, “but also relate to the role which this kind of language has to play, in other words, extra-linguistic factors will be also taken into consideration” (Vandenbergen 1981, p. 29). These so-called “extra-linguistic factors” highly correlates to the social, political and cultural context of the corresponding community. Therefore, the comparative study of the words in different news headlines can reflect some social differences between the communities.2. Rhetorical Comparison between Chinese and English Headlines2.1 Characteristics of Rhetoric in Chinese News Headlines In Chinese, rhetoric is translated as xiuci. In fact, it is not an appropriate translation because the connotations of two do not coincide in many aspects preferred to use xiuci as a catachresis of rhetoric. It is believed that with the introduction of western rhetorical theories into China, the coinciding aspects of two disciplines would be more. In our country, the word “rhetoric is always associated with tropes and other means of polishing language. Chen Wangdao figures that rhetoric is an “endeavor”. Zhang Zhigong held that it is a “process” while Wang regarded it as an “activity” (Hu, 2002). No matter “endeavor”, “process” or “activity”, the main theme in the studies of rhetoric in Chinese tradition is always something about the effect of language. Liu Fuyuan (1999) held rhetoric in ancient China emphasized transfer of feelings and meanings while western rhetoric stressed persuasion, which was determined by different thought styles of two traditions, that is, Chinese think much of feelings while western people prefer logic. Gu Yueguo (1989) proposed that in terms of the form of rhetorical thought; “language-as-center” is the soul of Chinese rhetoric while “purpose-as-center” is the core of western rhetoric. He also concluded the influence of this difference on the development of rhetoric. First, Chinese rhetoric manifests in choosing and polishing language while how to realize the purpose is the most essential in western rhetoric.Secondly, because of this difference, Chinese rhetoric focuses more on the unit of sentence or smaller units. The research of a discourse is the domain of other disciplines. Western rhetoric has already been applied to many aspects of human life, no matter of language or non-language. The objects of studies are much broader.Thirdly, in recent years, the scope of Chinese rhetoric has been broadened to the type of writing, which is an inevitable result of the “language-as-center” characteristic of it. However, in western world, the research about the type of writing is only a branch of linguistics instead of rhetoric.2.2 Characteristics of Rhetoric in English News Headlines Rhetorical figures are also called “figures of speech” or “figures of rhetoric”. In the ancient western rhetoric, the basic meaning of rhetorical figures is “the use of a figurative word or expression (mainly nouns) to substitute the name of one thing” (Cong Xingzi, 1990, 136). Quintilian, the great rhetorician of ancient Rome, once defined rhetorical figures as “manners of speaking that are far removed from the ordinary and natural manner” (Dubois, 1981,10). Western rhetoric has much broader scope of study and has already been applied to many aspects of communication. The emphasis is put not only on the form of language and its context but also on how communicators try to control and make favorable elements to realize their purposes. The English people favor direct styles, the linear way of writing. When they are writing, they are inclined to come quickly to the core of a message. English headline writers are unlikely to seek rhetorical devices for help because each English letter takes up a space unit. More words could only add to the difficulty of word counting. Among the different rhetorical devices discussed, English headlines show a preference for alliteration. Written English, ever since it was born, is a representative of spoken English. And ancient western scholars put much emphasis frequently on spoken language. As a result, alliteration, closely related to sound, is used.2.3 Rhetorical Differences between Chinese and English Headlines Chinese headline writers take greater advantage of figures of speech than English ones. Sometimes when the news gist is not so complicated and allows more space for the headlines than is needed, Chinese headline writers may turn to figures of speech to fill in the space or to perfect the headlines so as to make them impressive. English headline writers are unlikely to seek rhetorical devices for help because each English letter takes up a space unit. More words could only add to the difficulty of word counting.Among the different rhetorical devices discussed, English headlines show a preference for alliteration while duiou is the favorite in Chinese headlines. Written English, ever since it was born, is a representative of spoken English. Ancient western scholars put much emphasis frequently on spoken language. As a result, alliteration, closely related to sound, is used. For example,1) “Bye, bye balanced budget” Alliteration is used in the news headline. The repeated “b” sound at the beginning of the words makes the headline sound witty and lively.2) “Fit or Fat?” This is the headline of an article that tries to persuade people to exercise more. Alliteration is used to be very precise and expresses the potential caution. Generally speaking, styles of Chinese and English news title are quite different. Chinese headlines are wrriten much more for literary grace and get used to antitheses and rhyme, while English headlines seem plain and simple.It foucus on present the facts.The betaking of rhetorical