Person References in Newspaper Headlines 英文报纸新闻标题中的人物指称用语研究.docx

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1、Person References in Newspaper Headlines Under the Supervision of Professor Ding YanrenSubmitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of ArtsEnglish DepartmentSchool of Foreign StudiesNanjing University ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThe completion of this thesis cannot be realized b

2、ut for the help from a group of individuals, to whom I owe the deepest gratitude. Id like to take this opportunity to express my heart-felt thankfulness to all of them. My deepest appreciation first extends to my two supervisors, Prof. Chen Xinren and Prof. Ding Yanren. Prof. Chen led me into the fi

3、eld of Pragmatics and under his consistent help and supervision, I acquired some knowledge about the discipline. When abroad, he still contacted us closely and helped me solve problems encountered in my research. Prof. Ting took over the supervising task when Prof. Chen went abroad for study. He has

4、 provided me with very detailed instructions on the composing of my thesis paper. He even helped to check my typing and identified many typing mistakes. Without his constant help, encouragement and expert advice during the whole process when I was dragging through each stage of this thesis, this pap

5、er couldnt have been finished so quickly. His great help also finds its way in offering assistance in handling the methodological problems, providing constructive suggestions for analyzing the data and taking great pains in reading and revising this thesis meticulously. Thanks for his encouragement,

6、 advices and patience.I am also grateful for Prof. Wen Qiufang, whose strict requirements as well as insightful instructions in the thesis writing course is of great help to the methodology adopted in this thesis. I would also express my appreciation to all the professors who assisted me during my t

7、hree years of postgraduate study and the completion of this thesis, such as Prof. Heng Renquan, Prof. Yu Hongliang, Prof. Wang Lifei and Prof. Wang Wenyu. Finally, Id like to express my heart-felt thanks to my family and all others who directly or indirectly helped me to bring this thesis into being

8、.For any errors that still remain, I personally shoulder full responsibility. ABSTRACTPerson references in online English newspaper headlines When writing newspaper headlines, editors cannot avoid using expressions to refer to human or nonhuman entities. However, these referring expressions (accessi

9、bility markers) never receive due attention from researchers. The researcher in this paper explored the use of person references in headlines from online English newspapers published in USA and China. First, the researcher examined the use of person references in the homepages of Eight American news

10、papers. Then she focused on three newspapers, two tabloids and one broadsheet and examined person references from the business, sports, entertainment and news sections. Third, she examined person references from the headlines of all the sections in two Chinas English newspapers. This study produces

11、the following results:(1) American newspapers tend to use more intermediate accessibility markers than high or low ones although when appropriate, they also make headlines as short as possible by using zeros or make them rather long by using indefinite descriptions. Last names are used more often th

12、an other types of names in the headlines of online American newspapers. (2) Different sections (excluding the news section) and different newspapers use intermediate accessibility markers more often than they use low or high accessibility markers. The news section use a large number of low rather th

13、an intermediate or high accessibility markers. In addition, the business section uses the largest number of zeros; the Sports section has the largest number of last names; the entertainment section uses first names most frequently and the news section uses indefinite descriptions most frequently.(3)

14、 English newspapers in China, unlike their American counterparts, use low accessibility markers more frequently than the intermediate or high markers. Also, they use high accessibility markers very scarcely compared with American newspapers. English newspapers in China seldom use zeros and pronouns.

15、 The present study further verifies the pattern of referring in newspaper headlines with new data sources, thus contributing to the study of journalistic writing by complementing the convention-based approach to the study of journalistic writing, which is by nature prescriptive, with an approach tha

16、t is both descriptive and explanatory.中文摘要 英文报纸新闻标题中的人物指称用语研究 报纸标题是报纸的一个重要组成部分，很多研究人员都对它进行了研究。但却很少有人研究标题中的指称用语，这与其重要性是不成比例的。 报纸中每个标题都离不开对人或物的指称，研究标题中的指称表达意义重大。Kronrod和Engel（2001）研究了以色列报纸标题中的指称用语，发现其中使用最多的是中可及性指称语（又称可及性标示语），其次是低可及性指称语，使用最少的是高可及指称语。他们认为出现这种分布并没有违背可及性理论的要求，因为不同类型的报纸在指称使用的总体趋势方面并没有不同，不同

17、版面之间也基本一致。之所以不像可及性理论预计的那样，标题中应该以使用低可及指称语为主，两位作者认为是因为节省版面和吸引读者兴趣的需要同可及性理论的共同作用。本文旨在两位作者的基础上具体研究标题中人物指称的使用情况， 即美国在线报纸中人物指称的使用。研究试图发现美国报纸人物指称使用的总体趋势以及不同类型的报纸（大报，小报）和不同的版面在人物指称使用方面是否存在差异。此外研究者还将国内英文报纸和美国报纸进行了对比研究。研究美国报纸人物指称使用的总体趋势时，研究者选取了8份美国报纸的主页作为语料来源，从中抽取出含有人物指称的标题并对其中的人物指称进行归类统计。随后研究者从8份报纸中抽出3份进行具体研

18、究，2份小报1份大报。所有人物指称标题均来自商务，体育，娱乐和新闻四个版面。研究者首先探讨了大小报人物指称的使用情况，然后比较了四版中人物指称的使用。在对比研究中美英文报纸人物指称使用的异同时，研究者选取了两份中国国内知名的英文报纸并对其中所有含标题的版面（包括主页）进行了研究。所有包含人物指称用语的标题被抽取出来作为研究语料。对其中的人物指称，研究者进行了归类统计。而后将之与8份美国英文报进行对照研究，试图从中发现中美人物指称使用的异同。本研究发现美国在线报纸人物指称中，使用最多的是中可及性标示语。在用名字指称人物时，以用人物的姓为主，即名称类中的中可及性标示语。在可能的情况下，标题是能短则

19、短（使用最高可及性标示语即零形式），该长则长（使用最低可及性标示语即不确定描述语）。研究同时显示，不同类型的报纸以及报纸的不同版面(除新闻版)所使用的人物指称都以中可及标示语居多, 而新闻版以使用低可及性标示语为主。此外,各版相较之下仍有自身的特色。商务版所用最高可及性标示语最多；体育版以姓指称最多；娱乐版用名指称最多；而新闻版则使用最低可及性标示语最多。通过对比中美英文报纸人物指称的使用，研究者发现,与美国英文报纸不同的是,国内英文报纸以使用低可及性标示语居多.此外,中国的英文报纸人物指称类型没有美国报纸丰富。中国英文报纸零形式和代词使用较少.TABLE OF CONTENTSAcknowl

20、edgementsEnglish AbstractChinese Abstractii iii v Chapter One Introduction 11.1 Need for the study 1.2 Overview of the thesis layout 1 2Chapter Two Literature Review32.1 Some important terms in the present study2.1.1 Newspaper headline 2.1.2 Accessibility theory2.2 Studies on newspaper headlines2.3

21、The study directly related to the present research2.4 About the present study335121213 Chapter Three Research Methodology 143.1 Research questions 3.2 Materials 3.2.1 The three sets of data 3.2.2 Some clarifications of the materials 3.2.2.1 A general point: Why online newspapers 3.2.2.2 Clarificatio

22、ns of the three sets of data3.3 Data collection and data analysis 3.3.1 The process of data collection and data analysis 3.3.2 Problems encountered in data collection and analysis1415151515161717 20 Chapter Four Findings and Discussions234.1 Person references in American online newspapers 4.1.1 Clar

23、ifications of two points about person references 4.1.2 Findings about the use of person references 4.1.3 Degree of Accessibility4.2 Person references in different American newspapers and different newspaper sections 4.2.1 Person references in different American newspapers 4.2.2 Person references in

24、headlines from different sections4.3 Comparison of the use of person references between American newspapers and Chinas English newspapers4.3.1 Person references in Chinas English newspapers4.3.2 The distribution of person references in Chinas English newspapers 23242528292932373738Chapter Five Concl

25、usions and implications 405.1 Major findings5.2 Implications5.3 Limitations of the study5.4 Suggestions for follow-up studies40414143References45LIST OF TABLESTable 4.1 Person references in the headlines of eight online American newspapers 23Table 4.2 Distribution of person references in American on

26、line newspapers29Table 4.3 Comparison of person references in headlines from different American newspapers30Table 4.4 Breakdown of high, intermediate and low accessibility markers in newspaper headlines31Table 4.5 The distribution of person references over the four sections33Table 4.6 Breakdown of a

27、ccessibility markers in different sections of three newspapers35Table 4.7 Person reference types in Chinas English newspapers 38Table 4.8 Distribution of person references in English newspapers from China39 Chapter OneIntroduction1.1 Need for the StudyIn any discourse, oral or written, the addresser

28、 must first be able to refer to themselves, hearers and third parties, as well as other animate beings, inanimate or physical objects and concepts. In order for communication to be successful, addressers must enable hearers to identify the entities mentioned in the discourse by using appropriate ref

29、erring expressions (or references). In editing headlines, editors also must use referring expressions. As argued by Scollon and Scoollon (2000:53), it is impossible to imagine a sentence that does not make reference in some form. Headlines are no exception in this matter. Although references contrib

30、ute much to headline construction, the overwhelming trend in headline research is to focus on issues like grammar of headlines (Bell, 1984), headline production (Bell, 1984, 1991). Referring expressions in headlines receive little attention from researchers. The existing study directly dealing with

31、referring expressions in newspaper headlines (Kronrod & Engel, 2001) availed itself of Accessibility Theory (Ariel, 1990). The study indicated that accessibility theory could apply to different genres in newspapers (different from Foxs claim, 1987), and that there existed no differences in the patte

32、rns of referring among different types of newspapers. In addition, different sections showed the same patterns of referring (Kronrod & Engel, 2001). Although this study produced some insightful results, there is still much to be investigated in the field of referring expressions. First, only newspap

33、ers in Hebrew were examined for the use of references. Second, no differentiation was made between person references and nonhuman references in the examination of newspaper headlines. Third, almost no attempt was made in China to examine person references in newspaper headlines. Fourth, no compariso

34、n was made between newspapers in the same language from two countries. Given these facts, the researcher wanted to further penetrate into the use of referring expressions in newspaper headlines, more specifically, person references. And unlike the above-mentioned study, the researcher took English n

35、ewspapers (rather than newspapers in Israel) from both U.S. and China as the data source. 1.2 Overview of the Thesis LayoutThis thesis consists of five chapters, which are laid out as follows:Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the present study. It explains the need for the present study and

36、briefs the general structure as well as the content of the thesis.Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature on newspaper headlines. It expounds on some important terms used in the present study, documents the previous studies on newspaper headlines, analyzes the specific studies that inspired the

37、present study and describes the present study. Based on the analytical framework proposed in Chapter Two, Chapter Three talks about the methodology adopted in the present study, lists the research questions and describes the design of the study, the procedures of data collection and analysis. Chapte

38、r Four reports on the findings derived from the study and discusses them in detail. In addition to a summary of the findings, Chapter Five touches upon the possible contribution of the thesis, points out the limitations of the present study and offers suggestions for further studies.Chapter TwoLiter

39、ature Review This chapter expounds on the literature leading to the present study. It consists of four parts. The first part explains some important terms used in this study. The second part reviews the relevant studies on headlines. The third part discusses the study that directly inspires the pres

40、ent research. The last part serves as a brief description of the present study. 2.1 Some Important Terms in the Present Study 2.1.1 Newspaper Headline1. Definition of Newspaper HeadlineHeadline is a jargon of the newspaper. As Bell (1991) puts it, newspaper headlines function as a sub-genre in the j

41、ournalistic genre. They usually contain concise information which has a very newsworthy value according to the editor. In the present study, headlines include not only headlines for print news items but also for audio and visual news (In an online newspaper, both visual and auditory means is adopted

42、. And headlines for audio and visual news are also formulated in words.).2. Functions of Newspaper Headline Headline is the eye of a newspaper. It transfers information and represents the style and attitude of a newspaper. As argued by Zhen Xindong (1992), headline is a very important part of a news

43、 item. It is the tersest words, revealing, assessing and organizing the content of a news item. Zhang Zirang (1999) generalized two major roles for news headline. He argued that on the one hand, headlines guided web-surfers to read, listen and view. On the other hand, headlines could reflect a newsp

44、apers attitude toward a piece of news, influence the public opinion and trigger the value system in their readers.On the whole, headlines can serve the following major functions (Brooks & Sissors, 2003; also cited in Chen, 2002):(1) Attract the readers attention.(2) Summarize the story.(3) Help the

45、reader index the contents of the page. (4) Depict the mood of the story.(5) Help set the tone of the newspaper.(6) Provide adequate typographic relief. 3. Rules of Headline Writing There are many rules concerning headline writing, the following are some common ones shared by different newspaper grou

46、ps (Brooks & Sissors, 2003; ):(1) Keep headlines in the active voice and present tense. The present tense is non-negotiable unless the event has happened long, long ago. The active voice is desirable, although not mandatory.(2) Do not use articles or conjunctions.(3) Do not use “to be” verbs such as

47、 “is” or “are.”(4) Do not make unknown persons headline names and do not use common last names (“Jones,” “Smith,” etc.) or other names that are not easily recognized.(5) Use short, simple words, but avoid such overworked and misused words as “rap,” “eye” (as a verb) and “probe.” The use of such words is known as headlines