Functional Styles. Афанасьева Н.Р - 27 стр.

UNIT 6                                                                               • Some abbreviations are read as words; they are called ac-
NEWSPAPER STYLE                                                               ronyms.
                                                                              NATO /'neitou/ North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
       English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interre-         OPEC /'oupek/       Organisation of Petroleum Exploring Countries
lated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means as a separate unity       AIDS /eidz/        Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
that basically serves the purpose of informing and instructing the reader.           • Abbreviations are used in titles (Mr, Ms, Mrs, Dr, etc.)
       It goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary used in                f) Neologisms. The newspaper is very quick to react to any
newspaper style is neutral and commonly literary. But apart from this,        new development in the life of society and technology. Hence, ne-
newspaper style has its specific vocabulary features, which are pre-          ologisms make their way into the language of the newspaper very
sented in the chart below.                                                    easily. So, not long ago such words as glasnost and Gorbymania
                                                                              used to cover almost each and every inch of printed matter materi-
        a) Special political and economic terms (e.g. apartheid,              als. But many neologisms, the same as slang words, tend to become
 by-election, per capita production).                                         dated very fast.
        b) Non-term political vocabulary (e.g. public, people, pro-
 gressive, nation-wide unity).                                                      These are some of the specific vocabulary features of the style
        c) Newspaper clichés, i.e., stereotyped expressions, com-            but not all of them are covered. To understand the language peculiari-
 monplace phrases familiar to the reader (e.g. vital issue, well-            ties of the newspaper style one has to analyse its basic genres, which
 informed sources, overwhelming majority, amid stormy applause).             can be classed as follows:
        d) Clichés more than anything else reflect the traditional                                      Newspaper Style
 manner of expression in newspaper writing. They are commonly
 looked upon as a defect of style (e.g. captains of industry, pillars of
 society). But nevertheless, clichés are indispensable in newspaper                Headlines                                         Articles
 style: they prompt the necessary associations and prevent ambiguity             Brief News Items            Advertisements and Announcements
 and misunderstanding.
        e) Abbreviations. News items, press reports and headlines                  Headlines
 abound in abbreviations of various kinds as it helps to save space
                                                                                     The headline is the title given to a news item or a newspaper ar-
 and time.
                                                                             ticle. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly
        • Some abbreviations are read as individual letters:
                                                                             of what the news that follows is about. Composing headlines is a real
        WHO (read as W-H-O) World Health Organisation
                                                                             art demanding much creativity on the author's part. They are usually
        BBC                       (British Broadcasting Corporation)
                                                                             written in a sensational way in order to arouse the reader's curiosity.
        UN                        (United Nations)
                                                                             As headline writers try to catch the reader's eye by using as few words
        PM                        (Prime Minister)
                                                                             as possible the language headlines use is jocularly called Headlinese.
        MP                        (Member of Parliament)
                                                                             This sublanguage is characterised by a number of peculiarities. They
                                                                             are given in the table below.

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