Transcript Helsingin Yliopisto

On textual norms 1: properties of
English newspaper texts
 Somewhat different norms for different types
of language use
 Spoken and written texts share most but not
all norms
 For example, the use of premodifiers vs.
relative clauses (this widely acclaimed
method – this method which is highly
regarded by…)
 Similarly, somewhat different norms for child
and adult language
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21.7.2015
 English newspaper texts differ from other
types of written texts
 For instance, news item heading verbs are
typically in the present tense: Leonard Nimoy
dies at 83 (International New York Times, Feb
28 – Mar 1 2015, p. 1)
 Similarly, short front page introductions often
without any verb at all: Paul Krugman on what
the Greeks won, INYT Feb 28 – Mar 1, p. 1)
 Also, photo captions follow some norms
which other texts do not always obey
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 The word order of sentences in newspaper
texts often different from texts belonging to
other types: The Senate on Friday passed a bill
to finance… (INYT p. 7)
 There is some variation, however: The
Mexican police said on Friday that… (INYT p.
7)
 Yet, newspaper texts also often follow some
general tendencies, cf. the tendency of setting
a background for further things at the
beginning: “It was just after New Year’s [?] in
2012 when… (INYT p. 9)
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 Ideological background of the author or the
publisher also sometimes shown: cf.
Jerusalem (INYT and other non-Arab
publications) vs. Occupied Jerusalem (Arab
newspapers)
 Other types of texts do not necessarily show
their background in an equally explicit way
 The difference has to do with the aims of the
texts: newspaper texts are sometimes written
for the purpose of persuading readers
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 The beginnings of English newspaper texts
also sometimes different from the beginnings
of other types of text cf. the use of quotations
at the beginning: “Tremble with your feet!”
(INYT, p. 17)
 A quotation makes the reader interested: what
does this text refer to?
 A quotation serves as a compact background
 A quotation is an economical piece of text: it
may serve more than one textual function
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 Newspaper articles often contain inserts (short
quotations of the article text printed in bold
and surrounded by quotation marks)
 In other types of texts this is not equally
common
 Inserts attract the reader’s attention and seek
to make the reader read the whole text
 Inserts often not fully understandable unless
the article text itself is also read
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 Translation of news items by news agencies
often calls for some changes in the structure of
the text
 Other languages do not follow exactly the
same norms as English news texts
 The type of the media used also has an effect
on the text, cf. newspapers vs. television news
broadcasts (written vs. spoken text)
 The differences connected to some extent with
the amount of time available (spoken texts vs.
written texts, cf. dubbing vs. subtitling)
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21.7.2015