Semantic compositionality of Headlines:

Proposed pragmatic functions.

Ÿ Makes use of words and phrases rather than long complete sentences:

To Pass a distilled message within the available space [Manipulate the scope of the message].

Ÿ Elide certain elements:

Ÿ Ellipsis:

a) Content ellipsis: omit those words and expressions revealing the same ideas and concepts or better the same meaning;

b) Structural ellipsis to shed all the grammatical words. i.e. words of low informational value and retain all the lexical ones:

Ÿ Ellipsis of determiners:

c) Abbreviated structures:

To shorten the headline and make it more condensed [paving the way for a framed pragmatic impact].

With few short wording, the headlines writers have to deliver the message with most valuable and relevant [in reference to the writers of the headline] information[that is proposed to frame the whole story]

Can give sense of generality [that the topic is directed to give the sense it affects all people] to greater extent than determiners can do.

To achieve specific communicative goals.

Ÿ [Semantic compositionality of news headlines] is special and has its own syntactic, lexical, rhetorical characteristics:

All serve in creating brevity, attractiveness and clarity [as perceived by the writers of headlines].

Ÿ Prepositions:

To establish relation [as perceived by the writer of the news headline].

Ÿ Piling up information in an extended noun phrase:

To achieve semantic density [that can frame the pragmatic effect].

Ÿ Employing a wide range of structures and sentence types that directly address the reader:

To simulate closeness—to connote synthetic [artificial] personalization.

Ÿ Make use of short words, loan words, nominalization and noun phrases:

To make them more eye-catching and attractive [orienting the intended message].

Ÿ Headlines always keep the main verb and leave the auxiliary:

Main verbs are primary reference to the topic of the news; every day communication omits the main verb, but keep the auxiliary in subsequent reference since the main action expressed by the lexical verb is already known.

Ÿ The Present Simple tense, and

Ÿ present tense is the most common:

Gives a reader the feeling of simultaneity of events.

Ÿ The use of quotations and direct speech:

Evade responsibility.

Ÿ Foreign words and emotional lexis are often used:

[foreign words can maximize the ambiguity level of the headline; as a result, this a ambiguity can arise the curiosity drive of the readers, but, on the other hand, the researchers believes that the use of foreign words can be risky in the sense that they –foreign words can yield the opposite effect and discourage the reader to continue reading neither the headline nor the news story].

Ÿ Tropes; metonymy, metaphor:

Plays a crucial role in the cognitive power of the reader.

Ÿ Emotionally colored words and phrases:

To attract the readers’ attention; produce strong emotional effects.

Ÿ Sensationalism:

Enhancing the worthiness of the news story; attention –grapping technique.

Ÿ Deliberately break up set expressions or deform special terms:

Maximize the reader’s curiosity.

Ÿ Active verbs:

Give meaning and weight to the headlines; while finite verbs forms are very often omitted.

Ÿ Infinitive is often used instead of future tenses:

Giving urgency and immediacy.

Ÿ Numbers should be written as numerals:

In order to save space.

Ÿ Punctuation should be avoided:

Space crunch can be justified.

Unnecessary use of a comma or a semi colon may lead to giving an entirely new angle to the message; creates misinterpretation.

Ÿ The sign of exclamation:

Used to generate interest.

Ÿ the question mark:

Implies speculation or doubt.

Ÿ comma is used instead of “and”:

Indicate addition.

Ÿ question headlines have to be replaced by direct sentences:

As questions refer to uncertainty; if the topic is interesting enough, question headlines might be used.

Ÿ Abbreviations: different ways of shortening words like initials, acronym, clipping and blending:

Are quick ways to tell a lot; abbreviations allow the scope to guess or involve oneself in de constructing the full form; a best technique to make headlines attractive.

Because they save space on page and they also require the readers to stop a little to think of the original word or expression.

Ÿ Use words from the dictionary that are far from the understanding of the common news reading population:

Making the readers turn back and go to the news article to grab its actual meaning.

Ÿ Fixed expression; idiomatic usage; deliberate modification of these items:

Cashing in on readymade communicative meaning chunks, triggering extra communicative potential by creatively varying what is thought of as invariable forms.

Ÿ The use of rhyme, rhythm, and alliteration:

To make headlines sound poetic, eye-grabbing, and memorable.

Ÿ The use of puns or alliteration:

for the sake of humorous effect

The use of

Ÿ Complex riddles:

Ÿ Juxtapositions:

Maximize readers’ expectations; a rousing mental involvement; boosting curiosity.

Ÿ tricky words that bore very little relevance or no relevance to the news story:

Making the news story interesting but also to get the reader wondering what it could mean and thus adding ambiguity to the news.

Ÿ Using simple, short, precise and appropriate words:

Conveying both connotative and detonative meaning to the readers.

Ÿ Cultural heritage (Bible, classical world, culture):

Source domain and referencing.

Ÿ Personify the name of countries:

Order to project the result as the consequence of country’s action as a whole. Save space in the news headlines by allowing the attribution of action to single individual agents. In addition, personification blurred and disguised the role of actual people responsible for the actions described.

Ÿ The Cataphoric structure.

Attract the attention and arouse the readers’ curiosity [Foregrounding noun phrase and then framing the readers’ cognitive stand].