Innovations in structure and semantics of modern media headlinesand mechanisms for their implementation

Abstract

The article explores the major trends characterizing the language of modern media. A signifi cant part of them is reflected in the authors' individual methods of presenting headlines in headline complexes using stable phrases (SPs / phraseology constructions). SPs are capable of functioning as a single whole. The author develops a classifi cation of SPs using as criteria either absence or presence of any changes in their semantics, vocabulary, grammatical form, phonetic and/or graphic representation. The author identifi es the mechanisms of language including 1) the lexical mechanism associated with the transformation of the linguistic unit semantics; 2) the grammatical mechanism implying changes in the derivational, morphological and syntactic characteristics of language units being part of the SPs; 3) the phonetic mechanism implying speech functioning of the sound part of the lexical unit / SPs as a whole. By transforming the lexico-semantic, derivational and morphological characteristics of SPs for communicative purposes, the authors of media publications initiate activation of new types of headlines in modern opinion journalism as illustrated by newspaper articles. The objectives of this article are to analyze the nature of SPs transformations infl uenced by one or another language mechanism and at revealing linguistic devices responsible for the transformation of the original linguistic unit. The substantial linguistic material used by the author of this study demonstrates that the techniques of SPs transformation include such processes of reinterpreting the semantics of the original lexemes as narrowing (“straightening”), expansion of semantics, and “semantic multiplication” characterized by several interacting senses within the framework of the headline and the crossheading. Other techniques include transformations of the lexical composition of SPs related to changes in the morphological, derivational and/or syntactic characteristics of lexemes, to selection of unlike lexemes consonant with the original ones, etc. These observations make it possible to draw valid conclusions about a multidirectional nature of the linguistic processes in the nomination of headlines. These processes may have either a positive direction, when the semantics of linguistic units is reinterpreted, or a negative one, when the stylistic norms of the literary language are unaccountably violated.

Keywords:

headline, crossheading of a newspaper text, headline complex, stable phrases (SPs), lexical mechanism of language, grammatical mechanism of language, phonetic mechanism of language, lexical techniques of SPs transformation, reinterpretation; narrowing, reinterpretation, narrowing, “straightening”, “semantic multiplication”, changing of the lexical composition of SPs, elimination, insertion of derivational elements, lexeme segmentation, selection of lexemes by their consonance