LV Syntactical, semantic, and stylistic structures in English and Laos newspaper discourses in terms of headlines

-1CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale newspaper in daily life and in English language teaching
Nowadays, we are living in a time, which witnesses an explosion of
information. The development of science and technology in this century
results in modern means of media, which can provide us with very up - to date information in different ways. It can be said that this is the time that
people can enjoy the achievements of modern technology of the variety of
means of media and have an access to the high quality news and information
from these equipments.
One of the most popular ways of giving news and information is through
the press. Together with the advancements of other means of media, the press
has been developing at a very rapid speed. It can now provide us with the up
- to - minute - news through a great variety of forms including printed press,
which consists of newspapers, magazines, current affairs bulletins, spoken
newspapers (radio programs), and pictorial press (television, audio visual
programs carried out - by different technical means).
It cannot be denied that different forms of media have various roles and
functions in supplying news and information. However, newspapers, which
have the longest history, are still the most popular and convenient means of
communication.

This is because people can get easy access and enjoys

reading newspapers at anytime and anywhere. The printed newspaper has
really become one of the most reliable sources of information and a means of
relaxation since the time it came into being. At present, it has been much
improved and developed in quality and quantity so satisfy the increasing
requirements of the readers.


-2In Laos, the number of news media readers in Lao as well as foreign

languages has greatly increased in the last few years. Besides teaching and
learning of foreign languages, especially English in schools and universities
has made the newspaper become an indispensable source of material for the
language teaching.
Despite all these, not much research has been done so far on the
discourse of English and Lao newspapers to explore this exciting area of the
languages. As a result, studies on newspaper are needed to be carried out the
characteristics in structure and vocabulary to help the newspaper readers and
writers in general and the language learners in particular find it easier and
more encouraging to exploit this source of information efficiently.
1. 2 Justification
It is clearly seen that the newspaper readers in foreign language,
especially in English often find it difficult to understand because of not only
the newspaper vocabulary but also the complex structures used in the
newspaper headlines.

This essential part of a newspaper plays a very

important role in helping readers understand the whole newspaper article
because it serves as a brief summary of the whole article if the readers fail to
understand the headline, they may lose their interest in the entire article as
they read it.
1.3 Aims and Objectives
For this very reason, I chose to work on the subject of newspaper
headlines with the hope that the result of the study can partly help newspaper
readers overcome this difficulty in comprehending them.
On the other hand, in the practice of teaching and learning English,
English learners among whom the majority are English students, tend to base

-3their reading and translating of newspapers on the newspapers vocabulary and
idioms with out paying attention to the whole structure of the discourse; or
naturally, some consider the structure of English newspaper headlines the
same as the Laos ones. The study, therefore, is also intended to help them
become more aware of the differences and similarities between the structures
of the headlines in English and Laos so that they can understand the whole
massage in reading and use appropriate equivalence in translation.
Finally, the number of people working in journalism has recently
increased. Some of them are well trained, but others, who just take in service
training courses, really need to learn more professionally. Therefore, the
choice of this topic also results in the desire considered helpful for Lao
writers and translators of newspapers in English and in Laos.
1. 4 Subject and scope of the study
From the above mentioned reasons, the thesis generally intends to focus
on studying the structure of the discourse of newspaper headlines in English
and Laos. In other words, the aim of the study is to find out the characteristics
in linguistics in particular in syntactic and stylistic structures of newspaper
headlines in the two languages.
Specifically, the research is mainly concerned with the three following
aspects: the first is linguistic structures, the second is syntactical structures,
and the third is different stylistic devices used in newspaper headlines. For
each aspect, we focus on classifying the types of structure, describing and
contrasting them, then giving some comments and evaluations because of the
results.
In order to carry out the work, we only choose the newspapers that are
typical in both languages as the main subject of the study in English; the


-4Guardian Weekly in chosen as a representation of the English newspaper and
Vientiane Times a weekly newspaper is selected as the main source of the

data in Laos.
All the headlines of the two newspapers come from the news and
commentaries. We select limitedly these parts of the newspapers not only
because they are considered the main features of a newspaper but also
because they attract most of the readers’ interests. And the topics of the
selected articles are also limited to those relating to social, political, cultural
and economic news and events occurring in the year 2003 - 2005 which
marks a vary significant turning point between the two millenniums. Other
kinds of topics concerning personal problems, and advertisement excluded in
the study because they are not considered common features in newspapers.
1.5 Research questions
Based on the focal point of the study, the thesis is designed to answer the
groups of questions related to the two main issues:
- What are syntactic features of English newspapers published in Laos?
- What are the similarities and differences in linguistic syntactical, semantic,
and stylistic structures in English and Laos newspaper discourses in terms of
headlines?
Each group of the questions is answered in a separate chapter of the
study. The first group is regarded as the basic, theoretical background for the
next parts of the study. The second group relates to the description and
contrast of the newspaper headlines in the two languages. In addition, the
final one to the results of the study, and is followed by some comments and
evaluations given because of the result.


-51.6 Literature review
The headlines are widely created and used in daily life by the people
working in journalism. The study of the headlines, nevertheless, has not been
done much so far.
In the English language, book about stylistics by Galperin (1981) has

three pages discussing the English newspapers headlines. In these limited
pages, he classified the various syntactical structures of the news headlines
and the features characteristic of these kinds of headlines.
In the book “Mastering Advance English Language” Sara Thorne (1997)
devoted a separate chapter to discuss the language of newspaper.
The discussion about the headlines, however, is still very brief. In this
chapter, the classification, function, lexis, and styles of headlines are dealt
with because of the comparison between the Broadsheet and the Tabloid
In addition, the English textbooks writers such as walker D.J. in
“Exploring newspapers,” and Roy. M. Reid in “Process of composition” also
briefly mentioned some characteristics and requirements of a good headline or
text title, in the book Advanced English Grammar for high learners Mr
Samlan Kham Ying discussed the proficiency in English (Cambridge
University, candidate), in the newspapers Vientiane Times www.Vientiane
Times.org.la, in Virtual Intelligence Property book by Dr Siri Souvanasi
(National University of Laos),in English for Development books, edited by
Mr Boun Thanh Phong Phi chith,in ASEAN Tourism Forum (Vientiane, Lao
PDR 30 Jan - 7 Feb 2004),in Pasaxon newspapers (people newspaper), in
Champamay newspapers.
1.6 Method and procedure


-6The data for analysis in the study are from two sources. The first is
instances of news headlines and commentary headlines collected from the
Guardian weekly- one of the most formal newspapers in England.

The

second also consists of news headlines and commentary headlines from the
Vientiane Times newspaper (Vientiane Times).

All the data collected from these sources are processed quantitatively and
qualitatively to investigate the similar and distinctive characteristics of the
headlines to the variety of newspaper in English and Laos. Nevertheless, a
comparison of two particular newspapers was an important first step.
Syntactically, the classification of the data is mainly based on the
different types of sentences and phrases, namely statements, questions simple,
complex, compound, even lengthy; sentences apart from these, the seven
following sentence structures are regarded as a necessary criterion for
classification:
S+V
S + V+ O
S+V+C
S+V+A
S+V+O+A
S+V+O+O
S+V+O+C
Semantically, the classification is carried out because of data analysis.
After classifying the collected data, we describe and contrast them to
find out the characteristics in structure on the theoretical basis of the sentence
grammar, syntax, and stylistics, which is employed as the main principle of
the classification.


-7Specifically, the procedure of the study follows these steps:
- Collecting data
- Classifying/ arranging the data in to difference types of structures.
- Carrying out statistical calculations.
- Describing the characteristics of the different types, of the structure in both
languages.
- Contrasting the structures because of the characteristics.

- Generalizing and giving comments and evaluations.
- Giving theoretical and practical values of the study


-8CHAPTER 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
2.1 Press - press form
The term “Press” first appeared in the form of the letter “Lagema” in an
Italian newspaper in 1605. This term, however, was not used any more lately
by developed countries, instead, they used the term “Press” which means a
machine for printing.
According to the World Book Encyclopedia, the Press or the News
Media consists of different means of communication such as newspapers,
magazines radio, and television (27 p. 136).
According to “Law on the press” in Vietnam (

), the Press is defined

as follows:
The Press of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the essential means of
mass media of social life; the mouthpiece of various organizations of the
party, the state and social organizations and a forum for the people including
printed press, which consist of newspaper, magazine, current affairs bulletins
and news bulletins; spoken newspaper (radio programs); pictorial press that
has television, audio visual programs carried out by different technical means
in Vietnam, language of ethnic minorities in Vietnam and foreign language
(44 p. 63 - 64).
2.2 Newspaper
It is undeniable; therefore, that newspaper forms an indispensable part of
the press. The term “newspaper” used in this thesis refers to the printed press

or written newspaper.
According to Sara Thorne, (

) the first newspapers were handwritten

new sheets that governments posted in public places. The earliest new sheet


-9was probably the Acta Diurna (Daily Events), which began in Rome in 60. B.
C. It reported the proceedings of the Roman senate and such news as births
and deaths. By the AD 800’s, the Chinese had started Ji Chau, a new sheet
printed from carved wooden blocks.
The first regularly printed newspaper in Europe was Avisa Relation
Odder Zeitung of Strasbourg in Germany. It started in 1609. Moreover, the
England is first newspaper. The weekly news was established in 1622.
In the eighteenth century, newspapers were used by governments as- a
means of promoting their interests. The structures and styles were therefore
formal.

By the nineteenth century, what can be described as “modern

journalism” began with the appearance as newspaper still popular today; by
1829, “The Times” was very powerful; 1821 marked the first printing of the
Manchester Guadian; later in the century, this was followed by the Daily Mail
(1896); and at the beginning of the twentieth century, by the Daily Express
(1900) and the Daily Mirror (1903).
Newspapers reporting became more scandalous and the style and form
changed to suit the new approaches.

The British newspapers became

renowned for their distinctive headline style and their personal and
idiosyncratic reporting.
According to Mr Sieng Thone the publication of newspaper in Lao came
decades later than Vietnam newspaper (Nhan dan newspapers). The first
newspaper was published in Vieng Xay (Hua Phan province) established in
13/08/1950. The name were (Neo Lao Issalaa newspaper) after the French
invasion 1945. In addition, America imperial.
Through its long history, newspapers are always a publication devoted
chiefly to presenting and commenting on the news. 02/12/1975 is Lao PDR’s


- 10 Independence Day and the name of Neo Lao Issalaa newspaper was changed
in to Nẵng sứ phim pắ xa sôn (people newspaper). The year later, newspapers
provided an excellent means of keeping the public well informed on current
events and played a vital role in shaping public opinion as well.

The

newspaper was improved and established in English newspapers published in
Lao since 07/04/1994, it was called “the Vientiane Times, newspaper.”
On the pages of modern newspapers, one finds not only news and
comments on it, press reports and article, adverts and announcements, but also
stories and poems, cross word puzzles, chess problems and the like. Since the
latter serve the purpose of entertaining the reader, they cannot be considered
specimens of newspapers.
2.3 Types of newspaper
According to Sara Thorne, English newspapers are often divided into
two main categories: tabloids and broadsheets. This is a very basic distinction
and the terms mean different things to paper is printed on A2 - size paper,

which is folder to A3, this is therefore smaller than the full spread of a
broadsheet, which is printed on A1 and folder to A2.

All the mass -

circulation papers are tabloid. The Broadsheet papers are also known as the
“serious” or “quality” papers; the tabloid papers are known as the “popular”
or “gutter” papers. The letter definitions of size and become judgmental and
evaluative.
Dealing in very general terms, the Broadsheets provide information of
the “truth” while the later package stories for their entertainment value.
Typographically, the English broadsheet and tabloid headlines have quite
different approaches. Tabloids frequently use capitalization and color to draw
attention to a front-page report. Broadsheets, on the other hand, are much


- 11 more conservative. They rarely use color, and capitalization is seen only
occasionally for front-page photographs.

In Laos’s broadsheets, the

typographical feature is more standard than in the tabloids. The same size of
print is used throughout except for headlines, strap line and sub headlines.
In addition, the lexis chosen in headlines indicates something about the
intended in headlines indicates something about the intended audience. The
lexis of the English broadsheets is “more specific, formal and restrained” (23
p. 232), while tabloids lexis tend to be “inventive and colloquialisms are
common” (23 p. 232). By analyzing connotations of the words chosen and
the point of view conveyed, Sara Thorne assumes that it is possible to come to
conclusions about the aim of a report. Let us consider one of his examples

“Tony MP found dead in stockings and suspenders” (The Sun 08/03/94)
“Fears of fresh scandal after senior party sources talk of murder MP’s dead
shocks Tories” (The Guardian 08/03/95).
In the first headline, the sun is interested in the strange circumstances
surrounding the death: the sexual connotations of the “stocking and
suspenders” is juxtaposed with the formality of the noun phrase “Tory MP”.
The Guardian, on the other hand, has a different focus. Its headline is not
sensational; instead, it informs the reader that the death “shocks the
conservative party.” The strap line uses the abstract noun “scandal,” but this
only suggests that something is strange about the MP’s death.

This

suggestion is developed by the noun “murder” but remains unspecific. The
focus is more political than is the sun, as the strap line and headline highlight
the response of the conservative party and the effect the new scandal may
have on its political standing.


- 12 In Lao language, broadsheets and tabloids also approach the same event
from different angles (Two angles of newspaper).
When the Russian films started yesterday at the Lao National culture hall
for example, different newspapers reported the event in different ways:
+ Pợt săp pắ đa hụp ngâu Russia (Pasaxon: 05 - 11/5/2005)
- Russia films screened, “Open screened: Russia film week”
(Vientiane Times: 05 - 11/5/2005)
It is clearly seen that each newspaper reported the event in its own way
that meets the needs of interest of its intended audience.
The people reported it formally and fully to its big audience while the
other two focused on the aspects of the news, which may satisfy their limited

readers.
Together with the lexis, the style of headlines is as important. They need
to be simple, but must also create impact. Broadsheets and tabloids aim to
fulfill these criteria in very different ways. The headlines accompanying a
broadsheet report will usually be informative and straightforward while a
tabloid will aim for a different kind of simplicity.
The tabloid’s formal approach and their emphasis on human-interest
stories can create a very personal and emotive appeal to the reader. To
illustrate this, let us compare the two examples given by Sara Thorne.
“Three - day week for MPS” (The observer: 19/03/1995) “clinging to life,
clinging to hope” (The Sun Express: 19/03/1995)
In the first example, the event is reported clearly and directly to its
formal audience by the observer.

The headline in the second example,

however, is typically emotive to match the emotive content of the report: a 4
year - old girl’s battle with cancer. It uses parallelism to juxtapose the


- 13 abstract nouns “life and hope” which immediately attract the reader’s
attention.
The repetition of the present participle “clinging” emphasizes both the
closeness of death and the power of the little girl and her family to fight it.
Similarly, Lao tabloids often focus on something usually about the news and
event to look for the sensation in the readers even when reporting on the
typical news.
+ Wặt phu Chăm pa sắc mo rặ đốc Lao, mo rặ đốc lộc
- WatPhou Champasack (temple), Lao heritage, world heritage (The
Champamay news 15 - 19/03/2004)

The headline sounds formal and serious at the beginning but it suddenly
disrupts the collocation to create curiosity in the reader.

This gives the

headline a less formal tone and can suggest that the journalist is not being
serious about the issue.
Broadsheets, on the other hand, tend to aim for a factual interpretation of
the event. The tone is restrained and controlled but still informative. This can
be seen in this example:
+ Nẵng sứ phim Viêng Chăn Times nay khỏ mun máy vi tính
- Vientiane Times on CD-ROM (Vientiane Times: 05/05/2005)
Newspapers can be classified in term of “broadsheet” and tabloid.
However, it is important to remember that the differences between broadsheet
and tabloid newspapers are not always clear cut-broadsheets do sometimes
adopt some features typically associated with the tabloids and vice versa.
Whether broadsheet or tabloid paper, the ideology of the owner and the
editor dictates the kind if stories printed and the political views transmitted to


- 14 the reader. The political learning of a paper, however, may vary in degree
according the kind of story reported.
2.4 Functions of newspapers
It is newspaper-printing matter that performs the functions of informing
the reader, providing them with an evaluation of information published, and
through this, shaping the public opinion.
The first function of newspapers is informing the public. This is the
journalist’s chief duty. Reporters represent the public at events that most
people cannot observe journalists; therefore, have an obligation to be accurate
to tell all sides of a story. They also have the responsibility of deciding which

events have enough importance or news value to be reported.

Citizens

especially need good information about current political events to help them
decide which candidate to vote for and whether to support certain policies of
the government. Only through reliable reporting, can people make intelligent
decisions about how they want to be governed. However, many people do not
have background knowledge or specialized information needed to understand
complicated issues: For this reason, journalists not only report views, but they
also explain and analyze it through interpretive reporting.
The second function of newspapers can be carried out by the means
editorials and commentaries. Through editorials, the newspapers of a news
organization express its views on current issues and attempt to persuade the
public to adopt the same view.
Many editorials encourage the action that a news organization will
benefit the country, For example, an editorial might urge citizens to approve a
school bond proposal or to vote for a certain candidate for president. News
organizations might also use editorials to fight for various social reforms,


- 15 fight against the law - breaking acts and other negative acts. Newspapers also
try to influence public opinions of individual journalists rather than those of
the management of a newspaper. Many news organizations regularly publish
commentaries that differ with management editorials. This practice helps
provide a balanced approach to issues.
2.5 Headline
According to Galperin G (1981), “The headline is the title given to a
news items or an article and regarded as a dependent from of newspaper
writing” [7. p 302] it is, in fact, a part of a larger whole and closely

interrelated to the topic discussed in the article.
The headline exists in a very short time. This is because of the enormous
quantity of circulated issues. In addition, the number of the headlines is too
many for the reader to remember.
According to David Crystal and Derek Davy, ( year xxxx) “headlines of
course are a separate study in themselves. Being radically different from the
rest of newspaper reporting language” [3, p. 180].
In the book Advance English Grammar for high learners, Mr. Samlan
Khamying defined that the headline of the article as “an element to
distinguish which article is more important than others” [46, p. 77]
2.6 Classification of headlines
According to Sara Thorne, there are three kinds of headline: the main
headline will be larger than the others and many occasionally be in color to
draw the reader’s attention; the strap line or over line is the secondary
headline that appears above the main one it is used to provides extra
information or to clarify the main headline; the last kind is the sub - headline
which follows the main headline, and qualifies and elaborates it [23, p. 234]


- 16 The Vietnamese textbook writer, however, has various ways of
classifying the headline.
+ Tạ Ngọc Tấn and Nguyễn Tiến Hài classified the news headlines into
two main kinds because of the characteristics and the forms: the simple
headline and the complex headline.
The former is defined as a complete unit of language such as a sentence
or a phrase; the latter consists of more than one part, the main headline and
the sub-headline [48, p. 111 - 112]
+ Lê Hồng Quang, another Vietnamese author, based on the content and
function of the informing headline used with the articles that inform the
reader of a certain happening the second is the influencing headline for the

editorials or commentaries [45, p. 76 -77]
The classification used in the thesis, however, is the combination of the
above ones, the headline chosen as the subject of study in the thesis is the
main headline of both news and commentary articles has the functions of
informing and/ or influencing the readers.
2.7 The functions of headlines
As an indispensable part of an article, the headline has the same
functions as the articles; informing and influencing the readers. The main
function of the headline, however, according to Galperin, is “to inform the
reader briefly of what the text that follows is about” [7, p. 302]
According to David Crystal and Derek Davy, the function of headline is
more complex. As an important part of the paper, “headlines have to contain
a clear; succinct and if possible intriguing message, to kindle a spark of
interest in the potential reader” [3, p.174-177]


- 17 Apart from these, the headlines also perform the function of instructing
the reader that is, they contain elements of appraisal, i.e they show the
journalists, or the paper’s attitude to the facts reported or commented on.
2.8 Characteristics of headlines
According to D.J, Walker, headlines in newspapers are “designed to be
eye-catching” [25, p. 4]
This often involves an unusual or striking use of language with the result
that a headline may be more “puzzling than informative” [25, p. 4] for native
speakers as well as for foreign learners.
Some headlines can be fully understood only after reading the article.
The “clever” headline is a feature of all shades of the British press. Other
headlines are more straightforward. Some, indeed, are quite long, reflecting
the original layout of the article, maybe over a number of columns or across
the top of the picture. However, we should avoid implying that the content of

newspaper articles can always be deduced by studying the headlines.
Galperin also had similar remarks about the headlines. According to him,
“English headlines are short and catching” [7, p. 303].

A well-written

headline often tells a story, or enough of it, to arouse or satisfy the reader’s
curiosity.
Therefore, sensational headlines are quite common in English
newspapers.
In order to catch a reader's attention, headlines need to be “simple, easily
readable and appropriate to the kind of newspapers in which they are printed”
[23, p. 234]. The choice of words for a headline is affected by the idea to be
express and the kind of reader associated with a newspaper and its style.


- 18 Briefly, as described by Le Hong Quang, headline must be “eye catching, clear, easily understandable, brief, active, concise, informative, and
suitable to the article” [45, p. 71 - 75]
2.9 Relationships between the headline and the article
As previously mentioned, the headline is usually considered a brief
summary of the whole article. That is, the topic discussed in the article is
normally expressed in the headline.
Consequently, there is a close relationship between the headline and the
article. On the other hand, the content of the article is generally implied in the
topic sentence. Because of this, the link between the headline and the article
is also the one between the headline and the topic sentence.
In general, most of the topic sentences contain the content mentioned in
the headline develop and elaborate it on the basis of the so - called “five - w and - h - rule” (who, what, why, where, when, how), which is chiefly used in
the news reports. This connection is carried out through the means of lexical
repetitions and synonyms the two of the five effective methods of maintaining

the topic in the article.
Some articles, nevertheless, do not have any topic sentences to develop
and describe the event mentioned in the headline. Thus, the headline itself
also functions as the topic sentence, providing the information about the topic
that will be discussed in details in the article.
Due to inseparable link between the headline and the article, the study of
the headlines cannot be properly done without referring to the article that
develops the headline.


- 19 Then, the headline can be fully understood just after reading the entire
article. In such cases, the article itself provides the basis needed to understand
headline precisely.
2.10 Sub - headlines
The sub - headline is another kind of headline and can easily be
recognized through the smaller word size. It is clearly seen that the sub headline is more widely used in English newspapers than is Laos ones. This
may be because the Laos newspapers are in the process of integrating in to the
newspaper style of the developed countries.
The sub - headline, therefore, has some characteristics similar to those of
the headline, namely the omission of the auxiliary or the articles, the use of
elliptical sentences, the strong and conversational languages as seen in the
following examples:
In English:
- In London was aimed at helping the disengagement “Pave the way”
(the headline)
- Blair, Sharon to revise roadmap (The sub- headline) (JERUSALEM 2430/12/2004)
In Lao:
+ Thàn pắ than Khăm Tay đạy kào và: “sắn tí phạp, mịt tắ phạp lẹ
khuam pong đong lặ vàng xạt mèn pậu mái vị vặt thặ na kan ăn nhưn nhông”.
- Said Kham Tay: “long - live to the cause of peace, friendship, and

cooperation among nations for development” (the headline).
+ Pắ than pắ thệt sắ đeng khuam đi chay nay văn sắ lóng bun văn xạt
khóng Lao (the sub-headline). (Vientiane Times newspaper: 02 /12/2004)


- 20 - President talks of proud achievement on Lao National day (02
/12/2004)
Consequently, the sub-headline can be seen as a relatively independent
part of the article that follow the headline. Neither does it belong to the
headline nor to the article. It not only functions as a summary of the topic
developed and elaborated in the article but supports and clarifies the headline
as well.
As a result, it is really needed for the topic that is too enormous for the
headline to cover.
Shortly, the sub - headline is a variety of headlines, which is more
common in English than in Laos’s newspapers. The use of the sub - headline
is exploited differently by various newspapers. Like the headline, it has the
functions of attracting the reader to the article. A part from these, it supports
the headline by elaborating and clarifying the topic mentioned in the headline.
2.11 Definitions of terms
a. Brief news items
A brief news item is the sub - type of the news reports containing very
brief structures of language. It is mainly aimed at informing the reader about
different fields1 of social life in brief language.
This function is considered the most important and essential one of brief
news items. Besides this, the size of brief news item varies from one sentence
to several short paragraphs.
b. News reports
The news report (the news article) is one of the main parts of a
newspaper. Its functions is to report the events that are very up - to - date and

interest a lot of people. The events reported are usually about what has just


- 21 happened or is still going on at the time of reporting. In English newspapers,
the sensational news stories concerning the secret and personal life of famous
people (actors, actress, singers, politicians ...) the conflicts and violence, the
environment pollution are through to be most appealing to the reader.
Laos news reports, on the other hand, tend to focus on the official visits
of the politicians important meetings, the production and culture activities
happening all over the country in daily life.
c. Commentaries
The commentary is a very important article which is characterized by a
subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise. A part from this, other
articles in opinion columns are typically evaluative and the ratio of evaluation
varies from article to article.
The function of the commentary is to inform the reader by giving an
interpretation of certain facts. They comment on the political and other events
of the day. The purpose is to give the writer’s opinion, and interpretation of
the news published suggests that it is the correct one.
Thus, writers of commentaries make extensive use of emotionally
colored vocabulary and the language is characterized by a combination of
different strata of vocabulary, which enhances the emotional effect.
As a consequence, the commentaries in English newspapers can be
easily recognized through the words “Comment and Analysis” “Opinion”,
“Commentary” (the Guardian weekly). Similarly, the commentaries in Laos
newspapers can be simply figured out with words:
“khỏ khịt hến” (commentary), “khào lộc”, “khào tàng pắ thệt” (world news)
“neo khịt kiều kắp kan phặt thặ na” (development concept) (English for
Development edited by Mr Bounthan Phong Phi Chit)

- 22 d. News headline
The news headline is the headline (title) given to a news report or a brief
news item in a newspapers.
e. Commentary headline
It is the headline given to a commentary article or an editorial in a
newspapers.
f. Title headline
The title [Latin: Titulus, French: Titre, Laos: Húa khỏ, (Xừ lường)] is a
Loan word.
The name of a book, picture, poem, etc. The title can also be defined as
the “official name of a text and represents the content of the text” [46, p. 27].
It can have simple or complex structure and often printed in special word type and in color, which makes it distinguished from the rest of the text.
The last term “Húa khỏ”, comes from French (titre). Though it signifies
the title a text, a book, etc. it is not considered a linguistic term. In fact it is a
special form particularly used in journalism.
In Laos, the term “Xừ lường” (title) is used with the same meaning as the
English term “headline”, which can be understood as the title given to an
article in a newspaper.
In journalism, the headline has a vary import and role. It is the part that
first communicates with the reader. What is more, it can create and attract the
attention and interest of the audience to the piece of writing. As a result, the
journalists not only pay much attention to the headline writing but also to the
designing the headlines [48, p. 111 - 112]


- 23 2.12 Summary
Newspapers in English and Laos are various in kinds (tabloids and
broadsheets) and forms (spoken/ written newspapers). The written (printed)
newspaper is a very important form of press. Though it has the same functions

as other forms and kinds of newspapers, it still has its own peculiarities in
language and style.
Linguistically, the articles in the newspaper are often represented by the
headlines (the title or the name of the article). It is the headlines that help the
reader make quick decisions to read or skip the article when reading a
newspaper.
In order to carry out this special function, the headline must be designed
in such a way that can appeal the reader to the article and succinctly
summarize the article simultaneously. Also, the headlines, especially the ones
of news articles and commentaries contains the characteristic features in
syntactic, semantic and stylistic structures which make it distinctive from
other parts of a newspaper. And these kinds of structure in headlines are the
subject of study in the thesis.


- 24 CHAPTER 3
DESCRIPTION OF STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH NEW HEADLINES
3.1 Syntactical structures of English newspaper headlines
3.1.1 Syntactical structures of English news headlines
In general, English news headlines are briefly written. The average
length of a news headline is approximately 8 words.
According to Galperin, English news headlines are “very short sentences
and phrases of a variety of patterns” [7, p. 304]. The simple statements, noun
phrases and elliptical sentences are the main sentence types in English news
headlines. The frequency of the types of sentences and phrases in statistically
done as follows:
Table 3.1 Syntactical structures of English news headlines
Types of
sentences/phrases

%

Examples
- Putin, Bush Pledge to continue fighting
terrorism

Statement

66

[MOSCOW (Xinhuanet): 10-16/05/2005]
- Blair resists calls to resign
[BEIJING (Xinhuanet):10-16/05/2005]
- Iraqi PM arrives in Tehran on historical visit

Noun phrase

14

[TEHRAN (AP) 18 - 24/07/2005]
-Albania, Poland pledge to keep troops in Iraq
[TIRANA (Xinhuanet): 23-29/12/2004]
- France: Putting Iran’s nuclear issue to UN

Elliptical sentence

10

[BEIJING (Xinhuanet) 23-29/07/2005]
- Basher sentenced to 2.5 years

- 25 [JAKATA (Xinhuanet): 04-10/03/2005]
“Gang’s bombing of people was illegal” says SM
[BANGKOK (Xinhuanet): 16-22/02/2005]
Reported speech

9

- “Thousands feared dead as tidal waves hit
Srilanka”

says MP [COLOMBO (Xinhuanet):

21-27/01/2004]
- Three Indonesian migrant workers killed and
several injured in ethnic clash
Compound
sentence

8

[KUALALAMPUR 21-27/04/2004]
- Ugandan gov’t negotiators hand over new peace
agreement to rebels .
[KAMPALA (Xinhuanet): 06-12/01/2005]
- UNEP head awarded 2005 Theodor Heuss Prize
[NAIROBI (Xinhuanet): 09-15/02/2005]

Passive sentence

5

- At least 60 killed in suicide bombing south of
Baghdad
[BAGHDAD (Xinhuanet):18-24/07/2005]

As shown in the table, most of English news headlines are simple
statements. This type of sentence is defined as “sentences in which the subject
is present and generally comes before the verb”.[14, p. 289] and they are
typically sentences which give information. This is also the function of
headline that briefly provides the information about what the article is about
in such way that can attract the reader’s attention. Therefore, the statement
type sentences are the most commonly used in English news headlines.