英語報刊新聞標題縮略語探究

1、新聞標題是對文章最有價值的內(nèi)容的濃縮、概括和提煉。本文在已有的關于 英語報紙新聞標題研究的基礎上，圍繞標題縮略語展開進一步探究。首先，闡述 縮略語的定義及其分類。具次，歸納了英語報刊標題的詞匯特征。然后，基于搜 集的新聞標題，探索標題縮略語的成因，結合實例，分析英語報刊新聞標題縮略 語的特點。再次，分析標題縮略語的幾種常見結構，并闡釋標題縮略語的作用和 意義。最后，結合標題縮略語的發(fā)展趨勢，幫助報紙從業(yè)人員規(guī)范標題縮略語的 使用。關鍵詞：縮略語；英語報刊；新聞標題abstractthe most valuable content of the article is concentrated,

2、summarized and refined in the news headline the paper is based on the previous studies of headlines in english newspaper, centering on the abbreviations in the news headlines to have a further research firstly, it illustrates the definition and categories of abbreviation. secondly, it sums up the le

3、xical features of news headlines. then, based on the materials, it identifies the causes of abbreviations in the news headlines. combined with the titles collected, the characteristics of abbreviations in the headlines are analyzed furthermore, the common structures, functions and significance are s

4、tudied. finally, it probes the developing trend of abbreviation in the titles, helping newspaper staff to regulate the usage of abbreviation in the headlines.key words： abbreviation; english newspaper; news headlines809呢文icontents1. introduction12. study on abbreviation221 the definition of abbrevia

5、tion22.2 the categories of abbreviation22.2.1 acronymy22.2.2 clipping32.2.3 blending52.2.4 back-formation63. the lexical features of news headlines in english newspaper74. abbreviation in english news headlines82) the cause of abbreviation in english news headlines83) the features of abbreviation in

6、 english news headlines84) the structures of abbreviation in english news headlines145) the function of abbreviation in english newsheadlines176) the significance of abbreviation in english news headlines185. conclusion19acknowledgements20references21i1 introductionabbreviation is a type of concise

7、and efficient language unit. it enjoys wide existence and extensive application. the employment of abbreviations in news headlines is more common and extensive, leading to more concision and economy, thus save a lot of time and space; whereas, there is still room left for improvement, resulting in a

8、 phenomenon of coexistence of both gains and losses. if abbreviations can be used correctly and appropriately, their positive effects can be fully achieved丨 115°modern linguistic theory tells us that language is the communication tool of the society and the development of society is the most fu

9、ndamental condition of the development of language. with the development of society, new words are coming up constantly. thus, new words made by abbreviation are important. the use of abbreviation in the headlines meets the demand of readers whose life paces are terribly fast and results from the li

10、mitation of newspaper space; naturally, it becomes an inevitable tactic.12136-37s刖ote文2. study on abbreviation1) the definition of abbreviationan abbreviation (from latin brevis, meaning "short”)is a shortened form of a word or phrase. usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group o

11、f letters taken from the word or phrase. abbreviation has been used as long as phonetic script existed, in some sense actually being more common in early literacy, where spelling out a whole word was often avoided, and initial letters commonly being used to represent words in specific application. b

12、y classical greece and rome, the reduction of words to single letters was still normal, but no longer the default.1312) the categories of abbreviationthere are four distinct sub-classes of word formation through abbreviation. these are acronymy, clipping, blending and back-formation.2<2elacronymy

13、acronymy is one of the important abbreviations, which includes initialisms and acronyms.1) initialismsinitialism is a type of shortening, using the first letters of words to form a proper name, a technical term, or a phrase, an initialism is pronounced letter by letter; for example, bbc (for british

14、 broadcasting corporation) is pronounced /'bi:bi:'si: /; apc (for aspirin, phenacetin, caffeine, usually in a white tablet used for reducing fever, relieving headache, etc.) is pronounced / c年i:/; vip (for a very important person) is likewise pronounced / vi:牟i: /.2) acronymsiacronyms are wo

15、rds formed from the initial letters of the name of an organization or a scientific term, etc. acronyms differ from initialisms in that they are pronounced as words rather than as sequences of letters; nato (the north atlantic treaty organization) is pronounced / 'neitou /, not /'en'ei

16、9;ti/su /.most acronyms are spelled with capital letters like initialisms, but they rarely appear with periods when they become very common, they are usually spelled in small letters. if they are proper names, they retain the initial capital:basic /'beisik / beginner all -purpose symbolic instru

17、ction code (a simplified language for programming and interacting with a computer)opec i' oupek / organization of petroleum exporting countriessalt / sd：lt / strategic arms limitation talkssam / s aem / surface-to -air missiletefl / 'tefl / teaching english as a foreign languagel4jh7'119

18、1) clippingclipping is one way in which we change words. we may shorten dormitory to dorm and thereby create a new word, or we may change condominium to condo. we use the longer term if the situation is more formal and the shorter term if the situation is more informal however, the new term may enti

19、rely replace the longer original word can you tell, for example, what the original words for psycho or flu might have been?some fields use many clipped forms. for example, computer commands are almost always clipped terms: del means delete, sho cat means display all the files catalogued in a particu

20、lar computer account, for example.clipping is a common feature of in-group talk and of slang. for example, english speakers in japan have clipped befriended to friended to mark times when they assume the language teachers role outside the classroom, as in t was friended on the train today" when

21、 the speaker was surrounded by students who wanted to practice their english. in slang, the clipped form is often changed to end in a vowel, usually o, which seems to be a favourite way to end many clipped forms. we talk about demos, an anthro class, and porno films in everyday conversation without

22、necessarily considering these forms of slang.clipping also occurs when words are borrowed from one language toianothe匚 english words are frequently shortened when they are borrowed into japanese. for example, apaato is the clipped form of the borrowed form for apartment building, suto is the truncat

23、ed form of sutoraiku, the word borrowed for strike, naitaa is the shortened form of night game for baseball, and depaato is the abbreviated form of department store. gibbons9 study of hong kong english-chinese mix includes such clipped examples as resi (for a member of a residence hall), and deen gi

24、ves the example of floppy disk being borrowed into dutch and then clipped to flop for one diskette and floppen as the plural. l5jsome spellers choose to write the clipped form of some words. a clipped word is a word shortened by common use. clipped words are favoured because they are easier to spell

25、. the challenge occurs when students are asked to write the longer form of a clipped word. some common clipped words are listed below.664'66table 1-1 common clipped wordsad-advertisementmemo-memorandumauto-automobilemike-microphonebike-bicyclemum-chrysanthemumburger-hamburgerpen-penitentiarybus-

26、omnibusphone-telephonechamp-championphoto-photographcon-convictpike-turnpikeco-op-cooperativeplane-airplanecopter-helicopterref-refereedorm-dormitoryrhino-rhinocerosexam-examinationspecs-spectacles; specificationsflu-influenzastats-stati stiesfri dge-refri geratorstereo-stereo phonicsgas-gasolinesub

27、-submarinegrad-graduatetaxi-taxicabgym-gymnasiumteen-teenagerhippo-hippopotamustie-necktielab-laboratorytux-tuxedolimo-limousinetypo-typographical error刖9016如lunch lu ncheonvan-caravanmaths-mathematicsvejveteran; veterinarian2) blendingnew words can also be created by blending two or more other word

28、s. for example, brunch came from the blend of breakfast and lunch, fluffy from flutter and hurry, and smog from smoke and fog. historically, spar city came from sparseness and scarcity; splotch from spot and blotch. these blends (called portmanteau words by lewis carroll in alice wonderland) have be

29、come part of our everyday lexicon.again, product advertising, the entertainment industry, bureaucracies, and technical fields seem to produce the largest number of blends. eurail, medicare, camcorder, and sitcom have come into the language in this way. product names are often blends. velveeta is a b

30、lend of velvet, eat, and cheese. the "informationsuperhighway will send information down a data pike. the retroactive repair oflos angeles freeway over-passes by refitting support columns after the 1994earthquake became known as retrofitting.blend words are words that are crunched together to f

31、orm new words.knowing the origin of each word can be a help to spellers.6168"69here are some examples of commonly used blends:brunchbreakfast + lunchglimmergleam + shimmermotelmotor + hotelsmashsmack + mashsmogsplattersquiggletelethonsmoke + fog splash + spatter squirm + wriggle television + ma

32、rathontwirltwist + whirl刖9016如3) back-formationthe definition is that the process of creating a new word by removing a real or supposed affix from another wordit is not always the case that a longer word is created from a shorter one. the reverse can be true; the verb resurrect is derived from the n

33、oun resurrection, while enthuse comes from enthusiasm and donate is from donation.many back-formations in english come from words which end in -er or 一or, such as, peddler, swindler and stoker. from these words come peddle, swindle and stoke respectively.back一formation continues to create new words

34、in english: e.g. selfdestruct from selfdestruction, and even intuit fi-om intuition.矽刁。刖9016如3 the lexical features of news headlines in englishnewspapersince abbreviations are largely applied in the news headlines, it is necessary to analyze the lexical features of news headlines in english newspap

35、er. the lexical features are listed as follows.brevity, that is, to convey a crowd of meanings within the space of a few words, is one of the abcs of the rules of news writing there are twofold reasons behind this principle: first, as far as economic effect is concerned, news agencies are always try

36、ing to include within one issue the articles, features, advertisements and so on as many as possible. second, readers are always trying to exclude the irrelevant news out of so large amount of information as quickly as possible“simplification is the universal tendency in journalistic writing, which

37、justifies the wide-spread contractions in english news.nouns and midget words (that is to say, small words) are widely used in news headlines, mainly notional words. however, using nouns together sometimes will lead to misunderstanding. the characters of midget words are fewer letters, larger meanin

38、gs, vivid and flexible which are welcomed by journalists and editors. for instance, aim, ban, bid, chief, cut, deal, envoy, plea, talk etc.another lexical feature is using vogue words which include old words that are given new explanation, for instance, copy, mouse, and web; it also includes complet

39、ely new words which almost exist in the field of science and technology, for instance, com, e-mail, e-commerce, cyber bank, cyber chat.last but not least, abbreviations and numbers are quite frequently used, such as, wtc(world trade center), ny(new york), npc(national people'scongress), cpc(comm

40、unist party of china), sc(security council), imf(international monetary fund), who(world health organization), g8(groups of eight countries), fbi(federal bureau of investigation), l.a.(los angeles),pm(primeminister);calif.(california),sec.(secretary),st.(street),mt.(mount) 18,215-225 soho (small off

41、ice and home office), dink (double incomes no kid), diy (do it yourself), 3g (third generation), 4s (sale, spare part, service, survey), vip (very important person), it (information technology), hr (human resource), etc.4. abbreviation in english news headlines4.1 the cause of abbreviation in englis

42、h news headlinesin newspaper headlines, it is not unusual to find abbreviations. to arrange headlines sharply and to address the major contents of news in very limited space, editors normally favor abbreviations in headlines站english abbreviations are shortened terms of written words or phrases to st

43、and for the whole. before 1943, when the first computer in the world was invented, the number of english abbreviations is numerable with the development of computer science and global economy, the number of english abbreviations has increased dramatically. they are like a mirror reflecting the progr

44、ess and the latest achievements of the society. american philosopher george kingsley ziph pointed out after summing up the relationship between the length of a word and the frequency of its use that generally the shorter a word, the higher the frequency of its use, and in the same way, the longer a

45、word, the lower the frequency of its use. the use of english abbreviations is, to some degree, an effective means to save time and money and make communications easier, especially in certain specialized fields. in such a hyper-paced information age like ours, the use of english abbreviations is beco

46、ming increasingly popular not only in english-speaking countries. they are also everywhere in everyday life of the chinese people. even for chinese who do not know a single english word, not surprisingly, he may be familiar withikfc, atm, wto, and fifa. it is necessary for us to make some research a

47、nd pay attention to the application of english abbreviations. 110116-173) the features of abbreviation in english news headlinesthe newspaper headline is usually designed to precisely convey the essence of a complicated set of facts. it intends to catch the readers on the wing. it is a model of the

48、language accurately presented, swiftly readable, intensively compact and attractively designed .it aims to tell the news to the readers, seizing their attention and attract potential audience.111,1firstly, conciseness is the conspicuous feature of abbreviation in english news headlines abbreviation

49、actually is the fixed phrase. in the news headlines, abbreviation can save the space and meanwhile achieve the rapid transmission of news. in the premise of communication achievement, abbreviation can naturally deliver the message quickly and accurately for example, in the news headline "opec f

50、ocuses on compliance with output limits'，(from new york times in 21st, dec, 2009) opec substitutes organization of petroleum exporting countries. therefore, compared with a long phrase, abbreviation is much easier and reflects the economy of language and the trend of language development. obviou

51、sly, it saves a lot of space and readers get used to the abbreviation, they get the idea when they see the headline at the first glance.according to my research, many headlines included abbreviations. they embody the characteristic of conciseness. for instance, “ioc signs up phelps as youth olympics

52、 ambassador” (from china daily in 23rd, feb,2010) ioc takes place of international olympic committee. obviously, it saves many letters and shows the feature of conciseness. "kobe, le bron lead nba all-star vote，： "gambling concerns prompt an nba team to acf9 (from china daily in 8th, jan,

53、2010) here nba refers to national basketball association. it can help the readers look through the headlines or even the whole piece of news easily and quickly.more examples are as follows:i“rmb is not a cure-all for us economy: imf "(from china daily in 18th, feb,2010.)rmb is the abbreviation

54、of renminbi, it is a currency unit. us is united states, imf is international monetary fund. three abbreviations catch the key point of this piece of news. readers will construct a concept in their mind while scanning the news title.“the dna problem in american spying" (from new york times in 8

55、th, jan, 2010)dna is the abbreviation of deoxyribonucleic acid.many people may do not know the full name because it is too difficult to remember. on the contrary, dna is widely-known for it is easy and common."'further slide seen in n.y. commercial real estate"(from new york times in 8

56、th, jan, 2010)n.y. refers to new york.“fed、techs lift wall st; futures cheer obama” (reuters)fed refers to federal reserve; techs refer to technologies; st refers to street."new lending hits 1.39yuan injan,? (from china daily in 11th, feb, 2010) t means trillion and jan means january."25 c

57、onfirmed dead in c china colliery fire” (from china daily in 6th, jan, 2010)c is on the behalf of central."s. china county faces most serious drought in 50 yrs"(from china daily in 28th, jan, 2010)s means southern and yrs means years."taliban commander killed in n afghanistan(from chi

58、na daily in 28th, feb, 2010)n means northern."21 grounded boats rescued in sw china" (from china daily in 23rd, feb, 2010)sw means southwesternabbreviations in example 6, 7, 8, 9 belong to the same category, shortened form of directions. readers can identify them quickly without thinking.uspider-man to spin movie web in 3d” (from china daily in 11th, feb, 2010)3d refers to three-dimensional. it is very popular nowadays in cinema.“air travel q & a" (from new york times in 21st, dec, 2009) it is easy for peopl