On goin Conversation
Newspapers occupy a discourse that is meant to interact with the people. This being said, it is necessary for newspapers to use a lexis that the readers can relate to. Many scholars have investigated the language used by newspapers and there seems to be three common themes from their results. Alison Duguid illustrates the first theme, which is the use of vague words in order to relate to the readers and remain neutral in her article, Newspaper discourse informalisation: a diachronic comparison from keywords. Secondly, Tatyana Thweatt acknowledges how headlines are the most affective way for newspapers to convey a message in her article, Attitudes Towards New Americans In The Local Press: A Critical Discourse Analysis. Lastly, in Metin Timucin’s article, Different Language Styles In Newspapers: An Investigative Framework, he points out the most common lexis used by newspapers Newspaper writing is intended to be understood by people of all discourses. Whether they are covering a sporting event, earthquake, or medical breakthrough, the language they use must be easily understood for everyone who reads it. For this to be accomplished journalists often “get on a ‘conversational’ wavelength with their readers by using common spoken discourse markers and purposefully vague language”(Duguid). Writing as if you were in a conversation, allows the reader to understand the message of the article. The use of vague language as opposed to specific lexis of the topic you are covering allows the reader to be informed without being confused by vocabulary. In order to make the writing less formal and more relatable, it is not common for the “use both of contractions, and first- and second-person pronouns, where these oral features were adopted in an attempt to appeal to a wider reading audience”(Duguid). Newspaper writing is the most informal professional form of writing because it is important for the reader to enjoy the style the writer is using. Formal writing can be harder to relate to, so it is more likely that the reader will give up on the article and move onto something else. On top of language being relatable, it is important for there to a strong headline because the information from the brief statement give the reader a lasting idea of the articles purpose. Tatyana Thweatt examines the importance of the headline she explains that when a reader is looking at dozens of articles they mostly see the headlines and those are what they remember best. “ she argues that people acquire the “overall meaning of the text by skimming the headlines. Therefore, any influence of the press must be based on the little people do memorize of what they read"(Thweatt). If the papers want to affect peoples view is it is important that the headlines lure in the audience and capture the audience’s attention. Lastly both of these techniques contain lexis that are specific to the newspaper discourse community. Metin Timucin lays out three guidelines as to why newspapers use the specific vocabulary they do. His first argument is, “In any lexical set there will be a more neutral or unmarked word which can be pressed into service to define the meanings of the related word.”(Timucin). This means that they will use one core word and then surround it by many words that mean the same thing, he gives the example “in the set snigger, grin, smirk, beam, smile all the words except smile can be defined by smile (the core item)”(Timucin). Another way that vocabulary is chosen, is by choosing words “which do not carry especially marked connotations or associations”(Timucin). If the reader associates words with a specific idea it is likely they could disagree with your work or jump to conclusions and in both cases you ability to communicate with them will be lost. On the same line he brings up that the “Core words do not normally allow us to identify from which field of discourse they have been taken”(Timucin). By doing this the reader will not feel excluded from the topic of the article because if words that are specific to a discourse are used it is likely that the reader will feel alienated because they are not part of that discourse. By newspapers being cognizant of the vocabulary that they use they will be able to retain a large audience and in their business that equates to success.