Analysis on the language features in News English 1.docx

Analysis on the language features in News English 1.docx

《Analysis on the language features in News English 1.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Analysis on the language features in News English 1.docx（11页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

AnalysisonthelanguagefeaturesinNewsEnglish1

江西科技师范大学理工学院

毕业设计（论文）

题目（中文）：

浅谈英文网站上新闻的语言使用特色

（外文）：

DisscussionontheLanguageFunctionsandFeaturesofEnglishNewsWebsites

学科部：

外语

专业：

英语

学生姓名：

黄裕芳

学号：

20108474

指导教师：

邬海明

2014年5月20日

content

1.Introduction3

2.thelexicalfeaturesinEnglishnews3

2.1Usingvividandgraphicoralwords3

2.2UsingmidgetWords4

2.3Usingabbreviatedwords5

2.4Usingborrowedandloanwords5

2.5Usinguephemism7

2.6Creatingwords……………………………………………..7

3.Thesyntaxfeatures9

3.1passivevoices9

3.2Tenselimitationsandinconsistencies10

3.3WidespreaduseofDirectandIndirectSpeech10

3.4Usingpresenttense11

3.5Loosesentence11

4.RhetoricalfeaturesinEnglishnews11

4.1Theuseofmetaphor11

4.2Theuseofmetonymy12

4.3Theuseofanalogies12

Conclusion14

Reference16

DiscussionontheLanguageFunctionsandFeaturesofEnglishNewsWebsites

Abstract:

Nowadays,manystudiesarefocusedonEnglishnews.AndIwanttoknowhowtobetteranalysisthelanguagefeature,duetoeffectivelyacquiringknowledgefromthosewebsites.ThisessaymainlystudiesthelinguisticfeaturesofEnglishNewsonstylistics.ThestudyisconsistofmainlythreeaspectsofNewsEnglish.Theyarelexicalfeatures,sentencefeaturesandgrammarfeaturesofNewsEnglish.Accordingtothestudy,peoplecanfindthatNewsEnglish,asadistinctiveandnewlanguage,hasitsownlinguisticfeaturesinwords,sentencesandgrammar.Forexample:

Englishnewsoftenusemetaphor,metonymyandanalogies,whichcanmakeEnglishnewsappearsconciseandfulloflargeinformation.

Keywords:

EnglishnewsfeatureslexicalfeaturessyntacticfeaturesrhetoricalfeaturesofEnglishnews

1.Introduction

Withthefastdevelopmentofglobalization,Englishhasbecomethelanguagewhichisusedworld-widely,andEnglishnewshascertainlybecomeanessentialpartoflife.ThusthestudyofNewsEnglishhasbecomeveryimportant.ItisnotonlyessentialforlinguistsbutalsohelpfulforEnglishlearners.

NewsEnglish,asanewlyformedlanguage,hasitsownfeaturesonstylistics.InordertohelppeoplebetterunderstandNewsEnglish,thisessaywillshowmainlyonstylisticfeaturesofNewsEnglishinitswords,sentencesandgrammar.Suchasinthepartofwords,theEnglishnewsoftenusesmidgetwords,abbreviatedwordsandloanwords.Whileinthepartofsentencefeatures,theyoftenusepassivevoices,presenttenseandloosesentence.

2.ThelexicalfeaturesinEnglishnews

ThewordsinNewsEnglishareveryplentiful.Therearevividandgraphicoralwords,midgetwords,abbreviatedwords,borrowedwords,loanwords,euphemismsandmanyothernewwords.HerearethemainfeaturesofthewordsinNewsEnglish.

2.1Usingvividandgraphicoralwords

MostofthereadersofNewsEnglisharecommonpeople.TheyarebusywiththeirworksandalwayshaveveryshorttimetoreadtheNews.SoNewsEnglishshouldbeeasytounderstandandclosetocommonpeople.

Bruisetoldthatthereisasoftwarecompany,andtheywanttodesignsomemobilephones,noneofthemcancaughtfire.（Bruise,1990）

“Catchfire”originallymeans“beonfire”,whichcanmakeusthinkaboutthefiresspreadingtoalldirections.Hereitreferstosomethingthatdevelopsquickly.Inthissentence“caughtfire”meansthethreeWindowscreatedbyMicrosoftdon’tbecomepopularandhavelittleimportance.Thiskindofusemakesthesentencemoregraphic.

ThepeopleinEnglish-speakingcountriesknowtheoralwordsverywell,sotheycanunderstandthereporteasily,andtheyalllikethisvividandlivelylanguagestyleverymuch.Thiskindofreportcanattracttheirattentionandmakethemfeelinterested.

2.2Usingmidgetwords

Becauseofthelimitedtimeandlength,theauthorsoftheNewsEnglishalwayswanttomaketheirreportshortandbrief.Theytrytheirbesttousetheleastwordstoexpressthedeepestmeanings.Thesewordsareshortandsmall,buttheycanexpress

manymeaningsclearly.Manypeoplearefamiliarwiththesewords.Usingmidgetwordscannotonlymakeanewsreportshortandeffective,butalsoattractpeople’sattentions.HerearemidgetwordswhichoftenfoundinNewsEnglish:

cut—reduce,decrease（削减）;issue—problem,question（问题）;oust—expel,remove（驱逐）;pay

—wage,salary（工资）.（thecharacterisusedtoexplainthemeaningoftheword）

Sometimesthesemidgetwordsareusedbychangingtheirpartofspeech.Forexample:

“DwightStewart,chairmanofClarendonCountyCouncil,whoalongwithSummertonMayorBethHinsonPhilips,isoneofthefewwhitestoopenlybackElliott’scampaign”.“back”hereisusedasaverbwhichequalsto“support”.It

isshorterandmoreacceptablethan“support”.（Roger.1991:

173）Itgivesthereadersafreshandnewfeeling.

MidgetwordsareoftenusedintheheadlinesofNewsEnglishbecausetheycanattractpeople’seyesatthefirstsight.ItisadistinctivelexicalfeatureofNewsEnglish.

2.3Usingabbreviatedwords（小型词）

Likethemidgetwords,usingabbreviatedwordsalsomakethenewsshortandbrief.Inthiswaytheauthorscansavemorespaceinthepageofthenewspaper.Moreandmoreabbreviatedwordshavebeenusedrecently.Therearemainlythreekindsofabbreviatedwords.

2.3.1Acronym（缩略词）

Thiskindofabbreviatedwordisformedfromtheinitiallettersofagroupofwords.Thenamesoforganizations,companiesandunitsarealwayswrittenasacronymsforshort.Acronymscansavethelengthofareporteffectively.Youcanfindtheirmeaningsfromthecontentsofthenews.HerearesomepopularacronymsinNewsEnglish:

EU—EuropeanUnion;IOC—InternationalOlympicCommittee.（chinadaily,2008）

AcronymsaresopopularthattheyarewidelyusednotonlyinwesterncountriesbutalsoinChina.Theyaremoreeye-catchingandinterestingthanthelonggroupofwords.Thepronunciationsofacronymsarenotfixed.Somearereadaccordingtothepronunciationsoftheletters,andsomearereadasanewword.Theyareallwrittenbycapitalletters.

2.3.2Clippingwords（裁剪词）

TheclippingsarecreatedbysomeauthorsofNewsEnglish.Forsavingtheprintedpageandtime,theycutsomelongwordsanduseonepartofthewordinsteadofthewholeword.Therearethreekindsofclippings:

（1）Cuttheendpartofaword:

ad—advertisement（广告）;（ChinaDaily,2008）

（2）Cutthefrontpartofaword:

quake—earthquake（地震）;（ChinaDaily,2008）

（3）thefrontandendpartsofaword:

flu—influenza（流感）;（ChinaDaily,2008）

2.3.3Specialabbreviatedwords（简短词）

Becauseofthewidelyusage,someabbreviatedwordsbecomeformalwordsinthedictionary.Forexample:

mgr—manager（经理）;fotog—photographer（摄影师）.

MostofabbreviationsmaketheNewsEnglishmorebriefandshort,butsometimesanewabbreviatedwordcanbringsomeproblemstothereaders.Sotheauthorthinkstheuseofabbreviationsshouldbelimitedandthereshouldbesomenotesattheendofthenews.（chenxiaoru,1999）

2.4Usingborrowedandloanwords

SomewordsinNewsEnglishareborrowedintradesandcommunication,suchassports,military,science,commerce,andsoon.Theseborrowedwordsmakethenewsreportmorevividandinteresting.Thereaderscanhaveafreshfeelingwhenreadthesewords.Wecanseemanyexamplesinnewspapers:

ReviewingChina’sperformanceintheworldarenaduringthepast30years,wefindthisnationhashadastableandstrategicU.S.policy.

Therearetwoborrowedwords.Takingforexamples,“Arena”isasportsterm.Itreferstothelevelareainthecentreofanamphitheatreorasportsstadium.Hereitsextendedmeaningis“stage”.Theauthorused“arena”toindicatethattheworldislikeaplaceofactivityandcompetition,andeverycountrycangiveitsownperformanceandcompetewithothercountrieshere.“Strategic”isamilitaryterm.Itmeans“formingpartofaplan”andalwaysdescribessomemilitaryplans.Hereithasanewmeaning—well-planed.ItemphasizestheimportanceoftheU.S.policyinChina.

InNewsEnglishnamesofplacesandbuildingsarealsoborrowedfrequently.Forexample,theyuse“WhiteHouse”insteadofAmericangovernment.Theyalsousemanycolorwordstoreplacesomelongphrases.BorrowedwordsmakethecontentsofNewsEnglishplentifulandcolorful.

Meanwhile,liketheborrowedwords,usingloanwordsalsomakethenewsshortandbrief.Loanwordsrefertothewordsfromotherlanguages.Englishisamixturelanguageanditbecomestheworldlanguage.PeopleallovertheworldcommunicatewitheachotherfrequentlynowadaysandmostofthemuseEnglishtochangetheirideas.TheybringmanynewwordstoEnglish.NewsEnglishoftenreportsomeover

seanews.Usingloanwordscanattractthereaders’attentionsandgivethemsomeinformationofforeigners.

SomeloanwordsarefromChinese.Forexample:

“InKungFufilmBusiness,BruceLeeliveson”.Here“KungFu”isthepronunciationoftheChineseword—”功夫”.Theyuse“KungFufilm”toreplace“actionfilm”becauseChineseKungFuisveryfamousandtypical.Using“KungFu”canmakethereportmoreeye-catching.

Thefollowingwordsareallloanwords:

Blitz（闪电行动）—German;visa（签证）—French;rapport（和睦，友好）—French;tofu（豆腐）—Chinese;tycoon（巨头）—

Japanese.TherearemanyotherloanwordsintheEnglishvocabulary.LoanwordsarewidelyusedinNewsEnglishbecausetheycanrepresentthefeaturesoftheirowncountries.TheyaddmanyshiningpointstoNewsEnglish.

2.5UsingEuphemisms（委婉语）

NewsEnglishfacestothepublicandallclassesofthesociety.Thelanguagenotonlyneedstobebriefandclear,butalsoproperandmoderate.Apopularnewspaperalwaysuseseuphemismstopleaseitsreaders.Whenthegovernmentmakessomenewordersthatarenotgoodnewstothecommonpeople,theyoftenuse