Person References in Newspaper Headlines

Wang Ling

Under the Supervision of

Professor Ding Yanren

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Master of Arts

English Department

School of Foreign Studies

Nanjing University

March 2004 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this thesis cannot be realized but for the help from a group of individuals, to whom I owe the deepest gratitude. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my heart-felt thankfulness to all of them. My deepest appreciation first extends to my two supervisors, Prof. Chen Xinren and Prof. Ding Yanren. Prof. Chen led me into the field of Pragmatics and under his consistent help and supervision, I acquired some knowledge about the discipline. When abroad, he still contacted us closely and helped me solve problems encountered in my research. Prof. Ting took over the supervising task when Prof. Chen went abroad for study. He has provided me with very detailed instructions on the composing of my thesis paper. He even helped to check my typing and identified many typing mistakes. Without his constant help, encouragement and expert advice during the whole process when I was dragging through each stage of this thesis, this paper couldn’t have been finished so quickly. His great help also finds its way in offering assistance in handling the methodological problems, providing constructive suggestions for analyzing the data and taking great pains in reading and revising this thesis meticulously. Thanks for his encouragement, advices and patience. I am also grateful for Prof. Wen Qiufang, whose strict requirements as well as insightful instructions in the thesis writing course is of great help to the methodology adopted in this thesis. I would also express my appreciation to all the professors who assisted me during my three years of postgraduate study and the completion of this thesis, such as Prof. Heng Renquan, Prof. Yu Hongliang, Prof. Wang Lifei and Prof.

ii Wang Wenyu. Finally, I’d like to express my heart-felt thanks to my family and all others who directly or indirectly helped me to bring this thesis into being. For any errors that still remain, I personally shoulder full responsibility.

ABSTRACT

Person references in online English newspaper headlines

Wang Ling

When writing newspaper headlines, editors cannot avoid using expressions to refer to human or nonhuman entities. However, these referring expressions (accessibility markers) never receive due attention from researchers. The researcher in this paper explored the use of person references in headlines from online English newspapers published in USA and China. First, the researcher examined the use of person references in the homepages of Eight American newspapers. Then she focused on three newspapers, two tabloids and one broadsheet and examined person references from the business, sports, entertainment and news sections. Third, she examined person references from the headlines of all the sections in two China’s English newspapers. This study produces the following results: (1) American newspapers tend to use more intermediate accessibility markers than high or low ones although when appropriate, they also make headlines as short as possible by using zeros or make them rather long by using indefinite descriptions. Last names are used more often than other types of names in the headlines of online

iii American newspapers. (2) Different sections (excluding the news section) and different newspapers use intermediate accessibility markers more often than they use low or high accessibility markers. The news section use a large number of low rather than intermediate or high accessibility markers. In addition, the business section uses the largest number of zeros; the Sports section has the largest number of last names; the entertainment section uses first names most frequently and the news section uses indefinite descriptions most frequently. (3) English newspapers in China, unlike their American counterparts, use low accessibility markers more frequently than the intermediate or high markers. Also, they use high accessibility markers very scarcely compared with American newspapers. English newspapers in China seldom use zeros and pronouns. The present study further verifies the pattern of referring in newspaper headlines with new data sources, thus contributing to the study of journalistic writing by complementing the convention-based approach to the study of journalistic writing, which is by nature prescriptive, with an approach that is both descriptive and explanatory.

iv 中文摘要

英文报纸新闻标题中的人物指称用语研究

王玲

报纸标题是报纸的一个重要组成部分，很多研究人员都对它进行了研究。但却很少有人

研究标题中的指称用语，这与其重要性是不成比例的。报纸中每个标题都离不开对人或物

的指称，研究标题中的指称表达意义重大。

Kronrod 和 Engel（2001）研究了以色列报纸标题中的指称用语，发现其中使用最多的

是中可及性指称语（又称可及性标示语），其次是低可及性指称语，使用最少的是高可及

指称语。他们认为出现这种分布并没有违背可及性理论的要求，因为不同类型的报纸在指称

使用的总体趋势方面并没有不同，不同版面之间也基本一致。之所以不像可及性理论预计的

那样，标题中应该以使用低可及指称语为主，两位作者认为是因为节省版面和吸引读者兴

趣的需要同可及性理论的共同作用。

本文旨在两位作者的基础上具体研究标题中人物指称的使用情况，即美国在线报纸中

人物指称的使用。研究试图发现美国报纸人物指称使用的总体趋势以及不同类型的报纸（大

报，小报）和不同的版面在人物指称使用方面是否存在差异。此外研究者还将国内英文报纸

和美国报纸进行了对比研究。

研究美国报纸人物指称使用的总体趋势时，研究者选取了 8 份美国报纸的主页作为语

料来源，从中抽取出含有人物指称的标题并对其中的人物指称进行归类统计。

v 随后研究者从 8 份报纸中抽出 3 份进行具体研究，2 份小报 1 份大报。所有人物指称标

题均来自商务，体育，娱乐和新闻四个版面。研究者首先探讨了大小报人物指称的使用情况，

然后比较了四版中人物指称的使用。

在对比研究中美英文报纸人物指称使用的异同时，研究者选取了两份中国国内知名的

英文报纸并对其中所有含标题的版面（包括主页）进行了研究。所有包含人物指称用语的标

题被抽取出来作为研究语料。对其中的人物指称，研究者进行了归类统计。而后将之与 8 份

美国英文报进行对照研究，试图从中发现中美人物指称使用的异同。

本研究发现美国在线报纸人物指称中，使用最多的是中可及性标示语。在用名字指称人

物时，以用人物的姓为主，即名称类中的中可及性标示语。在可能的情况下，标题是能短则

短（使用最高可及性标示语即零形式），该长则长（使用最低可及性标示语即不确定描述

语）。

研究同时显示，不同类型的报纸以及报纸的不同版面(除新闻版)所使用的人物指称都

以中可及标示语居多, 而新闻版以使用低可及性标示语为主。此外,各版相较之下仍有自身的

特色。商务版所用最高可及性标示语最多；体育版以姓指称最多；娱乐版用名指称最多；而

新闻版则使用最低可及性标示语最多。

通过对比中美英文报纸人物指称的使用，研究者发现,与美国英文报纸不同的是,国内英

文报纸以使用低可及性标示语居多.此外,中国的英文报纸人物指称类型没有美国报纸丰富。

中国英文报纸零形式和代词使用较少.

vi TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ii English Abstract iii Chinese Abstract v

Chapter One Introduction 1 1.1 Need for the study 1 1.2 Overview of the thesis layout 2

Chapter Two Literature Review 3 2.1 Some important terms in the present study 3 2.1.1 Newspaper headline 3 2.1.2 Accessibility theory 5 2.2 Studies on newspaper headlines 12 2.3 The study directly related to the present research 12 2.4 About the present study 13

Chapter Three Research Methodology 14 3.1 Research questions 14 3.2 Materials 15 3.2.1 The three sets of data 15 3.2.2 Some clarifications of the materials 15 3.2.2.1 A general point: Why online newspapers 15 3.2.2.2 Clarifications of the three sets of data 16

vii 3.3 Data collection and data analysis 17 3.3.1 The process of data collection and data analysis 17 3.3.2 Problems encountered in data collection and analysis 20

Chapter Four Findings and Discussions 23 4.1 Person references in American online newspapers 23 4.1.1 Clarifications of two points about person references 24 4.1.2 Findings about the use of person references 25 4.1.3 Degree of Accessibility 28 4.2 Person references in different American newspapers and different 29 newspaper sections 4.2.1 Person references in different American newspapers 29 4.2.2 Person references in headlines from different sections 32 4.3 Comparison of the use of person references between American 37 newspapers and China’s English newspapers 4.3.1 Person references in China’s English newspapers 37 4.3.2 The distribution of person references in China’s English 38 newspapers

Chapter Five Conclusions and implications 40 5.1 Major findings 40 5.2 Implications 41 5.3 Limitations of the study 41 5.4 Suggestions for follow-up studies 43

References 45

viii LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Person references in the headlines of eight online 23 American newspapers

Table 4.2 Distribution of person references in American online 29 newspapers

Table 4.3 Comparison of person references in headlines from 30 different American newspapers

Table 4.4 Breakdown of high, intermediate and low accessibility 31 markers in newspaper headlines

Table 4.5 The distribution of person references over the four 33

ix sections

Table 4.6 Breakdown of accessibility markers in different sections 35 of three newspapers

Table 4.7 Person reference types in China’s English newspapers 38

Table 4.8 Distribution of person references in English newspapers 39 from China

x Chapter One

Introduction

1.1 Need for the Study In any discourse, oral or written, the addresser must first be able to refer to themselves, hearers and third parties, as well as other animate beings, inanimate or physical objects and concepts. In order for communication to be successful, addressers must enable hearers to identify the entities mentioned in the discourse by using appropriate referring expressions (or references). In editing headlines, editors also must use referring expressions. As argued by Scollon and Scoollon (2000:53), it is impossible to imagine a sentence that does not make reference in some form. Headlines are no exception in this matter. Although references contribute much to headline construction, the overwhelming trend in headline research is to focus on issues like grammar of headlines (Bell, 1984), headline production (Bell, 1984, 1991). Referring expressions in headlines receive little attention from researchers. The existing study directly dealing with referring expressions in newspaper headlines (Kronrod & Engel, 2001) availed itself of Accessibility Theory (Ariel, 1990). The study indicated that accessibility theory could apply to different genres in newspapers (different from Fox’s claim, 1987), and that there existed no differences in the patterns of referring among different types of newspapers. In addition, different sections showed the same patterns of referring (Kronrod & Engel, 2001). Although this study produced some insightful results, there is still much to be investigated in the field of referring expressions. First, only newspapers in Hebrew were examined for the use of references. Second, no differentiation was made

xi between person references and nonhuman references in the examination of newspaper headlines. Third, almost no attempt was made in China to examine person references in newspaper headlines. Fourth, no comparison was made between newspapers in the same language from two countries. Given these facts, the researcher wanted to further penetrate into the use of referring expressions in newspaper headlines, more specifically, person references. And unlike the above-mentioned study, the researcher took English newspapers (rather than newspapers in Israel) from both U.S. and China as the data source.

1.2 Overview of the Thesis Layout This thesis consists of five chapters, which are laid out as follows: Chapter One gives a brief introduction to the present study. It explains the need for the present study and briefs the general structure as well as the content of the thesis. Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature on newspaper headlines. It expounds on some important terms used in the present study, documents the previous studies on newspaper headlines, analyzes the specific studies that inspired the present study and describes the present study. Based on the analytical framework proposed in Chapter Two, Chapter Three talks about the methodology adopted in the present study, lists the research questions and describes the design of the study, the procedures of data collection and analysis. Chapter Four reports on the findings derived from the study and discusses them in detail. In addition to a summary of the findings, Chapter Five touches upon the possible contribution of the thesis, points out the limitations of the present study and offers suggestions for further studies.

xii Chapter Two

Literature Review

This chapter expounds on the literature leading to the present study. It consists of four parts. The first part explains some important terms used in this study. The second part reviews the relevant studies on headlines. The third part discusses the study that directly inspires the present research. The last part serves as a brief description of the present study.

2.1 Some Important Terms in the Present Study 2.1.1 Newspaper Headline 1. Definition of Newspaper Headline Headline is a jargon of the newspaper. As Bell (1991) puts it, newspaper headlines function as a sub-genre in the journalistic genre. They usually contain concise information which has a very newsworthy value according to the editor. In the present study, headlines include not only headlines for print news items but also for audio and visual news (In an online newspaper, both visual and auditory means is adopted. And headlines for audio and visual news are also formulated in words.).

2. Functions of Newspaper Headline Headline is the eye of a newspaper. It transfers information and represents the style and attitude of a newspaper. As argued by Zhen Xindong (1992), headline is a very important part of a news item. It is the tersest words, revealing, assessing and organizing the content of a news item. Zhang Zirang (1999) generalized two major

xiii roles for news headline. He argued that on the one hand, headlines guided web-surfers to read, listen and view. On the other hand, headlines could reflect a newspaper’s attitude toward a piece of news, influence the public opinion and trigger the value system in their readers. On the whole, headlines can serve the following major functions (Brooks & Sissors, 2003; also cited in Chen, 2002): (1) Attract the reader’s attention. (2) Summarize the story. (3) Help the reader index the contents of the page. (4) Depict the mood of the story. (5) Help set the tone of the newspaper. (6) Provide adequate typographic relief.

3. Rules of Headline Writing There are many rules concerning headline writing, the following are some common ones shared by different newspaper groups (Brooks & Sissors, 2003; http://jteacher.com): (1) Keep headlines in the active voice and present tense. The present tense is non-negotiable unless the event has happened long, long ago. The active voice is desirable, although not mandatory. (2) Do not use articles or conjunctions. (3) Do not use “to be” verbs such as “is” or “are.” (4) Do not make unknown persons headline names and do not use common last names (“Jones,” “Smith,” etc.) or other names that are not easily recognized. (5) Use short, simple words, but avoid such overworked and misused words as “rap,” “eye” (as a verb) and “probe.” The use of such words is known as headlinese. (6) Abbreviate sparingly.

Although textbooks on journalism list many rules of headline writing, most of

xiv them fail to propose the principles underlying these rules. The researcher of the present study, therefore, wanted to make some attempts in this aspect. In this study, the researcher proposed that the combination of both Accessibility Theory and Relevance Theory could account for the headline rules.

2.1.2 Accessibility Theory Since the researcher wanted to explore the use of person references within the framework of Accessibility Theory, this part serves as an introduction to this theory. Accessibility Theory was proposed by Ariel (1988, 1990). According to her, different kinds of referring expressions actually signals how accessible the mental representations of the entities referred to in our memory system. Here, referring expressions (or references) are those linguistic forms used by a speaker or writer to enable a listener or reader to identify certain human or nonhuman entities (Yule, 2000). And in this spirit, person references are those linguistic forms used by addressers to enable their addressees to identify a person or a group of people. Those linguistic forms can be proper nouns like “Bush,” noun phrases which are definite like “the rich,” or indefinite such as “a bride,” and pronouns like “he” and “them.” Ariel thought that the accessibility of an entity is manifested by its state of activation in our memory system. An addresser uses different kinds of referring expressions to mark different degrees of accessibility for an entity. Therefore, referring expressions can also be called accessibility markers. Ariel further divided referring expressions into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers. Those references originally used to refer to a certain entity in our encyclopedic context are low accessibility markers, such as definite descriptions and some proper names. Those originally referring to an entity in physical context are intermediate markers, such as deictics. And those seem to be used to refer only to an entity in linguistic context are high accessibility markers, such as pronouns and zeros (1990:17). To testify such three-way division, Ariel (cited in Xu, 2000) analyzed the

xv distribution of referring expressions in actual written discourse. She chose four published English articles for analysis, two of them fictions and two non-fictions. Each article contained about 2200 words. Then she analyzed the discourse distance between referring expressions and the antecedents closest to them in the four articles. Discourse distance was classified into four levels:

(1) Referring expressions and their antecedents lie in the same sentence. (2) The antecedents appear in the sentence prior to the sentence containing the referring expressions. (3) The antecedents appear in two or more sentences (the same paragraph) prior to the sentence containing the referring expressions. (4) The antecedents appear in the paragraph prior to the paragraph containing the referring expressions.

The theoretical base in doing so is that since a referring expression refers to an entity in a discourse, at a particular point of comprehension, the entity mentioned freshly is the most accessible one, since the representation of this entity still remains in the short-term memory of an addressee. In contrast, the representation of an entity mentioned a relatively long time ago is much less accessible, since the mental representation of this entity has become vague. If we substitute discourse distance for the interval between the mentioning of a referring expression and its antecedent, we can conclude that the shorter the discourse distance between a referring expression and its antecedent, the more accessible the referent is and vice versa. Therefore, we can deduce that high accessibility markers often appear in the context of short discourse distance, low accessibility markers often appear in the context of long discourse distance such as “across paragraph,” and intermediate accessibility markers appear in the context of immediate discourse distance. Such deduction was justified by Ariel’s data of the four English articles mentioned above (cited in Xu, 2000). Based on the data, Ariel (1994: 30) suggests the following hierarchy, in which

xvi the referring expressions on the left side of the arrowhead signal relatively higher accessibility than those to the right:

Zero > reflexives > agreement markers > cliticized pronouns > unstressed pronouns > stressed pronouns > stressed pronouns + gesture > proximal demonstrative (+NP) > distal demonstrative (+NP) > proximal demonstrative + NP + modifier > distal demonstrative + NP + modifier > first name > last name > short definite description > long definite description > full name > full name + modifier (Adopted from Ariel 1994)

In the above hierarchy a zero form is the highest accessibility marker among all the potentially anaphoric expressions, while a full name plus a modifier is the lowest accessibility marker of all. The speaker uses a high accessibility marker when referring to a highly accessible antecedent and a lower accessibility marker to a less accessible antecedent. The addressee, then, relies on the accessibility marker provided by the speaker to correctly retrieve the antecedent from his/her memory which the speaker has intended. Now, let’s see the definitions for those referring expressions on the above- mentioned scale:

Zero: when the interpretation requires us to identify an entity, as in “Ф Recording Scalia,” and no linguistic expression is present, it is called zero or ellipsis (Yule, 2000:23). Reflexives are those words used to show that the agent’s action is upon himself (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 1996), for example, “himself” or “itself.” Agreement markers refer to the situation when verbs agree with their subjects (usually) in person, gender and number. In English, the only example is for 3rd person present simple tense “she goes.” Cliticized pronoun is used when a pronoun gets attached to the verb (usually a feature of spoken language) that sometimes gets written to reflect the pronunciation, e.g.,

xvii “I’ll.” Here “I” is pronounced differently from when it is an independent form. Unstressed pronouns are those pronouns without being stressed in sound, e.g., “he.” Stressed pronouns are those pronouns pronounced with a stressed sound. They usually occur in oral communications. In written work, a stressed pronoun is often characterized by capitalization, e.g., “Mary gave a book to her sister. SHE liked her very much.” Stressed pronoun + gesture are those expressions found only in oral interaction. Proximal demonstrative + (NP) refer to the instances where “this” or “these” is used with or without noun phrase(s), for example, “this (car)” or “these (flowers).” Distal demonstrative + (NP) refer to the instances where “that” or “those” is used with or without noun phrase(s), for example, “that (boy)” or “those (trees).” Proximal demonstrative + NP + modifier refers to the situation in which “this” or “these” is used with or without noun phrase(s) but used with adjective(s) (or other kinds of modifiers, such as relative clause), for example, “this fantastic car.” Distal demonstrative + NP + modifier refers to the situation in which “that” or “those” is used with or without noun phrases but used with adjective(s) (or other kinds of modifiers, such as relative clause), for example, “that fantastic car.” First name is given name (as opposed to family name), for example, “Jane” in “Jane Eyre.” Last name is one’s family name, for example, “Eyre” in “Jane Eyre.” Short definite description is the kind of description consisting of “the” plus up to two content words, for example, “the good book.” Long definite description is the kind of description consisting of “the” plus three content words or more, for example, “the little red book on my table.” Full name consists of a person’s family name plus given name, for example, “Jane Eyre.” Full name + modifier refer to such expression as “Mira Ariel, the linguist.”

The relative position of different types of referring expressions on the above scale was actually determined by three factors, “Informativity,” “Rigidity” and

xvii i “Attenuation” (Ariel, 1991).

1. The first principle is “Informativity.” It means the amount of lexical information that the expression provides about the entity. “The more lexical information the marker provides the better it is suited for the retrieval of less accessible material” (Ariel, 1991: 449). For example, “the Israeli linguist” supplies more detailed information than “the linguist,” so it signals that its antecedent, if any, is less accessible than that of “the linguist.” Similarly, “this book” more informative than “this” and signals an antecedent less accessible than the one “this” signals. When applying the informativity criterion, we can distinguish the following expressions regarding the degree of Accessibility they should be used for (Ariel, 1991) (Since the expressions on the left side of “vs.” supply more information about their referent, they are less accessible than those on the right side of “vs.”): (1) pronoun vs. Ф (2) Full demonstrative/definite description (this/the book) vs. bare demonstrative (this) (3) Full demonstrative/definite description vs. Ф/ pronoun (4) Full name vs. partial names (first/last name) (5) In general: x+ modifier vs. x (For example, last name+ modifier vs. last name) However, the “Informativity” principle fails to distinguish between the following referring expressions, since no apparent difference in lexical content can be established: (1) Definite descriptions vs. full demonstratives (2) Proximal vs. distal demonstratives (3) Bare demonstratives vs. pronouns (4) Stressed vs. unstressed pronouns (5) Verbal agreement vs. cliticized pronouns and vs. full pronouns (6) Full names vs. definite descriptions (7) Last names vs. first names In order to differentiate those references, two more criteria are needed.

xix 2. The second principle is “Rigidity.” It targets at how uniquely a referring expression is to pick out a unique referent (based on form). This is context dependent, but some markers are more “rigid” than others, and to that extent the criterion makes different predictions than the informativity criterion. This criterion is useful when no apparent difference between two noun phrases in terms of lexical content is discernible. For instance, the distinction between “the little creatures” and “the ants,” the former refers to a larger set than the latter; therefore, the latter is more rigid. The more rigid an expression is, the lower the degree of accessibility it codes. The consequences of applying the rigidity criterion are the following (Since the expressions on the left side of “vs.” are more rigid than those on the right side, they are less accessible referring expressions): (1) Proper Names (full names) vs. definite descriptions (2) Last names vs. first names

3. The third criterion is “Attenuation,” which is close to Givón’s (1983) proposal concerning phonological size. According to this criterion, phonologically heavier forms mark lower degrees of accessibility. Phonological size is measured by the length of the expression and by stress or lack of it. Comparisons of length are valid only when no change in informativity is involved. For example, the contrast between expressions like “the United States of America” and “the USA” (cited from Ariel, 1990), the latter form is shorter than the former, and therefore marks a higher degree of accessibility. Applying the criterion of attenuation creates the following distinctions (Since the expressions on the left side of “vs.” are less attenuated than those on the right side, they are less accessible referring expressions): (1) Stressed vs. unstressed pronouns (2) In general: any forms which vary in length but do not in content (United States of America vs. US)

xx (3) Full unstressed pronouns vs. cliticized pronouns vs. agreement vs. Ф) Since the present study only targets person references in newspaper headlines, some of accessibility markers, which are not used as person references in newspaper headlines were deleted. The resulting accessibility marking scale for person references in newspaper headlines is as follows:

Zero > reflexives > cliticized pronouns > unstressed pronouns > proximal demonstrative (+NP) > distal demonstrative (+NP) > proximal demonstrative + NP + modifier > distal demonstrative + NP + modifier > first name > last name > short definite description > long definite description > full name > full name + modifier

Ariel (1990) maintained that the Accessibility scale presented should not be taken as a conclusive claim. First, it does not cover the full range of referring expressions in all languages, not even all the possibilities found in the language that she concentrated on, namely, English. Second, a language may lack some types of accessibility markers listed in the above scale. Therefore, it is worthwhile to explore referring expressions (more specifically, person references) used in headlines from English newspapers both in USA and China. 2.2 Studies on Newspaper Headlines As the researcher mentioned before, headlines are an indispensable and very significant part of a newspaper. Considering this fact, many researchers (both at home and abroad) devoted themselves to the study of news headlines and produced fruitful results. Their research covers a wide range of theoretical and empirical topics, from the grammar of English headlines to the effects of headlines on news comprehension and recall. Among these researchers, Wu Liping (2002) applied a linguistic approach to the stylistic analysis of English newspaper headlines. Over 100 examples from textbooks about news-editing, as well as from local, domestic and overseas newspaper publications served as her data base. The graphetic and graphological features, lexical features, grammatical features and the semantic features in newspaper headlines were

xxi analyzed. Chen Lizhao (2002) did a comparative study on English and Chinese headlines. She studied the classifications and functions of Chinese headlines (CH) and English headlines (EH), pointed out the peculiarities of headline grammar and differences in grammatical features between CH and EH, presented some rhetorical devices usually found in CH and EH, and explained causes of the employment of different devises in the two languages. Lorch, Jr., et al. (2001) found that headlines influence readers’ memories for text content and influence their representations of the topic structure of a text. The above-mentioned studies reveal some features of newspaper headlines, but failed to penetrate deep into headline features since they did not aim at some more specific aspects of headline features such as referring expressions in headlines.

2.3 The Study Directly Related to the Present Research The present study attempted to study person references in newspaper headlines. It was inspired by Kronrod and Engel’s study “Accessibilty theory and referring expressions in newspaper headlines” (2001). The study applied accessibility theory to the analysis of newspaper headlines and found no genre differences between the highbrow subscription paper and the newsstand popular papers. The authors also identified no differences between the different sections within the same newspaper (front page, other news, stories and sports). All the headlines they examined showed a clear preference for intermediate accessibility markers (first names, last names and short definite descriptions). The fact that intermediate accessibility markers dominate rather than low accessibility markers despite the initial retrieval status, is explained by reference to the notion of competing motivations (Bois, 1985): headlines must be short and vague in order to save space and arouse curiosity. High accessibility markers would have served that function best. But because the referents are also initial retrievals and hence of a rather low degree of accessibility, a compromise is struck and as a result, most of the referential forms are

xxii intermediate markers. The study was very convincing since it offers some quantitative figures, but it left many puzzles such as the detailed explanation of methodology. In China, however, although some researches have been conducted about references (Liu, 2003; Xu, 2000; Zhou, 2001), no attempt has ever been made into the examination of references in newspaper headlines.

2.4 About the Present Study As can be seen from the above review, very scarce research has been done on references in newspaper headlines. This is very surprising since no headlines can avoid using referring expressions. Given the importance of references in newspaper headlines, the researcher wanted to explore further the use of referring expressions in newspaper headlines, more specifically, person references (one major type of references). And unlike Kronrod and Engel’s study, the data sources for the present study are English newspapers from both USA and China. The assessing instrument for the use of person references is Accessibility Theory.

Chapter Three

Research Methodology

xxii i In the previous chapter, the researcher made a brief review on studies about newspaper headlines, focusing on the exploration of newspaper headlines with the guidance of Accessibility Theory. This chapter describes the methodology adopted in the present study, covering such aspects as research questions, materials, data collection and data analysis.

3.1 Research Questions Altogether, this research addresses three questions: 1. What kind or kinds of person references are used in the headlines of American online newspapers? How are they distributed? 2. Are there any differences among different online American newspapers (tabloid vs. broadsheet) and among different sections of them in terms of person reference? 3. How do online English newspapers in China make person reference in their headlines? Are there any similarities and/or differences between China’s online English newspapers and American online newspapers in terms of person reference?

3.2 Materials 3.2.1 The Three Sets of Data The present study targeted person references in online newspaper headlines. Altogether, three sets of data were used in this study. They were collected respectively in the following three steps:

xxi v In the first step, all the headlines concerning the use of person references were collected from the homepages of eight American online newspapers on April 12, 2004: New York Times, USA Today, Washington post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun Times and New York Daily. Among these newspapers, the first six newspapers are from the same genre—broadsheet, while the remaining two are tabloids (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki). In the second step of this study, the researcher identified the use of person references in headlines from two tabloids and one broadsheet (online)—New York Daily, Chicago Sun-Times and USA Today. Altogether, four sections were examined— Business, Sports, Entertainment and News. The data used in the last step of this study were collected from headlines of two online English newspapers in China, China Daily and People’s Daily, on April, 20, 2004. All the sections in these two newspapers were examined.

3.2.2 Some Clarifications of the Data The data collected in these three steps formed three distinct groups. In the following part, the researcher would clarify several points concerning the data used in each step of this study.

3.2.2.1 A General Point: Why Online Newspapers To be more specific, why did the researcher take online newspapers as her research subjects rather than their printed counterparts? (1) The first reason is that online newspapers have some unique traits of their own. For example, on the Internet, you can only read those headlines or, in some cases, also leads of news items on a web page. You can not get hold of a news item directly, which is different in the case of printed newspapers. (2) The second reason is that online newspaper headlines, as compared to headlines of printed newspapers, are more of a guiding device to a reader due to the huge quantities of news in an online newspaper. Therefore, referring

xxv expressions are more important to readers in online rather than printed newspapers.

3.2.2.2 Clarifications of the Three Sets of Data After clarifying this general point, the researcher wants to clarify some points concerning the three sets of data:

1. Why did the researcher focus on the homepages of those eight American newspapers? One of the reasons is that the homepages often contain those items most worthy of readers’ attention. The other reason is that the homepage contains headlines from different sections. From the homepage, the researcher can get hold of the general picture of person reference usages in a newspaper. Also, the study of headlines from different sections in the homepage can reveal some traits of a section. If interested, the researcher can also make a comparison between headlines from different sections, or different genres in Kronrod and Engel’s words (2001).

2. Why did the researcher singled out 3 American newspapers for a further study? The reason is the researcher wanted to go on to study whether there were any differences between different genres, i.e., different newspapers and different sections of these newspapers. By focusing on three newspapers rather than eight, the researcher could gain some deep insight into the use of person references among different newspapers and different sections. (Note that the researcher chose USA Today as a representative for broadsheet rather than the more prestigious New York Times. The reason is that there is no “Entertainment” section in New York Times.)

3. Why were the data for English newspapers in China collected on a different date from American newspapers?

xxv i Originally, the researcher planned to collect all the English newspapers (from China and USA) on the same date (April 12, 2004). Unfortunately, due to some technical problems, the data for China Daily were lost. In order to make sure that the data for China’s English newspapers were from the same date (to keep within-group consistency), the researcher recollected the data for English newspapers in China on April 20, 2004.

4. Why did the researcher examine all the sections of two English newspapers in China? It resulted from the fact that English newspapers in China contain a very small number of headlines on their homepages. If the researcher only explored the homepage, the number of qualified headlines for this study would be rather limited. As a result, the researcher would not be able to make any claim about person reference usage in English newspapers of China. And the present research cannot turn out any convincing results.

3.3 Data Collection and Data Analysis 3.3.1 The Process of Data Collection and Analysis The data for this study were collected from online English newspapers from China and USA. All of the referring expressions in the present study referred to an individual or a group of individuals. In other words, those headlines without reference to people were not included in this study even if they contained some other kinds of references. In this part, the researcher will talk about the process in the collection of three sets of data.

1. To find the answer to the first research question: what kind or kinds of person references are used in American online newspaper headlines, and how they are distributed, the researcher adopted the following steps:

xxv ii First, the researcher collected all the headlines from the homepages of the eight online American newspapers. As found in the resulting data, some of the headlines appeared more than once. For these recurring headlines, the researcher only retained one of them. Consequently, the selected data contained no repetition of headlines. The total number of headlines in the eight American newspapers is, therefore, 361. Of all these headlines, 179 contain person references, almost a half of the total headlines. Second, the researcher examined all 179 qualified headlines closely. All the instances of person references in each headline were picked out. These person references were classified into the types mentioned in Literature Review, such as “Zero,” “Cliticized Pronouns,” “First Names”… (See Chapter Two Literature Review for further reference). Third, since in the above step, all person references were grouped into different types, the researcher just counted the number of references under those types and then computed the percentage of occurrence for those types of references. Fourth, modeled after Ariel (1990), all the types of references were further categorized into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers. The high accessibility markers include: zero, reflexives, cliticized pronouns, endophoric pronouns The intermediate accessibility markers include: exophoric pronouns, first name, first name + modifier, last name, last name + modifier, short definite description The low accessibility markers include: long definite description, full name, full name + modifier, indefinite description

2. To find the answer to the second research question: whether there are any differences among different online American newspapers (tabloid vs. broadsheet) and among different sections of them in terms of person reference, altogether two tabloids (New York Daily News and Chicago Sun-Times) and one broadsheet (USA Today) acted as the data source. The researcher examined the four sections in these three newspapers (Business, Sports, Entertainment and News), because these sections,

xxv iii according to Bell (1991), constitute different genres: First, the researcher picked out all the headlines in these four sections from each newspaper. Then, she singled out those headlines containing person references and identified the types of those person references. Third, she counted the number of references under those types and then computed the percentage of occurrence for those types of references. Fourth, she categorized person references into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers.

3. To solve the third research question: how online English newspapers in China make person reference in their headlines and whether there are any similarities and/or differences between China’s online English newspapers and American online newspapers in terms of person reference, the researcher checked both China Daily and People’s Daily (English version): First, the researcher picked out headlines from all the sections in these two newspapers. After deleting the repetitive headlines, the researcher retained those headlines containing person references for study. Second, she examined those person references in headlines and classified them into different types of accessibility markers according to the accessibility scale for person references in Literature Review. Third, she counted the number of references under those types and then computed the percentage of occurrence for those types of references. Fourth, she categorized person references into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers.

3.3.2 Problems Encountered in Data Collection and Analysis In the process of data collection and analysis, the researcher encountered some difficulties. The following part was a report of those difficulties and the solution adopted by the researcher.

1. In the data for this study, the researcher found some types of accessibility markers not mentioned in Ariel’s accessibility marking scale. However, as Ariel (1990) held,

xxi x there may be other kinds of markers in a language. In this spirit, the researcher included these new types into discussion. For example, “First name + modifier” “last name + modifier” and “Indefinite description.” They are defined as such:

First name + modifier: refers to the expression where a modifier is placed before or after a person’s first name like “Second-place Ernie” in “Second-place Ernie Waits till Next Year” (for “Ernie Els”) (New York Daily News, April 12, 2004). Since “First name+ modifier” is more informative than “First name,” it is less accessible. But compared to “Last name,” it is less rigid in picking out a referent. Therefore, it is more accessible than “Last name.” Last name + modifier: refers to the expression where a modifier is placed before or after a person’s last name like “President Bush” in “Video: President Bush on Sunday” (New York Times, April 12, 2004). Since “Last name+ modifier” supply more information about its referent than “Last name” only, it is less accessible. But compared to “Short definite description,” it is less rigid in picking out a referent. Therefore, it is more accessible. Indefinite description: refers to descriptions whose referents are not definite, for example, “a Bride” and “a Groom” in “a Bride, a Groom and a Saw” (Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004). Note although Ariel did not include indefinite descriptions—a kind of referring expressions (Gundel et al., 1993; He, 2000: 49) in her accessibility marking scale, the researcher still considered them accessibility markers since in Ariel’s view, accessibility markers are tantamount to the notion of referring expressions.

2. The researcher added some categories of accessibility markers into analysis. For example, “Unstressed Pronoun” category was sub-divided into two types —“Endophoric Pronoun” and “Exophoric Pronoun.” This categorization was not arbitrary. According to Ariel (1990), exophoric pronouns (deictic personal pronouns) are intermediate accessibility markers, while other personal pronouns fall into the

xxx group of high accessibility markers. Accordingly, “Endphoric Pronoun” and “Exophoric Pronoun” are defined as follows:

Endophoric Pronouns: refers to those personal pronouns whose interpretations depend on the linguistic context they lie in. For example, “his” in “Capturing Castro in his own words” (Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004) Exophoric Pronouns: refers to those personal pronouns whose interpretations depend on the physical context. For example, “you” in “Just Browsing: When the Cashier Is You” (New York Times, April 12, 2004). (Here, we cannot known who this “you” refers to unless we are on the spot of communication.)

Since endophoric pronouns refer to antecedents in linguistic contexts, while exophoric pronouns refer to antecedents in physical context, the former is high accessibility markers, while the latter intermediate markers.

Based on the above discussion about person references used in online newspaper headlines, the researcher suggests the following accessibility markers for the present study:

Zero > reflexives > cliticized pronouns > endophoric pronouns > exophoric pronouns > proximal demonstrative (+NP) >distal demonstrative (+NP) > proximal demonstrative + NP + modifier > distal demonstrative + NP + modifier > first name > first name + modifier> last name > last name + modifier > short definite description > long definite description > full name > full name + modifier > indefinite description

Note that there is only one case of “first name+ modifier” and its accessibility is lower than having a first name alone, but definitely higher than “last name,” for the convenience of discussion, it is placed between “first name” and “last name.” As for “last name+ modifier”, its accessibility is lower than having a last name alone, but definitely higher than “definite description.” Therefore, it is placed between

xxx i “last name” and “short definite description.”

Chapter Four

Findings and Discussions

This chapter reports on the findings regarding the three research questions raised in the last chapter and discusses the reason(s) lying behind those findings.

xxx ii 4.1Person References in American Online Newspapers

Table 1: Person references in the headlines of eight online American newspapers (all from the headlines of eight online American newspapers) Type No. % Example (the underlined parts are person Total 228 100% references) zero 20 8.8％ Ф Recording Scalia 1 0.4％ Felipe, How Ya Gonna Win? EnP 7 3.1％ Capturing Castro in his own words ExP 12 5.3％ I just love taking care of people 10 4.4％ Lakers, Kobe Have no Shot against Sacramento 45 19.7％ Faithfully, Bush Works on Faith 6 2.6％ Video: President Bush on Sunday 43 18.9％ In Russia, Class for the Masses 9 3.9％ New 911 Chief mixes youthful energy, expertise 7 3.1％ Janet Jackson Portrays Rice on ‘SNL’ 4 1.8％ Matt Damon, Prague Star in Grimm Fairy Tale IDD 64 28.1％ a Bride, a Groom and a Saw (CP: Cliticized Pronoun; EnP: Endophoric Pronoun; ExP: Exophoric Pronoun; FN: First Name; LN: Last Name; LnM: Last Name+ Modifier; SDD: Short Definite Description; LDD: Long Definite Description; FuN: Full Name; FunM: Full Name+ Modifier; IDD: Indefinite Description.)

In Chapter Two, the researcher explained different types of referring expressions in the English language. But it was not clear whether all those types of referring expressions were used as person references in headlines from American newspapers. Table 1 summarizes the person references the researcher found in headlines.

4.1.1 Clarification of Two Points about Person Reference (1) Table 1 presented person references (the underlined parts) found in the headlines from the homepages of eight online American newspapers. Besides these types of person references, there were still other kinds of person references used in newspaper headlines, such as “Reflexives” and “First Name+ Modifier.” Since they were not found in the homepages, they were not listed in Table 1. (2) The researcher found some puzzling person references (the underlined parts) in

xxx iii the process of data collection for this part, for example:

Sox lose but hold their own (Chicago Sun-times, April 12, 2004) Likud to Vote on Gaza Strip Exit (Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004) Presidential Politics Divide Silicon Valley (New York Times, April 12, 2004)

Seemingly, these three underlined expressions are proper nouns/names—names of a team, a political party and a place. But through close examination, the researcher found that these expressions actually referred to all the people in that team, party or place. Although these references did not contain a “the,” they were still put into “Definite Description” group since their referents (those people referred to) were definite.

Furthermore, since these expressions could actually be paraphrased as “the Sox players,” “the Likud members” and “the people in Sillicon Valley” and all of the three contained less than three content words, they were

xxx iv judged to be short definite descriptions.

The above use of proper names is very special in headlines, but it is not arbitrary. In order to make their headlines relevant for the readers (arousing their interest), editors must talk about those things or individuals of special concern for the readers in the headlines. Those things or individuals, consequently, carry very high news-value. Since readers take great interest in those things or individuals, they know a lot about those entities. As a result, those entities are highly accessible in readers’ minds. Editors, therefore, can safely use those references with higher accessibility to refer to those entities. When referring to groups of individuals in certain units, the editors can use the names of the units to refer to those individuals.

xxx v Consider the following example:

Hostage Was Working in Iraq to Aid His Struggling Family (New York Times, April 12, 2004)

Although there is not a “the” in the underlined part “His

Struggling Family,” it contains a definite meaning and more than two content words. Therefore, this expression was judged to be a long definite description.

4.1.2 Findings about the Use of Person References

（1）Table 1 showed that the most popular high and low accessibility markers are zeros, and indefinite descriptions respectively. This reveals a hidden principle influencing editors in the choice of person references: Making a person reference as short as possible by using “zero” when its referent is easy to identify and Making it long or informative enough by using indefinite descriptions when its referent is needed to identify. (2) Among different types of names (first/last/full name+ (modifier)), last names (including last name+ modifier) enjoy the highest frequency of appearance, next come full names (including full name+ modifier) and first names. Since last names are those markers with intermediate accessibility among different kinds of names, first names and full names are respectively those markers with higher and lower accessibility, the

xxx vi distribution among different types of names shows the predominance of intermediate markers over lower markers and higher markers. a. Last names (including “Last name+ modifier”) In online American newspapers, when a person is referred to by his/her name, the most common practice is to use “Last Name.” “Last Name,” as maintained by Ariel (1990), refers to the entities inherently more salient (topics or famous people). In this study, the researcher found that of all the 51 last names, 32 act as the subjects (topics) in headlines. When examining those last names closely, the researcher found that of the 51 last names (including 6 instances of “last name+ modifier”), all refer to celebrities, of whom 33 refer to those political figures, 14 to sports stars, only 1 to an entertainment star and the remaining to people in other fields (always famous people). Within the general category of last names, there still exist some differences. Last name + modifier is used very scarcely (only 6 of the 51 instances) as compared to last names (45 of the 51 instances). Those 6 examples of “last name + modifier” (the underlined parts) are:

Video: President Bush on Sunday (New York Times, April 12, 2004) Egypt's Mubarak to visit Bush (USA Today, April 12, 2004) Yankees' Mussina Picks Up 200th Win (Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2004) Somber Bush visits wounded soldiers (San Francisco Chronicle, April 12, 2004) Millet: a Chicago pioneer (Chicago Sun-Times, April 12, 2004) Some team will have blast with Miami's Taylor at safety (USA Today, April 12, 2004)

In the above examples, modifiers were added to last names to highlight a certain aspect of the referents. For example, “Somber Bush” in “Somber Bush visits wounded soldiers” was used very successfully to form a certain parallelism with “wounded soldiers” in the headline.

b. First names On some occasions, a person may be referred to by his/her “First Name.” For

xxx vii example, in the sports section, sometimes players may be referred to by their first names, e.g., “Kobe” (“Kobe Bryant”) in “Lakers, Kobe Have no Shot against Sacramento” (Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2004). In the entertainment section, stars sometimes receive first name references, e.g., “Britney” (“Britney Spears”) in “Britney Still Firing Blanks” (New York Daily News, April 12, 2004) In the data for the present study, first names are usually found in reference to sports stars (4 of the 9 first names) and entertainment stars (3 instances) since they are more familiar and close to ordinary readers than individuals of other fields. As an exception, no statesmen were referred to by their first names in this data since they are not so intimate to the ordinary readers. Of all the first names found in the data, a majority of first names are used to indicate intimacy, for example,

Finally Ful-phil-ed! (San Francisco Chronicle, April 12, 2004)

This is a very interesting headline, in which “Ful-phil-ed” is actually “Fulfilled.” As argued by Ariel (1990), the use of different accessibility markers indicates the speaker’s or the writer’s different degree of empathy with the referents. This headline reported the famous golf star Phil Mickelson’s success in winning a major championship. In using such a first name, editors manifested their high empathy with the sports star.

c. Full names (including “Full name + modifier”) “ Full Name” of a person was also used sometimes. Yet, “Full Name + modifier,” which provides the largest amount of information to a reader (compared to other types of names), appeared rarely in a headline to make person reference. Editors, when using different types of names, actually assume that the readers are actually familiar with the name assigned to the particular referent. In most cases, a last name suffices for picking out a certain individual. Sometimes, a first name or a full name is enough. Therefore, “Full Name+ Modifier” is rarely used in newspaper headlines.

xxx viii To conclude, when referring to a person by name, the most common practice is to use the last name. Sometimes, first or full name can also be used. In contrast, “full name + modifier” is used very scarcely. Such distribution among different types of names is very reasonable: Names are often used to refer to figures familiar to the target readers. If editors always referred to these famous figures by a long expression (for example, “full name + modifier”), readers may find the headline too long and too boring and didn’t carry much significance for them. On the other hand, if editors always referred to those celebrities by their first names, which have higher accessibility than last names, the result would be that the newspapers would be rather casual and informal, since first names are reserved for intimates (Ariel, 1990).

4.1.3 Degree of Accessibility For clarity, the results shown in Table 1 are summarized in Table 2. Table 2 shows a breakdown into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers. Both Table 1 and Table 2 show that the most frequently used person references are intermediate accessibility markers followed by low accessible accessibility markers and then high accessibility markers. This overwhelming use of intermediate accessibility markers does not come by accident. Most of the American newspapers’ reports are close to the life of the readers, who have some knowledge of the referents of most person references. Therefore, there is no need to use low accessibility markers to refer to those referents. At the same time, the referents in headlines are mostly initial retrievals fresh to the readers, and editors cannot use high accessibility markers. With these two considerations, these editors use intermediate accessibility markers to refer to individuals in headlines. The fact that low accessibility markers are used more frequently than high accessibility markers in American newspapers can be explained like this: Newspapers

xxx ix always focus on reporting people close to readers’ life. Besides those famous figures, newspapers also cover reportage of ordinary people. These ordinary people are often referred to by descriptions since their names are not known to the readers and should not occur in headlines. To make it clear who those ordinary people are, descriptions are often used. Therefore, there are more low accessibility markers than high accessibility markers in newspaper headlines.

Table 2: Distribution of person references in American online newspapers Type High Accessibility Intermediate Low Accessibility Total Markers Accessibility Markers Markers No. 28 116 84 228

% 12.3% 50.9% 36.8% 100%

To sum up, the only way to achieve optimal relevance in the use of person references in newspaper headlines, therefore, is to phrase a headline in an appropriate way. Only in this way, can they succeed in making their headlines optimally relevant to the readers, hence arousing their curiosity and interest.

4.2 Person References in Different American Newspapers and Sections The researcher has just answered the first research question in the study. Now, let’s move on to the second question to see whether there are any differences between American online newspapers in person reference. Also, the researcher attempted to find whether different sections of a newspaper exhibit different traits in the use of person references.

4.2.1 Person References in Different American Newspapers As mentioned in the Methodology part, the comparison of person reference usages was carried out between two tabloids (New York Daily News and Chicago Sun-

xl Times) and one broadsheet (USA Today). Table 3 provides information in this respect.

Table 3: Comparison of person references in headlines from different American newspapers (April 12, 2004) New York Daily News Chicago Sun-Times USA Today Type No. % No. % No. % zero 4 10% 3 3.9％ 7 12.7％ RF 1 2.5% 0 0 1 1.8％ CP 0 0 0 0 1 1.8％ EnP 1 2.5% 7 9.2％ 1 1.8％ ExP 3 7.5% 4 5.3％ 6 11.0％ FN 6 15% 1 1.3％ 1 1.8％ FnM 1 2.5% 0 0 0 0 LN 10 25％ 19 25％ 11 20％ LnM 1 2.5％ 2 2.6％ 0 0 SDD 4 10％ 9 11.8％ 8 14.5％ LDD 0 0 5 6.6％ 1 1.8％ FuN 0 0 3 3.9％ 5 9.1％ FunM 0 0 0 0 0 0 IDD 9 22.5 23 30.3％ 13 23.6％ Total 40 100％ 76 100％ 55 100％ (CP: Cliticized Pronoun; EnP: Endophoric Pronoun; ExP: Exophoric Pronoun; FN: First Name; FnM: First Name+ Modifier; LN: Last Name; LnM: Last Name+ Modifier; SDD: Short Definite Description; LDD: Long Definite Description; FuN: Full Name; FunM: Full Name+ Modifier; IDD: Indefinite Description.)

1. From Table 3, we can find that the most frequent use of first names occur in New York Daily News (15%). In contrast, only 1.3% and 1.8% of the person references are first names in Chicago Sun-Times and USA Today respectively. This shows that as a tabloid, the Daily tries to establish a more intimate relationship with its readers than the other papers. A very striking finding is that it also used first name+ modifier,

xli though very scarcely. There is only one instance of first name+ modifier in the data. For example,

Second-place Ernie waits till next year (New York Daily News, April 12, 2004)

After reading the beginning of the whole news item,

When Tiger Woods had his huge year in 2000, winning three majors, Ernie Els finished second three times. He can only hope it's not going to be that kind of year. (New York Daily, April 12, 2004) we can find that in writing such a headline, the editor actually wanted to stress the fact that Ernie Els again failed to win the major and show sympathy for Ernie.

2. Table 3 also shows that, among the three newspapers, full names are used most frequently (9.1%) in USA Today, while only 3.9% of the person references are full names in Chicago Sun-Times and there are no full names in New York Daily News. This finding shows the difference between broadsheet and tabloid newspapers. It testifies to the fact that broadsheets such as USA Today tend to use rather formal language and use more full names than tabloids. For clarity, the results shown in Table 3 are summarized in Table 4, which shows a breakdown into high, intermediate and low accessibility markers.

Table 4: Breakdown of high, intermediate and low accessibility markers in newspaper headlines (a condensed version of Table 4) High accessibility Intermediate Low accessibility markers accessibility markers markers D 15% 62.5% 22.5% 40 6 25 9 S 13.2% 46.1% 40.8% 76 10 35 31

xlii U 18.2% 47.3% 34.5% 55 10 26 19 Notes: D: New York Daily News S: Chicago Sun-Times U: USA Today

As can be seen from Table 4, for each newspaper, the majority of the markers signal an intermediate degree of accessibility. The differences in occurrence are remarkable in the three newspapers. In New York Daily News, for example, of all the accessibility markers, 62.5% are intermediate, while only 15% and 22.5% are high and low accessibility markers respectively. In both Chicago Sun-Times and USA Today, the number of low accessibility markers is much larger than that of high accessibility markers and almost equal to intermediate accessibility markers. This phenomenon is normal for USA Today, a broadsheet, but for a tabloid, Chicago Sun-Times, it is abnormal. As is known, the style of writing for broadsheets is more formal than tabloids. In a broadsheet, each subject is presented in clear terms. Since low accessibility markers can supply more information, thus rendering a headline clearer, they should be used frequently in broadsheets. In contrast, a tabloid newspaper should not use too many low accessibility markers. This is not true for Chicago Sun-Times, a tabloid (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki). Unlike Chicago Sun-Times, New York Daily News did not use much more low accessibility markers than high ones. This shows that Daily is a typical tabloid, while Sun-Times is less so. Just now, the researcher examined the use of person references among different newspapers and found that intermediate accessibility markers predominate in all the three newspapers. Now, let’s turn to the examination of the referential styles in the four sections of the above-mentioned three newspapers.

4.2.2 Person References in Headlines from Different Sections

xliii The researcher examined the business, sports, entertainment and news sections in the above-mentioned three newspapers. All these four sections can be recognized easily, since they are listed in newspapers. Table 5 shows the distribution of person references over the four sections. Findings from Table 5 are the follows:

1. Table 5 shows that the business section has the largest percentage of zeros. This can be explained by the fact that this section covers many more incidences than individuals. As a result, there is no need for retaining a subject to refer to a person. For example, in “Saving Trump's Booty” (New York Daily News, April 12, 2004), the subject is omitted. Also, in the business section, exophoric pronouns occur more frequently than in other sections. This probably arises from the fact the individual mentioned in the headline is not famous, and the incidence about this individual carries higher news value. Therefore, to highlight the incidence in the headline can carry more relevance for the readers. For example, in “I just love taking care of people” (Chicago Sun- Times, April 12, 2004). The words said by “I” is more arresting than whom “I” refers to. Table 5 also shows that the business section contains no cliticized pronouns and no first names. In addition, it uses last names very rarely.

Table 5 The distribution of person references over the four sections

Business Sports Entertainment News Type No. % No. % No. % No. % Zero 6 26.1% 5 9.6% 3 10.3% 0 0 RF 1 4.3% 0 0 1 3.4% 0 0 CP 0 0 0 0 1 3.4% 0 0 EnP 1 4.3% 2 3.8% 1 3.4% 5 7.6% ExP 4 17.4% 4 7.7% 2 6.9% 3 4.5% FN 0 0 4 7.7% 4 13.8% 0 0 FnM 0 0 1 1.9% 0 0 0 0 LN 2 8.7% 16 30.8% 7 24.1% 15 22.7% LnM 1 4.3% 1 1.9% 1 3.4% 0 0 SDD 3 13.0% 13 24.5% 0 0 5 7.6%

xliv LDD 1 4.3% 1 1.9% 1 3.4% 3 4.5% FuN 2 8.7% 2 3.8% 3 10.3% 0 0 FunM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 IDD 2 8.7% 3 5.8% 5 17.2% 35 53.0% Total 23 100% 52 100% 29 100% 66 100% (RF: Reflexive; CP: Cliticized Pronoun; EnP: Endophoric Pronoun; ExP: Exophoric Pronoun; FN: First Name; FnM: First Name+ Modifier; LN: Last Name; LnM: Last Name+ Modifier; SDD: Short Definite Description; LDD: Long Definite Description; FuN: Full Name; FunM: Full Name+ Modifier; IDD: Indefinite Description.)

2. The sports section uses last names and short definite descriptions most frequently of the four sections. This phenomenon arises from the fact that the sports section focuses on stars and star teams familiar to the readers, while in the other three sections, there are not so many reports on humans as those in the sports section. As the researcher mentioned previously in this chapter, sports stars are usually referred to by their last names and team names are often used as short definite descriptions to refer to players in them. Therefore, last names and short definite descriptions are used most frequently in this section. Table 5 also shows that the sports section is the only section using first name + modifier. This can be explained by the fact that editors want to empathize with the readers.

3. The entertainment section uses the largest percentage of first names. This can be explained by the fact that the entertainment section targets at those readers who are very well acquainted with the knowledge of certain stars and who are also most interested in this section. Therefore, when mentioning those famous figures, editors tend to use first names more often than in other sections.

4. The news section distinguishes itself from others in using indefinite descriptions most frequently. This is because the news section covers not only celebrities but also

xlv ordinary people. When referring to those ordinary people unknown to the readers, editors cannot use names of any kind except when they want to highlight something. This is because

names are used only when the addressers assumes that the addressees are actually familiar with the name assigned to the particular referent. If they cannot assume, a description is better. (Ariel, 1990)

This principle also applies to the use of names in newspaper headlines. Therefore, in the news section, when the story is about ordinary people, the common practice is to use descriptions. Furthermore, since such people are unknown to the readers, indefinite descriptions should be used. Meanwhile, many kinds of person references are not used in the news section. Such forms never occur in this section as cliticized pronouns, zero, reflexive pronouns, first names, last name + modifier, full names and full name + modifier. The lack of such forms results from the fact that the news section should report those people of high news value. Such people usually come from two distinct groups: celebrities and ordinary people. When the story is about celebrities, last names suffice; when it is about ordinary people, descriptions should be used.

For clarity, the results shown in Table 5 are summarized in Table 6, which shows a breakdown into high, intermediate and low accessibility marking.

Table 6: Breakdown of accessibility markers in different sections of three newspapers (a condensed version of Table 6) High accessibility Intermediate Low accessibility markers accessibility markers markers B 34.8% 43.5% 21.7％ 23 8 10 5 S 13.5% 75% 11.5%

xlvi 52 7 39 6 E 20.7% 48.3% 31.0% 29 6 14 9 N 7.6% 34.8% 57.6% 66 5 23 38 (Notes: B: Business section S: Sports section E: Entertainment section N: News section)

Altogether, there are three general findings from Tables 5 and 6. (1) Intermediate accessibility markers are the most frequently used person references in the business section, the sports section and the entertainment section. And among these three sections, the sports section has the highest percentage of intermediate markers (75%, almost twice as much as that in any of the other three sections). This is because in this section, many more last names and short definite descriptions are used. As the researcher argued previously, sports stars are often referred to by their last names. Furthermore, the sports section is a concentration of reportage on stars and star teams familiar to the readers, while in the other three sections, there are not many reports on humans as those in the sports section. In the sports section, names of teams are also used to make person references. (2) In contrast to the above-mentioned sections, the news section uses low accessibility most frequently. This is perhaps due to the fact that the news section is devoted to informing the readers of those people close to their life. Those people are either famous or ordinary. Since readers are more interested in the ordinary people’s lives, editors must focus on those ordinary people. Furthermore, such ordinary people are not known to the readers, so their names should not be used. Therefore, low accessibility markers like indefinite descriptions are used most frequently in the news section. (3) The third finding manifested by Tables 5 and 6 is that there are more high accessibility markers than low ones in both the business and sports sections. In

xlvi i contrast, there are more low accessibility markers in both the entertainment and news sections. This difference between the four sections may be due to the following reasons. In the business section, there is no need to specify who the referent is in the headline since the incidence is more important, and in the sports section, the target readers are those people interested in sports, who know a lot about sports players. Given this consideration about their readers’ knowledge, editors tend to use higher accessibility markers in the sports section in most cases. Consequently, more high accessibility markers rather than low ones are used in these two sections. However, when reading headlines in the entertainment section, readers want to know things about those entertainment stars. Mentioning a certain star in the headline of this section sells the newspaper to its readers. Therefore, in the entertainment section, editors should try to refrain from the use of high accessibility markers, which fail to specify the referents. For the news section, the researcher has explained the frequent use of low accessibility markers.

To conclude, different newspapers and different sections (excluding the news section) in them use intermediate accessibility markers more often than high or low accessibility markers. The news section uses low accessibility markers more frequently than high or intermediate ones. In addition, the business section uses the largest number of zeros; the Sports section has the largest number of last names; the entertainment section uses first names most frequently and the news section uses indefinite descriptions most frequently.

4.3Comparison of the Use of Person References between American Newspapers and China’s English Newspapers 4.3.1 Person References in China’s English Newspapers Previously in this chapter, the researcher explored the use of person references in eight American newspapers by looking into their homepages. In this part, the researcher wanted to examine English newspapers in China. This time, headlines

xlvi ii containing person references were collected from all the sections in China Daily and People’s Daily (English version). Table 7 sums up person reference usages in these two newspapers.

Table 7 shows that English newspapers in China do not have a large variety of person references (only 9 types) as American newspapers (12 types). Table 7 also shows that unlike their American counterparts, English newspapers in China do not use any pronouns when making person references and they seldom use zeroes as person references in headlines. These two traits of China’s English newspapers may arise from the fact that the present data is not large enough. But the more important factor is the concern for the readers. The readers of China’s English newspapers are either from home or from abroad. Chinese readers are not so well acquainted with foreign happenings, while expatriate readers in China do not know much about situations in China. Taking the needs of such readers into consideration, editors for English newspapers in China can only opt for those lower accessibility markers such as long definite descriptions and indefinite descriptions.

Table 7: Person reference types in China’s English newspapers (as compared to those types in the eight online American newspapers)

China’s English Newspapers American Newspapers Type No. % No. % zero 2 2.2% 20 8.8% CP 0 0 1 0.4% EnP 0 0 7 3.1% ExP 0 0 12 5.3% FN 1 1.1% 10 4.4% LN 13 14.4% 45 19.7％ LnM 4 4.4% 6 2.6％ SDD 22 24.4% 43 18.9％ LDD 5 5.6% 9 3.9% FuN 4 4.4% 7 3.1% FunM 1 1.1% 4 1.8% IDD 38 42.2% 64 28.1% Total 90 100% 228 100％

xlix (CP: Cliticized Pronoun; EnP: Endophoric Pronoun; ExP: Exophoric Pronoun; FN: First Name; LN: Last Name; LnM: Last Name+ Modifier; SDD: Short Definite Description; LDD: Long Definite Description; FuN: Full Name; FunM: Full Name+ Modifier; IDD: Indefinite Description.)

4.3.2 The Distribution of Person References in China’s English newspapers In the last part, the researcher listed types of person references in English newspapers in China. This section explores the pattern of distribution for these references. Table 8 sums up the findings.

Table 8: Distribution of person references in English newspapers from China High accessibility Intermediate Low accessibility markers accessibility markers markers China 2.2% 44.4% 53.3％ 90 2 40 48 USA 12.3% 50.9% 36.8% 228 28 116 84

Table 8 shows that for English papers published in China, the low accessibility markers are used more often than intermediate markers, and high accessibility markers occur very scarcely. This finding varies a lot from the finding manifested by American newspapers. In American newspapers, intermediate accessibility markers are used most frequently (50.9%), followed by low (36.8%) and then high accessibility markers (12.3%). And although high accessibility markers occur not so frequently as low ones, there is no

l great disparity in their percentage of occurrence. The different patterns of distribution between China’s English newspapers and American newspapers are not arbitrarily determined by editors. Rather, it is determined by the editors’ consideration for the readers. China’s English newspapers face readers both from China and other countries: while Chinese readers are not very familiar with western culture, expatriate readers in China do not know much about Chinese society. Therefore, editors must make headlines informative enough so as to cater to the needs of both reader groups. Low accessibility markers can help editors in this respect. In contrast, American newspapers usually only target home readers, who have some knowledge about the referents of the accessibility markers in headlines. Therefore, intermediate accessibility markers are used more frequently in American newspaper headlines.

Chapter Five

Conclusions and Implications

This chapter summarizes the major findings of the study, presents the implications of the research, and finally, explains the limitations of the study and offers suggestions for future research.

5.1 Major Findings The major findings found in this study are the following ones:

li (4) American newspapers tend to use more intermediate accessibility markers than high or low ones although when appropriate, they also make headlines as short as possible by using zeros or make them rather long by using indefinite descriptions. Last names are used more often than other types of names in the headlines of online American newspapers. Usually, last names are used to refer to statesmen and sportsmen, while first names, the highest accessibility markers in name category, are often found in reference to sportsmen or entertainment stars.

(5) Different sections (excluding the news section) and different newspapers use intermediate accessibility markers more often than they use low or high accessibility markers. The news section use a large number of low rather than intermediate or high accessibility markers. In addition, the business section uses the largest number of zeros; the Sports section has the largest number of last names; the entertainment section uses first names most frequently and the news section uses indefinite descriptions most frequently.

(6) English newspapers in China, unlike their American counterparts, use low accessibility markers more frequently than intermediate or high markers. Also, they use high accessibility markers very scarcely compared with American newspapers. English newspapers in China seldom use zeros and pronouns.

5.2 Implications The present study further verifies the pattern of referring in newspaper headlines with new data sources, thus contributing to the study of journalistic writing by complementing the convention-based approach to journalistic writing, which is by nature prescriptive, with an approach that is both descriptive and explanatory: It made an attempt at comparing the use of person references between English newspapers published in USA and China in addition to a research into different genres of newspapers. It produced some different results from the original research by Kronrod

lii and Engel (2001), thus furthering the study of references in newspaper headlines. In addition, it singled out person references from all the referring expressions for a detailed study and it took online newspapers as the data source. In terms of practical value, the study discloses the picture of accessibility marker usage in online newspaper headlines, which is a little different from the original research. It can help beginning editors to adapt sooner to the work of headline construction. Also, it gives other writers a sense of the importance of being aware of their readers’ need, making their articles such that they relate very closely to the readers’ expectations.

5.3 Limitations of the Study Several limitations constrain the extent to which the findings of the present study could be generalized. First of all, the sample data is not large enough. Therefore, the obtained findings may not be applicable to newspapers in other languages and countries. As Ariel (1990, 76) held, the specific scale did not hold universally because some conventionalization was also involved in the codification of Accessibility into marking systems of natural languages. Moreover, the proposed universal principles always interact with language-specific facts to generate the specific scale of Accessibility actually operative in the language. Second, there are still some puzzles resulting from the fluidity of web news which may affect the result of the present study. A newspaper sites abound in various kinds of news stories, advertisements, pictures, etc.. As a result, the whole page looks like a mixture of all kinds of things, thus creating difficulty in recognizing headlines. Third, although Ariel has given examples to illustrate what kind of accessibility marker a referring expression is, some difficulties did arise in the actual classification of an expression, for example, definite descriptions. As noticed by some researchers, newspaper language tends to favor the omission of definite article “the,” but Ariel in her letter (2003, personal correspondence), said that accessibility markers focus on

liii form rather than meaning. In the present study, although the researcher looked closely at the data to determine whether they are definite description, chances are that the researcher got some expressions wrong. In the future research, it is advisable to have at least two researchers to ensure a sound judgment. Fourth, the data for English newspapers in China were not collected on the same date as those for American newspapers. As a result, some possible variations may occur. In future studies, researches should avoid doing so. Last but not least, some researchers hold that the latter part of accessibility marking scale “first name > last name > short definite description > long definite description > full name > full name +modifier” (see Chapter Two) should be modified like this: “first name > last name > full name > last name + modifier > full name + modifier > short definite description > long definite description.” Such modification is due to the following reasons:

1. Full names follow last names because no familiarity is assumed though the direct matching is still required. 2. Last name + modifier expressions follow full names on the scale, because they involve both matching and semantic processing, where matching facilitates semantic processing. 3. Full name + modifier follows last name + modifier on the scale because of the reason above. 4. Short definite descriptions follow next because they involve semantic processing in order to assign a referent, and they may involve a high degree of uncertainty. For example, “the president” may refer to a list of presidents, after we process the meaning of “president”, we still need to disambiguate, which is not done in the cases of 2 and 3. 5. Long definite descriptions follow because they involve more difficult syntactic processing plus more semantic processing.

Even though such modifications are very promising, this study still followed the

liv model set up by Ariel (1990, 1994) since the modifications have not been field-tested. Once such modifications are verified empirically, future research on the accessibility markers of newspaper headlines should follow the new model.

5.4 Suggestions for Follow-up Studies With its various drawbacks, the present study can still shed some light on the follow-up studies. Continued research should examine newspaper headlines with a larger sample size so as to confirm the findings in this study and longitudinally investigate whether the accessibility pattern found in web newspapers can be applied to other kinds of writing, for instance, students’ composition writing. Further studies could also investigate whether the writers’ gender influence the use of different accessibility marking expressions. Follow-up studies can further research into the use of different kinds of person references when talking about the same person in different newspapers.

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