Comparative Study of Intertexts in Newspaper Headlines (Based on the Material of the Russian and British Discourses of Sanctions Policy Towards Russia)

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of intertexts in the headlines of British and Russian articles, the subject of which is the sanctions imposed by Western countries on Russia. The source of the material was the authoritative publications of Russia and Great Britain (Kommersant and The Economist). The chronological scope of the study lies within 2014 – current days. As a result of the analysis of the headlines (60 in Russian, 60 in English) containing intertexts, the author identified 5 source domains, common for British and Russian discourses, and one source domain, specific for one discourse (Russian or British): “Set expressions”, “Proverbs and sayings”, “Mass culture”, “Literature”, “Proper names”, “Situations” (for British articles), “Names of organizations / projects” (for Russian articles). The study showed that the source domain “Set expressions” turned out to be the most widely represented, and the share of intertexts from the source domain in the Russian-language headlines is more than twice bigger than their share in the British headlines. The group of intertexts from the source domain “Proverbs and sayings” turned out to be the second most represented. The most common way to include an intertextual element in a headline is lexical transformation, when a word or several words are replaced with others corresponding to the content of the article. As for the effect of including an intertextual element in the headline it can be different: comic, if the author chooses a lexical transformation that contradicts the meaning of the original text; creating a negative / positive (usually negative) image of a person or situation; forming the reader’s opinion, similar to the opinion of the author / edition.