Abstract
This paper has looked at the dynamics of the structures of headlines. Related literature was reviewed on functions and influence of the print media, mass media and language development, and studies in headlines, to give the work the necessary theoretical foundation. The study employed survey approach to look at reportage of headlines of some newspapers in Nigeria. Three questions guided this study: What are the types of headlines cast for the stories? What is the syntactic structure of the headlines? What is the level of social responsibility displayed by the editors, in casting the headlines? A total of 24 headlines were purposively collected as data, and analyzed. The analysis has revealed that ‘plain’, ‘headlines with pointers’, and ‘speech as headlines’ characterized our data. Also, most of the headlines are cast in simple sentence structures. This result is significant for mass media teachers as they apply principles and theories of language, in their business of teaching mass media courses, daily.
Highlights
The field of applied linguistics is somehow popular among educationists, partly because most scholars treat its substance as language teaching and learning situations
The impact of globalised English in Nigeria is seen in the daily influx of foreign influences into our English usage; a trend that is attributable to the roles of cable television networks (e.g. CNN, BBC, Sky News, VOA), video tapes, movies, foreign music, etc. (Oyeleye, 2005)
Still on Boko Haram, the most frightening headline was that of 11th June 2012, the main story of which was reported on page 7 of the Nigerian Tribune that: Participants at the Commanding Officers’ Workshop 2012 have identified ill-equipped and lack of adequately trained personnel for counter terrorism as reasons terrorist acts and Boko Haram insurgency continue unabated in the country
Summary
The field of applied linguistics is somehow popular among educationists, partly because most scholars treat its substance as language teaching and learning situations. Any study that involves the application of principles and theories of language to any domain of human life, such as the mass media, is in the realm of applied linguistics. This is a justification for this examination of the dynamics of language of newspaper headlines, on some important issues in Nigeria, at this point in time. Words or lexis are the major tools of the writer in the task of capturing the essence of life, by focusing on virtually all aspects of living It is this centrality of the written word, according to Shodipe (2004:199), which imposes on the newspaper writer the need to continually explore the possibilities of language by making socially relevant statements through creative use of words. I believe that is one of the interests of applied linguistics
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