The Syntactic and Lexical Features of English and Vietnamese Newspaper Headlines A Contrastive Analysis

The Syntactic and Lexical Features of English and Vietnamese Newspaper Headlines: A Contrastive Analysis Phạm Hồng Phượng Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn ThS. Chuyên ngành: English Linguistics; Mã số: 60 22 15 Người hướng dẫn: Dr. Nguyễn Huy Kỷ Năm bảo vệ: 2011 Abstract: Considering the absence of contrasting English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines, this study was an attempt to conduct a contrastive analysis between the newspaper headlines of English and Vietnamese languages in order to explore how they are different. The analysis was based on a four-day corpus of the headlines. Utilizing contrastive analysis, the researcher analyzed the variability of syntactic and lexical features across and within the English and Vietnamese headlines. It was concluded that they are similar in using headlines by simple sentences, noun phrases, and dynamic verbs with active structure. Different characteristics can be found in the use of functional headlines, non-finite clauses, verbless clauses, modification in nominal headlines, some parts of speech, and omission of words. This study has pedagogical implications for teaching journalistic English and translation. Keywords: Tiếng Anh; Phương pháp giảng dạy; Từ vựng; Cú pháp 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii LIST OF TABLES iv ABSTRACT v PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study 2. Objectives of the study 3. Research questions 4. Scope of the study 5. Methods of the study 6. Design of the study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1. Literature review 1.1.1. Language of headlines 1.1.2. Complexity in headlines 1.1.3. Typical features of headlines 1.1.4. Contrastive analyses on headlines 1.1.5. Studies on headlines in Vietnam 1.2. Theoretical background 1.2.1. Newspaper headlines 1.2.1.1. Concepts of headlines 1.2.1.2. Functions of headlines 1.2.2. Syntactic and lexical features 1.2.2.1. Syntactic features 1.2.2.2. Lexical features CHAPTER 2: ANALYSIS ON COLLECTED NEWSPAPER HEADLINES 2.1. Materials 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 14 18 18 9 2.2. Procedure 2.3. Data analysis 2.3.1. First level of analysis 2.3.1.1. Structural headline types 2.3.1.2. Functional headline types 2.3.2. Second level of analysis 2.3.2.1. Parts of speech in sample headlines 2.3.2.2. Omissions in headlines 2.4. Summary CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 3.1. Similar features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines - 3.1.1. Syntactic similarities 3.1.2. Lexical similarities 3.2. Different features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines 3.2.1. Syntactic differences 3.2.2. Lexical differences 3.3. Pedagogical implications 3.3.1. Implications for teaching journalistic English 3.3.2. Implications for teaching translation 3.4. Summary PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Recapitulation 2. Limitations of the study 3. Suggestions for further studies REFERENCES APPENDIX 18 19 19 19 26 27 27 30 31 32 32 32 33 33 30 36 36 36 37 37 38 38 39 39 40 I 10 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It is undeniable that our country has been moving towards globalization and trade liberalization. To be successful, we have opened to welcome foreign investment for many years and now we still need to continuously understand the political and economic situations of other countries. In such a situation, information has played a vital role up to now. Newspapers are one of the most popular means of transmitting information which has attracted a great number of readers. Conventionally, it is believed that newspapers have more readers than any other kind of written text. According to Van Dijk (1986:156), "for most citizens, news is perhaps the type of written discourse with which they are confronted most frequently". Reading newspapers in English, in fact, has always been an interest of English learners. Newspapers are everywhere but how to read in an easy way to understand is still a problem. Moreover, as teachers of English, how to teach students to translate, to write and to understand English press in an effective way is really a big question. In a newspaper, it is the headline that has the highest readership. It is always the first thing that everyone notices when picking up a newspaper. It serves as a guide for readers that helps decide whether to continue on reading the whole report or to skip onto another one. Each headline summarizes the content of a story, and entices an audience into reading the article. Newspaper headlines are particularly important for the way readers comprehend a news text, they are markers that monitor attention, perception and the reading process (Van Dijk, 1988). Many students of English find that newspaper headlines are especially difficult to understand. Obviously, it is not just a matter of vocabulary; even the style of writing is different from any other text they have met in their studies. The language of headlines is special and has its own characteristics on the lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical levels for its brevity, attractiveness, and clarity (Danuta R., 1998). These language features pose a great challenge to foreign learners of English when they begin to read English newspapers. The key to ease the difficulty of this special genre lies on the comparison between foreign and native languages (Connor, 1996). Thereby, this study is conducted to investigate the similar and different features in the newspaper headlines of English and 11 Vietnamese languages. From the findings, I hope partly to guide Vietnamese learners and teachers of English towards the effective way of mastering English. 2. Objectives of the study In the light of Contrastive Analysis, this study attempts to contrast English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines, which concentrates on the following objectives:  Studying the syntactic and lexical features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines;  Contrastively comparing the newspaper headlines of the two languages syntactically and lexically to find the similarities and mainly differences between them;  Drawing out the practical applications in English language teaching and translation. 3. Research questions In order to achieve the objectives, during the process of carrying the research, the following research questions are raised for exploration: 1. What are the syntactic and lexical features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines? 2. What are the similarities and differences in the syntactic and lexical features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines? 3. What pedagogical implications does the study have for Vietnamese teachers of English? 4. Scope of the study Due to the limit in time and within the framework of an M.A. thesis, it is impossible for a study to deal with all the features of language theory and practice in depth. This study, therefore, only focuses on some syntactic and lexical features found in the newspapers headlines of English and Vietnamese to see how they are different. 5. Methods of the study In the thesis, the main methods used are description and contrastive comparison of the two languages in newspaper headlines including:  Describing the syntactic and lexical features in the English and Vietnamese headlines collected from The New York Times and Hà Nội Mới newspapers.  Contrastively comparing those features in English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines with concrete contrasting techniques, namely, analysis and statistics. 12 6. Design of the study This thesis consists of three parts: Part A is the introduction which shows the reasons why the topic is chosen, what the study aims at as well as the scope of the study and some outlook on methodology. Part B consists of 3 chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the review of related literature and theoretical background of every matter mentioned in the title of the study. Chapter 2 and 3 are the analysis of the headlines selected, the major findings and discussions with some implications for learning and teaching English. Part C is the conclusion which presents the recapitulation of the study, the limitations of the study and some suggestions for further researches. 49 REFERENCES In English: 1. Ánh, Bùi Nguyệt. 2003. Some Discourse Features of Newspaper Headlines and Articles in English. M.A. Thesis. Vietnam National University, Hanoi. University of Foreign Languages and International Studies. 2. Mc Arthur, T.1992. The Oxford Companion To The English Language. 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Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. 9. Trần Hữu Mạnh. 2007. Ngôn Ngữ Học Đối Chiếu Cú Pháp Tiếng Anh – Tiếng Việt. Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. 10. Trần Hữu Mạnh. 2005. Danh Ngữ và Vấn Đề Danh Hóa Trong Tiếng Anh và Tiếng Việt. Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội. 11. Hoàng Trọng Phiến. 1996. Ngữ Pháp Tiếng Việt. Nhà xuất bản Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội. 12. Website: http://hanoimoi.com.vn/ . What are the syntactic and lexical features of English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines? 2. What are the similarities and differences in the syntactic and lexical features of English and Vietnamese. Abstract: Considering the absence of contrasting English and Vietnamese newspaper headlines, this study was an attempt to conduct a contrastive analysis between the newspaper headlines of English. variability of syntactic and lexical features across and within the English and Vietnamese headlines. It was concluded that they are similar in using headlines by simple sentences, noun phrases,