CHAPTER II: ANALASIS OF THE STRUCTURAL FEATURES
2.1.4 Sub-title in English news story
There is a separated part from the body part of the news story discourse, the sub-title. It is recognized easily by the italic letters and be printed smaller than the headline. The sub-title is widely used in English newspaper.
E.g.2.1.4.a1:
The headline:
North Korea hit hard as food crisis worsens The sub-title:
But angry Pyongyang won’t seek South’s aid
(IHT. April 4, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.a2:
The headline:
High rice prices fall to trickle down The sub-title:
Rising costs and small harvests leave farmers struggling
(IHT. April 7, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.a3:
Te headline:
A rare opportunity to make Beijing sweat The sub-title:
Pushing Darfur into the Olympics
(IHT, March 29-30, 2008)
Many people misunderstand that the sub-title is or is a part of the topic sentence. To know deeply about this problem, let us consider the two terms of its form and content features.
- In term of form feature, we cannot unify the sub-title and the topic sentence for the following reasons:
Although this part has the some grammatical features of the topic sentence, it develops the content feature of the headline in using the ellipsis of article, particle.
E.g.2.1.4.b1:
As club owners feud, supporters remember deadly crush
(IHT. April 16, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.b2:
U.S. Treasury official pushing a news plan
(IHT. April 16, 2008)
From the above examples, at the first, there is an absence of the determiner such as “the, his, her…” before the word “supporters”. Or at another one, the verb is bare-infinitive, which just exists in the headlines.
The headline is written briefly, so it is difficult to express the whole content needed shown. The writers clarify the content by the sub-title. Most of them are the simple narrative sentences, as nearly long as the headline, and use the vigorous, conservational idiomatic language. According to the statistics, 100% the sub-title are the narrative sentences.
E.g.2.1.4.c1:
Congress wants answers from Fed chief
(IHT. April 3, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.c2:
Treasury acting with long term in mind
(IHT. April 1, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.c3:
News Corp. could team with Microsoft
(IHT. April 11, 2008)
- In term of the content feature, the sub-title is closer to the headline.
They are developed in the body part or even right in the topic sentence.
E.g.2.1.4.d1:
The headline:
Accommodating Muslim becomes issue at Harvard The sub-title:
Special requests challenge secular tradition The topic sentence:
CAMBRIGE, Massachusetts: A small controversy over how Harvard practices tolerance has been sparked by two issues relating to Muslim belief – whether to call to prayer should ring out across Harvard Yard and whether women should be granted separate gym hours.
(IHT. April 22-23, 2008) E.g.2.1.4.d2:
The headline:
Fight for Basra a struggle for Iraq The sub-title:
Shiite cleric tells followers to stop battling government forces The topic sentence:
NAJAF, Iraq: The Iraqi Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr called on his followers on Sunday to stop battling government forces, seeking to stamp down violence in tows and cities that has threatened to spiral out of control.
(IHT, March 31, 2008) In the following example, the sub-title is repeated at the seventh paragraph:
E.g.2.1.4.e:
The sub-title:
An escapee from U.S. military prison emerges as a possible heir to bin Laden.
The seventh paragraph:
“And he is very charismatic, young, brash rising star within AQ and I think he has become the heir apparent to Osama bin Laden in terms of taking over the entire, global jihadist movement.”
(IHT. April 5-6, 2008) The headline and the sub-title have their own roles. The headline is developed in one part of the body part and the sub-title is done in the others.
E.g.2.1.4.f:
The headline:
Wall St. tests Fed’s lending facility The sub-title:
Financial companies average $13.4 billion in daily borrowing The developing part:
Big Wall Street investment companies are taking advantage of the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented offer to secure emergency loans that are part of a major effort by the central bank to help a financial system in danger of freezing…
The companies averaged $13.4 billion of daily borrowing over the past week from the new landing facility, the central bank said Thursday…
(IHT. April 22-23, 2008) The content of the headline part is described at the former paragraph about the Wall Street. And the sub-title part is at the upper one to re-inform that the financial companies have on average $13.4 billion in daily borrowing.
For the above reasons, sub-title is very a separated part from the body part of the news story discourse. The sub-title summarizes the content, which will be developed in the body part, especially in the news plentiful of content and the content expresses the reaction to the news. Like the headline, it attracts the reader’s attentions to the main content of the news story.
CHARPTER III : SOME DIFFICULTIES AND REQUIRED