Word games in the newspaper

муниципальное бюджетное общеобразовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа № 60 имени пятого гвардейского Донского казачьего кавалерийского Краснознаменного Будапештского корпуса Советского района г. Ростова-на-Дону

(МБОУСОШ № 60)

REPORT

PHENOMENON OF PLAYING UPON WORDS IN MASS MEDIA

BY EXAMPLE OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES

Prepared by:

Dzyubenko Vladislava

Academic supervisor:

Nekrasova T. Yu.

Rostov-on-Don

2015

Contents:

Introduction Theoretical part Practical part Conclusion Resources and literature Supplement

3 4 9 13 14 15

1. Introduction

«Everything that I know is that I see in newspapers. The good reader of all in a year can learn from newspapers everything that most of people learn in the years spent in libraries».

Brian Smith

Object of research is a word-play in English headings.

Relevance of research is caused by the high welfare importance of heading presently.

The aim of research is studying of features of a word-play in newspaper headings.

The novelty of research consists in consecutive studying of modern headings and means of a word-play. 

The material of research is examples of 11 English-language newspapers from newspaper publicistic editions of the English, American and Irish press.

1. Theoretical part

Currently, the scope of the concept playing upon words includes a huge number of events taking place in literature, media and advertising texts, as well as in everyday speech. The notion of playing upon words relates to the field of speech communication, and playing upon words itself is regarded as «embellishment» speech that «usually has the character of jokes, chats, puns, jokes, etc.» [2, p. 138].

The study was conducted on the material of English titles of publications website Inosmi containing translations mainly analytical articles, so important for us is the study of the specifics of the use of this technique in the body of mass communication.

The purpose of using this technique in a media is to attract the reader’s attention and provide aesthetic (in particular comic) effects by intentional violation of linguistic norms. These violations are not errors, showing ignorance of the rules of language and speech reception, reflecting the extraordinary human ability to use language consciously — in order to beat the comical value or form of the word.

Among the techniques playing upon words accepted to such tricks as play on words, zeugma, occasional usage, modification precedent phenomena and collocations, lexical repetition, etc.

Zeugma — is the ratio of one word at a time to the other two in different semantic plans, the comic effect is achieved due to the lack of consistency of the sentence, for example, Wildfires in Russia devastate forests and pockets.

Nonce words — a word formed «on occasion» in the specific conditions of speech communication and, as a rule, contrary to the linguistic norm, deviating from the conventional ways of forming words in a given language. Occasionalism usually appears in the speech as a means playing upon words, for example, Indianomics, Gazpromia.

Referring to the definition of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, a pun we understand «stylistic turn of phrase or author’s miniature, based on the comic usage of the same-sounding words that have different meanings, or similar-sounding words or groups of words, or different meanings of the same word or the phrase «[1]. The most frequent types are lexical (In Russia, cold is a matter of degree, Chavez Visit to Russia: Infected by VIRUS) and phraseological puns (Leeches: Fresh Blood for Russia’s Economy).

The main ways of creating playing upon words in a media we believe to be the repetition of word units or parts their parts (Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere; Tough Calls, Good Calls), a modification of precedent texts (The Axis Of Anarchy, The Silence of Mr. Medvedev), and pun as well (Sour notes before Russia’s big moment on stage, Polishing up the relationship).

Often, in order to improve and enhance the expressiveness of pragmatic effects on the recipient’s author uses several techniques playing upon words. For example, the title The Specter of Finlandization used occasionalism «Finlandization», while the title is an allusion to the whole which later became the first winged phrase «Communist Manifesto» written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, «The Specter of Communism».

Numerous studies methods of language games allow to conclude that the lexical-semantic tools and principles of their construction in different languages ​​are similar. Only different degree of efficiency of a receiving language game by virtue of languages ​​belonging to different types. For example, because of syntactic features of English and Russian languages ​​zeugma was more common in the English language. Refer to the following example: Robin Hood Fires His Guns and Top Officials- — Robin Hood shoots right through and dismisses the large «cones»

The author of the article says that the D.A. Medvedev as president of Russia, dismissed a large number of officials, unable to perform their duties. The title is quite expressive, since it uses several stylistic devices — antonomasia and zeugma. When translating Zeugma author can not save zeugma design, and he uses the device of partial compensation, introducing an element of conversation — «big shot.» Partial compensation is often addressed while the translation of game titles that are based on lexical repetition: Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere — Newsflash: Around garbage. In this example, the partial compensation is achieved through the use of rhyme. When translating nonce words, the most productive transcription, transliteration, tracing, functional replacement, descriptive translation, ptosis. Article entitled Indianomics — Indianomika highlights the current state of the Indian economy. Occasionalism Indianomics, formed by way of contamination toponym «India» and common noun «economics» translated by receiving tracing.

100 days: Living in Obamaland — One hundred days in Obamalende

«Obamaland» — occasionalism formed by adding the proper name — the names of the President of the United States and the common noun «land». In this case, the translator uses transcription.

When translated into Russian puns are equally misplaces with omission and compensation.

For example, Pipelines and pipe dreams — Pipes and pipe dreams

This article tells about the opening of a new pipeline, exporting East Siberian oil to China at a fairly high prices, as well as Russia’s desire to take an advantageous position, which will allow it to dictate prices, volumes and related supplies to consumers political conditions in the East and the West. In this case, the translator can not restore phrasebook pun, and using omission, he creates a stylistically neutral title.

Against the grain- Grain block

When translating this phraseological pun it was used full compensation

change in the type of pun. The basis of the formation of the pun idiom is against the grain, which has its own value in itself unusual manner, against the grain. But, as the article describes the «protracted» Russian ban on grain exports, which caused regular disagreements between the US and Russia, after reading it becomes clear that beat element is the word «grain» in its literal meaning — «grain».

A huge number of English-language titles are the result of the transformation of precedent phenomena: idioms, proverbs, sayings, catch phrase, titles of movies, literary, historical phenomena. The transformation of the original case phenomena in most cases is to replace one of the elements of the original on the other hand, significant for the content of the article, and in modified form, they are easily recognizable and at the same time expressive. When translating the following methods:

— Equivalent translation

All Roads Lead to Istanbul — All roads lead to Istanbul;

Beware PR men bearing dictators’ gifts — Fear PR dictators bearing gifts;

— Analog translation

Analysis: Two’s a crowd as Russian state banks squeeze rivals — Among Russian banks odd man out

Thus, the translation of the English game titles is a very difficult task, because the translator must create the most expressive, bright and concise title and try to save the component playing upon words. Translating headlines in Russian are used in virtually all types of lexical and grammatical transformation. The translation should  reflect connection of the heading with the text of articles set out in the original language.

III. Practical part

Analysis of the use of «Pun» in English headlines

During the practical analysis of the material were analyzed following publications:

New York Post

The New York Times

The Moscow Times

 The Times

The Wall Street Journal

USA Today

The Sun

The Sunday Times

The Daily Telegraph

The Observer

The Irish Times

These publications were analyzed in terms of identifying them in the newspaper headlines containing puns. Then there were two groups of word games. As the basic operation of the first group is the principle of semantic associations in the same context of different values ​​of one word (polysemy) and the principle of sound monotonous or similarity with existing semantic difference (V.V. Vinogradov, V.S.Vinogradov, V.Z.Sannikov, Hiebert , Hausmann, Reiners, Techa). In accordance with the last principle we different 4 types of word games, built on the basis of:

1) homonyms (same phonetics and graphics expressed by the parties)

2) homophony (phonetics match, graphic design is different)

3) homography (the same graphic design, phonetic — Miscellaneous)

4) paronymy (phonetics and graphics available with contrast detect similarities).

Based on this classification, all the headlines were divided into clusters listed in the table

Title	Newspaper	Cluster	Analysis
Burning questions on tunnel safety unanswered	The Guardian	Paronym	Игра слов в этом случае находится в словах Burning questions (горящие вопросы). Вопросы об огнях, следовательно, горящие вопросы, но горящий вопрос – это еще один способ сказать о важности и неотложности его решения.
A shot in the dark	The Guardian	Paronym	Игра слов — A shot in the dark. Прямое значение-выстрел в темноте. Но A shot in the dark также означает догадку наобум (Definition of a shot in the dark from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).
On a whinge and a prayer	The Guardian	homophone	Игра слов Whinge (хныкать) and a prayer. Речь идет о Wing and a prayer (Coming in on a wing and a prayer – название песни).
What’s black and white and red (read) all over?	Techcrunch	homonym	Игра слов – red. В сравнении два слова red (красный) и red (прошедшая форма глагола read). Два разных слова, звучание одинаково.
Why are there no aspirin tablets in the jungle? — Because paracetamol!	The Sun	homophone	Игра слов — Because paracetamol. (Because parrots eat them all) (The Dictionary); Парацетомол (paracetamol) – название таблеток.
Nigeria: Still standing, but standing still	The BBC News	homonym	Игра слов – Still standing, but standing still. Используется в качестве наречия все еще (в первом случае) и также в качестве наречия во втором случае (спокойно). Также to stand still имеет значение остановиться.

In the process of data collection and analysis of newspaper headlines there were found many examples of headlines with the replacement of (dies) such as:

1. Science friction. (From The Guardian). Friction (rubbing) — a word used to describe tensions and differences between people, in this case between scientists and the British government. The obvious reference here to science fiction (science fiction); stories about the future or another part of the universe.

2. Between a Bok and a hard place. (From The Guardian). Nicknamed the South African team the Springboks (or Boks). Wordplay — Between a rock and a hard place, which means «in a difficult situation.»

3. Return to gender. (From The Guardian). The term gender (genus) refers to the definition of feminine and masculine. Wordplay — Return to sender (usually placed on the letters, which can not be sent and forwarded to the sender).

4. Silent blight. (From The Guardian). Blight (decline) is a disease. In this case, the disease of the throat teachers, because of which they are forced to remain silent. Link to a Christmas song called Silent Night.

These examples are not included in the classification, based on which the analysis and distribution of the clusters. However, they seem to be interesting to study because are vivid and memorable examples of wordplay in English titles.

After analyzing about 64 headlines and distributing them on the parameters of classification, it was concluded that the British headlines reflect the style of speech and the expression of modern English-speaking people — they are the most compressed and are based on wordplay. In the process of analysis identified the types of headlines, often used as homonyms, homophones, paronyms. The analysis also showed that the titles are not related to any cluster.

IV. Conclusion

        Nowadays, newspaper  is one of the very well-known types of media. Newspapers must keep attention of the reader and make them  read the news. One means of information content and expression — a newspaper headline. As the first signal to induce us to read a newspaper headline should be appropriate and expressive. As guides which focuses our attention on news stories authors use as parts of  headings stamps, neologisms, idioms, slang, grammar and syntactic methods attractions.

        The effectiveness of newspaper materials is enhanced by the use of their bright, expressive titles. Exceptions are the texts of news information, in which the use of promotional titles is unacceptable. In the language of modern English-language newspaper headlines are characterized by great diversity in terms of their structure, vocabulary, meaning, style that makes it possible to classify them for various reasons: the complexity of the structure, relationship with the text of the article, full of reflection semantic elements of the text.

        To draw attention to the headlines journalists use different methods — new words, neologisms, replacing words and idioms. After analyzing about 64 headlines and distributing them on the parameters of classification, it was concluded that the British headlines reflect the style of speech and the expression of modern English-speaking people. Headings are maximally compressed, many of them are based on wordplay. The analysis showed that in headings there are used homonyms, homophones, paronyms. The analysis revealed the headings that do not belong to any cluster, but nevertheless they entered the job as examples of pun.

V. Resources and literature

1. Большая Советская энциклопедия: [электронный ресурс]. – URL: http://bse.sci-lib.com/ (дата обращения 19.02.2011)
2. Санников В.З. Русский язык в зеркале языковой игры. – М.: Языки русской культуры, 1999. – 544 с.
3. [Электронный ресурс]. – URL: http://inosmi.ru/
4. Крикунов Ю.А. Сила газетного слова/ Ю.А. Крикунов. — Алма-Ата: 1980, стр. 210
5. Лазарева Э. А. Заголовок в газете/ Э.А. Лазарева. —  Свердловск, 1989, стр. 115
6. Якаменко Н.В. Игра слов в английском языке/ Н.В. Якаменко. – Киев, 1984, стр. 175

VI. Supplement

Smart Strategies

April 26, 2010

I was sitting on a train last week with my new boss talking for a good 2 hours about Hooked on Phonics. It has been my experience that anytime I mention where I work, people always want to share stories about teaching their children to read, which of course, I love. That day was no exception. When we finally got to our stop, the gentleman sitting next to my boss told us about a great word game his sons play. I thought it was clever and easy so I thought I’d pass it on.

The boys names are Matthew and Andrew. They are 5 and 6 and all about learning sight words levitra cijena. It just so happens that Matthew has the sight word “the” in his name and Andrew has “and” So the boys make a competition by taking newspaper articles and counting how many times their sight word appears in it. As it turns out, “the”almost always wins. But I still think it’s a great game!

What words can you make from your child’s name? If there isn’t one as obvious as Andrew or Matthew, take the child’s name and mix the letters up to make a word. Then choose an article or book and count the times the word appears.

Happy reading!

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We all get newspapers in our house and as a ritual read them during morning hours to start the day knowing whats going around the world. While newspaper reading is considered majorly an adult activity, parents want their kids to have interest in the same. No doubt, newspaper reading is a healthy habit, most of the children find newspapers very boring and dry. Well, do you know newspapers can be used to play games as well and all of these games will add to your critical thinking and reading skills enhancement. Below we are suggesting to 5 best newspaper games that are highly recommended for all ages, especially children.

1. The Adjectives

Requirements: Newspaper (single edition) and marker

Number of Players: 1 to multiple

Method: This is first in the list of Best Newspaper Games. To play this one first set a 15 mins timer. Start with any newspaper edition and encircle or underline each adjective your find. Try to find out as many adjectives as you can within the 15 mins and keep a note of the score. Repeat multiple times using different editions to see how you are performing.

Benefit: This activity has multiple benefits. It enhances reading skills including comprehension and speed. With more and more practice the child will be easily able to identify adjectives and this will also help him/her write better English in the future.

2. Map the pic

Requirements: Newspaper (multiple editions allowed)

Number of Players: 1 to multiple

Method: This is another fun newspaper game in which we just select any random picture from the newspaper and then try to map that picture to some other relatable headline. For example if there is picture of some water body under one headline, we might find some other article where we can fit that same image.

Benefit: This motivates the child to think how he/she can reuse the same picture under multiple scenarios. It inculcates critical thinking by making the child wonder regarding the various placements for that picture by imagining the fitment under different articles.

3. The Tower Challenge

Requirements: Newspaper (single edition) and scissors

Number of Players: 1 to multiple

Method: This is a game from architecture category and will involve the use of critical thinking. In this version, players are only allowed to use newspaper (one edition) and a pair of scissors. Each player is expected to use critical thinking skills to build the tallest stable tower. Yes, by stable we mean, each tower should stand on its own without falling for 60 seconds. The one who is able to achieve the maximum height tower without fall for 60 seconds is the winner!

If you are a single player trying this game, you can simply try repeating the game, each time trying to get more height and stability than the previous round.

Benefit: This game is really good for letting your child understand the concepts of stable architecture. With more and more practice he/she will understand the importance of height and width management to achieve greater balance in the tower.

4. The Collage

Requirements: Newspaper (multiple editions allowed), scissors, glue, colors. white chart

Number of Players: 1 to multiple

Method: This was a classic game in earlier decades. It often used to be a vacation homework activity given to kids during those time. But now, with digitization, this seems to have lost its glory. But trust me, you will like this activity once you try. Try to collect as many old newspapers as you can from your house and your neighbours. One you have collected the newspapers, think of what you would like to draw on the chart; try to find the related cutouts from newspaper and paste on the chart. You may enhance the final version with outlines and fillings using your colors. This way you can build a beautiful collage from the newspapers using your creativity and colors.

Benefit: With this activity, the critical thinking gets enhanced as the child is able to map his/her imagination to the available objects. This motivates the child to build the best version of the drawing he/she wanted to draw using the images/colors available in the newspaper. The final chart which gets ready might be very different from what the child initially thought of and that what will give him satisfaction and confidence to experiment.

5. Word Hunt

Requirements: Newspaper (single edition) and marker or pen

Number of Players: 1 to multiple

Method: This one is last but not the least in best newspaper games but very effective for critical thinking. In this game, we simply make two piles of alphabets (a-z); one labeled as ‘start’ and another labeled as ‘finish’ kept upside down so that they cannot be read. Each player will get a chance in rotational manner to pick one alphabet from the start and the finish pile respectively. For Example: start pile shows T and finish pile shows H. Turn on the timer for 15 or 30 mins and now each player, in their edition of newspaper will try to find words starting with T and ending with H. The one who finds the maximum number if words will win the round.

Benefit: With more and more practice of this game, the reading skills and speed of your child will get enhanced. He/she will learn to scan the text quickly to fine related content instead of reading through all the content. This is another aspect of critical thinking that will help your child throughout his/her life.

Hope you liked the the above list of Best Newspaper Games that provide numerous learning benefits. Please leave your feednack in comments.

The Best Non-Digital Games for Writers

If you want to keep your word prowess sharp, whether you’re a writer, a teacher, a parent, or a child, this list is for you. Games engage the mind and when the game is FUN, you’re likely to remember new knowledge. So choose a game from this list, grab some friends, and have a wonderful WORDY time!

Board Games

While their are dozens of games to choose from, these games are likely to be your best bet when it comes to gaming with words. Some are classics, but the rest should be.

1. Scrabble. This is the epitome of the classic board game for writers. Of course, millions of non-writers play this game too. Build words and win points. The most clever wordster will win.
2. Boggle. A noisy option for a word game. Shake the plastic container and let the letters fall in place. Race against others — and the egg timer — to see who can make the most words from the letters you’re dealt.
3. Upwords. Similar to Scrabble, but you can build on top of previous words. And the scoring is different. Growing up, I played this game with my mom all the time. So, this is one of my personal classic favorites.
4. Bananagrams. If you haven’t heard of this game, you’re missing out. A little yellow pouch shaped like a banana holds all the letter tiles. Each person shouts SPLIT, PEEL, and DUMP in a race to build words crossword puzzle style. The winner gets to shout BANANAGRAMS.  
5. Balderdash. This game is a trivia and bluffing game. Be prepared to laugh out loud with this one. The trivia categories are weird words, movies, notable people, incredible initials, and laughable laws. You are using your «storytelling» skills to convince others of the right definition, especially when you don’t have a clue. With categories that have to do with words and initials, a writer could really fall in love with this game.
6. Apples to Apples. Even teachers use the Apples to Apples for Kids version in classrooms to help children learn the value of comparisons. You have to stretch your mind to find the best description from a handful of cards to match a different — perhaps seemingly unrelated — item on a another card. This word game is sure to make you laugh!

Paper Games

While there may be many more word games out there that only use paper and pencil, these seem to be among the most popular, even iconic.

1. Crossword Puzzles. This is the iconic symbol of writers everywhere. What writer has never worked a crossword puzzle? If you’re a writer and you’ve never done a crossword puzzle, I’d LOVE to know in the comments. When I was a kid, I got a giant wall crossword puzzle for my birthday one year. I spent many, many hours working on that puzzle, with my nose stuck in a dictionary. Unfortunately, I never did finish it. I got pretty close, but honestly, I think there were lots and lots of errors (and no solution available). At least I couldn’t «cheat» right?
2. Word Search Puzzles. Another favorite among wordsters. You can buy books with a theme. Cats. Dogs. Animals. You name it. Not as rewarding to some as the classic crossword, but it still passes the time and your brain learns to look for patterns.
3. The Daily Jumble and Cryptoquips. These two games are typically found in the comics section of your local newspaper (along with crosswords and word searches). They are both forms of unscrambling. The Daily Jumble scrambles up common words and there’s a puzzle at the end to describe an illustration. Cryptoquips are coded messages that you must figure out what each letter stands for. For example: P XT X SLPBOL would decode and read «I AM A WRITER.»
4. Word Lists. Another fun one, especially in classrooms, is when a long word or a short phrase, such as HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY is used as a «letter bank» for children to create as many words as possible. It’s a fun little challenge and usually the one who writes the most words wins a prize.

Verbal Games

Finally, here are two simple games you can play, even if you don’t own one of the board games above or if you don’t have pencil or paper handy.

1. Alphabet Trip. Remember the looooong «list» game? «I’m going on a trip to _______ and I’m going to take with me an A_______ (apple).» Then the next person repeats from A, B, C, etc. and fills in with the next letter on their turn. «I’m going on a trip to _______ and I’m going to take with me an Apple, a Bear, a Candy bar, and a Dinosaur.» You can even make it more challenging by limiting it to only food, or fruit, or animals, or office supplies!
2. License Plates. This is a game if you really ARE going a trip, even if it’s just to the office supply store down the street. There is no winner in this game. It’s just to see who can come up with the funniest phrases the fastest. License plate: WHB. Of course you can use any words you like, but to challenge yourself, try for adjective, noun, then verb. For example, Watery Horses Blubber. 

Sooooo… the next time you’re trying to think of a word game to play, choose one off this list. They’re some of the best games for writers out there!

Got another favorite word game? Share in the comments!

Keep on keepin’ on…

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