LEXICAL FEATURES OF NEWSPAPER STYLE ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ENGLISH-LANGUAGE EDITION OF THE INDEPENDENT

The newspaper, as a key mass media outlet, performs many significant functions aimed at informing the public and shaping public opinion. The main task of newspaper style is to convey information to the reader and its social impact. [2, p. 22]. This emphasizes that with the competent presentation of factual data and the emotional saturation of news materials, the professionalism of a journalist is determined by his ability to effectively use a variety of linguistic means, which, in turn, improves the information saturation of the text, its expressiveness and quality.

The events taking place in the world have an impact on the English language, especially on the language of newspapers, which is reflected in their lexical and stylistic composition. [1]. In that way, the style of English-language newspapers has a number of unique lexical characteristics that affect the informative content of the materials, attracting readers’ attention and their impact.

This article analyzes the lexical features characteristic of the newspaper style, using the example of articles in the English-language edition “The Independent”.

In the process of analyzing newspaper articles in the English-language edition of The Independent, the abundant use of special cliched terms from the field of politics and economics was noted, among which are such as The Treasury Department, senior figures, military buildup, staff turnover. Such vocabulary usually does not require additional explanation, as it is often found in newspapers of one kind or another. An example of the use of such vocabulary is a quote by Jonathan Broadbury, a representative of the national association of kindergartens, in which he used the phrase staff turnover, which is the most common in economic terminology and does not allow ambiguity.:

‘With high staff turnover as well, it is clear that the sector will need to recruit more than the 40,000 staff needed if we are also to replace those who leave’ [4].

In addition, an analysis of the materials of the newspaper “The Independent” showed that it uses many abbreviations, which saves space, makes reading easier and speeds up the transfer of information. The authors use abbreviations to refer to well-known organizations, events, positions, and other well-known concepts. It is worth noting that such abbreviations are more common in headlines, whereas in the text of the article, when examining events in depth, the full name is usually mentioned so that any interested reader can understand what the article is about. An example of the use of an abbreviation is the following fragment from a sports article:

‘Research from the PCA found that 76 percent of its members were worried about unsafe travel, particularly when travelling alone late at night’ [8].

In this passage, the abbreviation PCA is used, from the text it becomes clear that the abbreviation in this case stands for ‘The Professional Cricketers’ Association’, which means an organization that protects the rights and interests of professional cricketers in the UK. Using this technique allows the author to make the content of the article more succinct, without repeating or overloading the text with large phrases.

Another equally important feature inherent in newspaper style is the frequency of use of neologisms. Newspapers, in an effort to stay relevant and cover current trends, actively introduce new or modified terms that reflect sociocultural changes and modern technologies.

For example, during the covid pandemic, society began to look for new ways to express its thoughts, which led to the emergence of many neologisms that appear both in spoken and written speech. An example of this phenomenon is the neologism zoombombing in the following fragment of the article.:

‘They included … 156 “Zoombombing” incidents, where an unauthorized person intrudes on a video call…’ [9].

This concept implies the unwanted intrusion of unknown intruders, pursuing a bad goal, into the Zoom video conference. The use of such neologisms allows the author to reflect the new realities of public life and, thereby, attract the attention of readers.

To create imagery and emotional impact on the event being covered, the authors of articles often use idioms that enrich the text of newspaper articles, giving it creativity and allowing the authors to convey their message to readers more effectively. Stable phrases are found in various genres of newspaper journalism, from political materials to environmental and natural science reviews. So, the basis was an article devoted to the consideration of various holiday villas in some countries and in which the author used the stable expression a home-from-home as an adjective denoting a comfortable place where you feel at home, being far from it.:

‘Located in a tranquil area, Villa Mangas (pictured above) makes for a perfect home-from-home stay’ [10].

In addition, in modern newspapers, especially in online publications, it is increasingly possible to observe a combination of journalistic vocabulary with elements of jargon. Slang words are used by a limited number of native speakers united by common interests or social affiliation. They are increasingly appearing in newspaper articles, as they allow authors to better match the language style and tone of the topic being discussed, helping to establish mutual understanding with the target audience. So, for example:

‘The Dutch coach has to prepare for underdog football in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Manchester City’ [5].

In this example, the sports jargon underdog is used. In the field of football and some other sports, this is the name of the team with the least chance of winning. With this tool, the author managed to create the effect of intimacy with the audience and belonging to the field of football.

In English—language publications, one can observe how the authors convey their emotional reactions using specific lexical elements – interjections. Although these interjections do not describe feelings and experiences directly, their importance in conveying the emotional intensity of the text is beyond doubt. They serve as indicators of emotional response and are actively used especially when creating headlines that are designed to convey the essence of events through the prism of personal experiences and assessments of the author. The following heading is an example of this approach: ‘Angela Rayner attacking the PM for being short? Ooh… how low can she go?’ [7].

This title is based on playing up the meaning of the interjection unit Ooh, with which the author reflects the state of bewilderment about the statement of the British politician, thereby creating intrigue in the reader.

To prevent bias and discrimination based on gender, as well as to maintain equality in the description of events, the authors of articles can resort to gender-neutral words, such as restaurant server instead of waiter/waitress, flight attendant instead of steward/stewardess and others. It is worth noting that the English-language edition of “The Independent” is known for its independence and critical view of events, so the use of such gender-neutral vocabulary is not mandatory:

‘The server said she responded, saying: “I was like, oh, unfortunately, I can’t substitute because, like, I don’t know what happened…’ [6].

In that way, during the study of the lexical characteristics of the newspaper style of the English-language edition “The Independent”, it was revealed that a number of lexical elements, including neologisms, special vocabulary, idioms, abbreviations and other linguistic means, play a significant role in the formation of a newspaper article, attracting the attention of readers and exerting some influence on them.

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3. Busby E. 85,000 new childcare places needed for flagship offer, says Government // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/government-england-department-for-education-childcare-labour-b2531215.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
4. Delaney M. Manchester United’s only hope is magic of the FA Cup in most one-sided meeting of rivals // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL:  https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-cup-final-manchester-united-man-city-b2550814.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
5. Hebert O. Server says mom was upset that kids’ menu had no ‘healthy’ options // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/mom-children-menu-restaurant-healthy-tiktok-b2486219.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
6. Murphy J. Angela Rayner attacking the PM for being short? Ooh… how low can she go? // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/angela-rayner-pmqs-oliver-dowden-labour-conservative-b2534086.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
7. Twigg S. Joe Root backs PCA call for English cricket schedule changes due to fears of dangerous driving risk // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL:  https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/pca-england-cricket-county-championship-b2540057.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
8. Via AP news wire. Cyberattacks increasingly hobble pandemic-weary US schools // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL:  https://www.independent.co.uk/news/albuquerque-teachers-virginia-fbi-joe-biden-b2003910.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).
9. Wressell T. Ultimate villa guide: Find your perfect home-from-home holiday in Spain, Greece, Portugal and Cyprus // The Independent – [Электронный ресурс] – URL: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/villa-holidays-europe-spain-greece-portugal-cyprus-b2472690.html (дата обращения: 30.07.2024).

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