USE OF PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS IN TITLES AND HEADLINES
Keywords:
Umbrella use, to join the bandwagon, the Wild West, stiff upper lip, sitting on the fence, multimodal use, Home Truths, Bee in a bonnet.Abstract
The title or the headline is certainly language of a particular type not only grammatically and typographically (such as size and style of printing, layout, use of colour) but also stylistically. It catches the eye and commands attention. Moreover, a PU appearing in a title or a headline attracts by its figurative meaning and image. It brings the idea of the text to the fore, making it more prominent. The teader is offered a conclusion or is invited to draw one. An interesting area of research is the striking and innovative use of proverbs in the headlines of texts of advertisements, where much emphasis is achieved by “creative headlines which act as major attention-getters” (Mieder 1989: 293).
References
For a graphical presentation of the main types of phraseological cohesion and sustainabilityIn umbrella use, see Appendix VI.
Moon points out the significance of idioms in the text-initial or paragraph-initial, as well as the text-final or paragraph-final positions (1998: 297–300).
For discourse analysis of J. Fowles’ short story The Ebony Tower, see Short (1995: 45–62).
An ivory tower – studies, interests (esp. academic or artistic) that cut one off from the realities and struggles of life; observation and imagination in place of direct experience (Cowie, Mackin and McCaig [1993] 1994b: 323).
MWCD 1996 gives two meanings of the PU home truth: (1) an unpleasant fact that jars the sensibilities; (2) a statement of undisputed fact.
