Ginsburg also suggests that pharseological units should be subdivided into phrasemes and idioms according to whether or not one of the components of the whole word- group possesses specialized meaning. Idioms are distinguished from phrasemes by the idiomaticity of the whole word –group and the impossibility of attaching meaning to the members of the group taken isolated. Idioms are semantically and grammatically inseparable units. Idioms made up of words normally brought together are homonymous with corresponding veliable ward groups «to let the cat out of the bag»- to divulge a secret, and the clue of idiomatic meaning is to be found in a wider context outside the phrase itself.
We should note that Idioms have no social boundaries or limitations as they exist in all cultures and classes of the society as well as in all languages. Idioms are a part of each language and cannot be described apart from the given language.
Biblical references are also the source of many idioms. Sports terms, technical terms, legal terms, military slang and even nautical expressions have found their way to everyday use of English language.
Nowadays American English is in this position. It is hard to find an AmE idiom that has not established itself in « worldwide English» (usually BrE).
Idioms are constantly dying and new ones are born. Some idioms may have gone through radical changes in meaning. The phrase – There is no love lost between them – nowadays means that some people dislike one another. Originally, when there was the British English form, it meant exactly the opposite. The shift in meaning is yet unexplained. All dialects of English have different sets of idioms and situations where a given idiom can be used .
English is a language particularly rich in idioms - those modes of expression peculiar to a language (or dialect) which frequently defy logical and grammatical rules. The background and etymological origins of most idioms is at best obscure. This is the reason why a study of differences between the idioms of American English and British English is rather difficult. New idioms originate in the U.S and then become popular in so called «worldwide English». This new situation is completely different from the birth of American English as a ‘variant’ of British English. Here are some examples which are used in either American or British English some used in both;
«Having won the first two Tests, Australia is now almost certain to retain the Ashes» .(Ashes is a British English idiom that is nowadays a well established cricket term);
to have the edge on/over someone is originally an American English idiom, now established in almost every other form of English, including British English;
«a happy hunting ground» - place where one often goes to obtain something or to make money, originally was an American English idiom.
It has to be said that in the old days English idioms rarely originated from any other form of English than British English. Nowadays American English is in this position. Some examples of early American English idioms are «to bark up the wrong tree» or «to paddle one’s own canoe». They were derived from the speech of the American natives, like the phrase «someone speaks with a forked tongue» and «the happy hunting ground». These idioms have filtered to British English through centuries through books, newspapers, and most recently through powerful mediums like radio, television and movies.
British idioms are actually more familiar to other Europeans than to Americans even though the language is the same. The reason for all these facts is that Britain is not the world power it used to be and it must be said that the United States have taken the role of the leading nation in the development of language, media and popular culture.
2. Newspaper style Conclusion
Newspaper is a publication that appears regularly and frequently, and carries news about a wide variety of current events. Organizations such as trade unions, religious groups, corporations or clubs may have their own newspapers, but the term is more commonly used to refer to daily or weekly publications that bring news of general interest to large portions of the public in a specific geographic area.
General circulations newspapers play a role in commerce through the advertisements they carry; they provide readers with information of practical value, such as television schedules weather maps and listings of stock prices; and these newspapers provide a coarse of entertainment through their stories and through such features as comic strips and crossword puzzles. However one of the most important functions of the general- circulation newspaper (a crucial function in a democracy) is to provide citizens with information on government and politics .
The printing press was used to disseminate news in Europe shortly after Johann Gutenberg invented the letter press, employing movable type in the 1450s. in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries thousands of printed news books short pamphlets reporting on a news event ballads accounts of news events written in verse and usually printed on one side of a single sheet of paper, circulated in Europe and in the new European colonies in America. The first news report printed in the America described an earthquake in Guatemala and was printed in Mexico in 1541.
The oldest surviving newspaper written in English appears to have been published in Amsterdam in 1620 by Pieter van de Keere, a Dutch and print engraver who had lived in London for a few year.
According to the historian Joseph Frank along with their political coverage newspapers in England in the 1640s, were among the first in the world to use headlines, to print advertisements, to illustrate stories with woodcuts, to employ a woman _ «a she –intelligencer»_ to collect news and to have newsboys, or more commonly newsgirls, sell papers in the streets. They are also among the first newspapers to complete with news books and news ballads in coverage of sensational events like bloody crimes.
Newspaper style was the last of all the styles of written literary English to be recognized as a specific form of writing standing apart from other forms. English newspaper style dates from the 17th century. Newspaper writing is addressed to a broad audience and devoted to important social or political events, public problems of cultural or moral character. The first of any regular series of English newspapers was the Weekly News which first appeared on May 20, 1622. The 17th century saw the rise of a number of other news sheets which, with varying success, struggled on in the teeth of discouragement and restrictions imposed by the Crown. With the introduction of a strict licensing system many such sheets were suppressed, and the Government, in its turn, set before the public a paper of its own – the London Gazette, first published on February 5, 1666. The paper was a semi – weekly and carried official information, royal decrees, news from abroad, and advertisements.
The general aim the newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech, essay or article merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as well. It falls in two varieties: the essay and the article.
The essay in English literature dates from the 16th century and its name is taken from the short « Essays» (= experiments, attempts) by the French writer Montaigne, which contained his thoughts on various subjects. According to Galperinan essay «is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished argument or a conclusive examination of any matter . Nowadays an essay is usually a kind of feature article in a magazine or newspaper. Essays are written commonly by one and the same writer or journalist, who has cultivated his own individual style. Some essays, depending on a writer’s individuality, are written in a highly emotional manner resembling the style of emotive prose.
The most characteristic features of essays, however remain
1) Brevity of expression
2) The use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the problems treated:
3) A rather expended use of connectives, which facilitates the process of grasping the correlation of ideas;
4) The abundant use of emotive words
5) The use of idioms and metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive process
Newspapers are most often published on a daily or weekly basis, and they usually focus on one particular geographic area where most of their readers live. Despite recent setbacks in circulation and profits, newspapers are still the most iconic outlet for news and other types of written journalism. To understand the language peculiarities of English newspaper style it will be sufficient to analyze the following basic newspaper features
· brief news items
· advertisements and announcements
· the headline
· the editorial
The headline is a dependent form of newspaper writing. The main function of the headline is to inform the reader briefly what the text that follows is about. In other words headlines are almost a summary of the information contained in the news item or article.
The function of editorial is to influence the reader by giving an interpretation of certain facts. Editorials comment on the political and other events of the day. Editorials make an extensive use of emotionally colored vocabulary.
The main function of advertisements and announcements is to give information about a product or service used to attract potential consumers; advertising takes place in newspapers and magazines, on hoardings, on radio and television and on the Internet .
The principal function of a brief news item is to inform the reader. News items are essentially matter - of - fact and stereotyped forms of expression prevail.it goes without saying that the bulk of the vocabulary which is used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But newspaper style has also its specific vocabulary features and is characterized by an extensive use of:
a) special political and economic terms like constitution president, etc.
b) non – term political vocabulary such as public people unity etc.
c) newspaper clichés which are commonplace phrases familiar to the reader. Clichés occur in newspaper headlines more often to give special coloring and emotiveness. e.g pressing problem, speaking realization etc.
d) abbreviations _ names of organizations, public and state body, political associations, industrial and other companies etc – known by their initials are very common in newspapers. E.g UNO( united Nation Organization), FO ( foreign Office), etc.
e) neologism_ a new word or sense of a word and the coining or use of new words and senses. Neologisms make their way into the langiage of newspaper easily. E. g coffee (the person upon whom one cough), abdicate (to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach) etc.
Most modern newspapers are in one of three sizes:
· Broadsheets: 600 mm by 380 mm (23½ by 15 inches), generally associated with more intellectual newspapers, although a trend towards «compact» newspapers is changing this.
· Tabloids: half the size of broadsheets at 380 mm by 300 mm (15 by 11¾ inches), and often perceived as sensationalist in contrast to broadsheets. Examples: The Sun, The National Enquirer, The National Ledger, The Star Magazine, New York Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, The Globe.
· Berliner or Midi: 470 mm by 315 mm (18½ by 12¼ inches) used by European papers such as Le Monde in France, La Stampa in Italy, El Pais in Spain and, since 12 September 2005, The Guardian in the United Kingdom.
While most newspapers are aimed at a broad spectrum of readers, usually geographically defined, some focus on groups of readers defined more by their interests than their location: for example, there are daily and weekly business newspapers and sports newspapers. More specialist still are some weekly newspapers, usually free and distributed within limited areas; these may serve communities as specific as certain immigrant populations, or the local gay community.
A daily newspaper is issued every day, sometimes with the exception of Sundays and some national holidays. Typically, the majority of these newspapers’ staff work Monday to Friday, so the Sunday and Monday editions largely depend on content done in advance or content that is syndicated. Most daily newspapers are published in the morning. Afternoon or evening papers are aimed more at commuters and office workers.
Weekly newspapers are common and tend to be smaller than daily papers. In some cases, there also are newspapers that are published twice or three times a week. In the United States, such newspapers are generally still classified as weeklies.
Most nations have at least one newspaper that circulates throughout the whole country: a national newspaper, as contrasted with a local newspaper serving a city or region. In the United Kingdom, there are numerous national newspapers, including The Independent, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Express and The Daily Mirror. In the United States and Canada, there are few, if any, national newspapers, and in almost every market one newspaper has an effective monopoly. Certain newspapers, notably The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today in the US and The Globe and Mail and The National Post in Canada are available at limited locations throughout the country. Large metropolitan newspapers with also have expanded distribution networks and, with effort, can be found outwith their normal area.
There is also a small group of newspapers which may be characterised as international newspapers. Some, such as Christian Science Monitor and The International Herald Tribune, have always had that focus, while others are repackaged national newspapers or «international editions» of national-scale or large metropolitan newspapers. Often these international editions are scaled down to remove articles that might not interest the wider range of readers.
But the principal vehicle of interpretation and appraisal is the newspaper article and the editorial in particular. Editorials (leading articles) are characterized by the subjective handling of facts, political or otherwise, and therefore have more in common with political essays or articles and should rather be classed as belonging to the publicistic style than to the newspaper. However, newspaper publicistic writing bears a stamp of its own style. Though it seems natural to consider newspaper articles, editorials included, as coming within the system of English newspaper style, it is necessary to note that such articles are an intermediate phenomenon characterized by a combination of styles – the newspaper style and the publicistic style. In other words, they may be considered hybrids.
English newspaper style may be defined as a system of interrelated lexical, phraseological and grammatical means,which is perceived by the community as separate linguistic unity that serves the purpose of informing, instructing the reader. In fact, all kinds of newspapers writing are to a greater or lesser degree both informative and evaluative. The newspaper also seeks to influence public opinion or political and appraisal and other matters. Elements of appraisal may be observed in the very selection and the way of presentation of news, in the use of specific vocabulary. The vocabulary used in newspaper writing is natural and common literary. But apart from this, newspaper style has its one of the smartest ways to illustrate the topic and to direct it to the point is to use idioms in the article. Here are idioms found in popular newspapers.
«Venture capitalist David Cowan is a professed chess-playing nerd who studied math and computer science at Harvard. Last year, though, he decided he needed a crash course in getting hip». – The New York Times
Crash course - a quick lesson
«Many older tech investors, eager not to miss out, are going to great lengths to shed fuddy-duddy images and ingratiate themselves with the younger generation The New York Times (to) miss out - to miss an opportunity; to fail to make use of an opportunity (to) go to great lengths - to do a lot; to do a lot to achieve a certain goal fuddy-duddy - out of fashion; not modern; an old-fashioned person who doesn't want to change