Headlines of media texts: hidden contradictions

Abstract

This inquiry aims to determine the ways and means through which the accuracy category manifests itself in the news genre and to identify internal contradictions formed by the interaction between logical and semantic components of the expression. The objectives were as follows: to determine how the accuracy category is presented through the categories of subject, time, and place of action, what are the transformative possibilities of these categories in the field of adequate transmission of meaning, which linguistic means actualize the accuracy category or, on the contrary, “blur” it. Continuous sampling, analysis and synthesis, transformational, and descriptive methods were used in the research process. We confirm that the subject in the headline is delivered explicitly and implicitly in the conclusions presenting the research results. “Nonsubjectivity” is realized using indefinite (non-personal) forms of the predicate or can be determined through a locus. For news headlines, the locus is an essential component, its place in the sentence can adjust the semantic accents of the statement. The time category in analyzed titles is almost always explicit. The accuracy category is most clearly manifested in direct indications of time and place and in two-syllable sentences where the subject of the action is specified.