A Relevance Theory-Based Study Of English Newspaper Headlines

News headline is usually viewed as the “eye” of a piece of news, through whichthe readers are able to grasp the core of the news story in the shortest time. Therefore,when reading a newspaper, readers tend to scan the headlines first, trying to find outthe information they want. To some degree, the content and the writing patterninfluence the readers’ understanding and the selection of the news. Due to the uniqueposition and the role of a news headline in a newspaper, it seems necessary to conductrelated studies on this topic.On the basis of the predecessors’ research, this paper attempts to make aRelevance Theory–based analysis of English newspaper headlines by combining thequalitative and quantitative analysis methods. First, the features and functions ofEnglish news headlines and related studies both at home and abroad are discussed indetail. Then the Relevance Theory is introduced, laying a solid theoretical backgroundfor further analysis. Based on this discussion, it is expounded in this thesis that thewriting and reading English newspaper headlines is, in essence, a sort of ostensive–inferential communication between the editors and the readers. On the one hand, theeditors produce the ostensive stimuli in compliance with relevance principle,establishing the optimal relevance of the news text with the readers. On the other hand,the readers select the most appropriate cognitive context related to the stimuli andmake further inference, realizing the informative and communicative intentions of theeditors. The analysis of English newspaper headlines based on Relevance Theory is ofinstructive significance to the editors’ production of a more effective headline and thereaders’ more effective reading. In addition, it also enlightens the researchers in otherrelated studies.The study of English newspaper headlines in this paper is of important theoreticaland practical significance. First, it further strengthens the explanative force ofRelevance Theory in human language communication, providing a new perspectivefor people to recognize the functions and meanings of news headlines. Besides, this study is also of instructive significance to editors, readers, as well as languageresearchers in their writing, reading and studying respectively in practice. Moreover,this analysis also has a far-reaching influence on English teaching and learning.