The article touches upon the peculiarities of sport news texts published on the Internet and determines some specific features of the language of the web media in the given area. It is described that the popularity of internet news texts as a form of on-line web texts evolves as a direct consequence of the rapid growth of high computer technologies. The authors also consider different views on the notion of ‘text’ found in lexicographic sources and in special scientific literature devoted to the issue. The data of the analysis of sport texts of one of the most popular news internet portal are given in the article.
Introduction
When people are asked why they use the Internet, they usually give a lot of answers to the question explaining their reasons for it. There are also different researches which state that the majority of internet users note they refer to the Global Web because it is a means for connecting with the whole world around, for checking and sending e-mails, for surfing, browsing, shopping, getting the weather forecast, learning the news and for lots of other activities that are beneficial in many terms (http:// www.blogtechnika.com/10-reasons-why-people- use-internet/; https:// www.weiderweb.com/15- reasons-why-people-use-the-internet-and-how-touse-that-to-your -advantage/). This list can be much longer, but we think that one of the most frequent answers is that people are much concerned about the latest news taking place in their native land and in the near and far abroad countries and read such kind of information in the Internet. This is proved by the poll made by the research company Pew Internet. In accordance with its results, a greater part of American news readers prefer to know about various events from internet news on-line (59% in comparison with 26 % of news readers who opt for print). In general, four-in-ten American adults (38%) prefer to obtain web news (social media, websites/apps) (http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways- to-news/). The popularity of internet news texts as a form of on-line web publicist texts evolves as a direct consequence of the rapid growth of high computer technologies. At the same time reading on-line news from around the world contributes to the expansion of the global information space and to the development of new models of communication (called by scholars computermediated communication) giving internet user an opportunity to interact with the mass audience.
Experiment
The study of internet news texts assumes specific significance with an increasing role of the Internet in the formation of mass consciousness and its great impact on the formation of public opinion. Currently, most of the traditional media (newspapers,
journals and magazines) have their own sites on the Internet, and online media are actively developing (i.e. media acting on the World Wide Web). They have some advantages which refer mostly to the rapid speed of information transfer provided by modern digital technologies, high level of attendance by their readers and regularity of appearance of their news messages making them close to traditional media (printed newspapers and TV news programmes). Internet news texts as dynamic formations reflect not only the major international events, but also the main events taking place in the home country, political, economic, social, cultural, educational and sport news. Network news texts have their own complex structure which is constructed on the basis of a specific sequence of the constituent elements, their specific linguistic and stylistic characteristic features determined by the type of information which is presented there. It means that the phenomenon of internet news should be studied not only by scholars in the sphere of journalism but it attracts attention of linguists as well.
In linguistics special attention is primarily paid to the issue of defining the notions of ‘news’ and ‘text’.
With some modifications the word ‘news’ is defined in different English-English explanatory dictionaries as ‘information on recent events or current affairs’ or as ‘newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent events», «reports of recent events in the newspapers, on the radio, or on television». When preceded by the definite article ‘the’, it is explained as ‘a broadcast or published report of news’ (it is a regular television or radio programme that gives you reports of recent events) (Longman Active Dictionary, 2000; The Chambers Dictionary, 2008).
To have a clearer idea of Internet news texts when compared to printed texts, it is relevant to refer to the main features and characteristics of traditional understanding of the notion of text, although it is gradually becoming more complicated. The notion of ‘text’ (to be more exact ‘written text’), etymologically going back to the Latin word textus meaning ‘tissue, weaving, structure, fabric, communication, connected presentation’, is usually extended to cover a coherent stretch of speech, including a con-
versation or other exchange involving two or more participants, as well as stretches of writing (Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics, 2007: 405-406). G.Ya. Solganik defines the notion ‘text’ as a unified by semantic and grammatical connection sequence of speech units: utterances, supra-phrasal units, fragments, sections, etc. (Solganik, 2002: 16). According to T.F. Efremova, text is a sequence of linguistic and other signs forming a coherent whole and serving as an object of investigation (Efremova, 2000). I.R. Galperin expresses the view that text is a kind of completed message, having its own content, organized in accordance with an abstract model of one of the existing in the literary language forms of messages (functional style, its types and genres) and characterized by its own distinctive characteristics.
�e underlines that text is objectified in the form of a written document literally processed in accordance with the type of this document consisting of a headline and a number of special supra phrasal units connected by different types of lexical , grammatical, logical, stylistic links with definite purposefulness and pragmatic direction (Galperin, 2006: 18-20).
The definitions of the notion of text enable to reveal its parameters determined by scholars in the following way: they are its completeness, integrity, coherence of constituting elements, their particular arrangement and organization, stylistic unity and dividedness (http://ebooks.semgu.kz/ content. php?cont=d;1028;https://psyera.ru/struktura-ipriznaki – teksta-86.htm). All these basic characteristics can be also found in the texts which operate in the field of mass communication.
It is of interest to analyze an English internet text on sports news on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) website (https://www.bbc.com/sport) from the view of its compliance with the above mentioned text parameters.
«The British world number two trailed two sets to one when play was suspended on Monday because of bad light. Murray, 29, won the fourth set but was pushed hard by his Czech opponent before winning the deciding set to clinch a 3-6 3-6 6-0 6-3 7-5 victory. British number two Aljaz Bedene reached the second round for the first time. The last time Murray lost in the first round of a Grand Slam was in 2008. A three-time French Open semi-finalist, he has now come from two sets down to win nine times in Grand Slam matches. Murray will next face French wildcard Mathias Bourgue, who is ranked 164 in the world».
Thus, this passage carries a particular message which is completed (that is, it has a beginning and its ending is expressed in a pronounced and underlined way), as evidenced by its readers’ perception, revealed through a survey of informants conducted among the students of the specialty «Foreign Philology», studying the disciplines «The Language of Press» and «English Stylistics». The final sentence of the text «Murray will next face the French wildcard Mathias Bourgue, who is ranked
164 in the world» regarding the future plans of the tennis player, demonstrates the completeness of the analyzed text. It is obvious that the given text is informative and this informative character is manifested in its integrity, in understanding the text as a single whole. The text is also specified as consistent and orderly arranged, it means that is characterized by coherence. The constituent elements of the text are logically related which is to a great extent promoted by connecting elements (conjunctions but, before, when, because, who; such phrases as the first time. the last time). As far as the style affiliation is concerned, the news text can be attributed to the newspaper style (as it is defined by I.R. Galperin), or to the newspaper variety of the publicist style (according to I.V. Arnold’s view).
Scholars suggest a special procedure for analyzing and interpreting the information contained in any type of authentic text irrespective of its functional and stylistic affiliation. Thus, according to
I.R. Galperin there are several stages for foreign text analysis. The first procedure is called the taxonomic stage of analysis. It aims at defining the functional style to which a particular text belongs. The second procedure, called the content-grasping stage, aims at approximate understanding of the content of the given text. The third stage called ‘semantic’, has as its purpose the close observation of the meanings of separate words and word combinations as well as of the significations of the various sentences and supraphrasal units. This stage leads further revealing the deeper information. The fourth procedure, called the stylistic stage, aims at finding out what additional information is imparted by the use of various stylistic devices. The last stage is connected with assembling the previously acquired data and synthesizing all the procedures (Galperin, 1981: 321-322).
The described procedure of philological text interpretation and analysis can be also applied to English internet sport brief news items taking into account that the first stage (defining the functional style) of a text is set a priori. It is only necessary to prove that the given extract belongs to the newspaper style specifying its on-line peculiarities.
In order to understand in-deep the content of the text and to clear up the semantics of some constituent parts presenting difficulties, readers of the text may refer to translation and lexicographic sources. For example, in the sentence «Murray will next face French wild card Mathias Bourgue, who is ranked 164 in the world» special attention should be given to the word combination ‘wild card’ which is defined in dictionaries as having the following meanings: ‘(in card games) a card that has no value of its own and takes the value of any card that the player chooses; (in sport) an opportunity for somebody to play in a competition when they have not qualified in the usual way; a player who enters a competition in this way; a person or thing whose behaviour or effect is difficult to predict’ (https://www. oxfordlearnersdictionaries. com/definition/english/ wild-card). In bilingual dictionaries its translation is ‘непредсказуемое явление / темная лошадка’ (‘unpredictable phenomenon’) which can be selected by the news readers of the given text as the most appropriate variant.
As far as the stylistic stage is concerned, English internet news texts devoted to sport events are characterized by the use of various stylistic devices although their choice is not very extensive. There we can find such stylistic devices as metaphor, metonymy, epithet, hyperbole, repetition, ellipsis and some other means for producing a particular effect of news readers.
The use of different stylistic devices can be illustrated by the examples given on the BBC website (https://www.bbc.com/sport).
Metaphor:
- «The Real Madrid star left the pitch with a thigh problem following a clash with goalkeeper Kiko Casilla».
- «Ronaldo’s absence from the starting line up would be a significant blow to Real’s hopes of landing an 11th Champions League title».
- «Kim’s talent shines through on the pitch».
- «Stepanek played a magnificent final set: serving and volleying himself out of trouble when the occasional break point down and engaging theatrically with the crowd, which warmed to a 37-year-old who is a real craftsman of his trade».
Metonymy:
- «England and Wales last met in a Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley».
- «Stokes will miss the remaining two Tests, five one day internationals and T20 international against Sri Lanka»
Epithet:
- «...sets to avoid a shock first-round defeat at the French Open in Paris».
�yperbole:
She’s quick, her balance and movement on the pitch is fantastic, she has brilliant technique, there aren’t many things that she can’t do» «She’s a role model. She’s perfect in everything she does on and off the pitch, and I think it will take a long time before Scotland gets another player like this.»
It is necessary to mention that the stylistic usage in some of the above sentences is close to be very traditional (star, blow, fantastic, brilliant, etc.).
There are also some other characteristic features of the internet news texts such as the use of sport terminology (midfielder, semi-finalist, quarter-final, set, ace, halfback, kick-off, grass-court, javelin thrower, pitch, a two-under-par, posted a twounder-par, play-off hole), phrasal verbs (to stand up for, to rule out, to come off at half-time, to miss out on playing, to limp out of training, to play through, to take on, to take over, to drop away, to drop into, to fight out), expressive means of the language (the use of such intensifiers as absolutely, extremely, unbelievable, incredible, terribly), abbreviations (BBC, UK, USA, FA, PFA, TPC Four Seasons, PGA
Tour, AT&T Byron Nelson).
Besides English sport news texts are often characterized by the extensive use of passive constructions, which underlines the intention of authors of the text (often anonymous) to be objective and impartial in information coverage:
- »Fans without tickets for the match or fan zone have been told not to travel»
- «There were about 250,000 tickets sold to UK residents from 1.6m applications»
- «Scotland midfielder Kim Little has been voted the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2016»
- «The 53-year-old had taken over after former England defender Gary Neville was sacked following four months in charge».
Conclusion
The data presented in the article give only brief information on the issue studied. The prospects of research in the area are very extensive. It is evident that internet sport news texts present a very interesting, diverse and rich material for further investigation since this type of news items is popular among internet users and due to this fact they should also attract attention of scholars of interdisciplinary directions.
References
- Retrieved from: http://www.blogtechnika.com/10-reasons-why-people-use-internet/; https: // www.weiderweb.com/15-rea- sons-why-people-use-the-internet-and-how-to-use-that-to-your-advantage/
- Retrieved from: http://www.journalism.org/2016/07/07/pathways-to-news/
- Longman Active Dictionary. – Published by Pearson Education Ltd, 2000; The Chambers Dictionary. – Published by Chambers
- �arrap Publishers Ltd, 2008.
- Oxford Concise Dictionary of Linguistics. – Published by Oxford University Press, 2007. Солганик Г.Я. Стилистика текста. – М: Флинта; Наука, 2002.
- Ефремова Т. Ф. Толково-словообразовательный словарь. – М.: Русский язык, 2000. Гальперин И.Р. Текст как объект лингвистического исследования. – М: КомКнига, 2006.
- http://ebooks.semgu.kz/ content.php?cont=d; 1028;https://psyera.ru/struktura-i-priznaki – teksta-86.htm https://www.bbc.com/sport
- Galperin I.R. Stylistics. – Moscow: �igher School, 1981. (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/wild-card).