Online English science news: content, composition and linguistic peculiarities

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Kherson state agrarian and economic university

Online English science news: content, composition and linguistic peculiarities

Hlavatska Yu.L.,

candidate of philological sciences, associate professor at the department of hotel and restaurant and tourist business and foreign languages

Abstract

News is a speech genre of publicistic style, which is currently interpreted as a special genre of mass media, or a genre of modern information media (online). According to the typological classification of speech genres, news appears as a written / oral, official and public genre. News texts are fully implemented in relation to the main functions of the language - communicative, and one of the dominant functions of mass communication - informative.

The genre of «News» in its communicative, genre and stylistic characteristics tends to publicistic style and is a genre of this style, while reflecting the tendency of modern media sphere to integrate with other genres and styles. The author of the media texts «Science News» is a journalist, and the addressee is an indefinite mass audience that is interested in scientific topics. The communicative goals of science news are defined as informative and evaluative. The content and structure (composition) of science news necessarily has three components: headline, lead and body text. Contextual and interpretative method of linguistic features of science news analysis has showed the presence of elements of scientific and publicistic styles. The linguistic means of the scientific style predominate, but according to the communicative parameters, the news of science shows an attraction to the publicistic style.

Markers of scientific style include the use of terminology, words in the direct nominative sense, words of logical emphasis and words indicating the objectivity and authenticity of the message, as well as the predominance of nominative language, the use of passive constructions, the use of first person plural pronoun, complex sentences, explanations with the help of participial, gerundial and infinitive constructions.

Features of publicistic style are the following: the presence of toponyms, the active use of numerals and indications of dates, the use of international words, and publicistic cliches.

Key words: news, science news, scientific style, publicistic style, media language, communicative goal.

Анотація

news journalistic mass media

Онлайнові англійськомовні новини про науку: зміст, композиція та лінгвостилістичні властивості

Новини - це мовленнєвий жанр публіцистичного стилю, який трактують як особливий жанр масмеді або жанр сучасних інформаційних засобів інформації (онлайнових). За типологічною класифікацією мовленнєвих жанрів новини постають як письмовий / усний, офіційний і публічний жанр. Новинарні тексти знаходять повну реалізацію щодо головних функцій мови - комунікативну, й одну з домінувальних функцій масової комунікації - інформативну.

Жанр «Новини» за своїми комунікативним, жанровими і стилістичними характеристикам тяжіє до публіцистичного стилю і є жанром цього стилю, відображаючи разом з тим тенденцію сучасної медіасфери до інтеграції з іншими жанрами і стилями. Автором медіатекстів «Новини науки» постає журналіст, а адресатом - невизначена масова аудиторія, яка цікавиться науковою тематикою. Комунікативні цілі новин науки визначаються як інформативна і оцінна. Зміст і структура (композиція) новин науки обов'язково налічує три компоненти: заголовок, лід і текст. Контекстуально-інтерпретаційний метод аналізу мовних особливостей новин науки англійською мовою показав наявність елементів наукового та публіцистичного стилів. Причому переважають мовні засоби наукового стилю, але за комунікативними параметрами новини науки демонструють тяжіння до публіцистичного стилю.

До ознак наукового стилю належить використання термінології, вживання слів у прямому номінативному значенні, використання слів логічного підкреслення і слів, що вказують на об'єктивність і достовірність повідомлення, а також переважання номінативного стилю мови, вживання пасивних конструкцій, вживання займенника першої особи множини, складнопідрядних речень, пояснень за допомогою прийменникових, герундіальних та інфінітивних конструкцій.

Рисами публіцистичного стилю постають: наявність топонімів, активне використання числівників і вказівок на дати, вживання інтернаціональних слів, публіцистичних кліше.

Ключові слова: новини, новини науки, науковий стиль, публіцистичний стиль, мова ЗМІ, комунікативна ціль.

Main part

The statement of the problem. It is widely known that throughout the history of civilization mankind has undergone four communicative revolutions: the emergence and development of speech, writing, printing, and electronic communications based on improving the process of consolidation, transmission and use of information. And if at the initial stage it took millennia, then centuries, today the communication can be renewed in a few years. Communication, rapidly evolving, covers all aspects of modern society. Moreover, we are witnessing the rapid development of the fifth communicative revolution, which began in the 1950s due to the appearance of the Internet.

The genre of «News» in its communicative, genre and stylistic characteristics tends to publicistic style and is considered to be the genre of this style, while reflecting the tendency of modern media sphere to integrate with other genres and styles. In addition, the genre of «News» in modern English online media demonstrates integration with other genres of the electronic media sphere, which is manifested in a combination of both verbal and nonverbal components in the structure of the genre (photos, videos, tables, pictures, etc.).

Media linguists, classifying media genres into event and commentary, focus on the informative content and functions performed by the media in modern world. Recently, mass media researchers have singled out news genres into a separate group because they differ, among others, in the dynamism of information delivery and its objective, more accurate interpretation. Media genre «News» as a genre of modern internet communication acquaints the reader / viewer with new information that orients him in the direction of world scientific and technological progress, that is science news.

Analysis of recent research and publications. The language of the media has repeatedly been the subject of various researches in the field of linguistics. There is a considerable amount of literature on this question. M. Lukina, for example, investigates online media language within such aspects: the author of the information, the content of communication, the addressee, and through which channel and with what effect the news is presented [4, p. 53]. Up-to - dated news is vewed via multimedia features [5], hypertextuality [4], intertextuality [1], and interactivity [4; 5]. A few researches have addressed the question of functional loading of news in general and online news in particular [2; 3]. However, there has been little discussion on the content, structure and linguistic characteristics of online science news.

The aim of our study is to reveal the linguistic and stylistic specificity of science news media texts within three parameters: the content (description of informative and evaluation goals), the composition (headline, lead, body text) and linguistic characteristics of news media texts that are in the focus of our attention. We intend to depict that the features of scientific and publicistic styles are typical for science news. In order to reach the aim, we use the method of contextual and interpretive analysis. The case study consists of fifty news articles located in «Science» section on a such English website as «Sciencedaily.com».

Presentation of the main research material. The content of the news analyzed presents events, experiments and phenomena of different fields such as health, medicine, physical/tech sphere, environment, society/education, and quirky news. Having analysed fifty texts of English science news in modern online media, it has been found that they are focused on the implementation of two communicative goals: informative and evaluative. Let's illustrate this with examples.

The informative goal involves the transfer of information: «In two separate studies analyzing different measures of healthy plant food consumption, researchers found that both young adults and postmenopausal women had fewer heart attacks and were less likely to develop cardiovascular disease when they ate more healthy plant foods» [7].

The evaluative goal. As a result of factual material, in the genre of «Science News» it is possible to express the evaluation of the reported facts. It can be done by various language means. The authors of science news express an evaluative communicative aim, using both lexical and grammatical means. For instance: positive and negative evaluative lexical units («healthy», «beneficial», «critical», «improbable»); modal verbs and expressions («This regional information can be explored in detail in the newly developed Interactive Atlas» [6]); «The gene segment must have been introgressed more than two million years ago» [10]); comparative constructions («Charles McCall, lead researcher from Wake Forest University on the study, refers to the enzyme as a «shredder» for its known prevalence in severe inflammation events») [16].

The image of the addressee of science news, as well as the image of the author, is not defined. It is evident that science news in English online media, in particular, and in the network in general, includes different topics of various scientific fields, which can attract the attention of wide audience, so the recipient of this genre can be any individual interested in a certain topic.

The composition of science news in modern English online media includes three constituents: the title, the lead and the body text itself. We have fixed such peculiarities of the titles: statement of the fact («Scientists have a new word for birds stealing animal hair» [18]); the form of rhetorical question («How do scientists calculate the age of a star?») [13]; the initial position of interrogative words («What 20th century science fiction got right and wrong about the future of babies») [20]. The lead of the article briefly reflects its basic information. It is presented as a short sentence, for example: «Storytellers have long predicted a technology takeover of human reproduction» [20].

There is no conclusion in the online science news. The article usually ends with either the words of the «main figure» or a quote: «We can already alter animal species to an enormous extent, and it seems only a question of time before we shall be able to apply the same principles to our own» [20].

The subject matter and the main purpose of science news texts determine the features of scientific style. English online science news is rich in terminology related to various fields: «genetic engineering of embryos», «infectious virus», «nuclear fusion» etc. Lexemes in the texts of the genre mentioned are used mainly in the direct nominative sense, for instance: «lab-grown babies», «volcano hazard forecasting», «climate change». In most cases stylistically neutral words are used: «river measurement stations», «sea level», «the surface» etc. Almost all texts contain words of logical emphasis: «And in the end, it was demonstrated that it was a small, secondary fault nearby» [12]; «Thus, nonpermanent gender-affirming treatment options may allow children time to safely explore their identity as they approach adolescence, proponents say» [9].

It should be noted that in science news, we find words that indicate the objectivity, reliability of what is reported, for example: «About 1.8 percent of American high schoolers are transgender, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention» [9]; «Meanwhile, loss rate increased by 8.4 percentage points, from 27.6 percent to 36 percent» [11].

As for morphological features of English online science news, we can identify some features characteristic of the scientific genre. Firstly, the texts of this genre are characterized by a nominative style of speech, which is more conducive to the generalization of actions, events and facts: «…this work can help referees become more aware of their biases» [11]; «Now, an August 11 study in Science Advances, comparing mostly adult Indigenous farmer-foragers in Bolivia to U.S. preschoolers and adults has fallen squarely on the learning or culture side, adding fresh fuel to the debate» [8]. Secondly, the active use of passive constructions is typical for such articles: «…but the hormone can also be absorbed via skin ointment or a patch» [9]; «Earlier research was focused on single nutrients or single foods» [7].

One of the principal characteristics of English scientific style is the usage ofthe 1-person pronoun «we» to indicate a community of scientists or to encourage the reader to participate in the discussion of evidence, for example: «We now have a much clearer picture of the past, present and future climate, which is essential for understanding where we are headed, what can be done, and how we can prepare» [6].

As for the peculiarities of the syntax of the science news articles it is necessary to point out the advantage of complex sentences: «Some effects of hormone therapy, such as facial hair growth, voice deepening and breast development, are permanent, whereas changes in muscle mass and fat distribution are reversible if treatment stops» [9]; «The findings add to evidence that fans influence home team advantage - the phenomenon where athletes tend to do better on their own turf» [11].

Few examples of simple sentences, as well as sentences with homogeneous members may be found: «The «Portfolio Diet» includes nuts; plant protein from soy, beans or tofu; viscous soluble fiber from oats, barley, okra, eggplant, oranges, apples and berries» [7].

Description of new equipment, substances, explanation of certain natural phenomena in the texts of this genre is accompanied by different types of definitions: «Pulsars, the ultradense spinning cores of dead stars, made themselves known in 1967» [15]; «This «cosmic microwave background», named for the relatively high frequencies at which it is strongest, is still the clearest window that astronomers have into the very early universe» [15].

News texts due to the predominance of complex sentences are characterized by the use of gerundial, infinitive and participial constructions, such as: «As opposed to existing diet quality scores that are usually based on small numbers of food groups, APDQS is explicit in capturing the overall quality of diet using 46 individual food groups, describing the whole diet that the general population commonly consumes» [7]; «Unlike traditional telescopes, which use lenses or mirrors to focus visible light, this contraption used metal and circuitry to collect interstellar radio waves, low frequency ripples of electromagnetic radiation» [15].

The logic of texts related to the genre under discussion is provided by conjunctions, which is typical for the scientific style: «The whole contraption sat atop a tilting wooden base that let him scan the sky by swinging the telescope up and down» [15]; «Participants who received higher scores ate a variety of beneficial foods, while people who had lower scores ate more adverse foods» [7].

One more peculiarity of scientific style reflected in science news texts is the direct word order: «Further comparisons of the gene sequences with other species of the canidae family yielded very surprising results» [10]; «The Working Group I report is the first installment of the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), which will be completed in 2022» [6].

The processing of the factual material indicates the use of inversion, which serves to logically highlight a certain piece of information by the author: «In a survey of nearly 28,000 transgender adults in the United States, about 2,200 had detransitioned» [9]; «When the women in this analysis enrolled in the study between 1993 and 1998, they were between 50-79 years old (average age of 62) and did not have cardiovascular disease» [7].

Besides the features of scientific style, we have observed some of publicistic one. It should be noted, as evidenced by the results of processing factual material, that news texts on science are characterized by the use of proper names: place names, anthroponyms, names of institutions and organizations: «Though the collapse of the giant Arecibo Observatory in 2020 - at 305 meters across, it was the largest single dish radio telescope for most of its lifetime - was tragic and unexpected, radio astronomers have new facilities in the works» [How radio astronomy]; «And several states, including Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee, now forbid transgender kids from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity» [9].

A lot of dates and numerals are widely used to state and prove the results of investigations: «While benefits for air quality would come quickly, it could take 20-30 years to see global temperatures stabilize, according to the IPCC Working Group I report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis, approved on Friday by 195 member governments of the IPCC, through a virtual approval session that was held over two weeks starting on July 26» [6].

International words as borrowed ones from Latin and Greece are the markers of science news texts: «The findings indicate that, as neutrons fission and create more neutrons, some go on to form large lineages of clusters while others quickly die off, resulting in so-called 'power tilts, ' or asymmetrical energy production» [17]; «Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a soft, stretchable device that converts movement into electricity and works in both dry and wet environments» [19].

The texts of the analyzed genre use cliches, which also show its linguistic closeness to the publicistic style: «One project is aimed at using the technology to power wearable devices by increasing the harvester's power output» [19], «This research is also important for epidemiologists trying to understand how wildfire smoke affects health» [14].

Indirect speech and citations also perform the stylistic loading in science news texts: «It's important to understand how people behave so that public health communications professionals can potentially intervene and promote safer behavior that mitigates risk», said lead study author Francisca Santana, a PhD student in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)» [14]; «Lourenco suspects that people might be born with innate mental maps, as indicated by research on newborn babies, but life experience obscures those default tendencies» [8].

So, the specific features of publistic style inform, on the one hand, the general public about events in the world of science, and, on the other hand, attract the readers' attention as this news is characterized by expression and social evaluation.

Thus, the science news media texts belong to the written, official, public speech genre; it is an information genre as a symbiosis of two functional styles - scientific and publicistic; as for the method of creation it is the author's oral text, by the method ofreproduction - the written text; through the distribution channel it is media text, as it occupies a position in the media space of online media; this is a functional genre type of text (news); according to the media topic - news about science in various fields of human activity.

Future studies should target the study of media parameters (hypertextuality, multimedia, interactivity) of online communicative media genres (chat, social media page, e-mail, blog) within two linguistic cultures - English and Ukrainian.

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