Lexical creativity in newspaper headlines

In this presentation, I describe aspects of creativity in English newspaper headlines, especially as regards lexical choice. The study is based on one issue each of eight different British newspapers (print versions), all published on the same day. These are (using the names as they appear in the newspapers themselves): Daily Express, the guardian, The Independent, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph, and The Times. All headlines were analysed, the total number being 1,161, and features of interest were inserted into a database. (In this study I have extended the notion of ‘headline’ to include (i) any eventual headings to readers’ letters, and (ii) very prominent news-related photograph captions.) The presentation provides data and examples relating to the following features: 1) various types of wordplay; 2) direct connections between words and images; 3) connections between words and typography; 4) alliteration, rhyme and other types of phonic and graphic repetition. In addition to giving descriptions and examples of the various phenomena, quantitative data is provided regarding the proportion of headlines involved, and the relative importance of the various phenomena in the different newspapers. Lexical creativity is also related to the type of subject matter in the relative article (or other textual element)