dc.contributor.author |
Bucaria, Chiara. |
en_US |
dc.contributor.author |
Youngstown State University. Dept. of English. |
en_US |
dc.date.accessioned |
2011-01-31T14:20:29Z |
|
dc.date.accessioned |
2019-09-08T02:35:21Z |
|
dc.date.available |
2011-01-31T14:20:29Z |
|
dc.date.available |
2019-09-08T02:35:21Z |
|
dc.date.created |
2004 |
en_US |
dc.date.issued |
2004 |
en_US |
dc.identifier.other |
b19695366 |
en_US |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://jupiter.ysu.edu/record=b1969536 |
en_US |
dc.identifier.uri |
http://hdl.handle.net/1989/6332 |
|
dc.description |
v, 91 leaves : ill. ; 29 cm. |
en_US |
dc.description |
Thesis (M.A.)--Youngstown State University, 2004. |
en_US |
dc.description |
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-91). |
en_US |
dc.description.abstract |
The paper analyzes some forms of linguistic ambiguity in English in a specific register,
i.e. newspaper headlines. In particular, the focus of the research is on examples of lexical
and syntactic ambiguity that result in sources of voluntary or involuntary humor. The
study is based on a corpus of 135 verbally ambiguous headlines found on web sites
presenting humorous bits of information. The linguistic phenomena that contribute to
create this kind of semantic confusion in headlines will be analyzed and divided into the
three main categories of lexical, syntactic, and phonological ambiguity, and examples
from the corpus will be discussed for each category. The main results of the study were
that, firstly, contrary to the findings of previous research on jokes, syntactically
ambiguous headlines were found in good percentage in the corpus and that this might
point to differences in genre. Secondly, two new configurations for the processing of the
disjunctor/connector order were found. In the first of these configurations the disjunctor
appears before the connector, instead of being placed after or coinciding with the
ambiguous element, while in the second, two ambiguous elements are present, each of
which functions both as a connector and a disjunctor. |
en_US |
dc.description.statementofresponsibility |
by Chiara Bucaria. |
en_US |
dc.language.iso |
en_US |
en_US |
dc.relation.ispartofseries |
Master's Theses no. 0807 |
en_US |
dc.subject.classification |
Master's Theses no. 0807 |
en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh |
Ambiguity. |
en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh |
English language--Semantics. |
en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh |
English language--Syntax. |
en_US |
dc.subject.lcsh |
Newspapers--Headlines. |
en_US |
dc.title |
Lexical and structural ambiguity in humorous headlines / |
en_US |
dc.type |
Thesis |
en_US |