Comparing discourse construction in 17th-century news genres
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Elisabetta Cecconi
Abstract
In this paper I shall examine aspects of discourse construction in 17th-century crime reports. To this purpose I shall select four news genres which circulated in the 17th-century news market, reaching a heterogeneous cross-section of society: news broadside ballads, occasional news pamphlets, newsbooks, and The London Gazette as an example of an early newspaper. The news genres will be compared in terms of structure and lexis so as to highlight similarities and differences in their murder presentation and reporting. By referring to van Dijk’s (1988) categories of news discourse, I shall focus on the layout, the lead (which will be called “proto-lead”) and the body of the news. In particular, the proto-lead and the body of the news will be inspected for authorial comments, factuality and metadiscourse, their distribution and realisation being indicative of the news values and ideology behind the news report. Frequent instances of discourse interrelatedness among the news genres testify to a certain degree of continuity in terms of authorial intrusion, blending of factuality and sensationalism, and Puritan stance. At the same time, however, forms of discourse variation – especially from the second half of the century – highlight changes in the direction of objectivity, impersonalisation and brevity. The analysis will show how authorial commentaries and metadiscourse progressively withdraw from the murder account with a consequential foregrounding of factuality as the major ingredient of a high-quality report.
Abstract
In this paper I shall examine aspects of discourse construction in 17th-century crime reports. To this purpose I shall select four news genres which circulated in the 17th-century news market, reaching a heterogeneous cross-section of society: news broadside ballads, occasional news pamphlets, newsbooks, and The London Gazette as an example of an early newspaper. The news genres will be compared in terms of structure and lexis so as to highlight similarities and differences in their murder presentation and reporting. By referring to van Dijk’s (1988) categories of news discourse, I shall focus on the layout, the lead (which will be called “proto-lead”) and the body of the news. In particular, the proto-lead and the body of the news will be inspected for authorial comments, factuality and metadiscourse, their distribution and realisation being indicative of the news values and ideology behind the news report. Frequent instances of discourse interrelatedness among the news genres testify to a certain degree of continuity in terms of authorial intrusion, blending of factuality and sensationalism, and Puritan stance. At the same time, however, forms of discourse variation – especially from the second half of the century – highlight changes in the direction of objectivity, impersonalisation and brevity. The analysis will show how authorial commentaries and metadiscourse progressively withdraw from the murder account with a consequential foregrounding of factuality as the major ingredient of a high-quality report.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
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The formation of public news discourse and metadiscursive terminology
- “We have in some former bookes told you” 3
- Conceptualisations, sources and agents of news 23
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Changing modes of reference and shifts in audience orientation
- News in space and time 55
- Changing genre conventions and socio-cultural change 81
- Late Modern English death notices 103
- Medical news in England 1665–1800 in journals for professional and lay audiences 135
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Transgressing boundaries and shifting styles
- Comparing discourse construction in 17th-century news genres 163
- Speech-like syntax in written texts 191
- Playing upon news genre conventions 223
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- Introduction ix
-
The formation of public news discourse and metadiscursive terminology
- “We have in some former bookes told you” 3
- Conceptualisations, sources and agents of news 23
-
Changing modes of reference and shifts in audience orientation
- News in space and time 55
- Changing genre conventions and socio-cultural change 81
- Late Modern English death notices 103
- Medical news in England 1665–1800 in journals for professional and lay audiences 135
-
Transgressing boundaries and shifting styles
- Comparing discourse construction in 17th-century news genres 163
- Speech-like syntax in written texts 191
- Playing upon news genre conventions 223
- Index 251
