Leaving this unsaid
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Stephen Skalicky
Abstract
We investigated the use of this in a large corpus of headlines gathered from three North American satirical newspapers (The Onion, The Beaverton, and The Babylon Bee). There were 551 instances of this in the corpus, 26 of which were used pronominally but without a clear referent, which we dub the empty satirical this (e.g., None Of This Would Have Happened Had You Flossed). We argue the lack of a clear referent prompts the co-construction of satirical meaning, the final resolution of which depends upon the reader’s willingness and ability to provide a fitting referent. While infrequent overall, the empty satirical this was found in all three newspapers, representing a creative and unique use of this atypical in non-satirical headlines.
Abstract
We investigated the use of this in a large corpus of headlines gathered from three North American satirical newspapers (The Onion, The Beaverton, and The Babylon Bee). There were 551 instances of this in the corpus, 26 of which were used pronominally but without a clear referent, which we dub the empty satirical this (e.g., None Of This Would Have Happened Had You Flossed). We argue the lack of a clear referent prompts the co-construction of satirical meaning, the final resolution of which depends upon the reader’s willingness and ability to provide a fitting referent. While infrequent overall, the empty satirical this was found in all three newspapers, representing a creative and unique use of this atypical in non-satirical headlines.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Speakers, addressees and the referential process 1
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Part I. New insights into referential conventions
- Anaphoric potential of bare nominals, incorporated objects and weak definites in German 27
- Is ambient it truly non-referential? 53
- Lions, flowers and the Romans 71
- Genre and reference chains 89
- A linear approach of chain composition 107
- When referents are seen and heard 127
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Part II. From conventions to pragmatics
- Human collective nouns and plural definite noun phrases 153
- Electric vehicles in the press 171
- Referring to the self and the addressee overtly 185
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Part III. From conventions to pragmatics
- Leaving this unsaid 213
- Referential conventions as compromise 233
- Referring to an avenue as an ‘artery’ ( artère ) in French 249
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Part IV. From conventions to pragmatics
- Who creates reference? 269
- “ peut-être on peut improviser un peu ” 287
- Temporal reference in oral narratives produced by French learners of English as a second language 305
- The choice of referring expressions in adult-child dialogues 323
- Index 347
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Speakers, addressees and the referential process 1
-
Part I. New insights into referential conventions
- Anaphoric potential of bare nominals, incorporated objects and weak definites in German 27
- Is ambient it truly non-referential? 53
- Lions, flowers and the Romans 71
- Genre and reference chains 89
- A linear approach of chain composition 107
- When referents are seen and heard 127
-
Part II. From conventions to pragmatics
- Human collective nouns and plural definite noun phrases 153
- Electric vehicles in the press 171
- Referring to the self and the addressee overtly 185
-
Part III. From conventions to pragmatics
- Leaving this unsaid 213
- Referential conventions as compromise 233
- Referring to an avenue as an ‘artery’ ( artère ) in French 249
-
Part IV. From conventions to pragmatics
- Who creates reference? 269
- “ peut-être on peut improviser un peu ” 287
- Temporal reference in oral narratives produced by French learners of English as a second language 305
- The choice of referring expressions in adult-child dialogues 323
- Index 347
