Anbar University Journal of Languages & Literature

Abstract

The present study aims at investigating the linguistic features of headlines . It is an attempt to shed light on the morphology , semantics and syntax of headlines and to find out the differences between the language of headlines and the ordinary language . Headlines represent the most important part of news since they summarize the whole article or news story and they are the vital element through which the reader decides whether to read or leave the article . Due to pressure on page , the study postulates that the language of headlines deviates much from the ordinary language in terms of vocabulary and structure .There are some typical features in newspaper headlines that aim at getting the attention of readers .These features like the choice of words and grammatical structure are manipulated by headline writers to achieve impact and influence the readers to go on reading the report .