A Data-based Analysis of Tense Shifts in News Texts

초록

From a discourse-based perspective, this study aims to identify the pragmatic factors that govern the choice of a tense in particular patterns of tense-shifts that are preferred in news texts. For the analysis of the discourse-pragmatic functions of the selected tenses in certain tense-shift patterns, this study investigates the distributional patterns and frequency of occurrence of tense-shifts exploited in headline news texts. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to find out linguistic tendencies or regularities underlying tense choices. The findings from the data-based analysis reveals that the interplay between the semantic properties of the selected tense and its pragmatic function is closely related to tense manipulation, and particular patterns of tense shifts tend to be preferred in news discourse for the purpose of maximizing the pragmatic effects of a tense selection. Finally, this study suggests that the predominance of a particular pattern of tense switch should be recognized as one of the reflexes of its pragmatic advantage functionally associated with the effectiveness of organizing a news discourse.

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