COMMUNICATIVE-PRAGMATIC STRATEGIES OF HEADLINES IN CONTEMPORARY TELEVISION MEDIA DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article investigates the communicative-pragmatic strategies of headlines in contemporary television media discourse. The study considers headlines as an important initial component of media communication that not only identifies an event or programme but also influences audience perception and interpretation. The research is based on the theoretical approaches of T. A. van Dijk, N. Fairclough, J. L. Austin, J. R. Searle, H. P. Grice, and A. Bell. Using qualitative discourse analysis, the study examines headlines from three major types of television programmes: informative, analytical-political, and social-publicistic. The findings demonstrate that informative headlines mainly employ factual, concise, and neutral language and perform representative communicative functions. Analytical-political headlines frequently use interrogative and alternative constructions, presupposition, implicature, and evaluative vocabulary to encourage interpretation and critical thinking. Social-publicistic headlines rely more heavily on emotional, metaphorical, and evaluative expressions in order to create empathy and draw attention to socially significant problems. The study concludes that television headlines should be viewed not simply as shortened titles but as independent pragmatic units that establish cognitive frames, attract audience attention, guide interpretation, and contribute to the construction of media reality.