Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines

Khadija Alamoudi

doi:doi:10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines

Khadija Alamoudi

Published in Arabic Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 2, Issue 1)

Received: 15 January 2017 Accepted: 7 February 2017 Published: 6 March 2017

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Abstract

In this article, an attempt is made to analyze syntactic ambiguity in a specific register, i.e. newspaper headlines. As a form of media text, newspaper has a significant role in society as it presents various local, national and international events and information. In order to attract readers' attention, journalists may tend to form headlines to be ambiguous and confusing so that readers become curious to read the whole report. This article addresses the issue of syntactic ambiguity caused by prepositional phrase (PP) attachment in newspaper headlines by analyzing examples of such headlines. After investigating the ambiguity of the headlines, an attention was directed to PP attachment preferences by examining the type of headlines (VP-NP-PP and NP1-NP2-PP structure). The main results were that NP attachment was generally preferred over VP attachment and NP1 attachment was notably favored over NP2 attachment.

Published in	Arabic Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 2, Issue 1)
DOI	10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14
Page(s)	13-17
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Syntactic Ambiguity, Newspaper Headlines, Arabic Language, Prepositional Phrase Attachment

References

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[4]	Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Paris: Mouton.
[5]	Elmawati, D. (2013). Structural Ambiguity in the Headlines Complied by Department of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics Bucknell University: A Study on the X-bar Theory. Journal on English Language, Culture and Literature, 1-8.
[6]	Finch, G. (1998). How to study linguistics. London; Macmillan.
[7]	Fowler, R. (1991). Language in the news. Discourse and ideology in the British press. London: Routledge.
[8]	Gully, A. (1995). Grammar and semantics in medieval Arabic. London: Curzon.
[9]	Khamahani, G. (2013). Focus on structural and lexical Ambiguity in English newspaper Headlines written by native and non-native journalists. Mediterranean journal of Social Science, 379-383.
[10]	Khattab, F. (1995). A linguistic analysis of the register of press advertising in Arabic (Master’s theses, King Abdulaziz University, 1995).
[11]	Lester, M. (1976). Introductory transformational grammar of English. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
[12]	Osman, E., Shaalan, K. & Rafea, A. (2004). Towards resolving ambiguity in understanding Arabic sentence. International Conference on Arabic Language Resources and Tools, NEMLAR.
[13]	Radford, A. (1997). Syntactic theory and the structure of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[14]	Reah, D. (1998). The language of newspapers. London and New York: Routledge.
[15]	Rose, B. E. (2015, December). Ability to detect and decipher ambiguity in newspaper headlines: monolinguals versus multilinguals. In UNDERGRADUATE CONFERENCE ON HISPANIC LINGUISTICS (p. 130).
[16]	Ryding, K. (2005). A reference grammar of modern standard Arabic. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[17]	Sieny, M. (1978). The syntax of urban Hijazi Arabic. London: Longman.
[18]	Thomas, L., & Wareing, S. (Ed.). (1999). Language, society and power. London: Routledge.
[19]	Tiono, N. (2003). An analysis on syntactic and semantic factors found in newspaper headlines. K@Ta Academic Magazine. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from http://www.highbeam.com/K%40ta/publications.aspx
[20]	Yule, G. (1985). The study of language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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Khadija Alamoudi. (2017). Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 2(1), 13-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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Khadija Alamoudi. Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arab. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2017, 2(1), 13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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AMA Style

Khadija Alamoudi. Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arab Lang Lit Cult. 2017;2(1):13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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@article{10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14,
  author = {Khadija Alamoudi},
  title = {Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines},
  journal = {Arabic Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {13-17},
  doi = {10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.allc.20170201.14},
  abstract = {In this article, an attempt is made to analyze syntactic ambiguity in a specific register, i.e. newspaper headlines. As a form of media text, newspaper has a significant role in society as it presents various local, national and international events and information. In order to attract readers' attention, journalists may tend to form headlines to be ambiguous and confusing so that readers become curious to read the whole report. This article addresses the issue of syntactic ambiguity caused by prepositional phrase (PP) attachment in newspaper headlines by analyzing examples of such headlines. After investigating the ambiguity of the headlines, an attention was directed to PP attachment preferences by examining the type of headlines (VP-NP-PP and NP1-NP2-PP structure). The main results were that NP attachment was generally preferred over VP attachment and NP1 attachment was notably favored over NP2 attachment.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines
AU  - Khadija Alamoudi
Y1  - 2017/03/06
PY  - 2017
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JO  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
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AB  - In this article, an attempt is made to analyze syntactic ambiguity in a specific register, i.e. newspaper headlines. As a form of media text, newspaper has a significant role in society as it presents various local, national and international events and information. In order to attract readers' attention, journalists may tend to form headlines to be ambiguous and confusing so that readers become curious to read the whole report. This article addresses the issue of syntactic ambiguity caused by prepositional phrase (PP) attachment in newspaper headlines by analyzing examples of such headlines. After investigating the ambiguity of the headlines, an attention was directed to PP attachment preferences by examining the type of headlines (VP-NP-PP and NP1-NP2-PP structure). The main results were that NP attachment was generally preferred over VP attachment and NP1 attachment was notably favored over NP2 attachment.
VL  - 2
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Author Information

Khadija Alamoudi

English Language Institute, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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APA Style

Khadija Alamoudi. (2017). Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arabic Language, Literature & Culture, 2(1), 13-17. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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ACS Style

Khadija Alamoudi. Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arab. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2017, 2(1), 13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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AMA Style

Khadija Alamoudi. Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines. Arab Lang Lit Cult. 2017;2(1):13-17. doi: 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14

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@article{10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14,
  author = {Khadija Alamoudi},
  title = {Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines},
  journal = {Arabic Language, Literature & Culture},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {13-17},
  doi = {10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.allc.20170201.14},
  abstract = {In this article, an attempt is made to analyze syntactic ambiguity in a specific register, i.e. newspaper headlines. As a form of media text, newspaper has a significant role in society as it presents various local, national and international events and information. In order to attract readers' attention, journalists may tend to form headlines to be ambiguous and confusing so that readers become curious to read the whole report. This article addresses the issue of syntactic ambiguity caused by prepositional phrase (PP) attachment in newspaper headlines by analyzing examples of such headlines. After investigating the ambiguity of the headlines, an attention was directed to PP attachment preferences by examining the type of headlines (VP-NP-PP and NP1-NP2-PP structure). The main results were that NP attachment was generally preferred over VP attachment and NP1 attachment was notably favored over NP2 attachment.},
 year = {2017}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Syntactic Ambiguity of Arabic Prepositional Phrase Attachment in Saudi Newspaper Headlines
AU  - Khadija Alamoudi
Y1  - 2017/03/06
PY  - 2017
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14
T2  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JF  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
JO  - Arabic Language, Literature & Culture
SP  - 13
EP  - 17
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2639-9695
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.allc.20170201.14
AB  - In this article, an attempt is made to analyze syntactic ambiguity in a specific register, i.e. newspaper headlines. As a form of media text, newspaper has a significant role in society as it presents various local, national and international events and information. In order to attract readers' attention, journalists may tend to form headlines to be ambiguous and confusing so that readers become curious to read the whole report. This article addresses the issue of syntactic ambiguity caused by prepositional phrase (PP) attachment in newspaper headlines by analyzing examples of such headlines. After investigating the ambiguity of the headlines, an attention was directed to PP attachment preferences by examining the type of headlines (VP-NP-PP and NP1-NP2-PP structure). The main results were that NP attachment was generally preferred over VP attachment and NP1 attachment was notably favored over NP2 attachment.
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
ER  -

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