This is not really an answer, but it looks to me as if there is a strong American flavour to many of these headlines. That only shifts the relevance interest sideways.
I also wonder at their authenticity. I've seen the list before and I suspect it is apocryphal-- are you convinced they are authentic, raher than deliberately constructed 'tongue-in-cheek'?
Ronnie
----- Original Message -----
From: Francisco Yus
To: relevance
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2001 9:26 AM
Subject: Headlines and the proposition expressed by them
Dear all,
It is commonsensical to assume that readers of British newspapers are expected to build up the proposition expressed by the headlines using contextual information. Normally, the typical economy of words used in headlines involves the reader's inferential compensation of the elliptical part of the headlines, which the makers of the news assume he/she will be able to supply in his/her search for relevance. Besides, such inferential operations as conceptual narrowing, disambiguation and reference assignment are normally made in order to reach the appropriate (i.e. supposedly intended) proposition expressed by the headlines.
Consequently, I guess the makers of the following (authentic) British headlines did not predict that readers could well come up with unexpected propositions yielding curious (to say the least) interpretations:
25 Best Newspaper Headlines from 2000
1. Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Experts Say
2. Include Your Children When Baking Cookies
3. Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
4. Drunks Get Nine Months in Violin Case
5. Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
6. Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
7. Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
8. Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
9. British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
10. Teacher Strike Idles Kids
11. Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead
12. Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
13. Miners Refuse to Work After Death
14. Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
15. Stolen Painting Found by Tree
16. Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
17. War Dims Hope for Peace
18. If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
19. Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
20. Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge
21. New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
22. Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Space
23. Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
24. Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
25. Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Cordially,
Dr. Francisco Yus
University of Alicante
Department of English Studies
http://www.ua.es/dfing/personal/profs/yus.htm
http://cibersociedad.rediris.es/yus/
Apartado 99
E-03080 Alicante (Spain)
e-mail (university) francisco.yus@ua.es
e-mail (home) f.yus@mail.ono.es
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