International Journal of Language & Linguistics

The Communicative Functions of Nominal Group Expressions in Selected Nigerian Newspaper Headlines
Samuel Edem

Abstract
Despite the substantial scholarships on nominal group as grammatical category in English showcasing its traditional functions in grammatical structures, not much has be done on this grammatical category from the perspectives of media discourses. This study, from a linguistic perspective, examines the communicative functions of nominal group expressions in selected Nigerian newspaper headlines. The study aims at achieving two viable goals. Firstly, it showcases nominal group expressions as intentional constructive language types deployed by newspaper headlines to initiate discourse, sustain and shape the views of the readers on the issues propagated. In other words, it ascertains that nominal groups perform some pragmatic acts that are absolutely revealing; and secondly, it accentuates that nominal groups in print media discourses are ideologically driven. 18 headlines are purposively selected from Daily Trust, Vanguard, The Nation, The Punch, The Guardian and Daily Sun, and the nominal group patterns are examined for their grammars, rhetorical peculiarities and functions. The study deploys the theoretical approaches of Systemic Functional Linguistics alongside Pragmatics and Critical Discourse Analysis for the analysis of texts. Research such as this will contribute not only to the understanding of the ideological role of the English nominal group in media discourses but also has fundamental teaching implications and awareness of the functional status of language in general, and news discourse in particular.

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