Variations in the use of intertexts at the macro-contextual level: The case of English press news

Abstract

An intertext (e.g. Home Smart Home) adopts or adapts an earlier source text (e.g. Home Sweet Home) in such a way that the intertextual meaning can be constructed or appreciated in terms of the source text. This article explores variations in the use of intertexts across six English newspapers in different macro contexts. Drawn from the six newspapers were 1,681 full-length news stories, from which 253 intertexts were identified. The ensuing intertextual and macro-contextual analyses of the identified intertexts show that (i) they were largely situated in the context of a large newspaper for speakers of English as a native/official language, (ii) the most adaptable intertextual sources are formulaic expressions, media products, and literary and scholarly works, (iii) intertexts tend to appear in salient discourse units (namely, the headline, lead, and coda) to realize a pragmatic act, and (iv) formal intertexts find greater affordance of playfulness in salient discourse units and in native-speaking contexts than the other intertexts. The survey and analyses have shed some light on the affordance between intertexts and their macro contexts.

Keywords

English as a world language english press news foregrounding intertexts macro contexts pragmatic acts

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