Self help books and their titles – a lexical and syntactical analysis

Katarzyna Skrzypczak

Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie


Аннотация

The article presents results of an analysis of titles of English self-help books as an
important phenomenon of pop culture. The focus was placed on the role of the title both
as a key factor for the consumer decision-making process and as a carrier of cultural
thought or an element of culture. Individual titles of self-help publications were divided
according to, among others, their length, structural and semantic features. The lexical
layer was discussed with particular emphasis on the elements that stand out from the
selected research material. A syntactic analysis was undertaken in order to identify the
most common structures to determine whether there is a rule for titling self-help books
that would ensure their commercial success. The article also mentions the problem
of intertextual references and rhetorical procedures that make titles more attractive
and perform advertising functions. The subject under scrutiny spans several branches
of science, including psychology and sociology.


Ключевые слова:

discourse analysis, linguistic analysis, titles analysis, self-help genre


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Опубликован
2021-12-10

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Skrzypczak, K. (2021). Self help books and their titles – a lexical and syntactical analysis. Prace Językoznawcze, 23(4), 139–151. https://doi.org/10.31648/pj.7048

Katarzyna Skrzypczak 
Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie