Study On TV Program Titles

With the frequent interaction between human beings and TV programs, watching television becomes one of the most beloved entertainments for common people. The title, the captain or name of the TV program, constitutes to be an essential part of audiences' language construction. The characteristics manifested in phonetic sound, vocabulary, grammar, rhetoric, culture, communication by titles of TV programs, produce an unique aesthetic value and transmission function.Based on previous research, guarded by the methods of description and interpretation, this paper makes a close study on more than 2000 TV program titles of TV stations above provincial level in china. The related theories employed are descriptive linguistics, rhetoric, cultural linguistics, transmission linguistics and cognitive linguistics.The first chapter briefly introduces the origin and development of TV program, the importance and research significance of TV program titles. Furthermore, the research history will be scrutinized.Chapter two describes and explains the length in voice, rhythm characteristics, structure distribution and words characteristics of the TV program title by adopting the theory of descriptive linguistics and method of quantitative analysis. TV program titles make more use of quadrisyllabic and pentasyllabic word group that consists of a modifier and the word it modifies, which accords with the rhythm characteristics and naming principle of Chinese. The use of short sentence, word and extraordinary arrangement enhances the diversity of TV program titles. Title wording of TV program includes personal names, place names, words denotes time, words denotes space, terms, dialect, figures, letters, etc..Chapter three makes an analysis on the distribution of rhetoric phenomenon and the application of rhetoric method in TV program titles. In a broad sense, TV program titles are full of applications of rhetoric art.Chapter four discusses the cultural connotation and spread function of TV program titles by adopting the theories of culture linguistics and transmission linguistics. Therefore, the title of TV program transfers the brand characteristics, reflects the audiences' mind, carries the cultural connotation and presents the style of media.As a composing part of media language, TV program title has penetrated people's ordinary life. Through describing and explaining TV program titles, this paper intends to help people know the language characteristics of TV program titles, appreciate the language charm of TV program titles and provide some references for subsequent researchers and people in media discipline.