The Usage of Paronomasia in the Language of the Media

Abstract

The aim of this diploma thesis is to provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of puns in a selected corpus of advertising and newspaper headline discourse, providing description of common and differentiating traits in lexical and semantic representation. The thesis is divided into three chapters. The first and second chapter provide theoretical framework of the target figure of speech, paronomasia, and discourses, advertising and headlines, with further background theory, such as wordplay and mass media. The third chapter presents the findings of both quantitative and qualitative research, with the illustrative demonstrations on concrete examples from the corpus.