Most important evaluative parameters
| Evaluative parameter | Definition | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Emotivity | Evaluation of activities, events, people, and other things as positive or negative | peaceful, beauty, aggressive, fiasco |
| Expectedness | Evaluation of aspects as expected or unexpected; also includes the notion of contrast | familiar, rarely, however, but |
| Importance | Evaluation of aspects as important or unimportant | historic, minor, star, leading |
| Evidentiality (sourcing) | Evaluation of the basis of information, e.g., as speech, thought, or feeling, emotion, or mental process | say, think, hope, speculate |
| Style (sourcing) | Evaluation of the previous reporting expression of speech, e.g., as neutral, illocutionary, or declarative | say, advice, instruct, acquit |
| Mental state | Evaluation of mental states as emotion, volition, belief, or knowledge | glad, refuse, convince, know |
Distribution of evaluative parameters of the headlines
| Evaluative parameter | Distribution (%) | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Emotivity | 25 | agonise, fall drastically, feel nervous, giant losses, life-threatening |
| Evidentiality | 16 | announce, appeal, demand, promise, recommend, tell, warn |
| Mental state | 12 | believe, be overjoyed, consider, fear, hope, worry, agonise, feel nervous |
| Style | 9 | announce, appeal, demand, promise, recommend, tell, warn |
| Expectedness | 8 | already, but, only, suddenly, unexpected |
| Importance | 8 | giant, historical, important, leader, star, success |
| Reliability | 6 | could, few believe, is planned, likely, may |
| Causality | 6 | we’re in trouble if, did not obey and therefore |
| Necessity | 4 | forced, have to survive, must be cancelled |
| Possibility | 4 | can, can’t, possibility |
| Comprehensibility | 2 | clearly, completely new, difficult to say, mystery |
| Genuineness | – | nowhere near right |
| Total | 100 |
Distribution of themes in the headlines
| Theme | Distribution (%) | Lexical items |
|---|---|---|
| Daily life and emotions | 13 | ordinary life, everyday life, single parent, citizen, relative, homeless, worry, be nervous, Covid-19 anxiety |
| Events and culture | 12 | premiere, movie, museum, match, football association, UEFA European Championship, cancel, postpone |
| General restrictive measures | 11 | contingency law, state of emergency, Covid-19 measure, Covid-19 guidelines, recommendations |
| Health | 11 | infection, death, Covid-19 suspicion, risk, municipality doctor, WHO, healthcare, Covid-19 vaccination |
| Movement and travel restrictions | 11 | moving restriction, travel restriction, closed border, outside border, quarantine, get locked, moving outside |
| Business and working life | 10 | company, working life, profession, remote work, support package, entrepreneur, cash crisis, branch manager, Covid-19 layoff, unemployment fund |
| Politics | 8 | government, ministry, decision, EU leaders, union, minister of the interior, party meeting, prime minister Marin |
| Economics | 8 | world economy, oil price, CEO, central bank, key interest rate, trade, Black Monday, finance, stock market |
| General situation | 7 | Covid-19 situation, Covid-19 pandemic, information |
| Education and childcare | 6 | school, high school, remote education, school child, basic education, classroom teaching |
| Other | 3 | – |
All evaluative parameters
| Evaluative parameter | Definition and subcategory | Paraphrase |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehensibility | Evaluation of entities, situations, and statements as comprehensible or incomprehensible | How comprehensible or incomprehensible does this appear? |
| Emotivity | Evaluation of activities, events, people and other things as positive or negative | How positive or negative does this appear? |
| Expectedness | Evaluation of aspects as expected or unexpected, also includes the notion of contrast | How expected or unexpected does this appear? |
| Genuineness | Evaluation of aspects as real/true or untrue | How real, true, or untrue does this appear? |
| Importance | Evaluation of aspects as important or unimportant | How important or unimportant does this appear? |
| Necessity | Evaluation of aspects as necessary or unnecessary | How necessary or unnecessary does this appear? |
| Possibility | Evaluation of aspects as possible or impossible | How possible or impossible does this appear? |
| Reliability | Evaluation of aspects as likely or unlikely | How likely or unlikely does it appear that this will happen? |
| Causality | Evaluation of events’ causes and consequences | What are the reasons and what are the consequences? |
| Sourcing (evidentiality) | Evaluation of the basis of information as speech, thought, or feeling, expectation, emotion, mental process, perception, proof, general knowledge, or unspecific basis | How do we know? How did sources say it? |
| Sourcing (style) | Evaluation of the previous reporting expression of speech as neutral, illocutionary, declarative, discourse signalling, or paralinguistic | How do we know? How did sources say it? |
| Mental state | Evaluation of mental states as emotion, volition, belief, expectation, or knowledge | What mental states are attributed to news actors? |