Use of Language Cover-Lines and Sell-Lines

Language is used creatively by magazines to attract attention and trigger certain cultural signifiers for the audience, as they only have a small space and time to get the audience to buy the product. So they use the following linguistic techniques. Cover-Lines These refer to the Cover story and are the most important part of teasing an audience to buy the product. Sell-Lines - These are other lines for other articles and features on the front cover other than the main Cover Line. Study the list of the linguistic techniques used below to entice an audience to buy the magazine.

Technique

TECHNIQUE DESCRIPTION
Teasers (these give us a clues as to the storyline) Modifiers (these use adjectives to enhance the meaning) Ellipsis (these miss out vital information from the sentence to create an immediate impact)

EXAMPLE
Hear Justin Biebers secret!

Grammatical Techniques

Louder than Liam, darker than Doherty Take That Back for good?

Minor Sentences (these are not full sentences and are economical and immediate)

Cheryl Cole Rocks

Declaratives (these are simple statements)

Hip Hops Guilty Pleasure Kesha

Imperatives (these start with verbs to act like commands or instructions)

Radiohead - Hear the lost recordings

Interrogatives (these are formed as questions to stimulate an immediate response from the reader)

Blake and Rihanna are the rumours really true?

Rhyme Alliteration Assonance Puns Polysemous Intertextuality

Exclamations (these are exaggerated statements using exclamation marks for emphasis) Creates a pleasing connection between words. Emphasises words through repeated consonant words Uses same vowel sounds for emphasis. Uses play on words and comic connections between words. use of double, or ambiguous meanings for comic, sexual reference uses a well known phrase in another media text to create a pleasing connection for the audience Uses existing phrases for comedy by using different words or changing the meaning slightly.

Why celebrity DJs must be stopped! Taylor Swift Countrys Teen Queen Perfect Playlist Fake Mates How to spring little lambs Nice Tackle! Lord of the Bling! Look whos stalking? Snogs Ahoy!

Idiomatic Phrase