TITLES AS MINIMAL META-TEXTS (A cim mint a legkisebb metaszoveg)

Titles may have three different functions. The first one is the nominative function, providing the name of a text. The second one is the descriptive function, referring to the content of the text, hence covering the information contained in the text: presenting meta-information. The third function is a pragmatic one, trying to make a persuasive effect on the receiver. A good title is short, attracts attention, affects emotions, and transmits the content of the text. Thus, titles are minimal meta-texts; but they are also advertisements of the text, a means to catch the reader's eye. Titles of newspaper articles also reveal strategies that are characteristic of the various papers, the various editorial staffs.