The stylistic functions of phraseological units in newspaper themes

Phraseological units (PUs), encompassing idioms, collocations, proverbs, and clichés, have long been recognized as integral elements of natural language use. In newspaper discourse, however, they perform distinctive stylistic functions that extend beyond ordinary conversation. The stylistic deployment of PUs in the press allows journalists to balance between objectivity and expressiveness, thereby shaping both the tone of reporting and the ideological framing of events. This article presents a corpus-based study of PUs in English-language newspapers, examining their frequency, distribution, stylistic roles, and creative adaptations. The results reveal that PUs are especially concentrated in headlines and opinion journalism, where they attract attention, convey evaluation, and simplify complex phenomena. Moreover, journalists often adapt PUs creatively by truncating, substituting, or hybridizing them in order to maintain novelty while preserving recognizability. Consequently, PUs proves to be not merely decorative but essential tools of stylistic design in modern newspapers.