Phatic markers in headline complexes of mass media texts

The article is devoted to the acute process in the media discourse – expansion of impact of phatic speech behaviour in mass media. The definition of phatic speech behaviour in mass media is given and a list of phatic markers is presented. Despite the fact that this phenomenon is presented almost in all spheres of mediatext use, in the present article we regard the headline complex as an emphatic part of the text, which has the most significant phatic potential. To support the theoretical tenets the analysis of particular headlines and a headline complex is carried out in the aspect of realisation of the phatic function of language. The most wide-used models of headlines typical of contemporary press, appealing to the models of phatic speech behaviour, are identified.