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Lingua inglese 2
LESSON 1
OUTLINE
Passage from structural to functional linguistics An introduction to Discourse Analysis Microfunctions: Austin & Searle Macrofunctions : Jakobson
What is the difference between structural linguistics functional linguistics?
We can find the difference is the terms themselves. In fact the two words should tell us that one thing is to look at language and its structure, which is the way we normally look at sentences’ construction; while the other is to look at the language for the function that they cover within a sentence/utterance/broader communication act.
In Structural linguistics, or structuralism, language is conceived as a self-contained, self-regulating system, it does not look at the outside world, and whose elements are defined by their relationship to other elements within the system. It is derived from the work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and is part (the beginning) of the overall approach of structuralism. Structuralism is to be regarded not only as part of linguistic field but also others. Saussure examined language as dynamic system of interconnected units.
The famous differentiation between langue and parole pertains to Ferdinand de Saussure. The French term langue (an individual language) encompasses/takes in consideration the abstract, systematic rules and conventions of a signifying system; it is independent of, and pre-exists, the individual user. It is a way to look at language from and outside and abstract point of view. It involves the principles of language, without which no meaningful utterance, or parole , would be possible. In contrast, parole (‘speech’) refers to the concrete instances of the use of langue.
He is also known for introducing several basic dimensions of semiotic analysis that are still important today. Two of these are his key methods of syntagmatic and paradigmatic analysis, which define units syntactically and lexically, respectively, according to their contrast with the other units in the system. With the former we mean the study of units from a syntactic point of view, the definition of the surface structure of language, it studies the relation of words that co-occur in the same sentence. So when we talk about syntagmatic analysis we are talking about syntagmatic analysis, how the single elements of a sentence/utterance work together to create meaning. Syntagmatic means that one element selects the other element either to precede it or follow it. For example, the definite article “the” selects a noun and not a verb. Paradigmatic analysis defines its units lexically, according to their contrast with the other units in the system. It refers to the semantic relation between words that can be substituted with other in the same category.
From now on we will look at language from another perspective, the perspective of functional theories -> the analysis of language structure and the understanding of them by referring to the functions that they carry out in a text.
What is the function that language structure perform in a text/utterance? What are the meaning and context information they are referring to?
Context from this point of view is extremely important, and so we will take it to account those linguistic elements from their functional point of view, what is the function they carry out in that particular sentence/utterance
Functional theories of language propose that since language is fundamentally a tool, it is reasonable to assume that its structures are best analyzed and understood with reference to the functions they carry out. These include the tasks of conveying meaning and contextual information. Functional theories take into account the context where linguistic elements are used and study the way they are instrumentally useful or functional in the given environment. This means that functional theories of grammar tend to pay attention to the way language is actually used in communicative context. The formal relations between linguistic elements are assumed to be functionally-motivated. It is extremely important to understand not only the form of the structural linguistics but also the practice of these forms.
DISCOURSE LEVEL (larger than the sentence text)
Sentence Connectivity
We arrived at the shop just as the butcher was clearing away. As a result the big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones, and the little puppies liked the scraps.
SENTENCE LEVEL Sentence
The big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones, and the little puppies liked the scraps.
CLAUSE LEVEL Clause
The big dogs enjoyed their unexpected bones
PHRASE LEVEL Phrase
Their unexpected bones
WORD LEVEL Word
Un-expect-ed
Senser Process Phenomenon Experiential f.
Theme Rheme Textual f.
When we look at language utterances we look at various functions:
1. What the addressor wants from the addressee (question or statement), how certain s(he) is
(modality, etc.). The interpersonal function refers to the grammatical choices that enable speakers to enact their complex and diverse interpersonal relations. I, as a speaker, carry out a particular function, regarding an interpersonal relation. A speaker not only talks about something, but is always talking to and with others. That particular relation is always to be taken in consideration when we are looking at language in use(?)
2. To express information. The experiential function refers to the grammatical choices that enable
speakers to make meanings about the world around us and inside us.
3. The first constituent in the clause plays a relevant function in the connectivity of the text: what is
this text about? (Connectivity with the what)
(Halliday M.A.K, 1994-2003)
Functions of speech as a whole (speech function): give/demand, action/information Akas OFFER/COMMAND, STATEMENT/QUESTION
John was helping her (statement/action) Who was helping her? (question/inform) Help me (command/demand) Can I help you (offer/give)
Functions of texts as a whole (genre): most linguists agree on the classification of 5 TEXT TYPES (semantic functional concepts): descriptive, narrative, expository, instructive and argumentative.
Discourse Analysis
1-language in use
Pieces of language that go over the sentence level is called discourse It was introduced in the’ Discourse is one of the most significant concepts of modern thinking in a range of disciplines across of humanities and social sciences.
Why? (Discourse is important)Because it concerns the way language works in our engagements with the world and our interactions with each other, so creating and shaping the social, political and cultural formations of society. So we are looking at the way language work in all the environment, where it to communicate with family, colleagues In our daily basis or to construct our or to participate to the workings of our society.
TO STUDY DISCOURSE IS THEN TO STUDY LANGUAGE IN ACTION , LOOKING AT TEXTS IN RELATION TO THE
SOCIAL CONTEXTS IN WHICH THEY ARE USED.
DISCOURSE: an overloaded term, because it is connected with almost everything that goes on in the world, and thus covers a range of meanings: Speech and writing to consider conventions and social situations. When we analyze from a social point of view we analyze the language and the ways we make the choices we make in order to be understood in a particular situation (ex. University convention -> we don’t call prof with first names) we consider the convention of the situation when we anal the contest; But also institutionalized ways of thinking that define our social lives. It covers the inst ways of thinking that … we are talking of what is important in our society. To explain the inst way we have to take in consideration one particular culture. When we talk to d a we don’t refer simply to pieces of language used in a particular communication but to the specific environment of that specific communicative act (ex. Prof) but at the same time we look at the ways of thinking of our society (ex. Communication prof/stud) (Hyland K. & Patridge B. 2011)
D.A. deals with language in context, linking the text/utterance with its social situation where it is performed. Born between the 1960s and 1970s out of the work of different disciplines: linguistics, psychology, anthropology, sociology. All fields which are concerned of the study of the environment and how it is spoken about. (Cfr. The Bloomsbury Companion to Discourse Analysis, 2011)
Contribution of semiotics and the French structuralists’ approach to study of narrative;
Dell Hymes’ communicative competence: speech in social settings (1964). A competence we acquire in ordr to communicate successfully in a various social settings (ex. University → if you come from a completely different social environment it’s probable that you may use the first name with a professor). When we use this competence we’re looking at language in context.;
Language as social action: speech-act theory, conversational maxims (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969; Grice, 1975), pragmatics , i.e. the study of meaning in context (Levinson, 1983, Leech, 19983). speech - act theory, conversational maxims are also fields of study that have contributed to the definition o f D.a which can also be called language as soc action.
Every day we encounter or take part in a wide range of different types of spoken interactions… Each situation has its own conventions and formulae, different role relationships, different purposes and different settings and we adjust our knowledge/ culture/institute way of thinking and we adapt all this things and we form language following the conventions and formulas that we have learned in our lives. Role relationships: they forces us to use language in a particular way (ex. Prof/stud) Discourse analysis is interested in all the above creating a fundamental distinction between: LANGUAGE FORMS (grammatical, lexical, and phonological) DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS (what we do with the language in a particular setting/environment)
This is an indirect speech act. The wife is reminding the husband that the following day he has work. But the real meaning behind her words is that since he’s working the following day they cannot have coffee at their place because than he would be too tired (illocutionary act), or maybe she’s too tired and want to go home and sleep. The perlocutionary effect could be ‘we can have it another time.
The wife could have expressed the same message with a direct speech act:
Man: Let’s have coffee at our place Wife: I am tired, I want to go to sleep
Direct speech act: grammatical form and communicative function (i.e. illocutionary force) correspond. Indirect speech act: grammatical form and communicative function do not correspond.
Is there any salt? Other examples (requests and proposals):
- Would you like to meet for a coffee? I have class…
- Can you call Samantha?
- It’s cold outside… -> the loc act is that superficial meaning that the sentence is displaying; the ill. Could be that you left the window open and that’s why I; perlocutionary I make you go and close the window.
- The tea is really cold!-> loc the information given by the utterance, ill. A complaint, perlocutionary somebody else stands up and do another tea for me.
The speech acts ware devised by the linguist Austin in a book named ‘how to do things with words’, so what are the action we perform when we speak, we have to look at the ability of an utterance to perform an action
LANGUAGE MICROFUNCTIONS (1)
Language is used to reach diverse purposes J. Austin (1962) speech acts:
- Locutionary – literal meaning of a piece of language
- Illocutionary – communicative force we give to a particular utterance
- Perlocutionary – effect/reaction in the addressee/recipient of the message
LOOK AT THE ABILITY OF THE SENTENCE TO PERFORM ACTIONS
LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS (2)
Further linguist later on the years studied a taxonomy of speech act that stipulate an illustrate of brader range of speech acts
Searle’s (1969, 1976) taxonomy of speech acts (microfunctions).
Speech acts Purpose Types
Representatives (Assertives) Representation, tell how things Stating, telling, insisting
are- LOCUTIONARY SA
“No one makes a better cake than me” Expressives Stance (position of the speaker), how the speaker feels about something ILLOCUTIONARY
Deploring, admiring, giving positions “I am sorry that I lied to you”
Verdictives Assessment (give judgement) about the addressee - ILLOCUTIONARY
Assessing, estimating, judging “I congratulate you for performing so well” Directives (the only that produce an effect on the interlocutor)
Ask for action on the receiver’s part PERLOCUTIONARY
Ordering, requesting, warning, prohibiting, daring “Could you close the window, please?” Commissives Commitment of the speaker to do something about the future ILLOCUTIONARY
Promising, vowing, pledging “I’m going to Paris tomorrow”
Declaratives/Declarations Declaration- they change the state of the world in an immediate way ILLOCUTIONARY
Blessing, baptizing, dismissing “You are fired, I swear, I beg you”
Representatives: speech acts that commit the speaker/writers to the truth of their expressed statements. The first one represent the locutionary speech act, the superficial level of lang. I simply refer to something from a superficial point of view. “The nuragic civilization, also known as the nuragic culture, lasted from the 18 th^ century BCE (Bronze Age) up to the Roman colonization in 238 BCE” simple fact, superficial meaning, just stated to say the statement. Sup meaning of a sentence, nothing else Exressives: speech acts that state how the speaker/writer/addresser feels about. His attitudes and emotions about what is being said. Explained with I’m so sorry but when we find larger pieces of text this type of microfunctions have to occur with the type of words verbs that can take a particular force, the com force needs to be more explicit. In writing, these occur through the use of verbs, adjectives and adverbs that can take a particular communicative force. (More consistent presence of the speaker) Verdictive: speech act that give assessments or judgment about the hearer Judging/assessing something about the addressee “congratulation on your perform” Directives: the only microfunction where we have a com effect on the interlocutor speech acts that cause the hearer or reader to take a particular action, to force the reader/hearer to do something: may I have some soda?- do your homework! – fly emirates. Common exchanges but also pieces of advertising. I perform the action which is addressed on the part of the addressee Commisives: speech acts that the speakers use to commit themselves to future actions. Promises, pledges, refusals, threats that the speaker takes to make the WORLD FIT THE WORDS (via the speaker) “I’ll be back soon-we will not do that”. The speaker is committed to do something in the future and his words fit with the world is performing. Declaratives: speech acts that change the world around him/her via their utterance… so for example all the formula we hear in various contexts are declaratives. I know pronounce you man and wife- I sentence you to 6 years of prison – the ball was out. With communicative force I’m declaring something of the state of the environment of the world I’m referring to. It known that in longer texts is more difficult to detect the right microfunction, we have to find the most prevalent.
Last month France approved use of the vaccine for under-65s only, citing lack of data for older people. Microfunction: first part totally locutionary, after the coma we have an expression of opinion; it can be both expressive and verdictive
- Your private tourist guide will pick you up at the scheduled time by his comfortable minivan. During the 45 minutes route to Barumini, it will tell you about the main features of the island and the landscape we will see from the car's windows. Once arrived, we will visit the imposing nuraghe "Su Nuraxi" and its village: an Archaeological complex whose most ancient traces date back to around the 1500 b.c. We will begin from the village, where you will see various types of housing structures, the round ones, with a central courtyard, that go back to the nuragic period, and the rectangular ones, that belong to the punic-roman period. Noteworthy are a central court house with a spa environment, perhaps home to a domestic cult, and the big meeting hut. Then, we will enter the real nuraghe, that can be reached by an iron ladder which leads to a tiny entry, placed at 7 metres of height. There we will visit the central tower, called “mastio”, that originally measured 20 metres in height, and the 4 side towers. The whole of the 5 towers makes a housing complex that, for its grandeur, reminds us of a medieval castle. After the visit to su Nuraxi, you will be taken to the place where your excursion began. The tour can also be enriched by choosing one of the different available options. Microfunction: illocutionary force(many adjectives). The most prevalent personal pronoun is ‘you’ so there’s also a perlocutionary effect, the text want to convince the reader to go to barumini. Microfunction: directive. QUESTE CHE HAI FATTO SONO TUTTE MICROFUNCTIONS.
LANGUAGE MACROFUNCTIONS
Jakobson’s acts of verbal communication
We see the text from another perspective/point of view
The well-known model of the functions of language , introduced by the Russian-American linguist Roman Jakobson (1960: 350-377), distinguishes six elements, or factors of communication , that are necessary for communication to occur: (1) addresser (sender), (2) addressee (receiver), (3) context , (4) message, (5) contact/channel, and (6) common code.
Each factor is the focal point of a relation, or function, that operates between the message and the factor.
REFERENTIAL POETIC EMOTIVE CONATIVE PHATIC METALINGUAL
The functions are the following, in order (the functions each of these factor can operate in the language):
- Emotive f.: internal states and emotions of the addresser (1st p. I , interjections, personal style). It’s the function that correspond with the relationship between the message and the addresser. So when the language express we study emotion things about the speaker is emotive.
- Conative f.: aims at influencing the internal states and emotions of the addressee (2nd p. you , vocative & imperative). When it’s concentrated on the addressee the function we are relating the message with is conative
- Referential f.: informative function (3rd p., objects, events, facts in the context; nominalisation, premodification, passives, stative verbs; less formal, 1st p.p. & dynamic active verbs). When the factor context is at the centre of our relationship between the message and the factor, so when we concentrating on the context the function is referential
- Poetic f.: aesthetic f., the form of the message (sound-effect, rhythm, figurative language, phonological resemblance) as a crucial part of the message meaning & force. When the language is refered to only on the message itself Examples: political slogans, ads, sayings.
- Phatic f.: sets contact between the addresser and the addressee (opening and checking the channel of communication). When the language is concentrated only on the channel of communication. Examples: Can you hear me?, Well, here we are. I see.
- Metalingual f.: “attention on the code to clarify or re-negotiate it” (Ulrich 29), e.g. what do you mean? When language is concentrated only on the code.
A series of examples: (1) emotive ("Yuck!"), it is an expression pronounced by the speaker; (2) conative ("Come here"), asking the receiver to do something; (3) referential ("The Earth is round"), simple information about the context; (4) poetic ("Smurf"), the language is concentrated on the message itself, we have a creative expression which affects the language of the message and exploit the possibility to make/give a creative information about the message; (5) phatic ("Hello?"),the channel of communication, to keep the com going, (6) metalingual ("What do you mean by 'krill'?"), reflect about the code, the language to talk about the lang.
Therefore:
- Close to text types & discourse genres
- Writer’s communicative purpose
- Although multifunctional, one predominant function & typology
Emotive (expressive) function -> author-centred (author’s feelings)
- Characterised by: author’s personal style + idiosyncrasies
- Ex.: literary texts, autobiographies, speeches, author’s prefaces, personal correspondence
Referential (informative) function -> content-centred (information provided)
- Not the author’s feelings but the content
- Ex.: textbooks, technical reports, scientific articles
Conative (vocative) function -> reader-centred (affecting the reader’s behaviour)
- Ex.: Advertising, propaganda, official recommendations, polemical & persuasive writing
- Use of language geared towards the receiver, it’s devised to affect the reader one way or another
- Use of formality in addressing people: you < tu, Lei, loro
Advertising and Jackobson 1960: Jakobson’s theory on the purposes of the language used in human communication: Model of communication functions -> two layers of description: o The various elements of language use ( factors /components of verbal communication) o What humans do with the language when they use it ( functions of verbal communication) The 6 factors are necessary for communication and to each corresponds a function. A message is sent by the addresser to the addressee. The message cannot be understood outside of a context. A code should be common to the addresser and addressee. A contact (physical channel and psychological connection) is necessary for both of them to enter and stay in communication.
Focus on the context)
Phatic: checking or establishing contact Aka “interactional”. Associated with contact/channel factor. Used to establish or maintain contact. Establishes, prolongs, discontinues communication: we use it to know whether the channel works or whether the contact is still there. Phatic/interactional texts: greetings, casual discussions on the weather/with strangers, messages open, maintain, verify contact. Small talk, attention getters, channel checkers, greetings e.g. Hello!; Are you listening?; Do you hear me; Hey, you… May I have your attention?; Have a good weekend!; See you tomorrow; Did you have a good Christmas?; Isn’t it hot today?; Do you know what I mean?
“Two hours talking technical, or ten minutes talking tiscali?”
Metalinguistic: negotiating or checking the language Aka “metalingual”, “reflexive”. Deals with the code itself. It is the function of language about language, language used to explain, discuss or describe itself. Used whenever addresser and addressee need to check whether they use the same code and when the language is used to speak about language. Questions or explanations of terminology or phraseology, statements about language/grammar, terminology of linguistics: What do you mean when you say…?; What do you mean by…?; literally; so called; sometimes known as; How do you say codice in English?; “Cat” is a singular noun; Would is a modal verb.
“Is he speaking English?” (metalingual function → focus on the code) Poetic: foregrounding linguistics structures Aka “aesthetic”. Oriented toward the message, its sound and shape, focus on the message “for its own sake”. Messages convey more than just the content. Includes more than poetry: rhetorical figures, pitch or loudness. Aim: arouse emotions, feelings and thoughts through the sound and the musicality. Language is used in a creative way. Imagery such as metaphor, simile, puns, allegory, assonance, rhymes, slogans, images, sounds, colours… The poetic function, which Jakobson regarded as of particular important for the study of literature, is relevant to study of ads. The poetic function causes the FOREGROUNDING of linguistic elements, against the background of the norms of the language. Deviant forms create compressed meanings, for they evoke both the form from which they deviate, and themselves.
“It was a beautiful warm day, the air was like velvet, the sea air was invigorating (poetic function → focus on the message) So what? We can hardly find verbal message that fulfill ONLY ONE function. We shouldn’t look for a monopoly of some/one of these several functions but establish a hierarchical order of functions and look for the PREDOMINANT one.
Codes
- Questions
- Explanations of phraseology
- Statements about grammar and linguistics Topics & themes
- Language to talk about language
- Ambiguity/misunderstanding
Codes
- Rhetorical devices and figurative language
- Metaphor, simile, puns, contrastive pair
- Repetition, rhyme, alliteration, ellipsis Topics & theme
- Politics, art, advertising
- Quotes and slogans
LESSON 2
Language in use What is a text? Very overloaded term, usually something written. We will look at something broader and to do that we go back to Discourse Analysis and the influence of Halliday.
Discourse Analysis (language in use) British Discourse Analysis was greatly influenced by the work of M.A.K Halliday’s functional approach to language (1973). His framework emphasizes the social functions of language and its element and the thematic and informational structure of speech and writing.
Discourse Analysis is interested in the relationship between discourse forms (grammatical, lexical, phonological) and discourse functions. Because the forms and the function that Forms are RAW materials which enable students to use language FUNCTIONALLY, depending on the function we want to give each form of the discourse.
A text is “language that is functional”, that is to say… “language that is doing some job in some context” (Halliday in Halliday & Hasan, 1985/1989:10). Very similar to the definition od discourse but more general.
A text is a unit of language being used; it is not simply a grammatical unit, but a form of exchange, not a unit of form but of meaning, it is a dialogue, a meaning-creation interaction among speakers. (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 1-2, 1989: 11)
Text and context
When we say that text is a unit of language which is functional, which has a particular social function, we also say :
Language is influenced by dynamic elements present in its socio-cultural context: participants in the speech of act, topic and setting (together with the addressee’s goal and communicative purposes). Context is: → a frame of reference, where a unit of language is being carried out. → How should we interpret “He delivered a punch?” Depending on the reference it can have many meanings, it can be physical, metaphorical. We are using disambiguation of textual element. → Disambiguation * of textual elements as crucial to understand the whole text → In order to understand well the meaning of the text we have to take in consideration two elements → co-text and con-text, the context of words and sentences that go with the text, an interrelationship and interaction between sentence elements, the linguistic context
*in linguistics, disambiguation is the process of determining which sense of a word is being used in particular context. Also known as lexical disambiguation.
Context - Co-text
Words do not occur in isolation, alone. The words of a text are surrounded by their linguistic environment, called co-text; so the text takes place in a broader environment, which is everything outside the text but influences it, called context.
verbal utterances [...] A utterance becomes intelligible when it is placed within its context of situation».
Furthermore: «the study of any language, spoken by people who live under conditions different from our own and possess a different culture, must be carried out in conjunction with the study of their culture and of their environment» (1946:306).
The next step, taken by Halliday in later years, was to see language in action (1985:6) with the message only clear to those who know what is going on. In such situations, where the codification of the message is known only by the people present there, it is necessary to provide not only a description of what is happening, but also of the total cultural background, because all these play a part in the interpretation of meaning. Malinowski did not consider only the immediate situation but also the broader cultural context into which the utterance was taking place In this functional perspective (by Malinowski and Halliday), a text is therefore always seen as being strictly related to:
- Its Context of Situation , which is defined as the immediate social and situational environment in which a text is being realized (this concept has on one hand to be broader but in the other we have to remember that the situation in which these words are said/written can never be passed over as irrelevant to the linguistic expression. Every linguistic expression is influenced by the context of situation.) An example of context of situation could take place in a shop. The context of situation forms part of the contest of culture. The co text is one thing the context is an analysis of the general conditions under which texts are written. ;
- The Context of Culture which is the ‘outer’, more external, or ‘higher-order’ context surrounding both the text and its specific Context of Situation. By context of culture is meant the meanings and assumptions we share as a community of people. (Malinowski 1923)
Ex: Our lesson, if we consider context of situation we can say it’s a linguistic lesson delivered on a digital platform in a university/scholar situation about a particular topic. The context of culture refers, into this particular situation, to the educational system in Italy, the university system etc.
Context of culture
Awareness of cultural differences and similarities; What do we mean by Culture: the personal development, the knowledge of a country’s history and institutions, the sociolinguistic and anthropological sense: socially conditioned aspects of human life (Ulrich 71) The definition of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Semiotics (Sebeok 1986 in Ulrich 71)
“Culture is the totality of the signifying system by means of which mankind, or a particular group, maintains its cohesiveness (its values and identity and its interaction with the world). These signifying systems comprise not only all the arts (literature, cinema, theatre, painting,
music, etc.), the various social activities and behavioral patterns prevalent in the given community (including gesture, dress, manner, rituals, etc.), but also the established methods by which the community preserves its memory and its sense of identity (myths, history, legal systems, religious beliefs, etc.)” (Signifying system which give meaning to something; cohesiveness: things that make people understand that they’re part of a group and helps them stay close)
→ A reading text: we have a text made on one hand by the forms/structure of language but also by the inherent message (the meaning of the text, semantic). And this text is made by the text maker and addressed to the text reader and both this participants are influenced on one hand by the immediate context situation and on the other by the broader/ higher context of culture.
A text, therefore, is basically made of meanings that, in order to be communicated, need to be encoded and expressed through a system of graphic, phonic or visual signs. As a thing in itself, it is a consistent semantic unit, with a a meaning. It’s both an object, a product of its environment, of its Contest of Situation and Context of Culture , and an instance of social meaning in a specific situation. The relation between text and context is a systematic and dynamic one:
- On the one hand, a text is the result of the context in which it is being realized and where language is being shared to function purposefully;
- On the other hand, a context is then realized in turn by the text: through a text a context is being created.
Context of Situation
Linguistics is concerned here with studying meaning in terms of the function that each language element have in a particular context. So what are the variable that we have to analyze, the component of the context of situation?
Language use/context of situation: J.R Firth (1950s-1960s) →linguistics as the study of meaning in terms of how language functions in context.
Variables: the participants, the verbal and non-verbal action, other features, the effect of the verbal action. Context of Situations is seen as being comprised of 3 components, or values, or contextual dimensions of variation (contextual configuration, Halliday & Hasan 1985):
- FIELD: the topic of the text. What is going on?
- TENOR: who is taking part?
- MODE: how are the meanings being exchanged?
Register
The variables which are part of the context of situation are three, called parameters: field (what is going on?), tenor (who is taking part?) and mode (how are the meanings being exchanged?). The context of situation manifest through them.
Field – the nature of the ongoing social speech event and its subject matter, what is being spoken about;
Tenor – the human participants in the interaction and the relationship between them, involving their status and discourse roles, as well as the attitude they take towards the subject matter and their interlocutors;
Mode – the way that language is functioning in the interaction, which involves a series of features such as the degree to which the process of interaction is shared by the interlocutors, its ‘channel’, its ‘medium’, etc. (See Halliday & Hasan, 1985/1989: 12)
The field of discourse What (event, activity), what the participants are doing with language (in space and time), what (the subject-matter) and what the participants know about it (shared/unshared knowledge) → Technical, scientific, legal, institutional registers. Identification of the field of discourse through lexis and grammar (register). So the field is what the text is about (science, education, war, medicine, sports, linguistics, tourism, etc. And each one could be better detailed). Moreover, - specialized vs. non- specialized (the vocabulary specific to the field, or the vocabulary common to other fields). Specialized vocabulary used in other fields but with a different meaning in the current field (e.g., a ‘constituent’ in politics means member of a political unit, in linguistics a syntactic unit).
Field parameters - the ideational metafunction (we think about the world we live in) – → Experiential domain: types of texts; → Goal orientation: language use in general v in-detail orientation toward categories of readers (websites v travel guides), when, where, how; → Social activity: addressed to a general or particular reader.
LEMON RISOTTO → We know this is a recipe, and not a research report, partly through the field of discourse. Within the context of situation, field refers to: «what is happening, to the nature of the social action that is taking place: what is it that the participants are engaged in, which language features are some essential components? » (H&H, 1985, p.12) We can divide the field in three parameters: →experiential domain or what the text is about. In that case of a recipe, it is about food and food preparation. →goal orientation or what the text is for in terms of both short-long term goals. The short-term goal is obviously to make the recipe, but the long-term goal is a little more complicated (the recipe made in a particular context, for a particular occasion. And what cultural differences this particular text is addressing). Why are we making this dish? Cultural differences? Contest of culture? This in turn affects the last area: →social activity or what the text is doing. The activity of cooking.
These three parameters together make up the field of discourse, which is expressed through the experiential metafunction: there are specialized lexical items , such as broth, Arborio and
peel, as well as material processes, like simmer and stir. To a large degree, we also know that the above is a recipe thanks to external features such as lay-out, pictures and the fact it says ‘recipe’. Consultative, unequal power relation, informal, neutral closeness.
The tenor The role relationship between the participants in the communicative event -> level of language formality < social situation and status of the participants. Joos’ levels of formality (1961): → Frozen (set phrases, conventional structures, wording, rhetoric, intonation/large audiences). Frozen is considered to be the most formal style with printed unchanging language, for instance the Bible. It often contains archaism, features of writing that are no longer used. → Formal (speaker/audience relationship, no interaction/interruption). Formal involves one- way participation and no interruption (wedding speech). This style often contains technical vocabulary. Exact definitions are highly important and the style include introductions between strangers. A little but different from frozen because normally the set phrases that compose frozen level of formality do not involve the exchange between speaker and audience. → Consultative (interaction: business, doctor-patient, tutor-student) is two-way participation. Feedback behavior is used and interruptions are allowed. → Casual (friends/social group, work, informal, informal settings, colloquialism, interruptions). Common features are ellipsis, slang and interruption. No background information is provided. → Intimate (husband and wife, family, close friends) is used in non-public situations. Intonation is highly important and private vocabulary is often used. Normally in this role relationship we refer to spoken language Power relations: Unequal: father/daughter, doctor/patient, teacher/student; Equal: friend/friend, student/student Formality: formal/informal Informal: I handed my essay in kinda late coz my kids got sick. Formal: the reason for the late submission of my essay was the illness of my children. Closeness: distant/neutral/close.
Tenor represents the interpersonal metafunction, and in this we find three role relationship: → Agentive roles or the institutional (or not) roles of the participants, such as doctor/patient, teacher/student, etc. → Social roles or the power relationship between them which may be hierarchic or non- hierarchic and includes expert/novice and also conferred social status and gender, etc. → Social distance or the amount or nature of contact the participants may have, which ranges from minimal (close friends) to maximal (formal settings).
Every time we perform a language/speech action we are engaging in dialogs, because we always think about our interlocutors. So when we look at a text we have to consider not only the relationship built in the text but also the one built around the text, beyond the text, which is represented in the text but goes beyond it. The dialogic dimension : “all language use is dialogic” and “writers engage in ‘inner dialogues’ in the process of planning, writing and editing text” (Bondi 1999: 40).
