Key terms Text Semiotics Semantic Syntax Pragmatics Transcoding

Key terms • • Text Semiotics Semantic Syntax Pragmatics Transcoding Specialized text Non-specialized text

What is a text?

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of speech.

Channel • Oral texts • Written texts Intent of the Communicator Various types of texts (procedural, expository, persuasive, narrative, descriptive)

Intent of the communicator • Genre of texts: – Narrative – Procedural – Expository (Informative) – Persuasive (Hortatory) – Descriptive

When are they used? • procedural text: gives instructions on how to do something. • expository text: is used to explain something • hortatory text (persuasive): is used to encourage or to get someone to do something. As a matter of fact, it is argumentation • descriptive text: lists the characteristics of something. • narrative text: account of events (novel, newspaper article, biography)

TEXT FORMS • Text forms evolve and change • Authentic text forms are often mixed • According to modern studies, there may be even more text types. Nonetheless, practical suggestions tend to classify texts in 3 main types:

Text Types (Sabatini) Group 1 • scientific texts • technical texts • legal, normative, regulative texts (treatises, essays, technical textbooks and essays; laws and decrees; regulations, administrative acts)

Text Types (Sabatini) Group 2 • expository and didactic texts • popularising informative texts (e. g. textbooks on social, historical, political topics, popularising texts of various topics, newspaper and magazine articles)

Text Types (Sabatini) Group 3 • literary texts, both poetry and fiction.

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of speech.

• • Semantic Syntactic Phonological Prosodic • • Transcoding Semiotics Specialized texts Non-specialized texts

Specialized texts • How do we identify them? – External parameters (elements of the communication process) – Internal parameters (formal structure; knowledge structure; linguistic structure)

External Parameters • A specialized text must be written by a specialist • Those who want to translate specialized texts should get familiar with their specialized context, and should know the domain conventions and lexical/structural peculiarities

Internal Parameters • Formal structure • Knowledge structure • Linguistic structure: • • Morphological level Lexical level Syntactic level Textual level • Specialized texts are precise, more concise, and more systematic. • Precision is a relevant feature. Only experts can control it.

Procedural texts • Procedural texts can – explain how something works or how to use instruction manuals; – instruct how to do a particular activity.

Procedural texts • Structure: elementary. • Format: according to the type of procedural text. • Language: focuses on people in general – Verb tense: present; – use of action verbs; – use of linking words related to time, first, then, when.

Persuasive (or Hortatory ) texts • The persuasive text represents the attempt of the writer to have the addressee do something or act in a certain way. It wants to be convincing so that the addressee is made to share the writer’s opinion.

Features of Persuasive Texts • • • Emotive language – to get a sympathetic reaction. Imperatives – telling the reader what to do. Short sentences – dramatic effect. Logical connectives – e. g. ‘therefore’, ‘because’. Alliteration Address reader directly. Personal and informal tone. Use of contrasts to emphasise particular points. Use of facts to shock the reader.

Example • In all the discussion over the removal of lead from petrol (and the atmosphere) there doesn’t seem to have been any mention of the difference between driving in the city and the country. • While I realize my leaded petrol car is polluting the air wherever I drive, I feel that when you travel through the country, where you only see another car every five to ten minutes, the problem is not as severe as when traffic is concentrated on city roads.

Example • Those who want to penalize older, leaded petrol vehicles and their owners don’t seem to appreciate that, in the country, there is no public transport to fall back upon and one’s own vehicle is the only way to get about. • I feel that the country people, who often have to travel huge distances to the nearest town and who already spend a great deal of money on petrol, should be treated differently to the people who live in the city.

STRUCTURE ANALYSIS • • Thesis; paragraph 1 Argument 1; paragraph 2 Argument 2; paragraph 3 Recommendation; paragraph 4

LANGUAGE FEATURES ANALYSIS • Focusing on the writer: using the first personal pronoun “I” • Using abstract noun: discussion • Using action verb: treat • Using thinking verb: think, seem • Using passive voice: should be treated differently • Using simple present tense: there doesn’t seem…, there is no public transport. . , etc

Text genre variation • Text genre can be modified: linguistic changes mirror the communicator’s intentions.

FROM PERSUASIVE TO ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION 1. No sooner had the British occupation authorities gained control of Iraq than they set out to issue all manner of declarations and orders to secure their domination over the country’s economic resources in an attempt to recoup their losses. After they had established their position in Iraq, the British occupation authorities set out to issue all kinds of rules and regulations to secure their domination over the country’s economic resources in an attempt to recoup their losses.

2. • The British occupation sapped the labours of poverty–stricken peasants, who constituted the majority of the working people, and burdened these desperate people with all kinds of taxes. • The labours of poverty–stricken peasants, who constituted the majority of the working people, were sapped and they were burdened with various types of taxes.

3. • The British occupying power subsequently seized the country’s agricultural resources and mercilessly plundered these assets to such a great extent that taxes increased to three times the rate in the period prior to the occupation. • Subsequently, the country’s agricultural resources were seized and mercilessly plundered to such a great extent that taxes increased to three times the rate in the period prior to the occupation.

The expository text (or explanatory text): structures • • • Description, enumerative or listing Sequence Comparison and contrast Cause and effect Problem and solution

STRUCTURES • Description, enumerative or listing – includes listing connected information, outlining a series of steps, or placing ideas in a hierarchy

Structures • Sequence – when a series of events leads up to a conclusion, which means that these events are not a mere succession, rather they are organized

Structures • Comparison and contrast when you describe how two or more events, places, characters, or other ideas are similar and/or different in several ways

Structures • Cause and effect reasons why an event occurred, or several effects from one cause

Structures • Problem and solution this technique is used to identify the problem, give possible solutions with possible results, and present the solution that was chosen

Narrative texts • Narrative texts aim at entertaining, though they can also teach or inform, or even influence attitudes and social opinions (e. g. soap operas dealing with topical issues). The stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually be resolved.

Narrative texts 2 • Features • Characters with defined personalities/identities. • Dialogues (almost always, but not necessarily). • Descriptive language to create images in the reader's mind and enhance the story.

Narrative texts 3. Structure: • The focus of the text is on a series of actions: – Introduction – Complication – Resolution

Narrative texts 4. Language • • • Action verbs Frequent use of past tense Specific nouns Active nouns (nominalizations) Careful use of adjectives and adverbs; use of connectives • Use of rhetorical devices (metaphor, simile, personification, onomatopoeia)