English - Categorizing Texts

One of the basic distinctions we can make about texts is whether they belong to the spoken or written mode. However, such a broad differentiation can cause problems if data is not handled carefully and generalised comments about the differences between speech and writing are considered in a simplified manner.
It is important to remember that prototypes are not fixed entities; rather they are subject to renewal and change through experience and interaction with others and are governed by social conventions as to what might be good, less good and bad examples of a particular group.

Context & Audience
Contextual factors may include all those external events and details and information about text producers and receivers that might influence the ways in which a text has been written, spoken, read or listened to.
An important point that you should keep in mind is that context in the study of language relates as much to the context of reception as it does to the context of production. This means carefully considering the situations in which texts are received as well as those in which they are produced. Central to this concept is the idea that an actual reader’s beliefs, knowledge and commutative competence all lend themselves in some degree to establishing the meaning of a text in conjunction with those of the text producer and the wider social and historical contexts in which a text is produced and received. When a text is produced, it may have a target audience.

Individuals & Groups
The importance of an individual’s language ‘make-up’ cannot be underestimated. The term idiolect is used to describe an individual’s distinct language features. Individuals may also form groups with a distinct language style: a socialist. This is the consequence of group membership of a discourse community, which uses language in distinctive ways. Discourse communities may be big (e.g. every secondary school head teacher in England) or small (e.g. a group of three friends). Each discourse community will have shared ways of using language, responding to texts and, of course, the use of a particular sociolect.

Dialect
Regardless of where you live, it is likely that you have some degree of dialect in both your written and spoken language. Although strictly speaking, this term refers to any set of variations in vocabulary and grammar, it is often used to describe regional variation. Dialectal differences, which are the differences in word choice and order, should not be confused with the term accent, which refers to the characteristic pronunciation of sounds by inhabitants of a region.

What is Discourse Structure?

Throughout this unit we have used the word ‘text’ to refer to a stretch of written or spoken data. This word derives from the Latin verb ‘texere’, which means ‘to weave’, and was first used to describe something as ‘being woven’. We still tend to metaphorically think of writing as a kind of fabric, having a pattern and being crafted by a text producer, for example when we speak of a well- crafted novel, or some well- written material.

Spoken Discourse

When a speaker talks for an extended period, we can say that he or she is narrating. Most of us would expect a written narrative to have a clear discourse structure. In the same way, we can apply a method to spoken narratives, which may involve quite detailed storytelling.

The Analysis of Conversation
Conversational analysis provides a method for looking at multi-speaker discourse. This is largely based on the concept of the conversational turn and the basic consequence of that turn, the adjacency pair, which forms an exchange structure. The exchange structure below is a simple example of an adjacency pair integrating an example of turn-taking. This question- answer structure is one of the most common examples of an adjacency pair.

What is Syntax?
Strictly speaking, we can divide the methods of grammar into two sub-methods: morphology and syntax. Whereas morphology is concerned with how words or lexical items are formed from smaller units called morphemes, syntax looks at how lexical items are sequenced into larger units of language. The linguistic rank scale is a neat way of showing the relationship between these units. As we move along the scale from left to right, we can generally say that each unit is structured from those that precede it. So for example lexical items are formed from morphemes, phrases from lexical items and so on. syntax is the level of descriptive analysis that deals with phrases, clauses and sentences.

Sentences
In the same way that phrases make up the larger structure of a clause, clauses are the components of the larger grammatical structure of the sentence. A sentence contains one or more clauses and may be one of the following types:
• Simple – contains one clause
He kicked the ball

• Compound – contains two or more clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions
He kicked the ball and scored a goal
Two clauses – note here that the subject of the second remains the same as the first. These clauses can both stand independently.

• Complex – contains two or more clauses, where one is the main clause and the others(s) a subordinate clause(s). Linking is through subordinating conjunctions. A main clause can stand independently as a unit of meaning and will be a simple sentence in its own right.
Although he was tired, he kicked the ball
Two clauses – the first is dependent on the second to complete a full sense of meaning; the second is a simple sentence in its own right.

• Compound- Complex – contains both coordination and subordination
He kicked the ball and celebrated his goal even though he was tired.
Three clauses with both coordination and subordination present.

Reviewing Word Classes
Noun Phrases
Noun phrases are centred round a noun, which serves as the head word or head noun of the phrase:
1. Kerrang
2. The Times
3. A small island
4. The noisy party
5. The pretty cottage by the sea
No. 2 contains a determiner ‘the’ whereas 3 + 4 contain not only a determiner but also an adjective, which comes before the head word. These are what represent pre-modification, where an adjective is used as a modifier before the head noun. 5 also contains a pre-modifying adjective ‘pretty’ and a head noun ‘cottage’, but also has a further constituent, in this case the qualifier ‘by the sea’ this use of a qualifier after the head noun is known as a post-modifier.

Types of Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs ‘help out’ main verbs in a verb phrase, to signal a shift in tense or to express modality. The primary auxiliaries ‘be’ ‘do’ and ‘have’ often help distinguish tense, for example ‘he was running’ ‘he has run’ whilst modal auxiliaries cover a number of verbs that show possibility or necessity such as ‘may’ ‘could’ ‘will’ ‘should’ and ‘can’.

Shape
The shape of a text often gives an indication of its genre and text producers may rely on a reader’s knowledge of genre convention to help them identify the purpose and meaning of a text
Photographs & Artwork
Photographs and artwork can also provide strong associative meanings and work to produce meanings for a reader.

Typography
Typographical features (such as font sizes and styles) are key graphological features and their use is clearly informed by a text’s purpose and implied readership.

Graphology

Graphology is concerned with the visual elements of a text, both verbal and non-verbal, for example shape, image, colour, space and typography. Some texts, for example media texts, may rely heavily on graphological features to help generate their intended effect. Others may rely on more subtle features as a way of contributing to meaning. Graphology is sometimes neglected by students as being an insignificant method. Whilst it is true that examiners are more likely to reward candidates that have a clear grasp of more complex methods such as grammar and pragmatics, many successful answers to examination texts show a precise and perceptive ability to consider and analyse the graphological features of a text in conjunction with other language-based analysis.
That is to say, that you should always consider how a text’s use of graphology sits with other language-based features such as those of a lexical or grammatical nature.

What are the Language Methods?
The language methods provide us with a way of addressing some of the questions we have faced when trying to discuss formal textual features.
What are the Language Methods?
The language methods provide us with a way of addressing some of the questions we have faced when trying to discuss formal textual features.
Why Use Them?
So far, we have concentrated on how we might classify texts and some of the potential problems inherent in that process. At the moment, however, our comments have been in general terms around issues of formality, register, dialect, audience and purpose. In order for these observations and analyses to be more detailed, another layer of description is needed: language methods.

Lexical Cohesion
Lexical choices can often help to create cohesion within a text. These may be in the form of lexical items that provide structure within the body of a text or those that provide cohesion across smaller stretches such as phrases and sentences.