Analysing the Written Language

Analysing the Written Language: 

Analysing the Written Language

Spoken and Written English: 

Spoken and Written English Do you know I remember something which er points this up very well something that Gill said and it’s now I suppose er er eight years ago when what’s that Russian chap’s name who was here for a while Whereas speaker L is certainly saying something about this, we can note that he is presenting a detailed, structured orientation from which his comment on the matter has to be appreciated. (both extracts from Brown and Yule 1983, Discourse Analysis, CUP)

What do we mean by “the written language”?: 

What do we mean by “the written language”? No such thing as “written English” ? Compare : CUl8er “Then he saw the young moon rising; under its thin light there loomed before him a black wall of rock, pierced by a dark arch …” £600billion bank debt crisis call Notwithstanding the termination of the hiring under Clause 6 the Hirer shall pay all rent accrued due in respect of the hiring up to the date of such termination and shall be or remain liable in respect of any damage caused to the Owner by reason of any breach by the Hirer of any stipulation herein contained and on the part of the Hirer to be performed or observed.

And another example …: 

And another example … Dear Sue,   Thanks for your message. I've tried all three sets of codes and they seem to be working fine now. I find that it's easier to just "copy" and "paste" the codes from an e-mail rather than typing them out each time.   Please let me know if you are still having problems getting into the course.   Best wishes,

Genre: 

Genre Each genre (or discourse type) will have it’s own specific features, which an experienced reader /writer will recognise intuitively

Fiction – novels, short stories: 

Fiction – novels, short stories Attention grabbing opening sentences - When Mr Bilbo Baggins … announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday … Use of direct speech - “Splendid!” said Frodo Descriptive language - …a black wall of rock, pierced by a dark arch … Flashbacks – Bilbo … had been the wonder of the Shire for sixty years, ever since his remarkable disappearance and unexpected return etc (all quotes from Lord of the Rings, Tolkien)

Business Letters and E-mails: 

Business Letters and E-mails Neutral to formal style Conventional opening and closing moves Opening – salutation; reference to situation and/or previous communication Closing – offer of further help; “optimistic” reference to future contact/action; salutation Reported rather than direct speech (if necessary) Conventional phrases to perform common functions and moves : With reference to … We regret / are pleased to inform you that … We should be grateful if you could… I look forward to … Etc

Reports: 

Reports Impersonal style, neutral to formal. Conventional layout - sections, headings, use of bullet points etc Conventional information organisation : Scope; Analysis; Recommendations; Conclusions; etc ….. etc

Premise : 

Premise Discourse (rhetorical) features of texts may be culturally determined. Therefore our students may not share our assumptions about what the conventional features of a well-written text are. Example : Italian / English newspaper articles

Italian /English Newspaper Articles: 

Italian /English Newspaper Articles ATENE - Spari nella notte ad Atene. Vittime dell'agguato, due poliziotti. ATHENS – Shots in the night in Athens. Victims of the attack, two policemen. (La Repubblica) A Greek riot policeman has been left seriously injured after being shot in central Athens. (BBC website)

Another example …: 

Another example … MILANO - Sul monitor appare la pagina di un quadernetto cinquecentesco. Le parole corrono da destra a sinistra, il tratto di Leonardo è inconfondibile. MILANO – On the screen a page from a fifteenth century notebook appears.The words run from right to left – it’s unmistakeably Leonardo. (Corriere della Sera) Rome - A previously unknown portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, which shows the artist and inventor as a middle-aged man with long hair, has been found. The painting, right, was discovered in a collection belonging to a family in Basilicata, Italy. (The Times)

The Japanese Example - 1: 

The Japanese Example - 1 Typical information organisation in English argumentative discourse is deductive : starting with a statement of the main point and then developing a logical argument to back it up. Japanese and Chinese discourse tends to be inductively organised : the information given leads to a final statement of the main argument. See sentences 6 and 17

The Japanese Example - 2: 

The Japanese Example - 2 In an English text the guiding argument will be clear from the beginning. In a Japanese text it will only emerge at the end (see sentence 17)

The Japanese Example - 3: 

The Japanese Example - 3 English argumentative discourse will be divided into paragraphs. Each paragraph will deal with one point, often summarised in an opening topic sentence. All the information relevant to that point will be included in that paragraph and there will be a clear logical connection between points made – a linear development of the argument. The aim is to convey information and convince. Japanese text is more flexible. Ideas can be included in any order, and the aim is to create an emotional impact rather than to present a logical argument. It therefore appears to the English NS reader that sentences 10-16 are out of order

Hinds (1987) claims that …: 

Hinds (1987) claims that … English is a writer-responsible language : it is the writer’s job to ensure the reader understands exactly what s/he means and is convinced by the presentation of the argument South Asian languages (Chinese, Thai, Japanese) are reader-responsible. The reader is invited to consider the facts presented and decide.

Other examples…: 

Other examples… Wang (2002, 2004) analysed Chinese and English “letters to the editor”. English text relied on evidence to support claims, Chinese texts appealed to needs and values and emphasised consequences. Use of metatext (eg connective expressions which “explain” to the reader how to understand the text – eg however, firstly, This means that … etc) far less common in written discourse in Finnish than in English (Mauranen, Anna 1993. Cultural differences in academic rhetoric).

Teaching Writing: 

Teaching Writing When teaching students to write you need to be teaching them to produce specific discourse types The T needs to be fully aware of the discourse features of the different genres which s/he wants the Ss to write. S/he also needs to know about or be sensitive to the possibility of different conventions in the Ss own language.

Teaching Writing – An Approach: 

Teaching Writing – An Approach Analysis of models of the discourse type (genre) to be produced – various features looked at in turn Ss given practice in the individual features in isolation and gradually asked to incorporate them into full texts.

Bibliography: 

Bibliography Brown and Yule (1983), Discourse Analysis, CUP Hinds, (1987). Reader versus writer responsibility: a new typology. In Connor and Kaplan (eds), Writing across Languages: Analysis of L2 Text, Addison-Wesley Mauranen (1993) Cultural differences in academic rhetoric: a text-linguistic study. Frankfurt am Main: Lang Wang (2004) A contrastive analysis of letters to the editor in Chinese and English. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Vol. 27 (1).