Language and Situation Field, Mode and Tenor (Halliday). Flashcards
Outline Halliday’s argument.
In any particular situation there are three key factors in the context that affect the choices we make from the language system: the field, the tenor and the mode.
Outline Field.
The content or subject matter. In schools, field will vary depending on the curriculum area and the topic being studies. Pragmatics will be significantly different from Finite State Machines.
Outline Tenor.
Refers to the roles we take (Student, parent or teacher etc) and the relationships we have with others in that particular situation.
Outline mode.
The channel of communication being used: the mode and the medium.
e.g. oral or written.
Define Register.
The register of a situation is Field, Mode and Tenor.
However it can also mean a variety of language defined according to the characteristics of the situation.
Define Genre.
When talking about register, we are considering the language choices made in response to a particular situation (the context of a situation). At a global level, we need to consider the relationship between language and the broader context of culture. The language system evolves within the context of a certain culture (including beliefs, values and behaviours) to meet the needs of that culture. Our language choices will therefore be sensitive tot hat cultural context as well as the context of a particular situation within that culture. When speaking of culture, we don’t necessarily mean national cultures rather, discourse communities.
Define context of cultures.
The broad cultural context within which we use language for purposes such as explaining, recounting, describing and so on, depending on the discourse community - in our case the community of schooling.
