textual variations and representations

Question 1

texts can vary according to…

Answer 1

• the larger scale linguistic concepts of
• audience(s)
• genre
• purpose(s)
• mode
• context
• tone
• register

Question 2

textual variations: audience(s)

Answer 2

• can be defined by audience’s values and interests and demographic factors e.g. age, gender, social class etc.

Question 3

What is meant by the term ‘audience positioning’

Answer 3

• assumption made in the text about the readers background knowledge, understanding, attitudes and values to guide them towards an interpretation

Question 4

what is meant by the term ‘audience address’

Answer 4

• how text producers address their text receivers

Question 5

textual variation: purpose(s)

Answer 5

• some texts are exclusively informational while others are entirely social
• most have elements of both

Question 6

textual variation: genre

Answer 6

• texts can be grouped according to their types (genres)

- they can often belong to more than one genre

Question 7

textual variation: mode

Answer 7

• whether a text is written or spoken w/ ordinary spontaneous conversation at one extreme and formal written at the other (prototype, continuum and oppositional model)

Question 8

textual variation: tone or level of formality

Answer 8

• texts can be placed somewhere on a scale firm

- informal to formal tone

Question 9

textual variation: register

Answer 9

• a variety of language associated w/ a particular situation of use e.g. place, time and context where communication takes place

Question 10

textual variation: context

Answer 10

• to what extent does the meaning depend on the context

Question 11

who is Martin Joos (1962)

Answer 11

• american linguist who distinguished between five different levels of tone (formality)
• frozen, formal, consultative, casual and intimate level

Question 12

frozen level: Martin Joos 1962

Answer 12

• characterised by a set of phrases revised in a ceremonial, ritual or conventional situation e.g prayers in Mass

Question 13

formal level: Martin Joos 1962

Answer 13

• normally used by speaker addressing an audience where interaction and interruptions aren’t normally permitted
• formal register used e.g planned speech

Question 14

consultative level: Martin Joos 1962

Answer 14

• normally used in exchanges between people who aren’t friends, family (or acquaintances) but when conversation is the norm e.g. interactions w/ a shop clerk

Question 15

casual level: Martin Joons 1962

Answer 15

• used between people who know well in informal settings; may include colloquialisms w/ interruptions e.g. groups of friends in class

Question 16

intimate level: Martin Joos 1962

Answer 16

• reserved for private communication w/ close friends and family
• may include code or invented words ( linked w/ familect)

Question 17

what is a metaphor

Answer 17

• tacit comparison which a meaning normally associated w/ one thing is applied to something else
• way a text uses a metaphor can be an indicator of what kind of text it is

Question 18

what is an implied meaning

Answer 18

• where you have to read between the lines to get the underlying meaning or subtext of a text or transcript

Question 19

what is a subtext

Answer 19

• underlying or implied meaning of a text

Question 20

What is synthetic personalisation

Answer 20

• linguist Norman Fairclough (1995) defines it as ‘‘the simulation of private, face-to-face, person to person discourse in public mass-audience discourse’’
• essentially imitating the effect of someone addressing you personally, rather than as a mass
  e. g. horoscopes

Question 21

what is a discourse marker

Answer 21

• words, phrases or clauses that help to organise what we say or write e.g. ok, so etc.

Question 22

what is a tag question

Answer 22

• a short question used at the end of a sentence, often inviting agreement w/ the speaker

Question 23

representation definition

Answer 23

• the portrayal of events, people and circumstances through language and other meaning-making resources (e.g. images and sound) to create a way of seeing the world

Question 24

normalisation definition

Answer 24

• the process of forming nouns through other word classes e.g. verbs and adjectives (helps to create concepts e.g. country mice and house mice

Question 25

stereotype definition

Answer 25

• oversimplified representation of a person, group, institution or event

Question 26

hegemony definition

Answer 26

• how one social group can use language to get other people to accept its way of seeing the world as natural e.g. newspapers do this often in their portrayal of any minority – can be done by using certain adjectives etc.

Question 27

pejorative term definition

Answer 27

• a judgemental term that usually implies disapproval or criticism

Question 28

ideology definition

Answer 28

• a set/ system of relatd ideas, ideas can consist of ideals, beliefs, attitudes, doctrines,myths

Question 29

linguistic relativity definition

Answer 29

• idea that the language we use to talk and write about things can determine the way we think about them

Question 30

stigmatise definition

Answer 30

• to mark someone or something out as disgraceful or shameful

Question 31

reappropriation definition

Answer 31

• reclaiming a word or phrase that has come to mean something insulting and using it as if its normal or even complimentary