Specialised Discourse

Mod A

Specialised discourse

SPECIAL LANGUAGE

SPECIFIC LANGUAGE

SPECIALIZED LANGUAGE

ITALIAN:

LINGUE SPECIALI

≠/=

LINGUAGGI SPECIALISTICI

≠/=

LINGUAGGI SETTORIALI

SPECIALISTIC CONCEPTS

TEXTUALIZATION

VERBAL CODE NOVERBAL CODE

SPECIFIC FRENCH TEXT FORMULAS

SPECIFIC ENGLISH TEXT CHARTS

SPECIFIC ITALIAN TEXT GRAPHS

ETC…ETC…

STYLE

MODEFROZENFORMALCONSULTATIVECASUAL

WRITTENDOCUMENTS:STATUTES

insurances policiesBRIEFS

contractsAPPELLATE OPINIONS

landlord-tenant

leases

wills

SPOKEN-MARRIAGE CEREMONIESLawyers’ examinationsLay witnesses’ testimony

COMPOSEDINDICTMENTS of witnesses in trials

WITNESSES’ OATHS and depositions

PATTERN INSTRUCTIONSLawyers’ arguments,

VERDICTS motions in trial

Expert witnesses’

testimony

SPOKEN-LAWYER-CLIENTLOBBY

SPONTANOUS INTERACTION CONFE-

BENCH CONFERENCES RENCES

LAWYER-

LAWYER

CONVERSATION

THE COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLE (Grice 1975)

MAKE YOUR CONVERSATIONAL CONTRIBUTION SUCH AS IS REQUIRED, AT THE STAGE AT WHICH IT OCCURS, BY THE ACCEPTED PURPOSE OR DIRECTION OF THE TALK EXCHANGE IN WHICH YOU ARE ENGAGED.

THE 4 MAXIMS:

QUANTITY

MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION AS INFORMATIVE AS IS REQUIRED (FOR THE CURRENT PURPOSES OF THE EXCHANGE).
DO NOT MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION MORE INFORMATIVE THAN IS REQUIRED.

QUALITY TRY TO MAKE YOUR CONTRIBUTION ONE THAT IS TRUE

DO NOT SAY WHAT YOU BELIEVE TO BE FALSE
DO NOT SAY THAT FOR WHICH YOU LACK ADEQUATE EVIDENCE

RELATION BE RELEVANT

MANNER BE PERSPICUOUS

AVOID OBSCURITY OF EXPRESSION
AVOID AMBIGUITY
BE BRIEF (AVOID UNNECESSARY PROLIXITY)
BE ORDERLY

CONTEXT

referential function

ADDRESSER MESSAGE ADDRESSEE

------

emotive function poetic function conative function

CONTACT

phatic function

CODE

metalingual function

The pragmatic functions of communication

JAKOBSON (1966)

HALLIDAY (1978)

MODE = channel

FIELD = object of communication

TENOR = relation among participants

Example:

Patient (to the nurse):” Good morning, I must have my tonsils removed.”

Nurse (to the doctor): “ There is a patient for a tonsillectomy.”

LEXICAL FEATURES (Gotti 1991)

MONOREFERENTIALITYSYNONYMITY

LACK OF EMOTIONMETAPHOR

PRECISIONAMBIGUITY

TRANSPARENCYIMPRECISION

CONCISENESSREDUNDANCY

CONSERVATISMSEMANTIC INSTABILITY

METAPHOR

METAPHOR GIVES TRANSPARENCY, CONCISENESS AND PRECISENESS

Transparency through similes and semantic associations

“l’atomo è un sistema solare in miniatura”

Conciseness through schemata and background

“una prova geometrica è una trappola per topi”

Preciseness through loans from common language or other special codes

(CATACHRESIS = to fill in semantic gaps)

“economic depression”

VOCABULARY IN ESP

Six categories of vocabulary (Baker -1988):

items which express notions general to all specialised disciplines;
general language items that are used to describe or comment on technical processes or functions in preference to other items with the same meaning, for example occur rather than happen;
general language items that have a specialised meaning in one or more disciplines;
specialised items that have different meanings in different disciplines;
general language items that have restricted meanings in different disciplines;
items with only one meaning.

1 – 2 - 3semi-technical vocabulary : nouns factor, method, function, cycle; evaluative adjectives relevant, important, interesting; verbs accept, advise, agree, suggest, occur; collocations make a booking, launch a campaign.

4 – 5 > technical vocabulary : bug in computer science; force, acceleration, energy in physics; stress and strain in mechanics and engineering.

6 >Monoreferential vocabulary >: bit, byte, carbon, liver

VOCABULARY IN ESP

We have to focus on semi-technical vocabulary in terms of COLLOCATIONS and LEXICAL PHRASES

COLLOCATION refers to the way words appear together with each other and describes the company that a word keeps (also defined as LEXICAL SET) – strong or powerful + argument; present findings rather than show findings

LEXICAL PHRASES are phrases that always appear in the same form and are frequently used in certain situations – by pure coincidence, the table suggests that ...; as shown in the diagram; sales fell sharply.

ex.: The variation of these ratios presents some insight about the financial intermediary

or .: The variation of these ratios offers some insight into the financial intermediary

COLLOCATIONS

Newspaper

As a newly qualified teacher at a comprehensive school in Wiltshire, every day Joe faces the challenge of gaining the respect of a class of 15-year-old. Joe, 26, admits it is a tough challenge but thinks he is winning the battle. Joe, who teaches English and media studies and coaches a school football team, will qualify fully in July, pending the results of his lesson assessments. With this milestone passed, and the increased financial stability it will bring, Joe will turns his thoughts to buying his first home

A film review

“The Interpreter”

She has a gift for languages, which brings her to the UN. She wants to make a difference. She is idealistic in that single-minded, dedicated manner associated with freedom fighters. Silvia (Nicole Kidman) remains an enigma. When Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) begins to investigate her, he is faced with a blank sheet. She is beautiful, blonde, lissom and lithe. She lives alone, has no lover, rides a Vespa throughout New York and works all day, providing simultaneous translation for delegates. She has an odd accent, which, like everything else about her, is difficult to pin down

“The Interpreter”

PRE-MODIFICATION

Ex.:

An L-shaped computer room Vs A room for computers which has the shape

of an L.

The driver’s overrapid downhill driving of the bus caused brake failure Vs The driver drove the bus too rapidly down the hill so the brakes failed)

richness in meaning but risk of ambiguity

Ex.:

1) The rate at which inflation grows

The rate of inflation growth

The inflation growth rate

2) A pentagon is a figure which has five sides

A pentagon is a figure with five sides

A pentagon is a five-sided figure

3) A train which carries passengers

A train for carrying passengers

A passenger-carrying train (or A passenger train)

4) An engine which is driven by diesel oil

An engine driven by diesel oil

A diesel (oil)-driven engine (or A diesel engine)

______

1) A small car factory

a)A small factory for making cars

b)A factory for making small cars

A small car-factory (=A small factory for making cars)

A small-car factory (=A factory for making small cars)

2) Disease causing poor nutrition

a) Poor nutrition that causes disease

b) A disease that causes poor nutrition

3) A man eating shark

a) A shark that eats humans

b) A man who is eating shark meat

4)Three hundred year old trees

a) An indeterminate number of trees that are 300 years old

b) 3 trees that are 100 years old

c) 300 trees that are 1 year old

NOMINALISATION

Huddelston (corpus 1971)3,926 forms of the verb 'to be'

3,665 occurances of active verbs

Barber (corpus 1985)' to be' accounts for 45% of all verbs in the present tense

“A high primary productivityis almost invariably related to a high crop yield. High productivitycan be achievedby ensuring that all the light which falls on the field is intercepted by the leaves, and that photosynthesis itself is as efficient as possible. Greater efficiencyin photosynthesis could perhaps be achieved by selecting against photorespiration.” (Chrispeels and Sadava, 1977: 198-9)

more objectified form

use of the verb “to be”

verbs’ weakness

lexical density

A high primary productivityis almost invariably related to a high crop yield. High productivitycan be achievedby ensuring that all the light which falls on the field is intercepted by the leaves, and that photosynthesis itself is as efficient as possible. Greater efficiencyin photosynthesis could perhaps be achieved by selecting against photorespiration.

The crop produces a large amountof primary products. You can largely produceyour crop only if the leaves intercept all the light which falls on the field and if photosynthesis itself is as efficient as possible. Photosynthesis could be more efficient if youselect against photorspiration

LEXICAL DENSITY (content words)

The complete development of the fracture model

requires

an understanding of the bond-rupture reaction

NSVS NS

post-modificationpre-modification

nominalisation

NOMINALISATION AND LEXICAL DENSITY

glass cracks more quickly the harder you press
cracks in glass grow faster the more pressure is put on
glass crack growth is faster if greater stress is applied
the rate of glass crack growthdependsonthe magnitude of the applied stress
glass crack growth rateis associatedwith applied stress magnitude

1. SEMI-TECHNICAL LEVEL (semi-binding structure)

changing in:

- tenor

- nominalisation

- passive Vs active

- objectivity

5.TECHNICAL LEVEL (highly-binding structure)

COMPLEXITY AND LENGTH OF A SENTENCE/1

Ex.:

This Agreement, effective as of the first day of April 1987, between Dale Johnson Ryder Warren, an Association organized and existing under the laws of Switzerland (“Grantor”), its successor and assigns, and DJRW Johnson Ryder Simpson &C., its successor and assigns (“Member Firm”)…

Ex.:

The tenant will pay for all gas and electric light and power which shall be consumed on or supplied to the Property during the tenancy and the amount of the water rate charged in respect of the Property during the tenancy and the amount of all charges made for the use of the telephone (if any) on the Property during the tenancy or a proper proportion of the amount of the rental or other recurring charges to be assessed to the duration of the tenancy.

COMPLEXITY AND LENGTH OF A SENTENCE/2

The surface structure of a sentence is:

NS+VS+NS

Scientific analysis: to follow, to be due to, to suggest, to show

Stative verbs: to consist of, to mean, to become, to depend,

to represent, to form, to request, to require, etc.

Equative BE: the relationship between subject and nominal

part gives an equivalence, that is X=Y

COMPLEXITY AND LENGTH OF A SENTENCE/3

Barber (1962)

27,6 words/sentence

the average of words per sentence in scientific texts

Gustafsson (1975)

55 words/sentencein English legal texts

28 words/sentencein English scientific texts

6-7 words/sentencein English oral texts

TENSES (Barber, 1962 -expository texts-)

Present Simple Active64%
Present Simple Passive25%
Future Simple Active3.7%
Present Perfect Passive1.7%
Present Perfect Active1.4%
Past Simple Active1.2%
Past Simple Passive 1.2%
Future Simple Passive0.7%
Present Progressive Active0.6%

10.Imperative0.3%

THE PASSIVE FORM

Ex.:

We can divide 9 by 3 without a remainder

9 can be divided by 3 without a remainder

9 is divisible by 3 without a remainder

The division of 9 by 3 leaves no remainder

Ex.:

The research is based on a precise analysis of data. (no agent mentioned)

Mr. X has based his research on a precise analysis of data.

DEPERSONALIZATION

In academic writing we avoid uses of ‘you’. So, in the sentence below, the more informal 'give you' has been replaced with ‘provide’:

Neither qualitative interviews nor focus groups are likely togive youeasily quantifiable, factual or objective data.

Neither qualitative interviews nor focus groups are likely toprovideeasily quantifiable, factual or objective data.

Asyou can seefrom the data, two-thirds of respondents are satisfied with the current provision.

Ascan be seenfrom the data, two-thirds of respondents are satisfied with the current provision.

A more concise reformulation is:

The datashow thattwo-thirds of respondents are satisfied with the current provision.

MODAL AUXILIARIES

MUST/ HAVE TO and SHOULD > obligation and logical inference

/suggestion

MAY and MIGHT> permission and probability/suggestion

CAN and COULD >ability and possibility

WILL>prediction

MODAL AUXILIARIES in PRAGMATICS

MODALITY is a semantic category which reflects sender's attitude towards what is expressed in the message, or better, different levels of speaker's certainty.

EPISTEMIC VALUE : what is/is not true and/or certain

DYNAMIC VALUE: what someone is/is not able to do

DEONTIC VALUE: what is/is not necessary and/or obligatory

MODAL AUXILIARIES IN ESP

Ex.:

1) If employment increases, then, in short period, the reward per unit in terms of wage-goods must, in general, decline and profits increase (logical inference).

2) Mr Bush has had to make several big concessions (obligation BUT external, not endorsed by the speaker).

3) These conclusions should be applied to the kind of economy in which we actually live (obligation endorsed by the speaker).

4) "Only at this point there can be stable equilibrium" or "This level cannot be greater than full employment" (possibility/ability = certainty).

Profits can/could rise by more than 15% this quarter (possibility).

5) The airlines may/might yet opt for a weaker alliance (no certainty).

Things will get worse over the next three years, as Samsung gradually adds the capacity to make 500,000 cars a year (certainty).

Analyse this text and identify any specialised features:

It's interesting to consider the difference between mouse-driven desktop design and gesture-driven touchscreen design here. Desktop websiteshave a strong guideline to avoid horizontal scrolling. But for touch-screens, horizontal swipesare often fine. Indeed, mobile-device users typically expect to horizontally swipe their way through a carousel. Of course, this is just one more example of the meta-guideline that sufficiently different platforms require different user interface designs. This, again, is the underlying reason that mobile sites perform better than full sites when used on a mobile device.

Compare these two sentences:

The government banned smoking in public places in 2007. Since then, fewer people have been admitted to hospital for smoking-related diseases.

The ban on smoking in public places in 2007has led toa fall in hospital admissions for smoking-related diseases.

'the ban on smoking in public places in 2007' is a nominalisation of the verb phrase 'banned smoking in public places in 2007';

'a fall in hospital admissions for smoking-related diseases' is a nominalisation of'fewer people have been admitted to hospital for smoking-related diseases'.

Nominalisations convey an objective, impersonal tone.

Nominalisations can also make the text more concise because they can pack a great deal of information (lexical density) in a few words.

TEXT (HALLIDAY-HASAN, 1989)

“A text is characterised by coherence (continuità di senso); it hangs together. At any point after the beginning, what has gone before provides the environment for what is coming next. This sets up internal expectations; and these are matched up with the expectations referred to earlier, that listener or reader brings from the external sources, from the context of situation and of culture.”

TEXTURE (HALLIDAY-HASAN, 1989)

(tessitura)

THESE COHESIVE RELATIONS GIVE TEXTURE TO TEXTS. IF A TEXT HAS TEXTURE IT IS A REAL TEXT

TEXTURE IS EXPRESSED BY EITHER COHESION MARKERS OR IMPLICIT SEMANTIC RELATIONS

Ex: Wash and core six cooking apples. Put THEM into a fireproof dish.

Ex: Milk finished! Gone to the supermarket.

Ex: A > The bell is ringingB> I’m in the bathroom

CONDIZIONI DI TESTUALITA’

Affinché un evento comunicativo sia realmente un testo, deve soddisfare le 7 condizioni di testualità:

COESIONE

COERENZA

INTENZIONALITA’

ACCETTABILITA’

INFORMATIVITA’

SITUAZIONALITA’

INTERTESTUALITA’

COESIONE/1 (G.Brown-G.Yule)

La coesione testuale riguarda invece l’insieme delle risorse linguistiche di superficie a disposizione di ogni lingua per collegare semanticamente una parte del testo con un’altra. Lavora sul piano sintattico, poiché può essere lessicale e/o grammaticale ed è costituita da legami coesivi quali: RELAZIONI COREFERENZIALI (ANAFORA E CATAFORA, SOSTITUZIONE ED ELLISSI) e CONNETTIVI TESTUALI.

RELAZIONI COREFERENZIALI

a)ESOFORICA: Look at that!

b)ENDOFORICA:

anaforicaLook at the sun. It’s going down

quickly.

cataforicaIt’s going down quickly, the sun.

COESIONE/2 (G.Brown-G.Yule)

RELAZIONI COREFERENZIALI (cont.)

c) forma ripetuta: The Prime Minister recorded her thanks to the Foreign Secretary. The Prime Minister was most eloquent.

d) forma parzialmente ripetuta: Dr. E.C.R. Reeve chaired the meeting. Dr. Reeve invited Mr. Philips to report on the state of the gardens.

e) sostituzione lessicale: Ro’s daughter is ill again. The child is hardly ever well.

f) forma pronominale: Ro said she would have to take Sophie to the doctor.

g) forma sostituita: Jules has a birthday next month.

Elspeth has one, too.

h) forma elisa: Jules has a birthday next month.

Elspeth has too.

COESIONE/3 (G.Brown-G.Yule)

MARCATORI DIadditiva: and, or, furthermore, similarly,

COESIONEo in addition

CONNETTIVI

TESTUALIavversativa: but, however, on the other hand,

nevertheless

causale:so, consequently, for this reason, it follows from this

temporale:then, after that, an hour later, finally, at last

USE OF CONNECTORS

Huddelston et al. (1968)

Connective elements in a corpus of scientific texts:

- deduction: therefore, thus….33%

- contrastive : but, however….23%

- certainty or doubt : of course, possibly…16%

- semantic continuity : and, moreover….. 9%

- exemplification : for example, in particular 8%

2. COERENZA

La coerenza testuale non è una proprietà intrinseca del testo ma viene costruita dall’emittente del testo in collaborazione con il destinatario nel collegamento logico delle frasi all’interno di un dato contesto di interpretazione. Lavora sul piano semantico e si realizza grazie ai rapporti di casualità, scopo, successione temporale, alle relazioni di causa-effetto e all’ordine logico.

Ex: Milk finished! Gone to the supermarket.

A B

Ex: Jack fell down and broke his head > A causes B

Jack fell down and drove his head > A ? B

3. INTENZIONALTA’

Si riferisce a tutti i mezzi utilizzati da chi produce il testo per perseguire e realizzare le proprie intenzioni >forza illocutiva dell’emittente.

Ex: A > The bell is ringingB> I’m in the bathroom

4. ACCETTABILITA’