LLT Assignment 1
, Part A – Text analysis
Text 1: Alex and Laura
The mode of this text is spoken. It is clear from the text that this is a conversation
where the participants are present. Also, there are clear sings of backchannel
behaviour. A few examples from the text are when Laura says ‘’Umm’’, ‘’Ooh’’ and
‘’Mmm hmm.’’. This is an informal (colloquial) conversation because Alex talks about
a new sort of hamburger he has seen in a magazine. The conversation is
spontaneous because when Alex started talking about the new hamburger, Laura’s
first reaction was ‘’Umm OK.’’. That is not a planned reaction. Because of Laura’s
participation, the conversation is interactive. She asks questions whenever she does
not understand what Alex is talking about. The conversation is just between the two
of them and that makes it private. Furthermore, this dialogue is socially-oriented.
The conversation starts off with ‘’When I was in the States…’’. This shows that they
were socializing even before he started talking about this hamburger. Alex merely
shares the weird thing he has come across. He does not necessarily want to bring
over a message about this new hamburger. This text is context-dependent because
in spoken mode, the participants make use of deixis. For example ‘’they’’, ‘’it’’ or
‘’thing’’. To understand what Alex and Laura mean by this, you would need to know
the context of the text and therefore it is context-dependent.
The field of this text is food. In the text you can see the subject-specific lexis that
keeps reappearing. For example: ‘’beef patty’’, ‘’cheddar cheese’’, ‘’donut bun’’. The
semantic field for this text would be ‘food’ because the new concept that is being
discussed is a food. Also, Alex explains exactly what ingredients the new hamburger
consists of. So he constantly mentions all kinds of food.
The function of this text is interpersonal. It is therefore phatic because this
conversation could count as small talk. In the text, there is no indication as to why
, Part A – Text analysis
Text 1: Alex and Laura
The mode of this text is spoken. It is clear from the text that this is a conversation
where the participants are present. Also, there are clear sings of backchannel
behaviour. A few examples from the text are when Laura says ‘’Umm’’, ‘’Ooh’’ and
‘’Mmm hmm.’’. This is an informal (colloquial) conversation because Alex talks about
a new sort of hamburger he has seen in a magazine. The conversation is
spontaneous because when Alex started talking about the new hamburger, Laura’s
first reaction was ‘’Umm OK.’’. That is not a planned reaction. Because of Laura’s
participation, the conversation is interactive. She asks questions whenever she does
not understand what Alex is talking about. The conversation is just between the two
of them and that makes it private. Furthermore, this dialogue is socially-oriented.
The conversation starts off with ‘’When I was in the States…’’. This shows that they
were socializing even before he started talking about this hamburger. Alex merely
shares the weird thing he has come across. He does not necessarily want to bring
over a message about this new hamburger. This text is context-dependent because
in spoken mode, the participants make use of deixis. For example ‘’they’’, ‘’it’’ or
‘’thing’’. To understand what Alex and Laura mean by this, you would need to know
the context of the text and therefore it is context-dependent.
The field of this text is food. In the text you can see the subject-specific lexis that
keeps reappearing. For example: ‘’beef patty’’, ‘’cheddar cheese’’, ‘’donut bun’’. The
semantic field for this text would be ‘food’ because the new concept that is being
discussed is a food. Also, Alex explains exactly what ingredients the new hamburger
consists of. So he constantly mentions all kinds of food.
The function of this text is interpersonal. It is therefore phatic because this
conversation could count as small talk. In the text, there is no indication as to why
