English Summary: Text & Communication 2

ENGLISH: TEXT & COMMUNICATION 2
INTRODUCTION

Texts = ubiquitous (everywhere), diverse & complex
 analysis:

 Starts with noticing things: sustained perception
 Not always straightforward but always enriching
 You have to stand back from what you know and see it afresh

 Step 1: categorization (what kind of text)
 step 2: interpretation (what is it saying)

ETYMOLOGY
Text - Literally: thing woven < texere: to weave, to join
- From PIE-root ‘teks-‘: to weave, to make
- Etymologically related to subTLE, architect, TECHnology
Analysis - = resolution of anything complex into simple elements (<-> synthesis)
- From Greek analysis: breaking up, loosening
- From PIE-root ‘leu-‘: to loosen, to divide

TEXT VS DISCOURSE
Text Written communication: single artefact, used more in arts & humanities
Discourse Spoken language: more extensive, used in social sciences

Before: speech (sound) and writing (symbol) = different systems
Now: modern communication (digital + multimodal) = interconnected nature of speech & writing

 multimodality: using multiple forms of interaction alongside another (eg. speech, facial expressions, emojis)

 Speech: here & now, fleeting
 Writing: more removed, spatially distant and permanent
o Digital communication:
 We can write in real time
 We can have a text disappear immediately after viewing it (eg. snapchat)
 We can record speech to exchange with sb far away
 We can record speech for permanent display (eg. youtube)


SOCIAL MEDIA

= form of instant publishing  instant self-promotion?
= place where the writer’s identity is permanently “under construction”
 author ‘curates’: chooses which pictures to use (see Bricoleurs)

HTAT: CHAPTER 1 – 2: GATHERING MATERIALS
Personal language you + your direct environment (larger than you think)

, inventory
Idiolect set of linguistic fingerprints, your unique language habits/expressions
Recording Keeping note of interesting examples of language in everyday life
Archiving Storing the text you found, organizing them

TEXT RELATED QUESTIONS

HTAT: CHAPTER 3: SIZING UP THE JOB


WH-QUESTIONS

What

- What happens in a text: its features  forms evidence for your interpretation
- Describing the content

Who

- Speech: who are the participants & what is their relationship  affects language choices
- Writing: who are the characters & implied communicators  narrative voice

Real writer person who actually wrote the text
Fictionalized writer = narrator: persona that appears to be addressing us from the text
 is constructed through conscious or unconscious language choices from author
Real reader person who actually reads the text
fictionalised reader = narratee: persona that appears to be being addressed from the text (constructed)

Where

- Physical setting for conversation or text
- 3 dimensions:
o Geography: particular place  eg. warning sign for tsunami’s in California, not Belgium
o Formality: formal context  eg. lawyer is married to judge: won’t call her ‘baby’ in court
o Perspective: point of view.  eg. standing on top of artwork or looking to it from above

 Gestalt psychology: backgrounding (recedes, gaat achteruit) vs foregrounding (stands out)
 perspective < Latin perspicere: to look intensively -> origin from visual arts

When

- Time factor: language can change, as well as attitudes
- Text can reveal a lot about the values of a certain era

How

- How the language choices in a text work
o Individually or connected to other elements -> building a pattern
- Interpretation is required: no single right answer
o Different readers see different things (personal background & culture)

Why

- Why is the language as it is and not some other way