ENGLISH TEXT & COMMUNICATION
Lesson 1
HTAT
- British English: ‘analyse’ / ‘analyze’
- Verbal metaphor: ‘toolkit’
- Visual metaphor: Russian alphabet?
Blurb: a short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional
purposes
→ aim?
→ target audience?
Brief notes
1) Categorisation:
a) Is this a text, an image or a mixture of the two?
b) What kind of text/image is this?
2) Interpretation:
a) What is the text ‘saying’?
b) How does this particular text produce meaning?
Lesson 2
Text / Discourse distinction
- terms sometimes used interchangeably → but subtle differences
- terms have different origins, histories and scales of reference:
Text:
→ ‘traditionally’
→ written communication
→ single artifact
→ used more in arts and humanities
Discourse:
→ spoken language
→ more extensive communication + whole pattern of thinking, knowing & behaving
→ used more in social sciences
➔ speech (or sound) & writing (or symbol) used to be considered different,
discrete systems
➔ modern communication (digital + multimodal) has created broader focus
◆ inter-connectedness / intertwined nature of speech and writing
increasingly recognized
,Takeaways chapter 1 HTAT
● idiolect → as a ‘set of linguistic fingerprints’ - your unique language habits or
expressions
● your personal language inventory → is larger than you think: you and your
direct environment are a resource for ongoing text analysis → allow yourself to
be intrigued by the language that surrounds you
Archiving
= storing texts of different types; capturing language and fixing it for study
→ foolproof text storage system more important for large-scale research
projects
HTAT chapter 3: sizing up the job
- setting your own agenda becomes more important as you progress through your
studies
- generic WH-question words can seem minor, but address more important issues
in text analysis
- caveat: some questions may be more useful than others, depending on the text
WHAT?
➔ what “happens” in a text is always of interest
➔ pointing to a text’s features is an important part of the way you structure your
analysis
➔ forms evidence for your interpretation
➔ from ‘what?’ to other ‘wh’ questions = moving from describing the contents to
considering which factors determine particular language choices
WHO?
➔ for speech (or other real-time interaction) we ask who the participants are and
what their relationships are to one another (as this affects eg: formality)
➔ written texts on the other hand contain characters rather than participants
◆ useful to conceive of communication in terms of “implied
communicators”
➔ writers (unconsciously or consciously create a narrative voice to address their
audience
➔ this voice makes assumptions about who the reader is
many ‘whos’
- a real writer
- an imaginary narrator
- a real reader
- an implied reader
, WHERE?
3 dimensions of where:
1) geography
→ public notices only make sense because they occur in a particular place
2) formality
→ if a US lawyer has to appear in court in front of a female judge he is married
to, he will still call her “your honor”
3) perspective
→ from what or whose point of view is the topic presented?
WHEN?
➔ time is also an important factor because of changes in language + attitudes
➔ older texts reveal a lot about the values of a previous era
HOW?
➔ how do the languages choices in a text:
◆ work individually
◆ connect with each other + build into a pattern
➔ interpretation required but no single right answer to question of how a text
works
◆ different readers see different things (cultural/personal
background/experience)
◆ meanings are not fixed
WHY?
➔ Why is the language as it is and not some other way?
➔ Did the writer intentionally want to evoke particular associations/ connotations
or is this an unfortunate coincidence?
➔ “why” question takes us beyond the text into sociocultural considerations -
demands extra tentativeness i.e. be careful → reasons complex
→ but complexity should not be off-putting
→ recognising and showing complexity=hallmark of high quality research
FOCUS AND SCOPE
determining a focus = deciding which questions take priority
● focus in text analysis same as in photography i.e. adjusting your sights to get as
sharp a picture as possible of a specific area
● closely connected with scope → how much of the rest of the picture to include
● Scope is often determined by focus: if the focus of the enquiry is clear, then the
scope of the study shouldn’t be too difficult to work out
➔ no fixed pathway for a language exploration
➔ one idea can lead to another, but limit the amount of material chosen
(depth/detail more important than breadth, especially for your
presentations)
Lesson 1
HTAT
- British English: ‘analyse’ / ‘analyze’
- Verbal metaphor: ‘toolkit’
- Visual metaphor: Russian alphabet?
Blurb: a short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional
purposes
→ aim?
→ target audience?
Brief notes
1) Categorisation:
a) Is this a text, an image or a mixture of the two?
b) What kind of text/image is this?
2) Interpretation:
a) What is the text ‘saying’?
b) How does this particular text produce meaning?
Lesson 2
Text / Discourse distinction
- terms sometimes used interchangeably → but subtle differences
- terms have different origins, histories and scales of reference:
Text:
→ ‘traditionally’
→ written communication
→ single artifact
→ used more in arts and humanities
Discourse:
→ spoken language
→ more extensive communication + whole pattern of thinking, knowing & behaving
→ used more in social sciences
➔ speech (or sound) & writing (or symbol) used to be considered different,
discrete systems
➔ modern communication (digital + multimodal) has created broader focus
◆ inter-connectedness / intertwined nature of speech and writing
increasingly recognized
,Takeaways chapter 1 HTAT
● idiolect → as a ‘set of linguistic fingerprints’ - your unique language habits or
expressions
● your personal language inventory → is larger than you think: you and your
direct environment are a resource for ongoing text analysis → allow yourself to
be intrigued by the language that surrounds you
Archiving
= storing texts of different types; capturing language and fixing it for study
→ foolproof text storage system more important for large-scale research
projects
HTAT chapter 3: sizing up the job
- setting your own agenda becomes more important as you progress through your
studies
- generic WH-question words can seem minor, but address more important issues
in text analysis
- caveat: some questions may be more useful than others, depending on the text
WHAT?
➔ what “happens” in a text is always of interest
➔ pointing to a text’s features is an important part of the way you structure your
analysis
➔ forms evidence for your interpretation
➔ from ‘what?’ to other ‘wh’ questions = moving from describing the contents to
considering which factors determine particular language choices
WHO?
➔ for speech (or other real-time interaction) we ask who the participants are and
what their relationships are to one another (as this affects eg: formality)
➔ written texts on the other hand contain characters rather than participants
◆ useful to conceive of communication in terms of “implied
communicators”
➔ writers (unconsciously or consciously create a narrative voice to address their
audience
➔ this voice makes assumptions about who the reader is
many ‘whos’
- a real writer
- an imaginary narrator
- a real reader
- an implied reader
, WHERE?
3 dimensions of where:
1) geography
→ public notices only make sense because they occur in a particular place
2) formality
→ if a US lawyer has to appear in court in front of a female judge he is married
to, he will still call her “your honor”
3) perspective
→ from what or whose point of view is the topic presented?
WHEN?
➔ time is also an important factor because of changes in language + attitudes
➔ older texts reveal a lot about the values of a previous era
HOW?
➔ how do the languages choices in a text:
◆ work individually
◆ connect with each other + build into a pattern
➔ interpretation required but no single right answer to question of how a text
works
◆ different readers see different things (cultural/personal
background/experience)
◆ meanings are not fixed
WHY?
➔ Why is the language as it is and not some other way?
➔ Did the writer intentionally want to evoke particular associations/ connotations
or is this an unfortunate coincidence?
➔ “why” question takes us beyond the text into sociocultural considerations -
demands extra tentativeness i.e. be careful → reasons complex
→ but complexity should not be off-putting
→ recognising and showing complexity=hallmark of high quality research
FOCUS AND SCOPE
determining a focus = deciding which questions take priority
● focus in text analysis same as in photography i.e. adjusting your sights to get as
sharp a picture as possible of a specific area
● closely connected with scope → how much of the rest of the picture to include
● Scope is often determined by focus: if the focus of the enquiry is clear, then the
scope of the study shouldn’t be too difficult to work out
➔ no fixed pathway for a language exploration
➔ one idea can lead to another, but limit the amount of material chosen
(depth/detail more important than breadth, especially for your
presentations)
