Text Analysis I Summary
2024-2025 | LCX025P05
Week 1
Paltridge, Brian (2012). 'Discourse and genre'. Chapter 4 in 'Discourse analysis: an
introduction, pp. 62-85. Bloomsbury Academic.
What is a genre?
- Genres are ways in which people ‘get things done’ through the use of spoken and written
discourse
- Examples spoken genres: academic lectures and casual conversations
- Examples written genres: newspaper reports and academic essays
- Instances of genre may share a number of features; function/purpose, performed by a particular
person aimed at a particular audience, certain contexts, topics, etc.
- Instances of genre may change, depend on the context, and vary in terms of typicality (it may not
be a typical example of the genre, but still belong to that genre)
Genre definitions
Martin’s (1984): ‘a staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers engage as members
of our culture’
- Genres can be defined in terms of similarities and differences in the discourse structures of the
texts
Swales’ (1990) definition discussed in the lecture: ‘A genre is a class of communicative events with
shared recognizable communicative purposes. These purposes give rise to exploitable constraints
concerning content and form’
- Moves: used to describe the discourse structure of texts
In Miller’s (1984, cited on p.64 of Paltridge’s paper) view genre is defined, not in terms of ‘the
substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish’
- Genre is like ‘a social agreement’ and gets recognized + accepted by other people over time
- Also discusses typification to genre → typical forms a genre might take, as well as typical
content and action that genre performs
- Genres are more than just socially embedded, socially constructive: genres ‘serve as keys to
understanding how to participate in the actions of a community
,Paltridge’s, author of the book, definition: ‘Genres are ways in which people ‘get things done’
through their use of spoken and written discourse’
Assigning a text to a genre category
● We may consider
○ the author and the intended audience of the text
○ Purpose of the text
○ Situation in which the text occurs
○ Physical form
○ Title of the text
○ Pre-sequence (Once upon a time)
○ Discourse structure
○ Content of the text
○ Level of formality
○ Style
○ Spoken or written
● Communicative purpose is an important criterion for deciding whether a text is an instance of a
particular genre, however complex as a text can have multiple purposes and hidden ones
● Genre identification requires a flexible rather than a static view
● Key factor in identifying lies in a perspective on genre based on the notion of prototype rather
than defining features → ‘resources for meaning’ rather than ‘systems of rules’
Relationships between genres
● Genre networks
○ his network shows genres outside of the typical ones research students might assume they
need to be able tot ake part in inorder to succeed in their university students
,● Genre chains
○ Often refer and assume a knowledge of other genres and preceding events
, ● Genre sets
○ It shows the relationship between his original book proposal and the other genres that he
was involved in, and which influenced the production of the final text of his book.
● Repertoires of genres
● Key issue of the above is the way the use of genre may assume/depend on the use of a number of
other interrelated genres
● Knowledge about genres, thus, includes an understanding of ‘the totality of genres available in
the particular sector’ (Swales 2004 : 22), how these genres interact with each other, which genres
a person might choose to perform a particular task and what the typical sequence and hierarchy
2024-2025 | LCX025P05
Week 1
Paltridge, Brian (2012). 'Discourse and genre'. Chapter 4 in 'Discourse analysis: an
introduction, pp. 62-85. Bloomsbury Academic.
What is a genre?
- Genres are ways in which people ‘get things done’ through the use of spoken and written
discourse
- Examples spoken genres: academic lectures and casual conversations
- Examples written genres: newspaper reports and academic essays
- Instances of genre may share a number of features; function/purpose, performed by a particular
person aimed at a particular audience, certain contexts, topics, etc.
- Instances of genre may change, depend on the context, and vary in terms of typicality (it may not
be a typical example of the genre, but still belong to that genre)
Genre definitions
Martin’s (1984): ‘a staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity in which speakers engage as members
of our culture’
- Genres can be defined in terms of similarities and differences in the discourse structures of the
texts
Swales’ (1990) definition discussed in the lecture: ‘A genre is a class of communicative events with
shared recognizable communicative purposes. These purposes give rise to exploitable constraints
concerning content and form’
- Moves: used to describe the discourse structure of texts
In Miller’s (1984, cited on p.64 of Paltridge’s paper) view genre is defined, not in terms of ‘the
substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish’
- Genre is like ‘a social agreement’ and gets recognized + accepted by other people over time
- Also discusses typification to genre → typical forms a genre might take, as well as typical
content and action that genre performs
- Genres are more than just socially embedded, socially constructive: genres ‘serve as keys to
understanding how to participate in the actions of a community
,Paltridge’s, author of the book, definition: ‘Genres are ways in which people ‘get things done’
through their use of spoken and written discourse’
Assigning a text to a genre category
● We may consider
○ the author and the intended audience of the text
○ Purpose of the text
○ Situation in which the text occurs
○ Physical form
○ Title of the text
○ Pre-sequence (Once upon a time)
○ Discourse structure
○ Content of the text
○ Level of formality
○ Style
○ Spoken or written
● Communicative purpose is an important criterion for deciding whether a text is an instance of a
particular genre, however complex as a text can have multiple purposes and hidden ones
● Genre identification requires a flexible rather than a static view
● Key factor in identifying lies in a perspective on genre based on the notion of prototype rather
than defining features → ‘resources for meaning’ rather than ‘systems of rules’
Relationships between genres
● Genre networks
○ his network shows genres outside of the typical ones research students might assume they
need to be able tot ake part in inorder to succeed in their university students
,● Genre chains
○ Often refer and assume a knowledge of other genres and preceding events
, ● Genre sets
○ It shows the relationship between his original book proposal and the other genres that he
was involved in, and which influenced the production of the final text of his book.
● Repertoires of genres
● Key issue of the above is the way the use of genre may assume/depend on the use of a number of
other interrelated genres
● Knowledge about genres, thus, includes an understanding of ‘the totality of genres available in
the particular sector’ (Swales 2004 : 22), how these genres interact with each other, which genres
a person might choose to perform a particular task and what the typical sequence and hierarchy
