Categorising Texts Revision (1)
Objectives
•To be able to accurately identify G.A.P., including multiple audiences
and/or purposes
•To be able to recognise key linguistic features in texts
Grouping – reading through the texts
1. Read through each text.
2. Identify the G.A.P. for each text. (for spoken texts: situation, participants, roles)
Tip: remember to carefully read any information given about the texts
and consider whether a text has multiple audiences / purposes.)
3. Identify the register and mode (spoken / written) of each text.
Tip: Don’t forget texts can have mixed register or combine written and spoken
elements (e.g. chatroom language, planned speech).
4. Identify the most salient (noticeable and significant) linguistic features in the
text and how they suit the text’s G.A.P.
Categorising Texts Revision (2)
Objectives
•To be able to group texts in several ways
•To be able to identify differences within groupings
•To be able to relate linguistic features to g.a.p. when grouping
Grouping texts – some possible groupings
register
(formality)
mode
feature of language, e.g.
Context-bound/deixis
Possible groupings
audience
purpose
context
topic
•specialist lexis
•coinages
•imperatives
•politeness features
•minor sentences
•reference to shared
cultural knowledge
(etc.)
non-Standard English
• Try to write about four (or at least three) groupings.
• At least two of these should be linguistically-based groupings
Writing about a grouping
State the grouping:
which texts?
reason for grouping them together?
Explain how each text belongs in this grouping:
exemplify language features
relate features to g.a.p./p.r.s.
Compare the texts:
the extent to which they have the feature you’ve grouped them for
the reasons for them having this feature
Mention overlaps and grey areas:
are there any texts that ‘only just’ fit into this grouping?
are there others that ‘with a push’ could have been included?
Writing about a grouping – an example
I would group Texts A, B and C together as they
all contain elements of spoken language.
State grouping
Text A contains fillers like ‘you know’. This is
because it is unplanned speech between friends.
Text B also contains fillers (‘…well…’) but these
features have been scripted in order to make the
implied speaker’s ‘voice’ sound conversational and
friendly. This is done in order to win over the reader
as the text’s purpose is to persusade them to buy.
Text C is authentic speech but contains very few
non-fluency features. This is most likely to be
because the things the speaker, a teacher, is
saying, like ‘Coats off’, are part of a daily routine
and are therefore habitual.
Explain why texts belong
in it
Text D, the email is written but contains some
speechlike features, such as false starts and
ellipses ‘did you see him – I’d have thought
you would have…?’ This is likely to be because
the email has not been planned and is between
people who know each other well. In this sense it is
closer to natural speech than Text B and perhaps
even Text C.
Exemplify with quotes
Relate features in texts
to G.A.P./P.R.S.
Compare texts in grouping
Be tentative
Mention overlaps and grey areas