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LINGUA INGLESE 2 – SABATINI
18/02
We can’t talk about a language of tourism, but we have to talk about the Languages of tourism; tourism as a
field of linguistic specialization is quite different from others discourses. In we think of the discourse for
example of law, of sciences, each language as normally a set of definitive rules and a lexis which is more or
less the same. In tourism there are many sets, many different kinds of texts, and each has its own language,
its own function. We can microscopically divide these texts into two main categories:
1- PROMOTIONAL TEXTS – texts about the promotion of tourism; of a destination, of a hotel; it is
closely connected to advertising, because the most important function is persuasive, to persuade the
reader to buy a product. It is not only a linguistic phenomenon but also an economic one, but also
social and psychological.
2- SPECIALISED TEXTS – texts that are meant for experts; legal texts, contracts, tickets.
Within the promotional texts we have a major section given by advertising, it is something aim selling a
product considering all social, economic and psychological factors.
TOURISM is a deliberate purchase in which limited financial resources are invested in buying time to visit a
chosen resort. LAWS 2003
Deliberate: it is not an essential good; in times of financial and economic crises tourism has developed
further linguistic strategies to persuade the reader, in order to make the reader fell that such holiday, such a
journey is essential and important.
Chosen: is a free chose of the potential costumer.
Tourism is not essential for our life, it needs lots of strategy when written.
The INDUSTRY OF TOURISM is designed to attract as many costumer as possible in order to make a
profit.
Tourist organizations need to sell the same product on different markets and to different costumers and so
different types of information must be provided.
It is a linguistic phenomenon but it starts a an economical one. Achieved also through language; the first, the
most important element to be considered.
Different markets: a promotional champagne about Italy for example, must attract potential tourists will be
different according to the country it is for. This has nothing to do with language itself, but has obviously to
do with culture. LOCALIZATION: to translate a text in another language and another culture. Advertising
requires a deep knowledge of the culture of the target country.
Different DISCIPLINES are involved in the progress and employed in an interconnected way:
Marketing
Gastronomy
Business studies
Religion
Psychology
Archeology
Sociology
Architecture
Sports
Landscape
Entertainment
Cityscape
History
Linguistics
History of the arts
Pragmatics
Each of them have its own micro-language, and the tourist texts employed them all together in an
interconnected way. The author of tourist text need to understand how a linguistic message can work onto
the mind of a potential costumer.
1- Multimodal language: English is used to communicate a definite message; tourism combine
colloquial and formal English.
2- Network of interrelations: there are several levels; connection but also interrelations of disciplines,
discourses and cultures.
3- Interwoven verbal and iconic elements: advertising applies to all genres connected to promotion. The
text can describe an image (importance and relevance).
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HYPERTEXT : web-text/websites. The main features of hypertext:
Information is carefully chosen and designed to attract attention by disturbing any process of predictable
reading on the screen in a conventional way. The reader must be surprised, not lose interest: persuading
functions.
GENRES: inherently dynamical rhetorical structures which often interact one another in order to create a
HYBRID FORM. The languages of tourism reflect all resources and aspect of the tourism industry.
The language of tourism is a type of specialized discourse which is realized in a complex dynamic system
and is thus subject to the pressures of several linguistic and contextual factors, meant of which of a crosscultural nature.
Language is the most powerful driving force in the field of tourism. Its aim is to persuade, lure, woo and
seduce millions of humans beings and, in so doing, convert them from potential into actual clients. DANN
1996
The Tourism Advisory Committee identified tourism as “a cross cutting sector involving a big diversity of
services and professions linked to many others economic activities and policy areas.”
All of these cross-references and multiple factor are provided by language and reflected in language.
Tourism in all of its aspects, influences its own language and, at the same time, the language of tourism
influence the tourism industry itself. There is a double cost effect situation.
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SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE: it works in the interaction between specialists where shared knowledge and
standardized procedures and processes are mirrored in the specific expressions and codified textual genres
adopted in the professional domain.
Tourism is a specialized discourse, but at the same time he is not: because it shares of the specific linguistic
characteristic and features of any specialized discourse but it exploit also colloquial language, idiomatic
expressions, jokes, every day speech language; for specialized discourse we generally mean a discourse
which is not shared by a public audience, by common people  tourism must be understood by anyone:
promotional function/purposes, but we can also find a specialized part of tourism, as the legal part/tourism
industry. The tourism language is a language of contradiction because of its multiple connections, complex
set of interrelations, both within language (mixing languages and registers, styles) but also lots of Anglicism,
foreign words, linguistic elements interwoven all together.
Since language is used to communicate and since communication is the main purpose of any type of text
produce by that language, specialized discourse maintains the intrinsic communicative purposes of general
language.
What makes discourse specialized is the mixture of specifical lexical, syntactic and semantic features which
differ quantitatively with respect to general language.
For any specialized discourse the language is also meant to communicate a limited number of messages. Es.
In Tourism we have a massive use of passive forms, “Passengers will be bussed…”, and this is a features of
tourism as a specialized language. Passive is also used in general language, but the difference is the quantity,
the number of time we use passive. We can also notice a large use of imperative forms.
These are 4 basic features of any specialized discourse.
SPECIALISED DISCOURSE:
1- MONOREFERENTIALITY: in the given context only one meaning is allowed, as so as to reduce
ambiguity and polysemy. (Puns: word-play in the non-specialized part of tourism).
2- Denotative function: lack of any kind of emotional and connotative meaning.
3- PRECISION/TRASPARENCY: the surface form, be it a word or an affix, immediately identifies a
concept.
4- CONCISENESS: (lexical density  to concentrate information in a limited space)
- Acronyms ( LOL: length of stay; B&B: bed and breakfast)
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Abbreviations (comp: complimentary)
Eponyms (JFK: airport; VICTORIA: railway station)
Zero derivation (“check in” as a noun, deriving from the verb to check in)
Juxtaposition which omits prepositions and pre-modifiers in nominal groups (“bed-night”: one
person for one night).
THE LANGUGE OF TOURISM
1- CANNOT BE defined simply as a special language because it differs from general language for its
more frequent exploitation of certain linguistic rules rather than for the use of linguistic conventions
absent from general language.
2- It is not a micro language because the term micro-language refers to a “microcosm lacking the
expressive richness of standard language” (Gotti 2003)
Tourism employs some linguistic conventions that occur less frequently in the general speech language.
Tourism also exploits grammatical mistake of our general language, if they want to be friendly or to make
fun they put mistake on slogans, or maybe child-language.
It is a form of specialized discourse because it share with general discourse most phonetic, lexical, morphsyntactic and textual resources by means of which the communicative functions typical of specialized texts
are realized.
25/02
The degree of specialization varies according to the type of pragmatic function that tourism discourse is
developing each time:
- 1) From a promotional point of view, tourism discourse will be persuasive rather than
specialized, exploiting argumentation and rhetorical devices (and rhetorical strategies to such an
extent as to influence personal choices in the selection of a holiday)
- 2) Tourism as a specialized discourse will reflect the “specialist use of language in contexts
which are typical of a specialized community stretching across the academic, the professional,
the technical and the occupational areas of knowledge and practice. (Gotti, 24)
26/02
We are going to talk about the different degrees of specialization we can find in the different texts, in the
field of tourism, in the different genres. We usually divide tourism texts into two categories: promotional and
non-promotional, but there are more subsections.
Calvi(2005,23) defines the language of tourism as “un linguaggio dalla fisionomia sfuggente”, which does
not have a well-defined content and clear functional boundaries as it is influenced by a vast range of
disciplines and encompasses different communicative functions (informative, persuasive, argumentative,
vocative).
Normally the two main functions we can find in promotional texts are the persuasive and informative ones;
because any texts in tourism meant to inform, to provide information, persuasive because, catching the
attention, and it must influence and it must stay in our mind. The touristic message has to be clear but also
effective, on a semantic and pragmatic level. Argumentative when it explain something; vocative when it
directly addresses the reader mind to a concept.
We cannot define this language in a single unilateral way, because of the mix of functions.
Within this discourse we find genres.
GENRE(S)  Genre analysis pays special attention to the relationship between different texts that are
connected with each other and therefore influence each other.
“Genres are no longer seen as single – and perhaps separable- communicative resources but as forming
complex networks of various kinds” (Swales, 2004,2)
Since promotion of the same product to different customers can be successful if presented in adequate and
convincing ways, attention has recently been concentrating on the linguistic strategies employed in the
tourism industry.
The main function is to be convincing, to find convincing ways to sell the product.
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The investigation on the linguistic features of tourism industry has revealed that tourism discourse, in its
different genres, has certain aspects which make it similar to specialized discourse, such as a particular
exploitation of the lexis, syntax, and specific textual characteristics.
It is not only colloquial or general language but we have some specialized and technical terms and
approaches to language. How is tourism language specialized? Through the exploitation and use of some
kind of lexical and specific characteristics.
The rapid spread of mass tourism has favored the use of English as a lingua franca all over the world.
This is due to historical, political and economic factors but the potentialities offered by the English Language
in tourism discourse derive from the balance obtained in its register, which wisely combines everyday
language and specialized elements.
It’s the language of capitalism and globalization; it’s a syntactic so it is able to be more effective especially
on a persuasive and pragmatic level. In an Italian academic essay the everyday language and the specialized
elements are divided, in English no, it’s much more accessible that another language.
METAPHOR is a strategy constantly present in the discourse of tourism especially in promotional texts.
1- A figure of speech in which a term or phrase is applied to something to which it is not literally
applicable in order to suggest a resemblance as in “A mighty fortress is our God”.
2- Something used, or regarded as being used, to represent something else, an emblem, a symbol.
Tourism exploits it continuously.
Origin: Latin “metaphora”; Greek metaphor “a transfer”
“a carrying over” (from metapherein: “transfer, carry over”)
METAPHORIZATION is the linguistic phenomenon.
Is the most widely-exploited strategy used to derive new and specialized meanings from general language.
Metaphors are essential because they say concisely what in other words would need long elaborate
descriptions or difficult paraphrases.
Examples:
A fly-drive packages to escape from our stressful society to a real paradise [fly-drive: un volo che comprende
il noleggio di un’auto; to escape: fuggire is the metaphor. They suggest the need to escape, even when we
don’t have this need. To create needs through language.]
Enjoy the heart of Africa and its wild beat [enjoy: scoprire, godere, vivete, sentite, entrare.]
Taste the flavor of New York night life [taste the flavor: it’s an idea of physicality, assapora, prova].
One of the main reasons why specialized discourse uses metaphors in its language in CATACHRESIS(from
Greek “abuse”): meaning the use of a word with some new meaning in order to fill a gap in existing
vocabulary.
The advantages of using metaphors for catachresis are:
1- Terminological transparency (semantic association with a clearly-codifies concept, ie peace, love,
joy and “dove” as image)
2- Terminological conciseness (the term immediately reflects information to the addressee (twin room,
a room with two single beds;)
3- Terminological depiction by exploiting images from the real world to represent concepts difficult to
explain. (Popularization)
Metaphors help the author to create effective specialized texts: the greater the effectiveness, the greater the
persuasion.
“The West Coast of new Zeland’s South Island is the hottest extreme kayaking destination on the planet”.
[hottest: un-missable, over the top, pazzesco, sopra le righe.]
SHORTENED SIMILES
When two terms have similar semantic values linked by an equivalence.
“Ecotourism is a sustainable form of natural resource-based tourism”
This rhetorical strategy is employed for stylistic reasons as it adds connotative features to specialized terms.
We have more connotation.
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METAPHORICAL INTERACTION is created between two terms, where they both confer they own
qualities to the other term.
Example 1
“Tourism is business”
This expression associates the concepts of free time activities and commerce and, by assigning to tourism the
characteristics of business and marketing, reveals what tourism represent for the specialist.
Example 2
“Ecotourism is travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas”
The metaphorical interaction between “ecotourism” and “travel” pairs two partially different semantic fields:
that of sustainable actions in tourism and that of travelling- ecotourism involves travelling and, at the same
time, travelling is (also) a form of Ecotourism.
27/02
Elliptic similes
Elliptic means something is empty.
They are used when specialized discourse undergoes a process of popularization. They tend to omit elements
of the sentence by achieving greater pragmatic effect.
1- Advantages: technological transparency, semantic associations, essential and quick to understand.
Technological depiction that exploit images from the real world. The reader can easily understand
what the message is about.
Examples: "Sri-Lanka is a pearl of the Orient." The term pearl has a lot of meaning. It gives the exotic
quality here. We have one only item that express this.
"Skies are so clear (terso, limpido) that they feel like (sembra di essere in) Michelangelo's masterpiece."
Sembrare" only does not express the real meaning of the sentence, otherwise they had used "seem".
Paradoxes and puns
Paradoxes, or exaggerations, and puns are used especially in slogans in order to express various ideas. Not
all of them are relevant to the context but rather to the persuasive component of the communication. Pun:
wordgame. It's when we mix some words in order to enhance language, provide a meaning, when we use
foreign words. Puns make the reader of the slogan feel all the meanings of this effect. When they solve the
game, the readers feel clever, it is a fluttering strategy.
Witty person: persona sveglia e intelligente negli scherzi.
Examples:
1. Look at Naples and Die!
2. Enjoy the best sea in the world!
3. The most amazing adventure you can dream of.
4. Some like it Haute (slogan for United Airlines) - this is a pun. Haute means 'high' in French. Haute is also
the term that English and French people use to express the French cousine, very sofisticated and precious.
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SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISOCURSE
Specialized discourse shares the same syntactic rules as general language. The apparent diversity between
specialized and general language lies in the frequency of syntactic features used: in specialized texts some
syntactic structures are simply used more frequently than in general language. Such a quantitative
distinction in the syntactic dimension between general language and specialized discourse makes the
features of the latter typical and distinctive.
Normally in a specialized discourse we don’t have a different kind of syntax (arranged following a general
order) whereas in tourism, for example in itineraries, syntax is very different. There isn’t a syntactic
distinction but a quantitative distinction between general language and specialized discourse.
List of the most relevant syntactic features used by any specialized discourse (not only about tourism). For
what especially concern tourism the most relevant are Modals, verb tenses, passive form, special use of
personal pronouns and superlative forms (the most exploited features in the language of tourism).
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Conciseness (The message is short and clear)
Pre-modification (a beautiful English girl – it’s a typical syntactic feature of English lexis,
Italian language tend to use post-modification)
Nominalization (check-in – it comes from a verb and it’s transformed in a noun)
Lexical density (typical feature of the English language – exploited by tourism; as many
information than possible in short sentences or phrases)
Sentence length (connected to conciseness; normally they are very short). Parataxis (made of
extremely short sentences) more than epistaxis.
Verb tenses (in tourism we focus on: present tense (continuity), present continuous (progression,
the feel of taking part of it), simple future (will – stressing on “will” as “volontà”, the possibility
to/the will of choosing something).
Modals (will, can: idea of certainty, semantic shift [lieve spostamento semantico]; must: positive
way, nominalized form “a must see place/ a must do activity [it’s not an order, but a very strong
suggestion, you shouldn’t miss it!])
Passive forms (non-promotional text: more formal, used to achieve a great form of formality;
promotional texts: the stress is made on the agent, on the once who perform some actions, taking
care of the costumer).
Depersonalization
Special use of personal pronouns( you and we: used to directly involve the reader. We is instead
used to involve the reader but with an increased sense of taking part of something/an activity/be
part of the same group  psychological reasons;)
Superlative forms (the most beautiful/amazing sea in the world)
Conjunctions and connectives (especially in lexical texts are essential, they provide text with
cohesion and coherence - coerenza e coesione).
CONCISENESS
It characterizes both the lexical level of specialized language and its syntax.
Syntactic structures tend to be extremely compact in specialized discourse.
Conciseness is usually achieved through the omission of phrasal elements such as articles, preposition, etc.
Is deliberate lack of grammatical/syntactic elements. Also adverbs, relative clauses and verbs (advertising
and itinerary) can be omitted. This is a form of Disjunctive grammar (characterized by the omission of many
words).
It’s just and informative text, the register is very formal. Printed on the cover, on the front side of the ticket.
Express Class Return Ticket  Ticket is the head-noun, and we also have three pre-modifiers; it’s an
example of lexical density.
Travel: a more general concept which includes the journey and the accommodation and activities.
Journey: the transport, the movement from one place to another one.
This text omits articles, prepositions, demonstrative adjectives; in Italian we need to insert functional words.
Stansted Express – biglietto espresso andata/ritorno (classe)standard
“Valido per due viaggi per un passeggero solo su/con Stansted Express o Wagn Railway in entrambe le
direzioni tra Stansted Airport e London Liverpool Street o Tottenham Hale, fino ad un mese dalla data di
emissione. Non rimborsabile, non trasferibile. Le condizioni di viaggio sono disponibili su richiesta.”
Viaggiate con stile con Stansted Express e scegliete da una vasta gamma di cibi e bevande di qualità, serviti
al vostro posto/tavolino”.
EXPRESSIVE CONCISENESS: ELLIPTIC FORMS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES
Relative and subordinate clauses are avoided in order to make the sentence structure “lighter”. Such
lightness, on the other hand, favors dense, long nominal groups and coordination. At the same time it must
favor preciseness too.
The easiest way to eliminate relative clauses is by substituting them with lexemes with an adjectival role and
usually by means of affixation.
Three characteristics: light structure (scorrevole), dense nominal groups and coordination, and preciseness.
05-03
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Conciseness must provide effective pieces of information in order to catch the attention of the reader. Three
fold combination, 3 elements: lightness (not to complex), long nominal groups (lexical density) and
preciseness.
Affixation: naturally common in English language.
AFFIXATION
The linguistic process speakers use to form different words by adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning
(pre-fixation), middle (in-fixation) or in the end (suffixation) of words.
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a root word to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational.
(-ness; pre-;non-;dis-) or inflectional like English plural –s or past tense –ed.
Example  If you are travelling on a non-refundable ticket (a ticket which cannot be refundable). Omission
of the relative clauses as in this example is used in order to achieve lexical and syntactic density, and
preciseness.
To check a baggage: imbarcare una valigia. Allowance: permesso, amount of baggage you can check in for
free. “limiti consentiti/tasse/restrizioni sui bagagli”. Travel allowance: condizioni viaggio (in termini di
costi).
PREMODIFICATION
Such omissions of relative clauses show how the process of pre-modifications is highly favored in tourism
discourse.
Pre-modification is a left-dislocation of terms with an adjectival function which modifies the qualities of the
properties of the head-noun.
This may create complex nominal groups whose modifiers are nouns which have acquired an adjectival role.
All the linguistic forms can become a modifiers and can create complex nominal groups.
EXAMPLES OF PRE-MODIFICATION IN THE LANGUAGE OF TOURISM:
- Check –in time
- Escorted all-inclusive tour (tour guidato tutto compreso);
- Fly-cruise package (pacchetto volo+crociera)
- Hub and spoke tour (one day go out and coming back tour, sometimes that provide guides and
escorts).
- Destination marketing organization (organizzazione che si occupa del marketing delle destinazioni
turistiche).
“Located in a carefully restored 200-year-old traditional stone house”. Situate/collocate in una tradizionale
casa di pietra accuratamente restaurata costruita 200 anni fa.
ITINERARY AS A TOURIST GENRE:
Itineraries are contained in leaflets produced by Travel Agents and contain descriptive information about the
places to be visited and the activities offered by the costumers.
They can even be contained in a poster. Description of a tour or of an holiday day by day or, if we are talking
about one day trip, hour by hour. The function is informative and descriptive but sometimes they valuate
activities.
Being extremely detailed, itineraries are characterized by short, clear messages, almost fragmented sentences
which are not linked in a linear discursive flow, but rather render the text quit telegraphic.
The text itself is organized according to short paragraphs, each of them corresponding to the activities
planned for the various days or to the timetable for one particular day.
Time/Schedule
High frequency of words such as before/after, today/tonight, in the morning, in the afternoon.
DISJUNCTIVE GRAMMAR
A specific technique mainly used in advertising and notices. It includes noun groups and minor
clauses/fragments (verb-less and non-finite clauses), as opposed to fully discursive grammar.
Therefore: sometimes sentences lack both subject and a finite verb.
Easy to understand and to remember  it is catchy.
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This type of Grammar is often employed in itineraries and is justified by the fact that the itinerary
schematically describes things to do and to see.
GIVEN THE PERSUASIVE FUNCTION OF THE TEXT, ITINERARIES EXPLOIT HIGHLY
EVALUATIVE LEXIS:
(the most) spectacular
Wonderful
Famous
Unforgettable
Exotic
Unique
Amazing
Enjoy
Discover
Experience (as a verb)  the best experience you can have.
TYPICAL CLASSES OF VERBS ARE USED IN ITINERARIES
- Verb of existence (be or stay)
- Verb of motion (enter, arrive)
- Verb of perception (see, look, discover)
- Verb of investigation (explore)
- Learn verb-class (learn)
- Admire – class verb (admire)
- Experiential emotion (experience)
- Awareness (encounter)
These repeated classes of verbs macro-structurally describe the social experience of the holiday: people go to
a location, see, admire, learn, discover habits and cultures, become aware of (positive) cultural differences,
follow the local trends, want to get the best from them, and if the text makes them feel or realize they can
easily do all that, they will “buy” the experience.
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Itinerary as a touristic genre. It is the most concise and synthetic genre of all touristic genres. It provide
sketchy information. The aim of the itinerary is to describe a holyday day by day.
There are some lexical categories such as adjectives that present the tour in a very enthusiastic way using
superlatives. We have also some classes of verbs that describe the social, culture experience of the holyday,
where tourists go, what they can see (learn, discover...).
The linguistic function of the itinerary is mainly 90% informative, as they contain lots of information, but at
the same time they use a sort of expressive and evaluated lexis, because the tourist hasn't yet bought the tour,
they still have to decide whether they buy the holyday or not. they must be convinced.
There are lots of itineraries. The common aspect of this genre is given by the grammar, it doesn't follow
grammatical rules, sometimes there is omission of the main words.
Analisi:
Proceed: we will proceed, there is an omission, we use "we" to involve with friendless the tourist.
Globetrotter: tourist who doesn't travel in an organized group, but usually alone.
We are passing: use of present continuous to express the certainty of the action.
Venue: place which hosts some activities. Sede.
World famous and outstanding: adjectives that express the function of the adjectives in the itinerary.
The navel of the world: l'ombelico del mondo
Crowned: on the top of
half board/full board: mezza pensione/pensione completa
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SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF SPECIALZED DISCOURSE
Nominalization
Nominalization involves processes of transformation from one syntactical category to another. The most
common type of nominalization is the transformation of a verb into a noun and of a noun/verb into an
adjective, though seldom does the development of a noun/adjective into a verb also occur.
Ex. “when you arrive at the hotel” – “Upon arrival at the hotel”.
English exploit this kind of feature a lot, in every specialized discourse, for conciseness and effectiveness (in
tourism for promotional purposes). Lexical density, pragmatic effectiveness and conciseness.
In tourism discourse there is also a frequent use of nouns acquiring a verbal function:
Ex. Where passengers are bussed to the plane, we cannot guarantee that Speedy Boarders will be first off
the bus. No adjectives, no positive qualities are described, it’s a purely informative text, it’s not a
promotional text. Qualora i passeggeri siano trasportati in autobus all’aereo /qualora i passeggeri
prendano l’autobus per raggiungere l’aereo, non potremo garantire che coloro i quali hanno la priorità di
imbarco scendano per primi.
1- Nominalization is a common process which involves both specialized language and general language.
2- The main difference between them is that in specialized discourse nominalization in highly exploited
together with pre-modification.
3- The use of the nominalized form with nominal adjectivation and pre-modification allows the
exploitation of syntactic conciseness.
4- The pervasiveness of nominalization in specialized texts seems to aim to convey more objective and
precise data, but at the same time, the organization of textual construction in a theme/rheme pattern: the
reintroduction and thematization of already-known elements in a pre-modified and nominalized form
facilities cohesion.
Nominalization mixed these two pieces of information. Unione di tema/rema, una frase che necessita di una
scomposizione in due segmenti si può risolvere in uno solo.
COHESION
In Contrastive Rhetoric: Cross-Cultural Aspects of Second Language Writing Ulla Connor defines cohesion
as “the cause of explicit linguistic devices to signal relations between sentences and parts of texts”. These
cohesive devices are phrases or words that help the reader associate previous statements with subsequent
ones.
“Cohesion – Connor writes – is determined by lexically and grammatically overt inter-sentential
relationships, whereas coherence is based on semantic relationships”.
Cohesion can be thought of as all the grammatical and lexical links that link one part of a text to another.
This includes use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical references,
etc. For example “it”, “neither” and “this” all refer to an idea previously mentioned. “first of all”, “then” and
“after that” help to sequence a text. “however”, “in addition” and “for instance” links idea.
COHERENCE
Coherent texts make sense to the reader. In Text and Context: Explorations in the Semantics and Pragmatics
of Discourse, Teun A. van Dijk argues convincingly that coherence is a semantic property of discourse
formed through the interpretation of each individual sentence relative to the interpretation of other sentences,
with “interpretation” implying interaction between the text and the reader.
Coherence can be thought of as how meanings and sequences of ideas relate to each other. Typical examples
would be general – particular; statement – example; problem – solution; question – answer; claim –
counter-claim.
HOW IS COHESION DIFFERENT FROM COHERENCE?
It is difficult to separate the two. However, think of coherence as the text making sense as a whole at a
conceptual level, and cohesion as a rather more mechanical links at a language level. You can imagine that it
is possible for a piece of writing to contain plenty of cohesion yet little coherence,
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Cohesion is the glue that holds a piece of writing together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks
together from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Cohesive devices certainly include
transitional words and phrases such as therefore, furthermore, for instance, that clarify for readers the
relationships among ideas in a piece of writing. However, transitions aren’t enough to make writing
cohesive. Repetition of key words and use of reference words are also needed for cohesion.
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Nominalization is a linguistic feature that transform a syntactic category into another. The most common one
is noun>adjective.
Coherence and cohesion are very similar but different: cohesion is the structure of relations between all the
parts of the text (verb tenses, linkings...), coherence is the same but from a semantic point of view, it must
have a sense.
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COHERENCE/SYNONYMS
Synonyms are words that have essentially the same meaning, and they provide some variety in your word
choices, helping the reader to stay focused on the idea being discussed.
Ex: Myths narrate sacred histories and explain sacred origins. These traditional narratives are, in short, a
set of beliefs that are a very real force in the lives of the people who tell them.
This, that, these, those, he, she, it, they and we are useful pronouns for referring back to something
previously mentioned, be sure of what you refer is clear. Another example is “the one, ones”.
COHERENCE/ TRANSITIONAL WORDS (the are essential to fill up the coherence of the text; they are
called also LINKERS, because they link one section of the text to another).
There are many words in English that cue our readers to relationships between sentences, joining sentences
together. Words such as however, therefore, in addition, also, but, moreover.
Yet: tuttavia / non ancora.
In addition: oltretutto.
COHERENCE/SENTENCE PATTERNS
Sometimes, repeated or parallel patterns can help the reader follow along and keep idea tied together.
THEME/HEME PATTERN
Most sentences in English have two parts: a theme (or topic) and a rheme (or comment). The theme is what
your are writing about – it is shared information and it has been introduced to your reader. The rheme is what
you are saying about the theme – it is a new information, what you want to tell your reader.
Look at the following sentences:
1- The M1 goes from London to Leeds.
2- The motorway from London to Leeds is called the M1.
The theme in sentence 1 is “the M1”; the reader has been introduced to the M1 but does not know where it
goes and therefore needs to be told. In sentence 2, the theme is “the motorway from London to Leeds”; the
reader knows there is a motorway from L to L but does not know what it is called.
In English the theme usually comes at the beginning of the sentence and the rheme at the end. The decision
about which part of the sentence to make the theme and which part to make the rheme depends in the
information that needs to be communicated; this depends on the sentence that come before.
NOMINALIZATION involves a high level of lexical density, which derives from the elaboration of a
complex syntax. Elementary surface structures and very simple syntax are sometimes changed trough the use
of complex and pre-modified noun-phrases, which leads to a far longer sentence length than in general
language.
SYNTACTICAL FEATURES/VERB TENSES
Together with the use of these linguistic devices, syntactical minor part of a language, we have some major
ones for the same function (descriptive – only a description of something, especially in the non-promotional
texts; informative and persuasive). Promotional text are mainly persuasive but at the same time they are also
descriptive and informative, this function are simultaneous.
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The pragmatic functions of verbs makes their choice essential in specialized discourse. They are chosen very
carefully; Due to the communicative purposes in specialized discourse texts the present indicative tense
seems the most widely used especially in scientific texts, where imperative appears to be widely used in
technical language and technical handbooks.
In the language of tourism, the present simple is the most exploited because it provide the idea of habit,
something always there at hand. Increasing the original meaning of the tenses, strategy exploited by tourism,
everything is carefully selected. Present simple is used in tourist guides, brochure and itineraries.
The imperative, which is a mode rather than a tense, in the language of tourism is different of the common
imperative that we know; the imperative is normally meant to give orders, but in tourism (tourist guides,
brochures and leaflets) its pragmatic function it’s not giving orders but give suggestion, must have things to
do or activities to enjoy, to urge tourists to avail themselves of the chances they are offered. Fortissimo
suggerimento/consiglio affinché il lettore ritenga necessario la fruizione di un servizio o un prodotto. Enjoy!
is a typical imperative used in tourism.
MODALS
The second most important category of words in tourism is modal verbs; they occupy a special position in
specialized discourses in general. Modality realize by using expression how the world might, or something
that is meant to be true, or how the world should be, which implies a judgment.
All of theme includes expression of necessity, possibility, probability or negation of something. These modal
verbs in the language of tourism have some different peculiarities; in tourism modality is expressed in two
main different ways:
1- When the text is expression of a contract, or in non-promotional text, modality perform the same
deontic modality. The difference is between deontic (how the world should be according to rules or
laws) and epistemic (linguistic evaluation or judgment, it’s not something external) modality. These
rebuilt in this combination some necessity and certainty.
2- Especially in promotional text, when the modal verbs directly target tourists; they don’t really
express their deontic meanings only, but a different meaning to create certainty and necessity in the
reader, moral and psychological necessity.
Modals prompt an action; the verb will and can provide an idea of possibility and probability, something
which is not only possible ma definitely possible.
Ex: Insieme a/oltre a tutti questi tesori in Italia troverete molte attività che vi terranno occupati in
campagna/molto altro da fare che vi terranno occupati nel verde. Potrete /avrete la possibilità sciare sulle
Alpi, fare escursioni sulle Dolomiti o potrete tuffarvi dalle coste dorate della Sardegna. Gli adrenalina
dipendenti/i più avventurosi/gli amanti del rischio potranno addirittura riuscire a vedere/imbattersi in fuochi
e scintille sugli imprevedibili vulcani della Sicilia.
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MUST – give advice, connected to the function of imperative.
Also employed, thug less extensively than will and can, the verb does not express a modal but rather a
nominalized form in such expression as “a must-see”, “a must-do”, or simply and even more colloquial “a
must”. The shortened and concise nominalized form expresses an implicit necessity.
It acquires a colloquial status and indicates a necessity, something the tourist absolutely cannot miss if he/she
wishes to have an authentic experience. Function: make the potential tourist feel a need, something he cannot
miss. It also change normally the text register, also the text of the register of the translation have to be
colloquial.
The use of nominalized form of MUST is another linguistic strategy to create the illusion of a friendly
relationship with the writer of the tourist text, thus lowering any defensive (financial or practical) walls the
potential consumer may have built.
Agreement, obtained through empathy, in thus created and is the first step towards co-operation (while
performing a highly persuasive function). Cooperation: relationship of trust and friendship trough the
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language. The imperative mode plus this use of modal verb are the most relevant lexical strategies in all
tourist texts.
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VERB/PASSIVE FORMS/DEPERSONALIZATION
Use of passive in specialized discourse is not very common although it appears when a higher degree of
depersonalization is required for specific pragmatic purposes. Necessità di oggettivare ciò che si sta dicendo.
It allows the foregrounding of facts, events, results and so diminishes the importance of the role, opinions
and feelings of the author (subjectivity vs objectivity).
Such a feature often occurs in tourism discourse, whenever the emphasis must be in the object rather than on
the agent of the action.
PURPOSE: TO CONVEY A SENSE OF (IMMUTABLE) TRUTH.
Ex. Here the pragmatic purpose of the passive is to emphasize both the tourist as a person being taken care of
and the TO who takes care of the tourist, so that the tourist/reader feel reassured and protected by a sense of
loyalty.
1- When tourism discourse is specialized passives are used to depersonalize discourse and emphasize
the facts (effects, outcomes) rather than its cause or originator.
2- When tourism discourse targets the reader/tourist directly, the agent is also expressed in order to
convey the idea that the tourist will not be left to his(her own devices AND to clarify organizational
purposes (it makes all details of the organization clear and understandable, so as to confer a strong
idea of professionality).
PERSONAL PRONOUNS – EMPHATY
Personal pronouns, such as we and you, are often employed to achieve the goal of EGO-TARGETING
(highly and subtly persuasive): it means that you target the ego of the reader/client you want to convince.
Ex. By using we and you, the author establishes a direct relationship with the reader. By creating a personal
relationship with the reader the text becomes highly persuasive: the recipient is drawn into the text and
EMPHATY is established, generating identification, loyalty and, especially, desire to buy the product.
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The different types of tourist texts present different strategies and different intentions, for example pre-trip
texts are meant to convince the audience so the pragmatic function is a persuasive function; in a post-trip
text, that reviews a holiday, the function is mainly informative and descriptive. Also the language and
strategies exploited are different.
TOURISM GENRES
Besides the aforementioned texts, tourism discourse presents a much wider range of texts types such as,
among others, package-tours itineraries, unsolicited promotional letters, simple slogans, posters.
We can isolate elements of each genres but a real definition in complex to give.
Tourism advertising: combination of an informative function and more importantly a persuasive function;
they are the most common and the most exploited.
Tourist guide: they are books, their function is descriptive and to give practical information; this is the most
comprehensive and longer genre and it is the only genre that may contain negative expression or description.
It is a on-trip genre because we read it when we are on holiday/vacation.
Brochures: they can be considered the most persuasive texts of the tourism discourse (besides proper ads);
Itineraries: mainly informative but containing also linguistic elements aimed at persuasion; they can stay in a
travel guide.
Articles in specialized magazines: a bit more practical and technical, they offer also prices; small version of a
tourist guide, they are similar; the language is informative and not specialized.
Inflight magazines: they convey the idea of being global that also their travelers are global-minded (egotargeting, to target the ego of the customer); they provided sophisticated descriptions of locations in order to
present themselves as global (they are really cool people able to travel all around the world); to make the
tourist feel important, cleaver, intelligent. They are able to provide useful and appropriate information.
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Multimodality mainly refers to advertising but it’s also a part of the language of tourism, the combination of
a visual and verbal language, a combination and a relationship between the language and images. Nothing is
improvised and simply put there, but they are a marketing strategy.
TOURIST ADVERTISING TEXTS
The addressee must be able to decode its meaning and to appreciate it; the tourist want to feel cleaver
because it has de-codified the message, it has to be catchy and never aggressive but impressing enough.
In the case of tourist advertising such communicative behavior is fundamental; each single element is
relevant in a message of this kind. Extremely careful choice and selection, the work of big teams, studies
about culture, single categories of people the advertising want to attract. Advertising of a holiday: cannot be
expected, you cannot test it until the moment when you go on holiday, it’s different from the advertising of
another product. It’s just a set of ideas, you don’t have something concrete to test beforehand the experience.
Nonostante il prodotto sia astratto, la pubblicità deve farlo sembrare il più concreto possibile attraverso
vari elementi e strategie linguistiche. The economic factor is relevant in advertising.
ADVERTISING LAYOUT
A large picture: an illustration which makes a visual statement and carefully summarizes the place and the
expected kind of holiday and the sense of relax.
A headline: it often contains puns, play on words or funny expressions. Normally, all of these expressions
interact with the image, they describe it or enhance its meaning. Normally is on the top of the page or in the
centre; it summarize the texts when its long and complex. When we translate a headline we need to pay
attention, because it summarizes the all experience we are going to communicate. Look closer at the
advertising: be attractive for the customer, it became more familiar with the destination.
The copy: it have to quick present the destination and the experience; it has to persuasive, informative and
convincing for the customer. Short sentences, for example in capital letters or bold. It explain what, when,
why and how long you can visit or experience.
The slogan: it may be a phrase, logo, domain name, graphic symbol or any other device used to immediately
identify the destination; sometimes it is not relevant (for example in the poster of Israel there’s not a slogan).
Interrelation of a verbal language and an iconic language, even a flag, cultural symbol.
To be successful advertising must – in order to be successful an advertising have to/must:
- Attract a person’s attention;
- Sustain the interest it has attracted (especially through language);
- Be accessible, understandable and communicative;
- Be recognized as familiar (not complex, abstruse or too difficult) some slogans are not easy to
understand, it’s strange but this is a strategy to make the customer feel clever, the concept is difficult
but the language is common and ordinary, popular;
- Be remembered/stay in the reader’s mind/memory;
- Prompt some kind of action.
ATTENTION VALUE: to obtain attention value and improve the selling power of the product,
advertisements employs several elements: an appealing and startling image; the violation of some rules of the
language used as persuasive strategies; the use of some rhetorical tropes, especially irony; simple colloquial
and personal forms (readability/it must be understanble) and a lasting impression (memorability, it must stay
in our mind). Disjunctive grammar or syntax: we have to reconsider the same mistake in translation.
POSTERS:
Add a thematic border to the poster and include a slogan; make your poster look fun and interesting for
people.
AIDA PRINCIPLE
AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) is the well-known acronym that can guide a designer when
creating advertisements. These are the main goal of advertising. Here’s what the AIDA acronym stands for:
A – ATTENTION (also, Attraction, Awareness or Allure): Attract the attention of the target audience
(viewer of the poster design in this case).
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I – INTEREST: Garner the interest of the target audience by outlining the purpose of the design.
D – DESIRE: Convince the target audience that they want the product or service and that it will satisfy their
requirements.
A - ACTION: Lead the target audience towards taking a specific and measurable action.
ATTENTION – SEEKING DEVICES (all that immediately catch our attention).
- Code switching: A sense of beginning of the holiday, that start when you read the poster; it’s a
device that implies foreign expressions but everybody can understand them.
- Humor and Irony: When the audience understand the jokes (by decoding the hidden message), they
feel special and clever and a special bond is established with the advertised brand.
- Puns, metaphors, wordplay: Rhetorical tropes break or exploit linguistic rules. So, they deviate from
the reader’s expectations, they depart from convention and communicate a multitude of meanings.
Pun: is an inconsistency, a form of speech play in which a word or phrase unexpectedly and
simultaneously combines two or more unrelated meanings.
EXAMPLE  WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU? (Australia tourism campaign slogan)
The font seems to be hand written. In the first we see a night scene with fireworks and the Sidney Opera
House, the color is red, deep red and the yellow which artificially lights. Red is a seductive element (it is not
a conventional image for tourism because we don’t see nothing about Sidney. “Ma dove cazzo sei?”is a very
vulgar/strong/tabù expression for an English person. Shocking for the English audience, it’s unconventional.
This campaign was created a phenomenon, why they created this shocking message? Incredible increase in
tourism in Australia with this campaign. Target of tabu slogan? Young people. Night, adventure. It looks like
a postcard and the hand written font established a relationship of friendliness between. Contrast between
the reality of the message and an ideal place (not realistic, like a dream).
-
REAL VS IDEAL
- THE SLOGAN SEEMS TO BE HANDWITTEN- this is graphological device acting as a
paralinguistic feature which incites friendship-like feelings, the usual ones conveyed by a
postcard written by a friend inviting us to join in the fun (as well as the idea of providing a real
communication rather than a virtual one);
-
MEMORABLE QUALITY – STRIKING VERBAL IMAGE
- TABOO LANGUAGE - It facilities the recognition of the product and especially attracts the
attention of the readership because they fulfill the desire to break with the tradition (social
conventions), i.e. the desire that characterizes the younger audience targeted by such
advertising texts. Moreover, in this case the colloquial taboo expression recalls the stereotype
of the rough, tough…
Translation: E allora, ma dove cazzo sei? Ma non sarebbe accettabile in Italia, we couldn’t
accept such a taboo language expression in advertising; Dove diavolo sei? Che diavolo
aspetti??
A TAGLINE/SLOGO
Is a variant of branding slogan typically used in marketing materials and advertising, it is carefully chosen
and it require a long and complex team work. The idea behind the concept is to create a memorable phrase
that will sum up the tone and premise of a brand or product (like a film, a tourist place), or to reinforce the
audience’s memory of a product. Some taglines are successful enough to warrant (garantire) inclusion in
popular culture (also from tv, film or commercials). A slogan in maybe for a campaign but a taglines stays
over the years and its part of our popular culture and our speech.
Ex In space, no one can hear you scream – Alien
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Loce means never having to say you’re sorry – Love story
Just do it! – Nike.
Any translation of a tagline is difficult, extremely impressive in the mind of the readers or the audience in
general.
CULTURE ACROSS TOURIST WEB PAGES
TRANSLATION/MEDIATION
In the process of web translation, a product must be made linguistically and culturally appropriate: it must
convey a language variety and a set of cultural preferences belonging to the target market where the product
is to be sold or promoted.
LOCALIZATION is a translation strategy that takes into account not only linguistic elements but also sociocultural ones, as well as political and legal ones.
According to localization theory, in the process of rendering texts into another language, localization must
mediate the source text into a target language, paying special attention to socio-cultural nuances.
FARMHOUSE HOLIDAY – AN EXAMPLE OF LOCALIZATION AND MEDIATION
Farmhouses are now very popular and they essentially offer a relaxing holiday in charming landscapes, far
from stress of modern life:
“The sense of escape begin the moment you leave the busy towns and tourist trails behind. Weave you way
through restful landscapes and quiet lanes to pull up the farm, with a personal greeting from your host!”
A compared study English texts and Italian texts in web-sites promoting farmhouses reveals that:
- BRITISH culture is more content oriented: focusing on detailed and explicit descriptions which are
more concentrated on the now rather than on the past.
- ITALIAN culture is more form oriented: emphasizing the main role of the imagination and of what
remains unsaid. Texts tend therefore to be more evocative, elliptical and figurative:
They aim a dreamlike atmosphere focused on the text.
In these cases, the translation of tourism discourse has a bridging approach from the foreign culture to the
tourist’s  the main purpose of translation is to make the original text familiar and as near to the target
culture as possible  translation localized the new reality into the tourist’s more familiar world by means of
translation strategies that domesticate the source text.
Promotional strategies in Italy may not be similarly effective in another country  it is therefore necessary
for translator to be familiar not only with both the source and target language of tourism but above all with
both source and target culture, in order to understand what may be effective and what needs to be changed in
the transfer of information from one language to another.
CATALOGUES AND BROCHURES
Both terms are used to indicate a booklet promoting package holidays; they provide practical information but
at the same time their function is also persuasive.
Guided tour of the main attractions [sightseeing tours, all-inclusive tours, escorted tours]
Practical details [how to go there, travel, means of transport available, time-tables]
Regulations [ restrictions concerning animals, food, smoking, prhotography].
As a genre, brochures and catalogues are a combination of several other genres, i.e. they present a set of
linguistic elements that are typical of other genres. For example: in EVALUATIVE CLAIMS, they normally
use present tense, superlative forms, thematization of adverbials of place.
In the BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LOCATION they normally use the past tense and the thematization of
adverbials of time.
In the description of the GUIDED TOURS they use imperative forms and they often stress on personal
pronouns.
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The first and last pages of Catalogues and brochures are devoted to general information about the tourist
destination [weather conditions, time zones, money transfer, means of transport]; however the most
important sections are the descriptions of the receptive structures: they have both and informative and a
persuasive function.
Iconic elements always represent ideal places and ideal situation, they are visual clichés that aim at
transmitting a sense of shared friendship and welcoming.
ADJECTIVES AND VERBSS OF APPRAISAL
FRIENDLINESS
COMFORT
SUPERLATIVES
ADVERBS INDICATING EPISTEMIC CERTAINTY
TECHNICAL PROCEDURES
VERBAL PHRASES IN CATALOGUES AND BROCHURES
1- Present simple : to describe unchanging features.
2- Imperative: to suggest rather than to order, to make the destination appear as unique and unmissable.
3 – Modals : Can [freedom of action, endless possibilities to enjoy a specific holiday, certainty of such
possibilities]; Must [ to give a firm advice, a must-see, a must-do].
TEXTUAL ORGANIZATION
Textual organization in catalogues and brochures is very simple and straightforward and this must be kept in
the target language/target text.
In order to achieve conciseness, transparency of communication, semantic and lexical density and
compactness, coordination is preferred to subordination, and it is normally achieved with the use of premodifiers in apposition.
INFLIGHT MAGAZINES
Inflight magazines are published by commercial airlines for their passengers. They contain a mixture of
themes such a travel, business, economy, general-interest articles, show-business, entertainment,
gastronomy, sports, fashion and advertising or special promotions offered by the airline.
They also focus the tourist attention on less advertised sites of urban tourism, so to enlarge the traditional
range of tourist resorts and to invest in the rediscovery of local identities.
Their register, in performing such communicative function, is often very informal although sometimes the
language employed is very elegant (and the iconic elements are normally glossy and glamorous) in order to
make the passenger feel special and important.
Like most international corporations, the airline industry tends to adopt marketing strategies to promote and
differentiate national interests in an international context  the easiest way to achieve tis is to present
themselves as GLOBAL. This allows them to create a global reality in which the international (global)
traveler takes the part: inflights magazines are an expression of such global identity encapsulated by the
magazine and assigned to the traveller.
This sense of global and cosmopolitan is visible from their very names, which suggest free, effortless
movement in crossing national borders to achieve globality.
All inflight magazine use English as a lingua franca, although they are also translated, bilingual or contain a
high number of English terms or of Anglicism. English as lingua franca allows the airlines to reach to a
wider audience. Not only: by writing in English, airlines attempt to position themselves as global, and
especially, they grant the same status of their passengers.
TOURIST SITES IN INFLIGHT MAGAZINES
For the previously mentioned features of globality, cosmopolitan, and capitalism (also achieved through the
use of English as a lingua franca), the tourist sites presented in inflight magazines are very often cities and
towns, or urban resorts, rather than natural icons.
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The destinations described are either capitals of the greatest financial transactions (NY, London, Tokio),
capitals of the greatest culture in the arts (Paris, Prague, Venice, Florence).
All of them have an iconic status and represent globalization in both terms of business and entertainment.
TOURIST GUIDES
Guides are “real” books, longer than any other tourist text, and cover a wide variety of information. They
provide historical and cultural insight into the destination and provide the reader with useful tips and
practical advice.
They are normally more subjective than general tourist texts (the role of the author is highly recognizable).
Tourist guides do not strictly belong to the promotional genre of tourism but rather to the informative one
(they mainly provide information and descriptions).
However, their language has the main function of constructing and guiding the tourist experience. In this
sense they are considered as the least persuasive of the modes of tourist discourse because when the
potential tourist reads them, he has already made his choice.
Guidebooks, therefore, select the destination and provide information about it, but at the same time they
shape the image of the destination, i.e. the reader can draw his own conclusion according to the suthor’s
opinions and linguistic choices.
Guide differ in both the type of target audience and, as a consequence, in the type of language, which can be
either formal or very colloquial.
RHETORICAL STRATEGIES TO REPRESENT THE NOTION OF OTHERNESS
Guidebooks present dynamics of cross-cultural representation:
1- they construct the image of the target destination;
2 – they represent the cultural gaps between the target destination and the place the tourist comes
from.
3- the accomplish the role of socialization and of enculturation.
The author of the guidebook is like a teacher whose authorative voice is provided by his wide knowledge of
the culture belonging to the destination. Therefore, he often instructs readers on what is appropriate and what
is inappropriate, and, thanks to his instructions, the readers acquire a broader cultural knowledge about the
place they intend to visit.
This authorative voice is mainly achieved thanks to:
- A subjective voice,
- Use of evaluative terms which describe the author’s experience,
- Use of the imperative verbs which exort the readers to take action,
- Emphasis on cultural gaps,
- Strong use of modalization (verbs such as should, must, need or expressions such as certainly,
surely, or likely, used to express advice, tips, epistemic certainty and epistemic probability).
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