Mediazione Linguistica e
comunicazione Letteraria
Lingua e Traduzione Inglese
II° anno
Modules A
a.a. 2008/2009
Kate Riley
Module A: Working with real texts
This course will introduce students to a broad range of concepts both linguistic
and sociolinguistic as to the nature of language, language in use and, language
change. The topic areas covered include language structure - in particular
grammar and meaning - lexical relations, cohesion and coherence, context and
cotext, pragmatics, and cultural questions such as culture-bound language and
extra-textual reference. Current theories in discourse analysis, register
analysis and pragmatics will also be introduced.
The concepts will be presented through an analysis of different kinds of text
ranging from labels to lyrics, letters to legal documents, informal dialogue to
formal discourse, children’s literature to political discourse.
Lectures
Fridays
10.00 – 12.00
Aula 7 10- 31 October
Aula 8 07 November – 12 December
Office Hours
Fridays
10.30 – 12.00 via S. Margherita 32 Tel: 0461 881779
Appointments by email: Catherine.riley@lett.unitn.it
Please check my page in ‘persone’ on the UNITN website for any changes in
these times
Assessment
The exam will take the form of a group presentation in class consisting in
group presentation of a chosen text type (chosen from the bibliography) along
with a presentation of examples of this text type to illustrate the salient
characteristics and provide a linguistic analysis of the same texts.
Students should bring a copy of their presentation and texts to the oral exam
which will consist in a discussion of their own presentation along with a
discussion and analysis of at least 3 of other text types of the student’s choice
from among those presented in class.
Bibliography
Attending Students:
Akmajian, Adrian et al, 1992 (or more recent), "Linguistics: An introduction to Language and
Communciation", Chapter 9, Cambridge (Mass), The MIT Press
Riley, Catherine, 2004, "About English: introduzione alla Lingua Inglese, Chapters 5, 6 & 7, Roma,
Carocci Editore
Widdowson, H. G., 2007, 'Discourse Analysis', Oxford:Oxford University Press
Non-attending students:
The above plus Carter, Ronald, 2004, "Working with Texts: a Core Book for Language Analysis", Units 1, 4&5,
London, Routledge
Cutting, Joan, 2002, "Pragmatics and Discourse" London, Routledge (In particular All of Part A and
Unit 1 of parts B, C & D)
Bibliography for group work:
Books for group work (each group will select one text type):
Beal, J., 2006, Language and Region', London: Routledge
Beard, A., 1998, 'The Language of Sport', London: Routledge
Beard, A., 2004, 'Language Change', London Routledge
Beard, A., 2004, 'The Language of Politics', London Routledge
Boardman, M., 2005, 'The Language of Websites', London:Routledge
Carter, R et al, 2001, The Language of Speech and Writing, London Routledge
Cook, G. 2000, 'Language Play, Language Learning' Oxford: Oxford University Press
Cook, G., 2001. 'The Discourse of Advertising' (2nd Edition) London: Routledge
Crystal, D., 2001, 'Language and the Internet', Cambridge, CUP
Culpeper et al (Eds) 1998, 'Exploring the Language of Drama' London: Routledge
Fowler, R., 1991, 'Language in the News: Discorse and Ideology in the Press, London: Routledge
Gillen, J., 2003, 'The Language of Children', London Routledge
Goddard, A., 2002, 'The Language of Advertising: Written texts', London: Routledge
Goddard, A and Mean Patterson, L., 2000, 'Language and Gender', London: Routledge
Hillier,H., 2004, 'Analysing Real Texts: Research Studies in Modern English Language',
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Koester, A., 2004, 'The Language of Work', London Routledge
Marshall, J and Werndly, A., 2002, 'The Language of Television', London: Routledge
McLoughlin, L., 2000, 'The Language of Magazines', London: Routledge
McRae, J., 1998, 'The Language of Poetry', London: Routledge
Pridham, Francesca, 2001, 'The Language of Conversation', London: Routledge
Reah, D., 2002, 'The Language of Newspapers' (2nd Ed) London: Routledge
Reeves, C., 2005, 'The Language of Science', London: Routledge.
Ross, A., 1998, 'The Language of Humour', London: Rougledge
Sanger, K, 2000, 'The Language of Drama', London: Routledge
Saraceni, M., 2003 'The Language of Comics', London: Routledge
Shortis, 2000, 'The Language of ICT', London Routledge
Thorne, S., 2006, 'The Language of War', London: Routledge
Further reading(attending and non-attending students) - this list may be updated during the
course:
Gregory, M. and Carroll, S, 1972, "Language and Situation: Language Varieties and their Social
Context", London Routledge available to download at
http://www.uefap.com/courses/baecc/dal/g&c_1.pdf
Pope, Rob, 2002, "The English Studies Book", Part Three, London, Routledge
Slembrouck, S (1998-2004) "What is meant by 'discourse analysis'?", available for download at:
http://bank.ugent.be/da/da.htm
Further bibliographical details may be added during the course.