Discourse and
Pragmatics
Genre Analysis
Genre?
Romeo and Juliet
Harry Potter
Yuan Liang Dibiao Wode
Xin
Yat But Ao Siu (The
Weakest Link)
Facebook Page
Moshing
Genres
•
Movie Genres
What
Genre
are they?
The development of the concept
of ‘Genre’
•
•
•
•
Literary Studies
Film Studies
Stylistics
‘Genre Analysis’
Genre
Genre Analysis:
• Genre Analysis is an approach that attempts to
explain regularities in texts in terms of shared
communicative purposes within discourse
communities. It is usually associated with John
Swales's analysis of the move structure of article
introductions by North American and British
academics. But since 1990, it has taken on other
forms of analysis (rhetorical structure, analysis of
variation, Systemic Functional Linguistics), other
discourses (popular genres and legal genres as well
as academic texts), different cultures (the academic
writing of Finland, Czechoslavakia, or Germany), and
different modes (in studies of pictures, electronic
texts, and activities).
Genre Analysis: Genre and
Purpose
• John Swales
• Text types are historically and culturally
situated
• attempts to explain regularities in texts
in terms of shared communicative
purposes within discourse communities.
• Genre is SOCIAL ACTION
Genre
Communicative Events
Communicative Purposes
Discourse Communities
Discourse Community
• A group of people who join together to
pursue common goals
• Intercommuinication among members
• ‘Owns’ a set of genres
• Membership depends of adherence to
generic conventions
• Membership=literacy
What ‘discourse communities’ do
you belong to?
Community
Goals
Genres/
Purpose
‘Moves’ (academic introductions)
•
•
•
•
•
•
The four moves of academic introductions:
1. Establishes the field in which the writer of the study is
working.
2. Summarizes the related research or interpretations on one
aspect of the field.
3. Creates a research space or interpretive space (a "niche")
for the present study by indicating a gap in current knowledge
or by raising questions.
4. Introduces the study by indicating what the investigation
being reported will accomplish for the field.
Adapted from: John Swales. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings.
Cambridge University Press, 1990.
What are the features and
‘moves’ in these texts?
Genre
•
•
•
•
•
‘Communicative event’
‘Set of clear communicative purposes’
‘Discourse community’
‘Structured and conventionalized’
‘Constraints’ on ‘allowable contributions’
•
•
•
•
Intent
Positioning
Form
Function
• ‘Expert members’
Analyzing Stories
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Labov’s Narrative Analysis
Abstract
Orientation
Complication
Evaluation
Result
Coda
Example: Recovery Stories
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction
Complication
Bottom
(Failed Reform)
Transformation
(Relapse)
Evaluation
Coda
Recovery Stories: Features
• Very stable structure
• ‘Set’ phrases
• themes: helplessness, control, hope,
fear, strength
• Bottom
• ‘Higher power’
Genre
• ‘Tactical’ aspects of genre
• ‘Discriminative strategies’
• Genres are not static, but rather dynamic
social processes
• Genres define, organize and structure social
reality
• Genre is a type of ‘social action’
• Genres signal Membership
Mixing Genres
• Relationship with intertextuality
• Fairclough
• Intertextuality
• Interdiscursivity
• Want Ad 1
• Want Ad 2
Mixing Genres
Mixing Genres
Mixing Genres
Bhatia’s 7 Steps for Genre
Analysis
• Determine the situational context
• Survey literature
• Refining the contextual analysis
•
•
•
•
Speaker/Writer and Hearer/Audience
History of discourse community
Network of texts
Subject/Topic
• Select corpus
• Study how the genre is used
Bhatia’s 7 Steps for Genre
Analysis (Continued)
• Choose focal level for analysis
• Lexico-grammatical features
• Textualization (text-patterning)
• Structural analysis
• ‘cognitive move structure’ (focus on purpose)
• Get opinions of specialist informants
Task
Text Analysis
Job Application
Genres and Culture
• Chinese vs. American Business Letters
• Chinese vs. American Television
Commercials
• Chinese vs. American Tabloids
Genres and Power
• Genres link producers, consumers, topics,
mediums and occassions
• Within a kind of framework
• Which establishes constraints on what is
acceptable
• And controls the roles and responsibilities of
producers and consumers
• Reflects social roles (ideology)
• Example
Question for an Analysis of
Genre
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Context (where will the text be encountered and how does
context affect interpretation?)
What generic label/s would you give to this text?
What kinds of expectations do you have about this genre?
Does the text meet or not meet those expectations?
What purposes does this genre serve?
What discourse communities is it associated with?
What ideological assumptions are embedded in the text?
How does this genre construct the reader?
How does this genre construct the writer?
How is the reader meant to respond to this text?
How open to negotiation is your response?
What relationship does the text have with other texts/genres?
Questions for Genre Analysis
• What ideological assumptions are embedded
in the text?
• How does this genre construct the reader?
• How does this genre construct the writer?
• How is the reader meant to respond to this
text?
• How open to negotiation is your response?
Expectations
• Repertories of expectations
• Genres are never clearly defined
• New texts may require new genre
categories