Channel
• Oral texts • Written texts
Intent of the Communicator
Various types of texts (procedural, expository,
persuasive, narrative, descriptive)
Intent of the communicator
• Genre of texts:
– Narrative
– Procedural
– Expository (Informative)
– Persuasive (Hortatory)
– Descriptive
When are they used?
• procedural text: gives instructions on how to do
something.
• expository text: is used to explain something
• hortatory text (persuasive): is used to encourage or
to get someone to do something. As a matter of fact,
it is argumentation
• descriptive text: lists the characteristics of
something.
• narrative text: account of events (novel, newspaper
article, biography)
TEXT FORMS
• Text forms evolve and change
• Authentic text forms are often mixed
• According to modern studies, there may be
even more text typ44es. Nonetheless,
practical suggestions tend to classify texts in
3 main types:
Text Types (Sabatini)
Group 1
• scientific texts
• technical texts
• legal, normative, regulative texts
(treatises,essays, technical textbooks and
essays; laws and decrees; regulations,
administrative acts)
Text Types (Sabatini)
Group 2
• expository and didactic texts
• popularising informative texts (e.g. textbooks
on social, historical,political topics,
popularising texts of various topics,newspaper
and magazine articles)
Text Types (Sabatini)
Group 3
• literary texts, both poetry and fiction.
A text is a sequence of paragraphs that
represents an extended unit of speech.
• Semantic
• Syntactic
• Phonological
• Prosodic
• Transcoding
• Semiotics
• Specialized texts
• Non-specialized texts
Specialized texts
• How do we identify them?
– External parameters (elements of the
communication process)
– Internal parameters (formal structure; knowledge
structure; linguistic structure)
External Parameters
• A specialized text must be written by a
specialist
• Those who want to translate specialized texts
should get familiar with their specialized
context, and should know the domain
conventions and lexical/structural peculiarities
Internal Parameters
• Formal structure
• Knowledge structure
• Linguistic structure:
• Morphological level
• Lexical level
• Syntactic level
• Textual level
• Specialized texts are precise, more concise, and more
systematic.
• Precision is a relevant feature. Only experts can
control it.
Procedural texts
• Procedural texts can
– explain how something works or how to use
instruction manuals;
– instruct how to do a particular activity.
Procedural texts
• Structure: elementary.
• Format: according to the type of procedural
text.
• Language: focuses on people in general
– Verb tense: present;
– use of action verbs;
– use of linking words related to time, first, then,
when.
Persuasive (or Hortatory ) texts
• The persuasive text represents the attempt of
the writer to have the addressee do
something or act in a certain way. It wants to
be convincing so that the addressee is made
to share the writer’s opinion.
Features of Persuasive Texts
• Emotive language – to get a sympathetic reaction.
• Imperatives – telling the reader what to do.
• Short sentences – dramatic effect.
• Logical connectives – e.g. ‘therefore’, ‘because’.
• Alliteration
• Address reader directly.
• Personal and informal tone.
• Use of contrasts to emphasise particular points.
• Use of facts to shock the reader.
Example
• In all the discussion over the removal of lead from
petrol (and the atmosphere) there doesn’t seem to
have been any mention of the difference between
driving in the city and the country.
• While I realize my leaded petrol car is polluting the
air wherever I drive, I feel that when you travel
through the country, where you only see another car
every five to ten minutes, the problem is not as
severe as when traffic is concentrated on city roads.
Example
• Those who want to penalize older, leaded petrol
vehicles and their owners don’t seem to appreciate
that, in the country, there is no public transport to fall
back upon and one’s own vehicle is the only way to
get about.
• I feel that the country people, who often have to
travel huge distances to the nearest town and who
already spend a great deal of money on petrol,
should be treated differently to the people who live in
the city.