Transcript ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP)

ENGLISH FOR
SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP)
LEXICON AND DISCOURSE
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
ANY LANGUAGE CAN BE DESCRIBED
WITH TWO MODELS ACCORDING TO ITS:
STRUCTURE
OR
Phonology
Graphology
Morphology
Syntax
Lexicon
VARIATION
Diachronic
Diatopic
Diastratic
Diaphasic
Diamesic
TEXTUALITY
(the arrows indicate convergence)
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
2
STRUCTURE
Phonology: the study of the sounds (pronunciation, stress, intonation, etc.)
Graphology: the study of the spelling
Morphology: the study of the grammatical forms of the word
Syntax: the study of the order of words in the sentence
Lexicon: the study of the vocabulary
VARIATION
Diachronic: variation in time (historical)
Diatopic: variation in space (regional: ex. dialects)
Diastratic: variation in society (classes, ages, social roles, etc.)
Diaphasic: variation according to communicative situation
Diamesic: variation according to communicative channel (written/oral)
TEXTUALITY
Regulative factors: efficacy, efficiency, appropriateness
Constitutive factors of communication:
cohesion, coherence, intentionality, informativity,
intertextuality.
situationality,
WHERE DO WE COLLOCATE ESP?
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
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3
LEXICAL FEATURES OF
SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE
MONOREFERENTIALITY
SYNONYMITY
LACK OF EMOTION
PRECISION
TRANSPARENCY
CONCISENESS
CONSERVATISM
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
METAPHOR
AMBIGUITY
IMPRECISION
REDUNDANCY
SEMANTIC INSTABILITY
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
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A question of degrees
• Monoreferentiality
Ex.: liver, heart, engine, bit, chip, deixis
• Lack of emotive connotations
Ex.: terms with a purely denotative function (≠
heart, lion, sun etc…)
• Precision
Facts and data, no euphemisms.
Ex.: ‘Wind three two zero degrees. One five knots.
You are cleared to land — runway three zero.’
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Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
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• Transparency
Ex.: Gastroenterology: gastro=stomach +
entero=intestine + logy=study
• Conciseness
Ex.: it. saldo <saldare, rimborso<rimborsare,
utilizzo<utilizzare
fr. informatique<information + automatique
eng. contraception<contraconception
Ex.: it. estratto conto, analista programmatore
Ex.: use abbreviations and/or acronyms, like
ESP, NGO, NHS, RAM, BOT ….
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Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
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• Conservatism
Ex.: legal language
whosoever, wherefore, thereof, forthwith
-eth instead of –s in the 3rd person singular with the
present tense
Ex.: medical language
GE (anglosaxon)
nouns
brain
chest
heart
liver
skin
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ESP (classical root)
adjectives
cerebral
thoracic
cardiac
hepatic
dermal
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• Metaphor
Ex.: business language
-
business in the City of London was almost shut down after overnight
storms
aggressive selling sent share prices broadly lower
high-tech issues were hurt
economic depression
• Synonyms and Redundancy
Ex.: legal language
- new and novel; false and untrue; made and signed; terms and
conditions (Anglosaxon+Latin)
- Old Eng.: will and testament (will for money inheritance / testament for
estate inheritance)
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
• Ambiguity and Imprecision
Ex.: “The tenant will (…) pay for all gas and electric light
and power which shall be consumed or supplied on or to
the Property during the tenancy and the amount of the
water rate charged in respect of the Property during the
tenancy and the amount of all charges made for the use
of the telephone (if any) on the Property during the
tenancy or a proper proportion of the amount of the rental
or other recurring charges to be assessed to the duration
of the tenancy.”
• Semantic instability
Ex.: “purchase”
1297 from chase = hunting = sthg obtained through force
later = sthg obtained through action vs. inheritance
XVI cent. = sthg obtained through payment
Ex.: It. atomo = indivisibile / ipnosi = sonno
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
SYNTACTIC FEATURES
OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE
1. EXPRESSIVE CONCISENESS
2. PRE-MODIFICATION
(vs. POST-MODIFICATION)
3. NOMINALISATION
4. LEXICAL DENSITY
5. SENTENCE COMPLEXITY AND LENGTH
6. USE OF VERB TENSES AND THE PASSIVE
7. DEPERSONALISATION
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Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
1. Expressive conciseness
•
Prefix/suffix
Workable metal (metal which can be worked)
Reactive force (force which reacts)
The unwanted liquid was thrown away (… which was not wanted…)
•
Omitting subject and auxiliary
Pieces of iron left in the rain become rusty (… which are left…)
A pilot tube was used to measure the flow through the pipe. The instrument used was type
4CA.
‘Turning into final approach, runway three zero.’
•
Indirect elements in passive sentence
Compressed air can be used for several purposes (Air which is compressed can
be used for several purposes )
A computer-calculated result (A result which has been calculated by a computer)
•
Present Participle
Tungsten is a metal retaining hardness at red-heat (…which retains…)
A robot controls the moving line (…the line which is moving)
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Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
2. Pre-modification
• Ex.: An L-shaped computer room vs. A room for
computers which has the shape of an L.
The driver’s overrapid downhill driving of the bus caused
brake failure vs. The driver drove the bus too rapidly
down the hill so the brakes failed
• Ex.:
1) The rate at which inflation grows
The rate of inflation growth
The inflation growth rate
2) A pentagon is a figure which has five sides
A pentagon is a figure with five sides
A pentagon is a five-sided figure
3) A train which carries passengers
A train for carrying passengers
A passenger-carrying train (or A passenger train)
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
3. Nominalization
(verbal noun / adjective noun)
• Ex.:
The filament is heated by the application of a voltage
(…by applying..)
…in the course of the commission of an offence
(in the course of committing…)
Discharge of the contents of the tank is effected by a pump
(The contents of the tank are discharged by a pump)
Oscillations are frequency-dependent
(…depend on frequency)
Danger is practically non-existent
(…does not exist)
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
4. Lexical density
(content words)
The complete development of the fracture model
requires
an understanding of the bond-rupture reaction
NS
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VS
NS
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
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5. Sentence complexity and length
The surface structure of a sentence is:
NS + VS +
NS
where VS is generally occupied by verbs like:
• scientific analysis: to follow, to be due to, to
suggest, to show
• stative verbs: to consist of, to mean, to become, to
depend, to represent, to form, to request, to require,
etc.
• equative BE: the relationship between subject and
nominal part gives an equivalence, that is X=Y
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
But if you mix points 4 and 5….
• Ex.: This Agreement, effective as of the first day of April
1987, between Dale Johnson Ryder Warren, an
Association organized and existing under the laws of
Switzerland (“Grantor”), its successor and assigns, and
DJRW Johnson Ryder Simpson &C., its successor and
assigns (“Member Firm”) …
• Ex.: The tenant will pay for all gas and electric light and
power which shall be consumed on or supplied to the
Property during the tenancy and the amount of the water
rate charged in respect of the Property during the
tenancy and the amount of all charges made for the use
of the telephone (if any) on the Property during the
tenancy or a proper proportion of the amount of the
rental or other recurring charges to be assessed to the
duration of the tenancy.
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
6. Use of verb tenses
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Present Simple Active
Present Simple Passive
Future Simple Active
Present Perfect Passive
Present Perfect Active
Past Simple Active
Past Simple Passive
Future Simple Passive
Present Progressive Active
Imperative
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
64%
25%
3.7%
1.7%
1.4%
1.2%
1.2%
0.7%
0.6%
0.3%
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The passive form
• Ex.:
We can divide 9 by 3 without a remainder
9 can be divided by 3 without a remainder
9 is divisible by 3 without a remainder
The division of 9 by 3 leaves no remainder
• Ex.:
The research is based on a precise analysis of
data
(no agent mentioned)
vs.
Mr. X has based his research on a precise
analysis of data.
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
7. Depersonalization
(objectivity vs. subjectivity)
- verbs like
to demonstrate
to suggest
to highlight
to confirm
to point out… used in the passive
- the author refers to himself indirectly through thirdperson pronouns, noun phrases (the author, the
research team…)
- the author conveys his personal views through forms like
the book investigates, this article demonstrates…
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
One of the implicit assumptions of the present
book is that the political meanings of any text do
not exist apart from the ‘texture’ of its language,
and that the formal and rhetorical features of a
text are deeply implicated within the textuality of
the historical moment in which it participates.
Thus one of the interests of this book is to attend
to the shaping metaphors and strategies of the
Enquiry and the Reflections – asking what they
do, describe, declare, conceal and reveal, and
how these effects might be paradigmatic of more
extended discursive networks.
Tom Furniss, Edmund Burke’s Aesthetic
Ideology, Cambridge, CUP, 1993.
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
TEXTUAL FEATURES
OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE
1. ANAPHORIC REFERENCE
(LEXICAL REPETITION)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
USE OF CONJUNCTIONS
THEMATIC PROGRESSION
STANDARDIZATION
TEXTUAL DOMAIN
TEXTUAL DOMINANCE
TEXTUAL GENRES
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
1. Lexical repetition as anaphoric
reference
• Ex.: “The Tenant will not place or exhibit any
notice board or notice on the Property or use the
Property for any other purpose than that of a
strictly private residence”.
• Ex.: “The way to solve some problems
connected with congestion in air traffic is to raise
prices at peak times and lower them at others.
This proposal is based on nothing more than the
principles of demand and supply”.
• This proposal =I propose
>>>>>>ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
2. Use of conjunctions
Connective elements in a corpus of scientific texts:
- deduction: therefore, thus…
33%
- contrastive: but, however…
23%
- certainty or doubt: of course, possibly…
16%
- semantic continuity: and, moreover…
9%
- exemplification: for example, in particular… 8%
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
3. Thematic organization
(tema/rema)
• Ex. 1:
“All substances are divided into two classes. The
first class is about elementary substances.”
T1
R1
T2
R2
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Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
• Ex. 2:
“I have called this book the General
Theory of Employment, Interest and
Money. I have placed the emphasis
on the prefix general to contrast the
character of my arguments and
conclusions with those of the
classical theory. I have become
accustomed, perhaps perpetrating a
solecism, to include in ‘the classical
school’ the followers of Ricardo,
including (for example) J. Stuart Mill,
Marshall, Edgeworth and Prof. Pigou.
I shall argue that the postulates of
the classical theory are applicable to
a special case only and not to the
general case, the situation which it
assumes being a limiting point of the
possible positions of equilibrium.”
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
T1
R1
T1
R2
T1
R3
T1
R4
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4. Standardization
STRUCTURES OF DIFFERENT TEXTUAL GENRES (Van
Dijk - 1977)
Scientific article Psychology article Economics article
INTRODUCTION
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
THEORY
PROBLEM
EXPERIMENT
COMMENT
CONCLUSION
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
ANALYSIS
PREDICTION
PROPOSAL
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5. Textual Domain
economics, medicine, engineering, IT,
chemics, agriculture, legal, literature,
general domain, etc.
6. Textual Dominance
argumentative, expository, descriptive,
prescriptive, narrative, (+ suasive).
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
8. Textual dominance/genre
GENERI E FORME TESTUALI A DOMINANZA
ARGOMENTATIVA
ESPOSITIVA
ANALITICA
saggio scientifico
manuale
articolo scientifico
saggio divulgativo
recensione critica
articolo divulgativo
commento
definizione
tesi di laurea
relazione
tesina
lezione
relazione a un convegno
conferenza
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
SINTETICA
abstract
sommario
recensione
scheda
appunti
………
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REFERENCES
R.A De Beaugrande – W.U. Dressler, Introduzione alla
linguistica testuale, Bologna, Il Mulino, 1984.
M.A.K. Halliday – R. Hasan, Language, context and text:
aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective,
Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1985.
Maurizio Gotti, I linguaggi specialistici: caratteristiche
linguistiche e criteri pragmatici, Scandicci, La Nuova Italia,
1991.
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza
ENGLISH FOR
SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP)
LEXICON AND DISCOURSE
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Prof.ssa Alba Graziano
Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e
Imprese Internazionali
Videoconferenza