Testi specialistici della lingua inglese

TEXTS

Marital Conflict and Disruption of Children’s Sleep

Area: medicine, psychology

Non-integral citations

P.38 “Discussion”. Argumentation. Predominance of non-integral, but there are also

integral citations.

Academic article.

In specialized texts paragraphs are long, very coherent, very cohesive.

In the two other texts, we have lousy paragraphs. One sentence-one paragraph. It is

mimicking speech. Written like thoughts.

Nominalization. It is all nominalization.

In academic articles nominalization is much more technical: terminology.

Abstract: nominalization, repetition, abstraction (sleepiness), relative phrases, pre-

modification.

Nominal forms tend to be much more static.

Nominalized form to make the text sound more authoritative.

Referential, non-emotional, objective language.

Rowing: The real effects on your children

Probably a blog article. In a blog people express their opinion and try to affect others

opinions. Or it is an internet version, a very popularized version. It is too interactive even

for The Mirror. Personal pronouns: I, you, we (inclusive we).

Same topic analyzed from different points of view.

Metaphors. Corner University without saying who, when etc.

The language is more informal. Use of idiomatic expressions.

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Paragraphs tend to coincide with sections. Titles are absolutely not formal.

Verbal forms.

More emotional language.

Sustained metaphor of war, battle.

Rowing parents 'harm' children's sleep

Newspaper article.

Not only citation, but also quotation.

Same theme but different information highlighted in different texts.

Explicitation: repetition of concepts, examples.

Simplification.

Author visibility in academic writing

Not totally objective.

Author as:

- Researcher (analyse, compare, find)

- Arguer (claim, contest, reject)

- Guide (in section 3 we present) – exclusive we

So the author is involved in the text.

Metadiscourse, strategies used by authors to guide and involve the reader.

Metadiscourse: those aspects of the text which explicitly refer to the organization of the

discourse or the writer’s stance towards either its content or the reader.

Ex. The paper concludes by explaining why the results… What is significant here, and what needs

pointing out…

The paper: depersonalization – not we, the authors…

Explicit way of guiding the reader.

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Two types of metadiscourse:

- Interactional metadiscourse. Function: to involve the reader in the text.

Expression limiting commitment: might, possible – hedges

o Expression emphasizing certainty: in fact, definitely – boosters

o Expressions expressing attitude to content: unfortunately, I agree – attitude

o marker

Expressions building a relationship with the reader

o Second person pronouns, imperatives, questions, inclusive we –

 engagement markers

- Textual metadiscourse. Function: to guide the reader through the text. Linking

devices, paragraphs…

References to text and its parts: see fig., in section, this article/paper/study –

o locational metatext

Reference to discourse acts to repeat, argue, conclude, introduce – rhetorical

o metatext

Metadiscourse organizes the text, comments on it, conveys authorial presence in the text,

invites text awareness.

Every author makes a personal use of metadiscourse. But there is variation across

disciplines, domains, and cultures.

Legal English

Rachel McNamara Coyne

Sollicitor

Lots of words

Archaic forms

Formal language

Very long sentences

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No punctuation, no commas. Traditional style: very little punctuation.

Negative: tell what not to do, rather than what to do.

Trying to be precise and accurate, they get the opposite. They list and so on. Many things

are not necessary.

What the judges think:

- Half-baked

- Cobbled together

- Archaic

- Absurd obscure – unreasonable conclusion

- Tortuous

- Incomprehensible legal gobbledegook

What’s legal English? It is a special variety of English, which differs from ordinary English

because its main purpose is not to communicate but to regulate. It is public and private. It

aims to describe all of the conditions, obligations, restrictions or exceptions which are to

regulate a particular relationship.

Lawyers prefer traditional legal English, because it’s familiar, conservative, time….

Backup to drafting: the rules of interpretation.

Internal legal principles influencing drafting:

- Documents must be read as a whole.

- Eiusdem generis

- Expression unius est exclusion alterius

- Noscitur a sociis

- Contra proferentem

Wordiness and redundancy

Movie Language

Movies are a multimedia product. In terms of textuality they are difficult to define.

In terms of communication there are two main channels:

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Auditory channel (language, sound, noises)

 Visual Channel (image side of the movie, road signs shop front, clothes, colors,

 body movements)

Chame (Spagnish linguist) talks about eleven codes:

The linguistic code is the language used

The paralinguistic code which denotes features which provide non verbal information, but

which are still auditory (e.g. laughter)

The musical and the special effects code which are represented by songs and illusion

created by camerawork, computer graphic etc…

The sound arrangement code which deals with features which either belong to a

 person or object

The iconographic code which represents the icons, indices and symbols in the

 movie

The photographic code which deals with changing in lighting, in perspective or in

 the use of colour

The planning code which depends on the types of shots (close-up and extreme)

 The mobility code which includes proxemic (e.g. related to space) and kinetic

 (related to motion) signs and the screen characters’ mouth articulation

The graphic code which is the written language present on the screen (titles,

 subtitles

The syntactic code



All these codes and channels interact simultaneously = Multiplicity of Channels, Codes

and Messages

Difficult to analyze: it is not possible to take into account the whole interplay of these

codes and channels and the most natural consequence which may emerge is the loss of

some pragmatic and semantic features.

Status of movie language

Movie language is planned and artificial, yet it pretends to be authentic (Sinclair, Taylor,

Pavesi)

Gegory and Carrol

Speaking:

Spontaneous

 conversing

o monologue

o

Non- Spontaneous

 reciting

o the speaking what is written

o to be spoken as if not written

 to be spoken

 not necessarily to be spoken



The rhythm of the dialogue is slower and clearer

There can be a narrator who narrated the story it corresponds with the main character

Features which are typical of the spontaneous conversation

Movie converstation takes place in the spoken medium

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Movie conversation occurs with non-verbal paralinguistic features

Movie converstation takes place in shared context (two people are talking there is a shared

context and it is like in reallife)

It pretends to take place in real time giving a sense of immersion

Movie Conversation is interactive

In terms of textual type movies are identical

English in movies and for specialized purpose

Movies can be legal texts, they can be political, scientific or historical text.

There are different kinds of legal English, therea re construction which are typical of

courtroom trials.

There are also different formality types within the same movie.

Morpho-syntactic features

Legal English (2)

Modern English legal writing:

- Plain English Campaign describes good legal writing as writing that ‘… the

intended audience can understand and act on after a single reading.’

- ‘legal documents should be written in modern, standard English – that is, in

standard English as it is currently used and understood’

The profession distinguished between writing and drafting

- Legal writing is the means of communicating information or advice, usually in a

letter to a client or to another professional, or in a report, or a memorandum

presenting the results of legal research.

- Legal drafting is usually the creating of formal documents intended to create legal

relations between two or more parties.

Aims of modern legal English:

- Meet the client’s goals

- Be correct and complete - Always being up-to-date. English language is always

evolving.

- Be clear and cogent – Lawyers are often too concentrated on the substance, but they

have to make the reader understand, they have to be clear, logical

- Be persuasive

- Be concise

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- Be precise

- Be consistent

How?

- Content: the law

- Style and language – what can you do to improve understanding

- Structure

….

Characteristic

- Modern standard English

- Short sense-bites

- Punctuation and spelling

- Prefer active voice

- Uncover hidden verbs

- Use a logical sentence structure

- Adopt a style appropriate to the reader

What to consider

- Layout and design (housestyle)

- Definitions

- Headings, sub-headings

- Clauses, sub-clauses

- Lists, tabulation

- Schedules

- Tables, formulas

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- Notes and examples

…

Structure of a contract

- Front or cover page

- Content page

- Parties clause

- Recitals or Whereas – background information – why parties are signing this

contract

- Definition and construction or interpretation

- Purpose clause

- Conditions precedent

- Rights and obligations

- Representations and warranties

- Events of default and acceleration

- Boilerplate clauses

- Schedules

- Execution or signature page

Drafting Exercise!

FOTOCOPIE

English more accessible and standardizes for an international audience. Globalization.

Simplicity involves simplification. Somebody is mediating the information. Something is

left out to make the text simpler.

Gate keeping: there is somebody who decides what’s comes in, what goes out, comes

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through. These guardians are universities, publishing houses.

House-style. You are known by your house-style. If you are a scholar, a specialist in a

field, publishing in an academic journal, part of