SUN, SEA, SEX AND THE UNSPOILT COUNTRYSIDE, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica SUN, SEA, SEX AND THE UNSPOILT COUNTRYSIDE e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! 1. THEORETICAL ISSUES Discourse: Discourse is a complex term used in linguistics and in the social sciences, there is no universal agreement on the exact definition of the notion. Brown and Yule observe that discourse analysis refers to a “wide range of activities. It is used to describe activities at the intersection of disciplines as diverse as sociolinguistics. psycho-linguistics, philosophical linguistics and computational linguistics”. Linguists use the term discourse analysis to indicate the study of whole communicative exchanges produced in a particular speech community. The language is analysed in its form and its function, its strong interdisciplinary nature and the clear ties with the social sciences. The interdisciplinary nature of discourse analysis derives also from the fact it is not only rooted in linguistics but in the social sciences and in philosophy as well. Other disciplines have contributed to the development of discourse analysis: ● anthropology​ promoted interest in naturally occurring discourse as a culturally realization of ways of acting and being and introduced the distinction between the referencial and social functions of language. ● sociology​ contributed with research on the notion of “social fact”: a constraint external to the individual on forms of social life and small group interactions. ● philosophy​ contributed to the theories of Foucault who proposed a new concept of discourse and exported the term from linguistics to the social sciences. Discourse affects the way we see things. It is responsible for our choice of vocabulary, expressions and the style in which we choose to communicate things in different occasions. The types of choices a speaker or writer makes allow us to classify a certain text as pertaining to one type or the other. ❏ ACADEMIC DISCOURSE​ → is one type of discourse that is built up through the interaction of member of the academic community: teachers, researchers, students, etc. Individuals share a common knowledge of the rules and conventions of this type of discourse. They use a particular vocabulary, particular grammar structures, a particular register and style and they share norms and assumptions which makes communications more efficient and effective. A face to face lecture, a monographic book, a journal article are all texts produced in academic discourse with an high level of formality and an argumentative or expository nature of texts. ❏ TOURISM DISCOURSE​ → is a type of discourse in its own right: there are certain practices, norms, and values that are conventionalised in the way we use language and other expressive means in order to talk about tourism-related matters. These means can be used by members of a particular discourse community in order to exchange information about the travel-related issues. It is a genre with which professionals of the tourism industry come into frequent contact. Their professionalism must be constantly nourished, they must always keep up to date with the most current research in tourism sciences. It means that they must read books and articles about theoretical issues research tourism: must read, understand and produce this particular type of text. In the tourism industry, the language of tourism plays a decisive role in order to determine the success or the failure of certain trends and the popularity or the reverse of certain destinations. Genre: Genre is generally considered a theoretically and pedagogically useful and necessary level of categorization for both language learning and linguistic research and description. When we talk about genre, we talk about a category which is defined on the basis of external criteria “relating to the speaker’s purpose and topic, they are assigned on the basis of use rather than the basis of form”. Genres can be owned and often policed by particular discourse communities. Genres are recognised as legitimate groupings of texts within a certain community. Swales claims that the classification of texts into genres derives from the way in which texts are perceived, categorized and used by the member of a community. This means that genres can be seen as coded and keyed events within social communicative processes. The genre emphasizes its communicative role which would depend on external criteria and communicative purpose and linguistic content and form. Examples of genres are: guidebooks, travel articles, trip reports, business letters, advertisements, recipes, personal letters, textbooks, rewiews, etc. Register: Register can be related to the communicative situation and to the immediate context in which a certain communicative act takes place. An interesting distinction between genre and register is made by considering them to be two different ways of looking at the same subject. Lee says that the register is used when we view a text as a language, different situations require different configurations of language, functionally adapted to the immediate situational parameters of contextual use. Genre is used when we view the text as a member of a category: a culturally recognised artifact, a grouping of texts according to some conventionally recognised criteria. The register imposes constraint at the linguistic level according to the communicative situations, whereas genre refers to culturally-recognizable categories and it operates at the level of discourse structure, conditions the structure of a text and can only be realized as complete texts. A genre can have different registers and the same register can be used in different genres. We use the word “genre” to classify the different types of texts presented: in the case of ads, the category of advertising is considered a super-genre, advertisements can be considered a genre and print ads, tv commercials, radio commercials can be considered as sub-genres. the ​authenticity perspective ​focuses on the search for authentic experiences. The tourist is seen as a sort of pilgrim paying homage to varied attractions which become symbols of different cultures and lifestyles. Great importance is attributed to traditions, the past and the current local life. the ​strangerhood perspective​ focuses on the desire of the modern person who wants to see things that are different from his or her own reality. The central experience is the relationship with one’s own culture: the strangerhood perspective encourages travelers to distance themselves from their “centre”. the ​play perspective​ sees tourism as a game in which popular pleasures and fun are the key concepts. the ​perspective of conflict and appropriation​ has been mostly applied to tourism in the Third World countries and the focus is on the contrast between societies. Each of these perspectives can be created through language. Magic​ ​is commonly used in tourism promotional materials. The ​magic dimension​ is created with various linguistic means: syntactically, visually and through certain lexical choices. The names of hotels, resorts and attractions evoke the magic (e.g. mirabilandia). In addition the use of the ​imperative​ mood or the ​future tense​ can be used to create the ​“spell effect”. The​ euphoria technique​ uses ​positive​ and ​glowing adjectives​ (extraordinary, great); reference is made to ​positive quantities​ (amount, more). Even when there is a negative comment it is contrasted with a ​positive remark​. Creating contrasts​ is a very common technique. In fact ​binary oppositions​ are used to reinforce the image of the location. Keywords​ are​ carefully chosen​ because they have to ​reflect the consumer​ and his language and expectations even more than the qualities of the destination. They convey ​primary information​ and must be ​short, clear and to the point​. Intertextuality​ is connected to the use of ​similes​ and ​metaphors​ especially when promoting culturally distant destinations. Ego-targeting​ is characterized by the use of ​informal language​ and a ​conversational style​. This makes the reader feel special and privileged. The language of tourism can also be considered a type of ​language of social control because of the use of ​imperative mood​ or verbs in the ​-ing form​ which play the same role, the use of​ rhetorical questions​ and ​modal verbs. Tourism promotional material can be categorized according to the topic. The ​topics of tourism ​are referred to with acronyms: ● RRR → refers to romanticism, rebirth and regression. Praise for the beauty of the countryside, the enigmas of history and the possibility of finding a new self through travel. ● HHH → refers to happiness, hedonism and heliocentrism. Created through reference to the here and now, to happiness, pleasures and pastimes. ● FFF → refers to fun, fantasy and fairy-tales. Promote childhood, magic and other elements related to a sort of dream reality. ● S(S)SS → refers to sea, (sun), sex and socialization. Different registers​ are used in tourism discourse to market certain destinations, attractions or activities. There are different registers such as “register of health”, “register of food and drink”, “register of nostalgia” etc. The register underlines the specialization that language undergoes in certain forms of promotional materials. All these verbal techniques are fundamental requirement in promotional materials, they have to satisfy the ​AIDA condition​: “attention, maintain interest, create desire and get action”. 3. BROCHURES Potential travellers contact a tourism information office after they already have been charmed by some sort of promotional material. Brochures can vary in format, style and purpose. Some of them are meant to ​inform​, some to ​attract​ and others to do ​both​. Their format can be diverse. They may be printed in ​book​ or ​booklet format​ or in ​electronic format​. They can be ​printed leaflets​ to keep on display on a shop or hotel counter for the visitor to pick up. They may be in ​full color​ or ​black and white​, they may contain ​many pictures​ or a ​lot of text​. The ​English used in brochures​ is similar to English used in advertisements. ​Sentences are ​generally​ simple​, ​short​ and ​to the point​. They sometimes ​lack the verb​ and ​rely on adjectives and nouns​ to convey the message. Brochures contain more informational text compared to advertisements, because they have the purpose of providing “further informations”. Ads have limited space for the text, brochures have more space because they provide useful informations like contact details. Sometimes brochures can serve the function of presenting a product or a destination that the customer has already chosen, so the language is more objective. Even an objective brochure can present its subject in positive terms and it can aspire to become a promotional tool for the product or destination it portrays. The language of tourism is a type of specialized discourse with a specialized vocabulary, specific expressions and highly codified nature of textual genres. When the purpose is to promote services or attractions, the language is empathic with positive evaluative terms and positive quantities. Brochures have a​ “double soul”​. They want to promote attractions but they also want to inform the reader about the details of the attractions they feature. The amount of promotional vs. informative material depends on the brochure’s function and on its ideal collocation in what we define the “tourist cycle”. Push factors ​precede​ pull factors​. Tourists are often motivated by their own psychological needs. For this reason, promotional materials use keywords that can reflect the potential visitor’s expectations. An important exercise on keywords is to study the collocations of nouns referring to the most popular attractions and the adjectives by which are modified. The larger the data collection, the more useful and representative are the conclusions one can reach. Ads, brochures and other genres of tourism texts have a regular structure​. ​Ads have a slogan and images, brochures have an informative section​. Depending on the sub-genre, the structure becomes increasingly codified. 4. COMMERCIAL AND PROMOTIONAL WEBSITES Websites are 24-hours stores, visible everywhere at any time and this makes them a very powerful advertising tool. English is the most used language on the Web. Thanks to Websites there has been the appearance of novel textual genres like blogs, FAQs, newsletters, chat rooms, email, etc. Most commercial-tourism related Websites are organized as a sort of “online brochure” with informational, commercial and promotional sections because the quality of content is important. The hyper-textual nature of the Web is reflected in the language used online. One of the most visible effects is that some of the features of “promotional English” become more pronounced. The choice and distribution of keywords are influenced by the need to obtain good results in search engines and the physical structure of the website. Biber identifies 4 main types of Web text types: personal involved narration, persuasive/argumentative, advice and abstract, technical discourse. An important aspect of the web textuality is that the reader can choose his own path just by clicking on a link. Some features of the promotional English: - abundant use of adjectives and of empiric language - frequent use of the imperative mood and the formulae of direct address to the reader - collocational choices at the lexical level which are meant to satisfy the personal and cultural expectation describing the attractions Commercial websites provide a privileged vantage point, the use of keywords. The content of websites has a higher concentration of keywords and key phrases: as a consequence the text is only made up of them and the actual message is redundant. Keywords must be part of the consumer’s language so as to allow the potential tourist to recognize him or herself in them. In order to find a service through search engines the customer has to insert a keyword or a key phrase in a text field. The search engines provide an answer in the form of a list of websites. These are arranged in order of presumed relevance. One of the factors which influences the positioning in the search results is the fact that the first paragraph of a website is valued more than the rest of the text. The ideal essay is composed by 5 paragraph and the first one is the most important, the one that has to catch the reader’s attention. The rest of the essay expands the ideas of the first paragraph. The first paragraph is so important because the only passage that is read is the beginning of a page. Another factor which influences a site’s position in a search engine are the words and the links that one chooses to put in titles. Keywords must be very informative and short, certainly they increase conciseness. At the ​morphological level​, ​blending​ two lexical items as a means of reducing the textual surface is commonly used (camping site → campsite). Acronyms​, ​abbreviations​ and ​reduction​ are also used (password → psw). At a ​syntactic level​, relative clauses are avoided in favour of lighter constructions such as clauses with lexemes obtained by ​affixation​ (self-catering accommodation instead of ● The ​use of colloquialism and irony​ underlines and makes sense of the cultural clash between the tourist’s culture and the culture of the destination. ​Irony​ is generally used to minimize cultural misunderstandings and it has the role of highlighting the cross-cultural gap between the reader’s world and the destination, often in a benevolent way. This creates a bond between the writer and the readers. 7. POST-TRIP FEEDBACK There are ​three stages of tourism: the pre-trip, on-trip and post-trip stage​. Advertisements, brochures, travel articles and promotional websites​ are included in the pre-trip stage​, which is ​dominated by outsiders (tour operators)​. The function of the ​text​ that are used during this stage is primarily ​promotional​. For the on-trip stage we have guidebooks. We have to remember that a guidebook can also be read before leaving and a brochure can be used on trip. A type of text that should be included in the on-trip stage is text printed on gadgets and souvenirs. They are browsed through at the on-trip stage and exhibited at the post-tip stage. Travelogues can also be included in on-trip stage, as they are electronic journals, written by travellers while they are on the road and made freely available online. Travelogues resemble to trip reports but since the tourist is not the user anymore but is the actual writer of it, the post-trip stage refers to the stage in which this type of material is produced rather than used. Another type of text that should be included is on-trip stage is postcards. Travelogues, trip reports and reviews have several common traits​. They ​are all expressions of the tourist’s voice​: generally they are ​not written by professional writers with a promotional or informational intent but by tourists themselves who are eager to share their experience with their peers​. These genres are characterized by first-person narration, descriptive passages rich in appraisal and highly subjective tone. Travelogues is a very common type of travel article written in the form of travel stories or memoirs of the journalist’s personal travelling experiences. The tourism market has changed and the advent of the internet has made the world smaller and communications faster and simpler. The term travelogues is used to indicate the real-time online journals which are also known as blogs. Travelogues do not need to be published post trip, the traveller needs to make them readily available in real time. Travelogues will be considered as on-trip reports, published every day or so, while the traveller is still on the road. This distinguishes travelogues from post trip writing (trip reports and review). Post trip writings are published when the holiday is over, as a work of recollection of on-trip events with the purpose of sharing travel stories with the other members of a virtual or real community. We cannot be sure that travelogues and trip reports are written to be read, maybe they are just like personal journals. Reviews are surely written for the benefit of travelers. They are positive or negative appraisals of a destination, attraction, restaurant, etc. and are written with the purpose of sharing good tips with other people interested in the same thing, or of sparing them some disappointments. In the case of promotional materials we often do not know who the sender is, but in the case of travelogues, post-trip reports and reviews we do. Travellers write and they end up acting like as indirect promoters of the destination or attraction, but they provide invaluable feedback to the tourism industry as well. Tourism professionals can hear the tourist’s voice and obtain information about their public from the most reliable source. Knowing directly the market’s expectations and taste provides a powerful tool for the operators. Post trip genres are characterized by: ● first person narration ● verbs conjuncted in the present tense or in the past tense ● descriptive passages The register of travelogues and reports can vary: 1. travelogues​ can be future-oriented, they include mention of plans for the immediate future. 2. reports​ are generally simple narration of events that occurred during the holidays, they rarely include future-oriented language. 3. reviews​ are generally shorter, lacking or poor in narration but rich in evaluative elements such as positive or negative adjectives. They are essentially argumentative in nature, as they support a positive or negative evaluation. The argumentation results in some advice, recommendations or instructions. Experimental past can also be found. It is as the writer was describing an image sorted in the memory: the author filters objective reality through his own personal experience and become a witness to a state of facts. Travelogues, trip reports and reviews ​often deal with the traveller’s expectations. They contribute through the ​language of testimony​ by ​acting as witnesses​ of what lies beyond pages of travel magazines. They also contribute through the ​language of promotion​ by ​acting as promoters​ of the very same idealistic image of a destination that prompted them to travel. ❤ 🙉