How Language Use Varies

Some Linguistic Tools

Sentence Level Analysis

Sentence Level Analysis

Each lexical category (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc.) does not function by itself, but only in relation to others in a sentence. Therefore it is useful to look at them in relation to each other in a sentence.

Sentence Level Analysis

In English, a sentence or a clause may have only two lexical items – a noun or nominal group and a verb or verbal group, e.g. “The boy laughed” – or only one lexical item, a verb or verbal group (in imperative) e.g. “Stop!”.

Sentence Level Analysis

Clauses can be categorized into basic types, e.g.Clause Type Example

Declarative (statement)

The workshop begins at 8.30 am.

Interrogative (question)

Are they coming?

Imperative (order)

Bring your own stationery.

Sentence Level Analysis

Linguistic features are analysed at the sentence level often to explore:

(i) Interpersonal meaning

(ii) Ideational meaning

(iii) Textual meaning

Sentence Level Analysis

Interpersonal meaning

• How language in texts creates particular social relationships between the writer and reader, and expresses judgments and attitudes of the writer

Ideational meaning

• How texts construct particular representations of people, events and ideas

Textual meaning

• How texts are organised (method of development) to carry different meanings

Interpersonal MeaningConstruction of social relationships between the writer and reader

Interpersonal Meaning

Interpersonal relationships between language users can be analysed along three dimensions:

(i) Power / status

(ii) Contact

(iii) Emotion / affect

Dimensions of Analysis

Dimensions Points to Note

Power / status

Ranges from unequal (hierarchical) to equal (peers), and assigns degrees of deference and impersonality .

Contact

Ranges from frequent and even intimate to occasional, and refers to the degree of familiarity and solidarity between interactants.

Emotion / affect

Refers to the degree and intensity of like or dislike of interactants for each other and/or what they are talking about, and hence denotes positive or negative attitudes and judgments.

Language Features

Mood ModalityPronoun

Use

Incomplete

Sentences

Lexical Choice

The following are some of the language features which may be used in a text for the construction of social relationships between the writer and reader.

Mood

Mood choice (i.e. selection of clause types) can position the writer / speaker and reader / listener in different role relations to each other.

Mood

Three Types

Declarative

Interrogative Imperative

Mood

Mood Positioning

Declarative

The writer / speaker as the provider of information

Interrogative

The writer / speaker as the requestor of information

Imperative

The writer / speaker as the person asking the listener / reader to do something

Imperative Mood

The imperative mood may be used to convey a command. Thus the use of imperatives can indicate that the writer / speaker is in a position of greater power than the reader / listener.

The power may be a question of authority, status (e.g. in texts from a teachers’ handbook – “Check students’ understanding of topic”) or expertise (e.g. in texts like manuals – “Insert the batteries”).

Interrogative Mood

The interrogative mood may reflect the right of the writer to demand information from the reader (i.e. assuming authority).

On the other hand, questioning may assume that the reader possess knowledge which the writer does not have but wishes to have. In this case, the reader is positioned as something of an expert.

Interrogative Mood

In a written text (where there is no opportunity for the reader to reply to them), questions can often be used to keep the channels of communication open. Two kinds of questions may be used in such texts:

Interrogative Mood

Expository question (a question which the writer goes on to answer): a way of introducing or stimulating interest in an issue or discourse topic;

Rhetorical question (a question that does not demand an answer): the answer is supposed to be common knowledge, or to make an indirect statement.

Declarative Mood

The declarative mood may indicate that the author is claiming higher status or expertise than the reader, i.e. setting themselves up as an ‘authority’ or ‘expert’.

The authority / status or expertise can be reflected in the degree of assertiveness which is often indicated by modality.

Modality

Modal verbs

• For example: may, can, could, will and should

Semi-modal verbs

• For example: have to, be going to, have got toOther adjectives, adverbs and nouns

• For example: probably, probable, probability

Modality is the expression of the writer’s attitudes or comments towards a proposition (e.g. different degrees of possibility, obligation, frequency etc.) through the use of:

Modality

The use of modal constructions can vary the forcefulness of a demand or the assertiveness of a statement to different degrees. High Medium Low

Modal Verbs

must, ought to, need, has to, is to

will, would, shall, should

may, might, can, could

Probability

certain, certainly

probable, probably

possible, possibly

Frequency always usually sometimes

Universality

all some a few / no

Modality

Different degrees of assertiveness suggested by a text can convey different kinds of interpersonal relationship between the writer and reader.

For example, the use of expressions related to a high degree of modality will increase the strength of a claim, and thus can indicate the higher degree of authoritativeness or expertise assumed by the writer.

Pronoun Use

The interpersonal meaning can also be expressed through the use of pronouns. Choices of pronoun in a text will affect the degree of ‘distance’ or ‘closeness’ between the writer and reader.

Pronoun Use

Selection of personal pronouns (e.g. “I”, “we”, “you”) can project the closeness between the writer and reader. It may indicate the writer’s attempts to explicitly engage their readers or to invoke reader participation.

Pronoun Use

The reduced use of personal pronouns can project the formality or ‘distance’ between the writer and reader. It can also be an indication of the writer’s explicit stance towards the topic.

Pronoun Use

The use of the pronoun “we” can create a context in which the writer assumes that her readers agree with her, or it can indicate the writer’s attempt to include the reader in the group referred to (inclusive we).

On the other hand “we” can refer to a group to which the reader does not belong. The exclusive we is especially common when the writer represents an institution of which the reader is not a member.

Pronoun Use

“You” can be used to make a direct address to the reader, creating a context into which the reader may enter the position of the ideal reader constructed in the mind of the writer. The use of “you” to address a mass audience as though they were individuals is common in advertising.

Incomplete sentences

Incomplete sentences (minor sentences) may be used in a written text as a way to imitate spoken language. when a sentence is incomplete, the reader has to supply the missing information.

In other words, incomplete sentences assume that writer and reader share information which does not need to be explicitly spelled out. This can make a text appear more personal, and help create closer social relationships between the writer and reader.

Lexical Choice: Affective Words

The choice of a particular word among those with the same conceptual meaning but different emotive meanings can reflect the different degree of emotion, i.e. the intensity of like or dislike of what is being talked about. Hence it can denote the writer’s positive or negative attitudes and judgements.

Lexical Choice: Affective Words

Positive Neutral Negative

Slim Thin Skinny

Loyalist Freedom-fighterGuerrilla, Terrorist

For example:

Lexical Choice: Reporting Verbs

The writer’s commitment to or view of a proposition can be conveyed by the choice of the reporting verb.

Lexical Choice: Reporting Verbs

For example, the use of reporting verbs such as “shown”, “found”, “obtained”, “revealed” can reflect a positive attitudes towards findings in a research article.

Similarly, the journalist’s impression of how words were said or what value to ascribe to them can be conveyed through the choice of reporting verb, e.g. “spat, out”, “demanded” instead of the commonly used “said”.