ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP)

1. ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP) LEXICON AND DISCOURSEProf.ssa Alba Graziano Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

2. ANY LANGUAGE CAN BE DESCRIBED WITH TWO MODELS ACCORDING TO ITS: STRUCTURE OR VARIATION Phonology Diachronic Graphology Diatopic Morphology Diastratic Syntax Diaphasic Lexicon Diamesic TEXTUALITY (the arrows indicate convergence) Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali 2

3. 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, situationality, intertextuality. • WHERE DO WE COLLOCATE ESP? Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali 3

4. LEXICAL FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE MONOREFERENTIALITY SYNONYMITY LACK OF EMOTIONMETAPHOR PRECISIONAMBIGUITY TRANSPARENCY IMPRECISION CONCISENESS REDUNDANCY CONSERVATISMSEMANTIC INSTABILITY Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

5. 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.’ Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

6. TransparencyEx.: 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 …. Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

7. ConservatismEx.: legal language whosoever, wherefore, thereof, forthwith -eth instead of –s in the 3rd person singular with the present tense Ex.: medical language GE (anglosaxon) ESP (classical root) nounsadjectives brain cerebral chest thoracic heart cardiac liver hepatic skin dermal Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

8. MetaphorEx.: 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) Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

9. 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 Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

10. SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE • EXPRESSIVE CONCISENESS • PRE-MODIFICATION (vs. POST-MODIFICATION) • NOMINALISATION • LEXICAL DENSITY • SENTENCE COMPLEXITY AND LENGTH • USE OF VERB TENSES AND THE PASSIVE • DEPERSONALISATION Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

11. 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) Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

12. 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) Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

13. 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) Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

14. requires an understanding of the bond-rupture reaction NS 4. Lexical density(content words) The complete development of the fracture model NS VS Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

15. 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 Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

16. 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. Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

17. 6. Use of verb tenses • Present Simple Active 64% • Present Simple Passive 25% • Future Simple Active 3.7% • Present Perfect Passive 1.7% • Present Perfect Active 1.4% • Past Simple Active 1.2% • Past Simple Passive 1.2% • Future Simple Passive 0.7% • Present Progressive Active 0.6% • Imperative 0.3% Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

18. 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. Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

19. 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 third-person pronouns, noun phrases (the author, the research team…) - the author conveys his personal views through forms like the book investigates, this article demonstrates… Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

20. 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. Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

21. TEXTUAL FEATURES OF SPECIALIZED DISCOURSE • ANAPHORIC REFERENCE (LEXICAL REPETITION) • USE OF CONJUNCTIONS • THEMATIC PROGRESSION • STANDARDIZATION • TEXTUAL DOMAIN • TEXTUAL DOMINANCE • TEXTUAL GENRES Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

22. 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 Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

23. 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% Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

24. 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 Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

25. 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.” T1 R1 T1 R2 T1 R3 T1 R4 Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

26. 4. Standardization STRUCTURES OF DIFFERENT TEXTUAL GENRES (Van Dijk - 1977) Scientific article Psychology article Economics article INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS PROBLEM THEORY PREDICTION SOLUTION PROBLEM PROPOSAL CONCLUSION EXPERIMENT COMMENT CONCLUSION Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

27. 5. Textual Domain economics, medicine, engineering, IT,chemics, agriculture, legal, literature, general domain, etc. 6. Textual Dominance argumentative, expository, descriptive, prescriptive, narrative, (+ suasive). Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

28. 8. Textual dominance/genre saggio scientifico manuale abstract articolo scientifico saggio divulgativo sommario recensione critica articolo divulgativo recensione commento definizione scheda tesi di laurea relazione appunti tesina lezione ……… relazione a un convegno conferenza GENERI E FORME TESTUALI A DOMINANZA ARGOMENTATIVA ESPOSITIVA ANALITICA SINTETICA Prof.ssa Alba Graziano Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

29. 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. Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali

30. ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES (ESP) LEXICON AND DISCOURSEProf.ssa Alba Graziano Master in Comunicazione nelle Organizzazioni e Imprese Internazionali