Discourse

Question 1

Discourse paragraph

Answer 1

• Address
• What person
• ## Power differentials shown in structure

Question 2

Einar Haugen’s Standardisation 4 stages of language development (discourse/ genre theories)

Answer 2

1. Selection - choosing a variety to form a basis (London/Midlands chosen as “correct” dialect C15th as dialect used by officials in government and universities)
2. Elaboration - incorporating new words, grammatical structures to make it fit for purpose (move away from French in C14th with English as state language), reflecting developments in science etc.
3. Codification - developing a written system standardisation spellings and punctuation (dictionaries, prescriptivist grammar books C18th Robert Lowth 1762, Samuel Johnson 1755 dictionary)
4. Implementation - using it in official domains, printing, developing pride, patriotism and loyalty (e.g. 1870 Education Act - widespread use of standardised form)

Question 3

Sharon Goodman 1996 Multimodal texts discourse/genre theory

Answer 3

Texts no longer rely on words alone as they are becoming increasingly multimodal e.g. the letter X a ‘supercharged typographic icon’ used to create a range of meanings.
Grapheric symbols are culturally specific e.g. A-F grades.