Categorising Texts H/W

Text A-

-Relates to children
-Primary Purpose to inform

Text B -Rain Forest Solutions
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/factsheets/rainforest_mad_about.pdf

Text C -Swine flu
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2009/04April/Documents/Swine%20Flu%20Leaflet_Web%20Version.pdf

My Response -

I am grouping texts A, B and C together as they all have one thing in common, its purpose which is to inform the reader, the analogy of these texts do this through factual linguistic features, use of formal language and is structured. Text A is an informative leaflet as it offers details about a challenge that is going to take place that is aimed at kids, due to the challenge, the text is involves discourse structure as uses a heading to state its topic, its opening paragraph gives information about the challenge at hand which is to create a wildlife film such as "The chance to direct and star in their very own nature film. With tips from a filmmaker" which means it can control topic change through the different stages of the informative leaflet. The text uses low register lexis such as 'flip camera' and 'filmmaker' so it is able to inform older and younger audiences. The text also is in a formal register a .The text is also written in the future tense, which may be to give the audience a sense of option as they can choose whether they would like to take part and relating to this, as it is to inform it is not commanding or persuading you to commit to the challenge but just offers information on what the challenge will be like to let the audience decide.

Similar to 'text A', which uses is a fairly low register lexical field through the use of basic language, Text B uses a similar approach as it has a tendency to replace jargon with more reader friendly trees such as 'important trees' but also has characteristics of a high register lexical field as it contains jargon's that are specifically related to the topic/genre of the text such as 'sustainable' and 'logging' this represents that it is trying to serve for all literate ages so it can inform all of the leaflets purpose which is to inform the audience about the environment and how the human race is damaging it but offers solutions to how individuals can help. As well as this 'text B' uses high amounts of graphology to inform through the leaflets  quantity of images used to explain what is being said in a cartoonist manor suggesting it is trying to compensate for the less illiterate age groups. also the leaflet goes through a structure as it opens with what the leaflet is about, then goes into facts about the rainforest such as 'why trees are important' and then balances on benefits of the rainforest and how it is being affected, in this part of the leaflet facts are used to state a point and inform the reader and statics are given to explain the quantity of those being affected 'in 1900 Brazil had one million tribal people, now there are less than 200,000.' this may be shown to represent a state of emergency, wants people to get involved by quoting how they can become part, As it is written in a present tense involving minor factors if present tense.

Text C is directed to older literate groups of around 16+ as it uses more complex vocabulary such as 'vaccinations' as it is trying to offer information about swine flu, like 'text A' and 'text B', Text C is structured in a clear manor, this specific texts gives information on what is swine flu, symptoms, how it spreads and treatment, it was created on the computer suggesting it has a higher status like 'text B'  as it is talking about current events that need/require action, the text is in a present tense and 'text C' is discussing present issues at that time of production, as well as 'Text A' and 'Text B', graphology from the graphics chosen display what the leaflet is about and what the information will contain. Text C, as well as 'Text A & B' all three texts are written in 3rd person as all three state options about how it affects you which suggests the producers want to make you feel as if you are a part of what the text is explaining to create an attachment so it the information being said is likely to sink in more and to stay with you. Also its discourse structure is similar to text A & B as it includes headings to state its topic and then uses Sub-headings for a noticeable change in topic, so it is easy for the audience to read as they can find information easier on specific topics they would like to know about, evidence of this are 'what have governments been doing to prepare' and 'is there a vaccination I can have?' however, although it relates to text A&B some characteristics thought trying to inform the audience it also uses a high lexical field as it relates to specific terms such as 'symptoms' and 'GP surgery'.

All three texts are fairly relaxed in the sense of emergency as there is less use of imperatives between the three texts and high amounts of factual and statistical data. although imperatives are present which is included in all three texts showing that all of the 3 texts are to persuade the audience.

summary of trudgill's, labov's and tidholm's studies.

Peter Trudgill -
Trudgill studied the use of overt and covert presteige in society amoung different speakers of society.
Trudgill proposes that the emergence of New Zealand English, and of isolated new dialects generally, is purely deterministic: it can be explained solely in terms of the frequency of occurrence of particular variants and the frequency of interactions between different speakers in the society. Trudgill’s theory is closely related to usage-based models of language, in which frequency plays a role in the representation of linguistic knowledge and in language change. Trudgill’s theory also corresponds to a neutral evolution model of language change.



William Labov -
Labov studied how linguistic change happens.

William Labov study's suggested individual speech patterns are “part of a highly systematic structure of social and stylistic stratification”

Labov studied how often the final or preconsonantal (Immediately preceding a consonant or consonant sound) was sounded in words like guard, bare and beer. Use of this variable has considerable prestige in New York City.

 one of Labovs study's were - the speech of sales assistants in three Manhattan stores, drawn from the top (Saks), middle (Macy’s) and bottom (Klein’s) of the price and fashion scale. Each unwitting informant was approached with a factual enquiry designed to elicit the answer,  which may or may not contain the variable final or preconsonantal. 

Thomas Tidholm -
A study of Thomas Tidholm's translation of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

the English text was read in parallel with the Swedish translation and the text was restricted to every tenth page. A number of linguistic areas were analyzed: proper names, invented words, metaphors, similes, additions, omissions, mistranslations and wordplay.

blog for English Language As - Twix

Purpose -The purpose of this chocolate bar wrapper is to persuade users to purchase this product instead of purchasing others, it does this by using big text and graphics of the product.

Its secondary purpose is to inform, to inform the users of the contents of the packet; the ingredients used, its figures e.g. grams of fat per 100g, its calorie count and also to advertise.

Format -The Format of this is set out so it can be seen a mile away, large text makes the brand and product stand out including the colors of the text gives it a kiddy feeling to the product.

Also, the product wrapper uses graphics of the contents to influence potential users to buy to product as it shows what the product looks like in its perfect state (fake).

As it is competing against other brands it wants to get its point across quickly and cost-efficiently so by this is uses only basic detail on the front -Brand name, picture, calories and the flavor, all things which a consumer would like to know when purchasing a product whereas minor details such as ingredients etc.. that only apply to a few people who say have nut allergies and need to check for further details.

Audience -The audience of this product is Both males and females of all ages as it is basic text for kids but products in a fashion that makes it look professional and elegant for adults. the idea that it is basic also relates to this having specific target age as it is a mix of child and adult literature.

Genre - This is neutral, as it is directed toward both males and females giving no certainty as the chocolate bar market is global expanded to all genders.

blog for English Language As - Health And Beauty Spa Brochure

Purpose - 
The purpose of this brochure is to give information about the ALEXANDRA HOUSE - Holistic health & well-being spa, the idea of this brochure is that it tell your what the clinic has to offer, and offers contact details to the individual.

The Secondary purpose of his brochure is to persuade. the fact it offers you a discount of £10 if you bring the flying is a extra incentive to go to this spa instead of a different one.

Format - The format of this Brochure is very well organised, structured so that it is easy to read and is displayed clearly.

The font of the text is a Mixture of elegant for titles and offers and basic for listing, this could be implying that you get a good, high quality service for low costs.

Audience - The target audience for this seems to be directed towards female adults as the text used is not bold or big so it would discourage younger readers, also the lack of pictures would encourage this idea.

Also, the pictures used offers nothing but dull and boringness to younger audiences (4-12yrs) but the pictures of people enjoying themselves would persuade older audiences to visit the spa, also the fact it has a picture of a house resembles that it could be targeted to older audiences as they can buy property/ have an interest in property weather children are not.

Genre - This brochure mainly targets female audiences as the models used are female giving off a stereotyping vibe, also the idea of being pampered is more common in females then male audiences.

blog for English Language As - CoD - black ops 2

Purpose-
The purpose of this game cover is to persuade the general public to purchase this game through the use of vague images offering little detail on the front of the cover (right side), this offers a sense of mystery which would influence the individual to purchase the game to see what it really holds.

Furthermore, the purpose of the game cover is to give basic information to user which again is to persuade the potential buyer, this basic information includes game types which you can play (Left side) including campaign, zombies and online multi-player.

Format-The way in which the format of the game cover is set out is to use basic colors mixed in with high amounts of detailed shading and effects again to get that sense of mystery, the use of the color black means it could be trying to hide something from the buying creating a blurry image of what the game could be like until he actual buys it.

Including this, the game cover makes titles and main details about the game bold to interest buyers and has selected colors that have a good contrast against the black background, smaller print details is minor details which have little if not no relevance to the game but more relevance towards the game company who produced the game.

Graphics specifically linked with the game have high amounts of detail and uses high resolution to maximize the likely hood that the game will stand out, the bright colors against the background from the graphics complete this.

Audience-The games audience is directly targeted to war-fanatics, adults as it uses a greater spread of vocabulary but also is targeted towards gamers and for this reason they want to get their message across quickly that this game is about war so words and reviews are left bold and easy to read
The concept that the game is about war could assume that the game is targeted toward teenage/adult males through the use of violent images.

Genre
The Genre of this game cover is instantly displayed as 'call of duty' is another word for 'active service' so you would instantly assume this game is about war, as well as the use of heavy artillery and gun fire also gives it away.