What is ESP?
Acronym that stands for
English (for) Special Purposes
In what way
“special”?
Useful acronyms
EOP English for Occupational Purposes
EST English for Science and Technology
EAP English for Academic Purposes
ESP English for Special/ Specific Purposes
LSP Language for Special/ Specific Purposes
Register
In Sociolinguistics, it concerns the communicatives roles of the participants (this is why in
Sociolinguistics you can refer to “formal”, “colloquial”, “bureaucratic” etc. registers)
Register is tied to a sociocultural environment
REGISTER
In SFL (Systemic Functional Linguistics), it concerns the CONTEXT OF SITUATION
defined by:
FIELD
TENOR: relationship between the participants
MODE: role of language
[in italiano si grammaticalizza il rapporto tra i partecipanti]
“All language functions in contexts of situation, and is relatable to those contexts ... The notion of
register is thus a form of prediction: given that we know the situation, the social context of
language use, we can predict a great deal about the language that will occur ... The important
theoretical question then is: what exactly do we need to know about the social context in order to
make such predictions?” (Halliday, 1978: 32)
• FIELD
“The total event in which the text is functioning, together with the purposive activity of the speaker
or writer” (Halliday & Hasan, 1976: 22)
Field à the IDEATIONAL component (what is going on?)
Field determines the TRANSITIVITY patterns of a text (e.g. types of processes, choice of
vocabulary etc.)
What is “transitivity”?
(i) the process itself
(ii) the participants in the process
(iii) the circumstances associated with the process
The process is realized by a verbal group,
the participant(s) by (a) nominal group(s)
the circumstance(s) by (an) adverbial group(s) or prepositional phrase(s)
• TENOR
“[it] refers to the type of role interaction, the set of relevant social relations, permanent or
temporary, among the participants involved”
Tenor à the INTERPERSONAL component (who is taking part? What is the relationship
between them?)
Tenor determines the patterns of MOOD and MODALITY (modal verbs such as can, could, shall,
should) (in spoken language, it is also very much responsible for the choice of INTONATION)
Even grammar English.
• MODE
“[it] is the function of the text in the event, including therefore both the channel taken by the
language – spoken or written, extempore or prepared – and its genre, or rhetorical mode, as
narrative, didactic, persuasive, ‘phatic communion’ and so on”
Mode à the TEXTUAL component (What part does language play?)
Mode determines the patterns of COHESION (not only structural, but semantic, the entire range of
text-forming relations)
Activity sequence=what’s happen next?
Before you know you have to see.
Interpersonal meaning in promotional texts
Main factors:
a) Affection (love, feelings, intimacy...)
b) Status (money, prestige, quality of life...) “If you’ll buy it you’ll become rich”
c) Contact (formality/ informality; e.g. ads that are designed to be entertaining vs. ads that aim
at moving the public emotionally etc..).
“In Paris, it’s the Ritz. In New York, it’s the Plaza. In Madison,
it’s… Campus Inn”.
If you have money to go to Ritz, come here too
They say, here’s very expensive
“Revived, Refined, Remarkable”
[New, extraordinary, amazing]
Alliteration [rotacismo (r, r, r) in Ita]
“Eternity Moment”
They chose to not describe the moment
They use a testimonial
Luxury product
Presidential campaign
This ad is for collecting money
They use blue (peace, calm, tranquillity)
It plays on:
Affections
Family
Strength
The structure is easy to understand