1st Edition

Variety in Written English Texts in Society/Societies in Text

By Tony Bex Copyright 1997

    Combining insight from a variety of linguistic perspectives including Hallidayan functional linguistics and relevance theory, Tony Bex demonstrates how written texts operate within society to convey meaning. This book:-
    * looks at a wide variety of written genres - advertisments, letters, poetry and literature
    * provides an accessible and comprehensive survey of genre theory
    * proposes a challenging new way of analysing genre which emphasises communicative function
    * unusually, considers the relevance of linguistic theories of genre to the study of literary texts.
    * includes numerous exercises and annotated bibliographies
    Variety in Written Discourse will be of interest to all students of language and communication. In addition, it will be an invaluable text for those interested in literature, as well as English for Specific Purposes.

    Introduction 1 Variety and ‘Standard English’ 2 A (very brief) history of English 3 Texts in societies: societies in texts 4 Some definitional problems 5 Cohesion, coherence and register 6 Interpreting the language 7 Genre 8 The case of literature

    Biography

    Tony Bex

    'This is not a book that provides cut and dried answers; it is a book of questions and dicussion. As such it is open-ended, and it is this which makes the book intellectually stimulating and attractive ... should appearly to readers accross a wide range of disciplines and different theoretical approaches. A fascinating discussion of the issues, which carries the debate forward.' - Language and Literature