tgs klh2011

ABDUL LATIF AKHMAD

F1F008112

SCHEMATIC STRUCTURE

Bakhtin suggested that we recognize speech genres because they have predictable compositional structure. Genres develop linguistic expression trough a limited number of functional stages, occurring in a particular sequence. for example horoscope text, typically involve the following stages, occurring in the following order:

General outlook:  a stage in which the astrologer makes a general statement about the period covered by the horoscope. (e.g. it will be the rosy month for you)

Uncontingent predictions: a stage in which general predictions are made about your immediate future.(e.g. you will meet and marry a tall man)

Contingent predictions:  a stage in which different advice is offered according to the salient category membership of readers.(if single, x will happen, if married, y)

Advice: a stage in which astrologers offer advices and warnings.

We cannot make all the meaning we want to at once. Each of the stages in the genre contributes a part of the overall meanings that must be made for the genre to be accomplished successfully.

Describing the schematic structure of genres bring us to two fundamental concepts in linguistic analyses: constituency and labeling.

Constituency

As the name suggests, constituency simply means that things are made up of, or built out of, other things.

When we describe the schematic structure of a genre, what we are describing is constituent structure- the structure by which the whole, complete interaction is made up of part.

The aim of this description is both to identify the part that constitute the whole, and preferably at the same time, explain how the part related to each other in constituting that whole. This can be achieved by using functional labelling in the next generic explanation.

Functional Labelling

Once we begin thinking about dividing text into its constituents we must consider on what we will establish that two parts of constitute separated stages. There are essentially two kinds of criteria we could use:

1.        Formal Criteria:  this approach emphasizes sameness, as we divide the text so that each unit is constituents of the same type.

2.        Functional criteria: this approach emphasizes difference, as we divide the text according to the different function of each stage.

If we took formal approach to constituent analyses of genres, we could divide up the horoscope text into paragraph, then each paragraph into sentence, and each sentences into words and so on.

While this approach certainly tells us something about the class of linguistic items that occur within genres, it does not help us to answer the short of functionally oriented question we are concerned with: how does each stage in the genre contribute toward achieving the overall purpose of the next?

Ventola(1987) identify the stages in the book(text 3.2:post office transaction)

Sales Initiation

1 sales person                 yes please

(Costumer steps forward)

Sales Requests

2 costumer                     can I have these two like that

(Costumer hands over two letters)

Sales Compliance

Sales Person                   yes

Price

(3 sec-sales person weight one letter)

4 sales person                 one’s forty

(3 sec-sales person weight another letter)

5 ales person                  one twenty five

Sales Request

Costumer                       and .. have you got.. the … first day covers of…

Salesperson                    yes

Sales Clarification

salespeson                      how many would you like?

Costumer                       four please

Purchase

costumer                        I will take two of each

salesperson                     uhum

Price

salesperson                     right… that’s  a dollar seventy thank you

Payment

salesperson                     here we are

costumer                        thank you

Change

salesperson                     dollar seventy that’s two four and one’s five

                                       thank you very much

Purchase Closure.

salesperson                     they will be right I’ll fix those up in a moment

costumer                        ok

(costumer leaves)

The more complex description of the generic structure of this text can be achieved by writing the stage out in a linear sequence with the symbol ^ between stages  to indicate that stages are ordered with respect to each other. Thus, a linear description of the schematic structure of the post office text becomes:

Sales initiation^ sales request^ sales compliance^ price^ sales request^ sales clarification^ purchase^ price^ payment^ change^ purchase closure

As our description of schematic structure has indicated, the order of element of schematic structure is significant constraint. In many genres such as the transactional one most element are fixed in their order of occurrence. For example the stage of payment can only appear after payment.  The linearity of interaction means order often carries dimensions of meaning.

DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR AND THE NOTION OF ‘APPROPRIACY’

Grammar closely related to how we should use any language. The study of grammar equates with the study of how we talk or write correctly. but linguists argue for a clear distinction between, on the one hand, the grammatical system of a language that enables people to use language the way they do, and on the other hand, the moral and social judgments made by people about how the grammar English should be used.

Grammars that impose moral judgments, which view grammar in term of right and wrong, are prescriptive grammar. An account of how we should speak is a perspective or normative grammar. Such as grammar is interesting in linguists not for what it tells us about the fact of language, but for what it tells us about the values and prejudices of society at a given time.

The kinds of grammar linguists are use are descriptive grammars. It makes no judgment abut the goodness/the badness, rightness/wrongness of language use. A descriptive grammar is an account of how speakers actually use the language. Linguists are not interested in making a judgment about whether people should or shouldn’t use particular structures. They simply describe grammar that enables language user to do what they do.

A descriptive grammar will run by making statements and assessments not about good/bad, right/wrong, but about appropiacy or inappropiacy. Degree of appropiacy is assessed not in term of arbitrary blanker statements about inflexible grammar rule, but as statements about grammar as a set of choices use in context.

Therefore our descriptive grammar will explain that not standard use of the past participle for the simple past (seen) or the form youz as a plural second person pronoun, while quite appropriate in informal situations and are appropriate for formal occasions. As such form has become an information about socio-economic information (social class, ethnic), and it has a correlation with an implicit ideological belief (fantasy) that we interact with others as equals.

Descriptive grammar will allow us to make statements about the appropiacy of certain linguistic given in the context of their use. it is a potential skill you must possess if you want to be able to describe, discuss, compare and understand how people use to do social life.