14. GENRES, SUB-GENRES AND REGISTER - PowerPoint Presentation

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14. GENRES, SUB-GENRES AND REGISTER“It is, in particular, the obligatory features that allow us to identify a genre […]” (Taylor p. 145)Slide2

Genre and Sub-genreCategories of WritingSlide3

Genre = CategoryAll writing falls into a category or genre.We will use 5 main genresand 15 subgenres.Slide4

DramaFictionPoetryFolklore

Nonfiction

Tragedy

Comedy

Realistic

Fiction

Fable

Historical

Fiction

Fantasy

Myth

Science

Fiction

Tall Tale

Legend

Fairy Tale

Biography

Autobiography

Persuasive

Writing

Informational

WritingSlide5

5 Main GenresNonfiction: writing that is trueFiction: imaginative or made up writingFolklore: stories once passed down orallyDrama: a play or scriptPoetry: writing concerned with the beauty of languageSlide6

Nonfiction SubgenresPersuasive Writing: tries to influence the readerInformational Writing: explains somethingAutobiography: life story written by oneselfBiography: Writing about someone else’s lifeLatin RootsAuto = Self Bio = Life Graphy = WritingSlide7

Fiction SubgenresHistorical Fiction: set in the past and based on real people and/or eventsScience Fiction: has aliens, robots, futuristic technology and/or space shipsRealistic Fiction: has no elements of fantasy; could be true but isn’t Fantasy: has monsters, magic, or characters with superpowersSlide8

Folklore Subgenres Folklore/Folktales usually has an “unknown” author or will be “retold” or “adapted” by the author.Fable: short story with personified animals and a moral Personified: given the traits of people

Moral

:

lesson or message of a fable

Myth

:

has gods/goddesses and usually accounts for the creation of somethingSlide9

Folklore Subgenres (continued)Tall TaleSet in the Wild West, the American frontier Main characters skills/size/strength is greatly exaggeratedExaggeration is humorousLegendBased on a real person or placeFacts are stretched beyond nonfictionExaggerated in a serious waySlide10

Folklore Subgenres (continued)Fairytale: has magic and/or talking animals.Often starts with “Once upon a time…”Like fantasy but much olderOften has a human main characterFables also have talking animals, but fables are VERY short Slide11

What are Dramas?Stories written in script form.ExampleTeacher: Everyone take notes.Student A: I don’t have a pen.Drama SubgenresComedy: has a happy ending.Tragedy: ends in death and sadness.Slide12

ReviewNonfiction: persuasive writing, informational writing, autobiography, and biographyFiction: historical fiction, science fiction, realistic fiction, and fantasyFolklore: myth, legend, tall tale, fairy tale, and fableDrama: comedy and tragedyPoetry: many subgenres we will not study…Slide13

Practice Try to identify the genre and sub-genre of each of the following texts.Slide14

1Science Textbook This science textbook contains much of the human knowledge of Earth and the universe.Slide15

2As I Was Saying by Augustus Gluten Mr. Gluten writes the story of his humble origins as a child in Germany to his meteoric rise to power in the candy industry. Slide16

3They Came from the Sun by Tom Mitchell The story of a race of aliens that come to enslave the residents of Earth with their advanced weaponry. Only one teacher can stop them, but is it too late?Slide17

4 “The Ant & The Grasshopper” Adapted by Chad Peplum The really short story of an Ant who works hard all summer to prepare for winter and a Grasshopper who just plays. Winter comes and the Grasshopper freezes to death. The moral is “prepare today for tomorrow’s needs.”Slide18

5 Bag Lunch by Dillard Perkins It is the fictional story of two young African American girls living in Greensboro, N.C. in 1960. One day while waiting to buy food at a Woolworth's lunch counter, the girls find themselves at a significant crossroads in American history. Slide19

6 “Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind” retold by Mitch Colwell Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind was the toughest girl in the Wild West. She plays with rattlesnakes and dries her clothes in a tornado. She’s tougher than a ten-year-old steak. Read about her extraordinary adventures in this humorous text. Slide20

7 “Reduce, Re-use, Re-imagine!” By Sasha Marsh In this essay, Marsh tries to convince people to do small things to help the environment. She gives readers many suggestions on how to live more eco-friendly and challenges readers to make the world a better place for future generations through small contributions. Slide21

8 Eric Vaser and the Educator’s Rock by J.P. Tumblin This is the first book in the Eric Vaser series. Eric goes to Mage school and becomes a star student. He learns to play pencetrench, a football-like game played on flying platforms, and he fights to stop a growing evil within the school that will test his newfound magic powers. Slide22

9Journal of a Lumpy Kid by Ken Jiffy In his first year of middle school, Hank Griffin, the main character of this story deals with “cooties,” older bullies, running for a class election, and other problems that many middle school students face. Slide23

AnswersNonfiction ; Informational WritingNonfiction ; AutobiographyFiction ; Science FictionFolktale ; FableFiction ; Historical FictionFolktale ; Tall TaleNonfiction ; Persuasive EssayFiction ; FantasyFiction ; Realistic FictionSlide24

REGISTERThe term register is sometimes used to refer to the degree of formality of a written or spoken

text. A

fuller

definition

would

be to

say

that

register

is a variety of language

defined according to its use in

specific social situations: scientific conference

register, medical examination register

etc.A genre may

require that a specific

register be used. That

register must meet the expectations of the

discourse community, i.e. those people

who habitually use that

genre. We know

immediately if the register

is not appropriate:THE HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Once upon a time, in a land where

men wore short trousers and yodelled

in the mountains, there was

a little chap with a teeny

weeny black moustache

who looked a bit like Charlie Chaplin. Slide25

Register and Halliday’s Context of Situation:FIELD: what is happeningTENOR: who is participatingMODE: what

role

the

language

is

playing

“[…]

register

refers to what a person

is doing with language at

any given moment (making

a speech, telling someone

how to cook eggs,

encouraging a football team, writing a business memo, etc.) and it

can be deduced that, at

least theoretically, there are

as many registers

as there are distinct

activities.” (Taylor p. 147)Slide26

GENRE, REGISTER AND TRANSLATIONThe translator has to:categorize the source text (i.e. identify the genre);understand the register that the genre

and

discourse

community

require

;

make

the

translation

conform

to the

equivalent genre and register of the target

language. Slide27

Genre: OBITUARIES (NECROLOGIE)Anne WhiteOur deepest sympathy and condolences to Martha on the passing of her dear mother. She is in our thoughts and prayers. Helen Greene and all the Greene family.Elena Verdi, Riccardo e Giovanni addolorati

sono

vicini

a Marta

dopo

la

scomparsa

della

carissima mamma

Anna BianchiElena Verdi, Riccardo e Giovanni si

uniscono al dolore di Marta per la scomparsa

della carissima mammaAnna Bianchi

Elena Verdi, Riccardo e Giovanni partecipano al profondo dolore di

Marta per la scomparsa della carissima

mammaAnna BianchiSlide28

But some people flout the genre conventions even of an obituary. When the British actor John Le Mesurier

knew

that

he

was

dying

, he

left

instructions that

the following should be published

in the Times after his death

:“JOHN LE MESURIER wishes it

to be known that he conked out on

November 15th. He sadly misses family and friends.”

And the Anglo-Irish comedian Spike Milligan

had the following inscribed on his

tombstone:“I told

you I was ill.”Slide29

FALSE FRIENDS 14What do you remember about conductor and confidence/confident?Conjure: to produce something apparently by magic, fare giochi di prestigio. The conjuror pulled a rabbit out of the hat.

Conjure up

:

ricavare

qualcosa

quasi da

niente

. Although there wasn’t

much food in the fridge, she managed to conjure up a meal.

Congiurare

: to plot, to conspireConsistency

: sometimes the same as consistenza or densità but also means

coerenza. Serious politicians display consistency; mere opportunists change their views for their own advantage.

Similarly, the adjective consistent often means coerente. That footballer is so inconsistent: brilliant in one match,

hopeless in the next.Slide30

THE DIARY OF A BRAVE TRANSLATOR VERILY IN LEG – PART 14Why do we have such useless politicians in Italy? There are a few exceptions but it seems to me that most of our national and local politicians are just a bunch of half socks. A lot of them have a hen’s brain and talk only because they have a tongue in the mouth. Those that do have a bit of intelligence don’t necessarily use it because they just agree with whatever their party leader tells them to do and think. Hardly any of them have the liver to say, “Hold on, I don’t think that’s in the interests of the people who voted for us.”Slide31

Nonentities/Mediocrities. Idiomatically, men of straw. Fathead, lunkhead (USA), numskull, plonker (UK), empty suit.Prattle, talk gibberish/nonsense. It’s just hot air.To have the guts to do/say something.