UNIT 2 INSTITUTIONALSOCIAL COMMUNICATION

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UNIT 2 INSTITUTIONAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

• PROMOTERS
• the state, local authorities, politicians,
  public institutions ( e.g. universities, public
  libraries, post offices), charities (operational
  or campaigning), Nonprofit Organisations,
  Non-Governmental Organisations NGO (e.g. Amnesty
  International, Medicins sans frontières)
• lo stato enti locali esponenti politici
  istituzioni pubbliche e private volontariato
  organizzazioni senza scopo di lucro,
  Organizzazioni non-governative ONG
• RECEIVERS
• citizens, supporters, members, consumers,
  visitors
• cittadini, sostenitori, membri, consumatori,
  visitatori

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UNIT 2 INSTITUTIONAL / SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

• FIELDS COVERED citizens rights and duties (e.g.
  pensions, taxes), the great tragedies of humanity
  (e.g. poverty, child mortality) health (e.g.
  organ donation, AIDS), environment preservation
  (e.g. recycling), education, political and
  cultural life, recreational activities ( e.g
  sport)
• AIMS fund raising, publicizing services and
  facilities, informing and creating awareness,
  warning

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INSTITUTIONAL/SOCIAL COMMUNICATION

• GENRES and CONTEXTS documents and leaflets in
  public offices, web sites, hoardings (Br.E) and
  billboards (Am.E.) in the streets, ads in the
  Press and on TV, speeches,
• LINGUISTIC AND DISCOURSAL FEATURES from clear
  and precise official legal documents to
  communicative strategies used in advertising or
  political communication

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A one-page example of social communication (or
humanitarian advertising) from The Financial
Times,8th March 2007

• Where does
• a litre
• of water
• cost
• more than
• in Central
• London?
• In a developing
• country slum
• WATER The water crisis hits the poor the hardest
  - by far. In some poor
• countries water costs 5 to 10
  times more than in richest ones
• ALERT The poorer you are, the more you pay.
• To put water on everyones
  lips. Click on www.UNDP.ORG

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TEXT 8 Barack Obama Speech Address to Joint
Session of Congress, Delivered on February 24,
2009

• Speech, written-to-be spoken
• Argumentative structure
• Paragraphs 1,2,3,4 Introducing the topic. Value
  of a good education. Need to go beyond a high
  school diploma and reduce the high dropout rates.
• Paragraphs 5 Some resources have already been
  provided
• Paragraphs 6-7 Need for reform. Americans
  should study - or train for a career- longer
• Paragraphs 8-9 People who will accept to give
  back to their community will be helped to pay
  tuition. Successful reform needs parents
  commitment

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TEXT 8 Rhetorical/Textual choices

• Use of personal pronouns and possessive
  adjectives we/us, our, you/your/I/ me
• Positive expressions
• Metaphors
• Parallelism
• The lexical field of education in the States

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Barack Obama Speech Address to Joint Session
of Congress, Delivered on February 24, 2009

• 1..The third challenge we must address is the
  urgent need to expand the promise of education in
  America.
• In a global economy where the most valuable skill
  you can sell is your knowledge, a good education
  is no longer just a pathway to opportunity it
  is a pre-requisite.
• Right now, three-quarters of the fastest-growing
  occupations require more than a high school
  diploma. And yet, just over half of our citizens
  have that level of education. We have one of the
  highest high school dropout rates of any
  industrialized nation. And half of the students
  who begin college never finish.
• 4. This is a prescription for economic decline,
  because we know the countries that out-teach us
  today will out-compete us tomorrow. That is why
  it will be the goal of this administration to
  ensure that every child has access to a complete
  and competitive education from the day they are
  born to the day they begin a career.

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(follows)

• 5 Already, we have made an historic investment
  in education through the economic recovery plan.
  We have dramatically expanded early childhood
  education and will continue to improve its
  quality, because we know that the most formative
  learning comes in those first years of life. We
  have made college affordable for nearly seven
  million more students. And we have provided the
  resources necessary to prevent painful cuts and
  teacher layoffs that would set back our
  childrens progress.

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(follows)

• 6. But we know that our schools dont just need
  more resources. They need more reform. That is
  why this budget creates new incentives for
  teacher performance pathways for advancement,
  and rewards for success. Well invest in
  innovative programs that are already helping
  schools meet high standards and close achievement
  gaps. And we will expand our commitment to
  charter schools.
• 7. It is our responsibility as lawmakers and
  educators to make this system work. But it is the
  responsibility of every citizen to participate in
  it. And so tonight, I ask every American to
  commit to at least one year or more of higher
  education or career training. This can be
  community college or a four-year school
  vocational training or an apprenticeship. But
  whatever the training may be, every American will
  need to get more than a high school diploma. And
  dropping out of high school is no longer an
  option. Its not just quitting on yourself, its
  quitting on your country and this country needs
  and values the talents of every American. That is
  why we will provide the support necessary for you
  to complete college and meet a new goal by 2020,
  America will once again have the highest
  proportion of college graduates in the world.

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(follows)

• I know that the price of tuition is higher than
  ever, which is why if you are willing to
  volunteer in your neighborhood or give back to
  your community or serve your country, we will
  make sure that you can afford a higher education.
  And to encourage a renewed spirit of national
  service for this and future generations, I ask
  this Congress to send me the bipartisan
  legislation that bears the name of Senator Orrin
  Hatch as well as an American who has never
  stopped asking what he can do for his country
  Senator Edward Kennedy
• These education policies will open the doors of
  opportunity for our children. But it is up to us
  to ensure they walk through them. In the end,
  there is no program or policy that can substitute
  for a mother or father who will attend those
  parent/teacher conferences, or help with homework
  after dinner, or turn off the TV, put away the
  video games, and read to their child. I speak to
  you not just as a President, but as a father when
  I say that responsibility for our children's
  education must begin at home.

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TEXT 9 President Obamas Inaugural Speech2Oth
January 2009. Some textual and rhetorical
characteristics

• References to American historical and cultural
  legacy
• 44 Americans have taken the presidential
  oath We the People founding documents Concord
  and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sahn Our
  Founding Fathers drafted a charter Arlington
  the bitter swill of the civil war and
  segregation a man whose father less than sixty
  years ago might not have been served at a local
  restaurant can now stand before you to take a
  most sacred oath our values hard work and
  honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and
  curiosity, loyalty and patriotism In the year of
  Americas birth, our revolution
• Religious references
• in the words of Scripture God-given promise
  patchwork heritage a nation of Christians and
  Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers God
  calls on us to shape an uncertain destinywith
  eyes fixed on the horizon and Gods grace upon
  us
• Metaphors journey (e.g. across the ocean, the
  West, refuse to let this journey end, with eyes
  fixed on the horizon), weather and natural
  phenomena (e.g. tides, storms, icy currents, in
  the coldest of months ), harness ( e.g. the sun
  and the wind and the soil to fuel our cars and
  run our factories)
• Rhetoric built on repeated patterns (with
  variations)
• For us, they packedFor us, they toiled For us,
  they fought
• To the Muslim world To those leaders around the
  globeTo those who cling to power.
• To the people of poor nations

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OBAMAS Inaugural Speech versus Bushs Inaugural
speech (2005)

• Results of a quantitative corpus-based analysis
• OBAMA more occurrences of we, us and our
  may signal togetherness and sense of community
• BUSH more occurrences of the words
• liberty and freedom

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OBAMAS Inaugural Speech

• Qualitative analysis of freedom and
  liberty

only because they are guardians of our liberty,
but because they embody the spirit of service
ain destiny. This is the meaning of our liberty
and our creed - why men and women and c
the long, rugged path towards prosperity and
freedom. For us, they packed up their few
world Its power to generate wealth and expand
freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has
reminded us us, we carried forth that great gift
of freedom and delivered it safely to future
generations
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Bushs Inaugural Speech in 2005Use of freedom

• half century, America defended our own freedom by
  standing watch on distant borders. A
• olerant, and that is the force of human freedom.
  We are led, by events and common sens
• peace in our world is the expansion of freedom
  in all the world. America's vital inte
• find their own voice, attain their own freedom,
  and make their own way. The great obj
• able, and we will use it confidently in freedom's
  cause. My most solemn duty is to pro
• oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom,
  which is eternally right. America will
• e long run, there is no justice without freedom,
  and there can be no human rights witho
• ades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom
  ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Am
• of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom
  comes to every mind and every soul. We
• as Abraham Lincoln did "Those who deny freedom
  to others deserve it not for themselves
• among free nations is a primary goal of freedom's
  enemies. The concerted effort of free
• n, tens of millions have achieved their freedom.
  And as hope kindles hope, millions mor
• gress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom
  will reach the darkest corners of our w
• home - the unfinished work of American freedom.
  In a world moving toward liberty, we a
• mise of liberty. In America's ideal of freedom,
  citizens find the dignity and security
• will give our fellow Americans greater freedom
  from want and fear, and make our societ
• just and equal. In America's ideal of freedom,
  the public interest depends on private
• ay, and forever. In America's ideal of freedom,
  the exercise of rights is ennobled by
• because we cannot carry the message of freedom
  and the baggage of bigotry at the same

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Bushs Inaugural Speech in 2005Use of liberty

• ry also has a visible direction, set by liberty
  and the Author of Liberty. When the De
• re can be no human rights without human liberty.
  Some, I know, have questioned the glo
• nse, to one conclusion The survival of liberty
  in our land increasingly depends on the
• increasingly depends on the success of liberty
  in other lands. The best hope for peace
• w, have questioned the global appeal of liberty -
  though this time in history, four dec
• ined to show the meaning and promise of liberty.
  In America's ideal of freedom, citize
• ence. This is the broader definition of liberty
  that motivated the Homestead Act, the S
• in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty
  when citizens marched in peaceful outr
• erica, in this young century, proclaims liberty
  throughout all the world, and to all th
• rican freedom. In a world moving toward liberty,
  we are determined to show the meaning
• our oppressors. When you stand for your liberty,
  we will stand with you. Democratic re

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The American Constitution

• We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
  all men are created equal, that they are endowed
  by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
  that among these are Life, Liberty and the
  pursuit of Happiness

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From The Websters on line Dictionary

• FREEDOM
• 1.The condition of being free the power to act
  or speak or think without externally imposed
  restraints.
• 2. Immunity from an obligation or duty.
• Also free (adjective)
• To free ( verb

• LIBERTY
• 1. Immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority
  political independence.
• 2. Freedom of choice "liberty of opinion"
  "liberty of worship" "liberty--perfect
  liberty--to think or feel or do just as one
  pleases" "at liberty to choose whatever
  occupation one wishes".
• 3. Personal freedom from servitude or confinement
  or oppression.
• 4. Leave granted to a sailor or naval officer.
• 5. An act of undue intimacy
• Also in the plural liberties

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LIBERTY FREEDOM

• From the Latin libertas
• In the political American tradition, it is
  linked to the concept of independence. The
  government is the guardian of liberty
• Less frequent in common usage (878 occurrences in
  the Brown Corpus)
• Liberty and freedom tend to be used
  interchangeably in current political discourse
• Some collocations The statue of liberty, civil
  liberties

• From the Germanic free , linked to friend
• In the political American tradition, it stresses
  common and shared political, economic and
  social rights
• More frequent in common usage (3,916 occurrences
  in the Brown Corpus)
• Liberty and freedom tend to be used
  interchangeably in current political discourse
• Some collocations freedom of choice, freedom of
  speech, freedom from want and fear