Presenting Tourism Discourse (An A-Z)

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Presenting Tourism Discourse (An A-Z)

• Paul Tucker
• Università degli Studi di Firenze
• Lingua inglese (livello avanzato)
• Progettazione dei Sistemi Turistici
• a.a. 2011-2012

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Advertisement

• Parts
• visuals / artwork
• photographs, drawings etc. (with/out captions)
• graphics (decorative bullets, borders, etc.)
• logo
• text
• title / headline
• body
• slogan / tag line / catch line
• call to action
• contact information

3
Article definite (the)

• used to refer to
• specific members of given class, identified or
  identifiable in textual and/or situational
  context
• Homelessness is rising, but the government is
  trying to help. i.e. the government of the
  country under discussion
• non-specific, typical members of class of
  countable entities, in definitions and
  generalizations
• The whale is a mammal.
• nation states (descriptive names)
• They want America and the EU to sign a new
  framework next year.

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Article definite (2)

• groups identified by nationality and other
  adjectives
• How does one go about engaging with the Taliban?
• Advocates for the homeless are pleased.
• geographical features such as rivers, seas and
  mountain ranges
• the Mediterranean the Thames the Alps.

5
Article indefinite (a/an)

• used to refer to
• specific but unidentified member of given class
• They want America and the EU to sign a new
  framework next year.
• non-specific, typical members of class of
  countable entities, in definitions,
  classifications and generalizations
• Many analysts have argued that war was a mistake.
• Nepals prime minister said that running a
  country was harder than running a guerilla war.

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Article zero

• used to refer to
• persons or nation states (proper nouns)
• Obamas desire to improve relations with Russia
• They want America and the EU to sign a new
  framework next year
• uncountable, abstract entities processes,
  substances, materials, qualities, conditions,
  activities, etc.
• Homelessness is rising, but the government is
  trying to help.
• Trade is slumping and protectionism rising.
• Expeditionary war needs airlift, sealift, jets,
  helicopters, drones and other enablers like
  field hospitals.

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Brochure

• traditional leaflet-style brochures are single
  sheets folded into panels
• bifold 4 panels
• trifold 6 panels
• parts
• front cover
• otherwise, as for advertisement

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Conclusion

• Conclusions should
• explicitly signal end of presentation
• This brings me to the end of my presentation
• To sum up, then .. .
• Id like to finish my presentation by
• summarize main points
• make brief final statement possibly including
  recommendations or suggestions

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Describing and locating components

• Choose from (and combine!) four descriptive
  strategies

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Describing and locating components (2)

• List strategy
• Make a list of components, stating what each is
  and where located, e.g.
• This webpage is made up of
• a header, running across the top and containing
  the logo, representing ...
• a horizontal navigation bar with links to the
  main sections of the website,
• a body of text in the centre of the page,
• and

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Describing and locating components (3)

• 2. Layout strategy
• use shape/orientation/ordering of page/panel etc.
  as starting point
• say what is located at the top/bottom, in the
  centre, on/down the left-hand side, e.g.
• In the top left-hand corner is the logo (NB
  inversion of subject and verb)
• the upper part of each panel contains a short text

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Describing and locating components (4)

• 3. Route strategy
• start from most prominent or important component,
  then use spatial preposition or passive
  participle to relate adjacent component to first,
  and so on, e.g.
• The dominant element in this advertisement is the
  large photograph of in the centre of the page.
  Superimposed on this, in the bottom right-hand
  corner, is the slogan Immediately to the left
  of the slogan is the logo, which consists of

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Describing and locating components (5)

• 4. Genre strategy
• assume example may be understood to contain
  elements usually found in genre and say where
  (and what) they are, e.g.
• This advertisement uses text and images. The main
  image is of and is located in the centre of the
  page. The logo, representing , is in the top
  right-hand corner. The slogan

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Discourse

• noun (uncount)
• meanings
• (general) conversation serious spoken or written
  discussion of a particular subject
• (linguistics) general mode of language use
  defining a speech community (e.g. academic
  discourse legal discourse tourism discourse)

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Discourse Analysis

• compound noun (uncount)
• meaning
• Linguists use the term discourse analysis to
  indicate the study of whole units of
  communicative exchanges produced in a particular
  speech community.
• (Cappelli 2006 11-12)

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Functions of language

• CONTEXT
• ADDRESSER MESSAGE
  ADDRESSEE
• CONTACT
• CODE
• The ADDRESSER sends a MESSAGE to the ADDRESSEE.
  To be operative the message requires a CONTEXT
  referred to graspable by the adrressee, and
  either verbal or capable of being verbalized a
  CODE fully, or at least partially, common to the
  addresser and the addressee (or in other words,
  to the encoder and decoder of the message) and,
  finally, a CONTACT, a physical channel and
  psychological connection between the addresser
  and the addressee, enabling both of them to enter
  and stay in communication.
  
• 
  (Jakobson 1960)

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Functions of language (2)

• Each aspect of communicative situation determines
  a different language function
• emotive/expressive function, related to the
  addresser expresses addresser's attitude to what
  he/she is speaking about
• the conative function, related to addressee
  addresser attempts to influence addressee's
  behaviour
• referential function related to context, i.e.
  persons, things, events, etc. addresser wants to
  speak about

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Functions of language (3)

• metalingual function, relates to code, or
  conventions of language shared by addresser and
  addressee
• phatic function, related to contact, i.e.
  communicative relations between addresser and
  addressee
• poetic function, related to linguistic form of
  message.

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Genre

• noun (count)
• definitions
• A genre comprises a class of communicative
  events, the members of which share some set of
  communicative purpose. (Swales 1990)
• a variety of (spoken or written) text,
  distinguished by the way the textual unit is
  formally and functionally organized as a whole
• examples
• film review textbook instruction manual
  recipe advertisement travel brochure

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Genre (2)

• genres may be analysed into rhetorical moves or
  functional parts
• examples
• an academic research article may be divided into
  four moves (Swales 1990) 1) Establishing a
  territory 2) Establishing a niche 3) Occupying
  the niche
• a hotel leaflet (Cappelli 80) will include
  practical information (address how to reach
  us, etc.) information on room types and prices
  facilities promotional material, possibly
  including historical information, etc.

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Keying

• noun (uncount)
• meaning
• the as if situation in which participants are
  induced to playfully make believe that presented
  settings, activities or events are real, when
  as tourists they may be well aware that such
  occurrences are contrived.
• (E. Cohen in Jafari
  2003 344)
• the representation through the appropriate use
  of language and dramaturgic effects of often
  blatantly staged attractions as if they were
  authentic. (Cohen 2004 167)

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Languaging

• noun (uncount)
• meaning
• a term originally used by Potter (1970 90-1) to
  signify a form of one-up-manship, a scoring over
  one's rivals through the use of real or
  fictitious foreign words of which they have scant
  knowledge (Dann 1996 183)

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Outline slide

• function
• to show structure of presentation
• position in presentation
• at beginning, immediately after you have
  introduced yourself and your main topic

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Outline slide (2)

• structure
• usually (numbered) series of topics (noun
  phrases), corresponding to different sections of
  presentation and presented in order of
  discussion including Conclusion
• language
• concise conveying essential information
• consistent (spelling layout and syntax)
• schematic using minimal, abbreviated syntax,
  avoiding unnecessary repetition
• legible be clearly arranged.

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Presenting an example of tourism discourse

• Specifiy the genre.
• State its general purpose.
• Introduce its components.
• e.g. This advertisement has / is made up of
  visual and verbal components / contains images
  and text
• Describe and locate the components (see
  Describing and locating components).

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Presenting an example of tourism discourse (2)

• 5. Focus on and analyse the text.
• What is its function?
• How is this reflected in its language?
• What are the predominant text types?
• What is the predominant register?

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Presenting an example of tourism discourse (3)

• 6. Discuss the target and analyse the message
  your example aims to communicate.
• Which perspective(s) on tourism does it present?
• What techniques or strategies are used?
• How do image and text complement each other?
• Make your concluding remarks (see Conclusion)
• What are its most interesting, significant or
  unusual features?
• What light does the example throw on the genre
  /tourism discourse in general?
• How do you rate it?

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Register

• noun (count uncount)
• meaning
• a variety of language associated with a limited
  range of social situations or functions
• (The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language,
  2002 301)

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Register (2)

• analysed in terms of 3 functional variables
• field of discourse variation with regard to what
  text is about
• tenor of discourse variation with regard to
  personal relationships involved
• mode of discourse variation with regard to
  manner in which text produced.

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Register (3) field

• concerns texts relevance to specific area of
  experience and social activity
• typically associated with specialized vocabulary
  or lexis
• language of business / law / medicine, etc.

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Register (4) tenor

• regards role relationships between participants,
  in text as communicative event
• addresser may inform, instruct, amuse, or
  persuade addressee
• typically manifested in
• languages interpersonal systems, especially
  modality and person
• key formal vs informal, serious vs humorous, etc.

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Register (5) mode

• concerns form text takes
• written vs spoken
• written-to-be-spoken vs spoken-to-be-written
• conventional format or layout.

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Register (7) varieties of choice
variation type of linguistic choice
field specialized vs non-specialized language lexis active vs passive constructions voice verbal vs nominal expressions nominalization one combination of words vs another collocation between systems of time reference
tenor full vs contracted forms formal vs informal language personal vs impersonal content personal vs impersonal constructions between intonation patterns and degrees of emphasis
mode between full and abbreviated syntax
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Stress in speech

• In connected speech, languages employ one of two
  basic rhythmic systems (or different degrees of
  compromise between them)
• syllable-timing rhythm result of (more or
  less) regular occurrence of syllables as such
• stress-timing rhythm result of (more or less)
  regular occurrence of stressed syllables.
• NB English unequivocally stress-timed.

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Stress in speech (2)
stressed syllables vs unstressed syllables
in open-class or content words, e.g. nouns, adjectives, adverbs, lexical verbs in closed-class or function words, e.g. articles, prepositions, auxiliary verbs (including modals), pronouns
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Stress in speech (3)

• e.g. in phrases and sentences
• -- the inter national de bate on
  poverty
• -- What does wellbeing mean?
• -- It Is unac ceptable that so many
  people still live in the most ex treme
  poverty.
• (where marks more or less regular occurrence
  of stressed syllables).
• NB Number of unstressed syllables between two
  stressed syllables may vary (in examples, from 0
  to 5).

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Stress in speech (4)

• NB closed-class words may receive stress in
  speech for special emphasis, often to express
  contrastive meaning ( contrastive stress)
• Hello, Im Paul. Whats your name?
• speaker (I) explicitly contrasts with listener
  (you)
• -- Of course I can speak English, I
  am English!
• affirmative (am) implicitly contrasts with
  negative (am not)

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Stress in speech (5)

• In continuous speech, not all stressed
  syllables equal (some more equal than others!).
• Continuous speech divided into tone units,
  corresponding to units of structure and
  information, where one stressed syllable more
  prominent than others (in CAPITALS in examples)
• -- What does wellbeing MEAN?
• -- It Is unac ceptable that so many
  people still live in the most ex treme
  POverty.

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Stress in speech (6)

• Most emphasized stressed syllable in tone unit
  usually occurs towards end of unit, but position
  may be changed for special emphasis, often to
  express contrastive meaning
• -- What does WELLbeing mean?
• wellbeing contrasts with some other word
• -- from de velopment to HUman
  development
• human development explicitly contrasts with
  (simple or generic) development
• -- Let us start with the GOOD news
• good news implicitly contrasts with bad news

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Stress in words

• In words of more than one syllable, one syllable
  MUST receive more stress than others
• PROduct
• deVElopment
• globaliZAtion
• In dictionaries stressed syllables are preceded
  by a raised comma
• product
• development
• globalization

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Stress in words (2)

• Some words of more than one syllable (e.g.
  compound nouns and words with prefixes) have
  syllables with secondary stress, i.e. with
  slightly less emphasis than syllable with primary
  stress.
• In dictionaries, syllables with secondary stress
  are preceded by a lowered comma
• 'cocoa ' market
• ' world ' trade
• ' in ' formal
• ' underde ' veloped

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Stress in words (3)

• In English, position of primary stress not
  fixed, with some exceptions (see following
  slides)

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Tense

• Tense here used in broad sense, to mean
• forms of
• a) individual lexical verbs
• b) combinations of lexical and auxiliary
  verbs
• used to represent events or states in time.

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Tense future (1)

• Future time represented by means
• not of inflected form of lexical verb (cf. past),
  
• but of various combinations of lexical and
  auxiliary verbs
• expressing range of attitudes/relations to
  events,
• with different implications for register.

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Tense future (2)main constructions
1. shall/will verb Ill start by defining poverty
2. be going to-verb Im going to be talking about poverty
3. present simple The talk starts at six.
4. be verb-ing (present progressive) The talks starting in five minutes.
5. shall/will be verb-ing (future progressive) Ill be talking to you about poverty
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Tense future (3)

• Constructions view future events differently
• externally (as a whole, without internal change
  or structure) or internally (as in progress)
• as independent of or in relation to present and
  speakers situation or attitude.

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Tense future (4) shall/will verb

• event viewed as independent of present and as
  whole
• use
• predicting future on basis of knowledge
• The weather today will be wet and windy.
• Youll find this talk fascinating.
• Ill come to that in a minute.
• expressing spontaneous decisions regarding
  future
• Ill book a ticket straightaway.
• Ill start by defining poverty
• promising
• Ill be there.
• register more formal.

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Tense future (5) be going to-verb

• event viewed as outcome of speaker situation or
  attitude
• use
• a predicting future on basis of present
  evidence
• Its going to rain today. Look at those clouds.
• b expressing intention
• Im going to talk about poverty
• Im going to talk about that in a minute.
• register less formal.

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Tense future (6) present

• event viewed as whole and part of pre-ordained
  sequence
• use
• referring to future events as planned or
  programmed
• A. The talk finishes at six.
• B. Good my train leaves at 6.30.
• register more formal.

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Tense future (7) be verb-ing (present
progressive)

• event viewed as whole but out of focus and from
  the point of view of speaker situation
• use
• communicating anticipation of planned events
• The talks starting in five minutes and I cant
  find my slides.
• Im leaving straight afterwards.
• Im coming back to that at the end
• register less formal.

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Tense future (8) shall/will be verb-ing
(future progressive)

• event viewed internally as in progress
• use
• expressing high degree of anticipation of planned
  events
• Ill be talking to you about poverty
• relating progressive to punctual future event
• Youll be thinking differently by the end of this
  talk
• register neutral.

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Tense present

• does not locate events in time
• but represents
• currently habitual or recurrent events or states
• permanent or semi-permanent states
• truths, laws, rules, etc.
• planned or programmed events in future (cf.
  Tense future 7).

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Tense present perfective

• combines lexical verb-ed with have
• does not locate events or states in past (cf.
  Tense past)
• but represents events or states as anterior to
  and affecting / relevant to present, e.g.
• state leading up to present Shes been away
• indefinite event(s) leading up to present Have
  you ever been to Japan?
• habit or recurrent event leading up to the
  present Ive lived in Italy for many years
• combines with adverbials of anterior time /
  frequency / duration / signalling start of time
  interval, e.g.
• Ive already seen this film
• Ive never seen this film
• Ive been here all day
• Ive been here since nine oclock.

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Tense present progressive

• combines lexical verb (-ing) with be, e.g.
• Im writing
• Youre smiling
• represents event as in progress at time of
  speaking, e.g.
• John is talking to a friend on the phone
• where time of speaking implicit.

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Tense past

• realized by regular and irregular forms, e.g.
  started, began
• represents events or states as located at some
  point in past (may vary from precise moment to
  period)
• combines with expressions indicating point in
  past, e.g.
• in 1993
• two years ago
• last year
• yesterday.

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Tense past perfective

• represents events or states as anterior to and
  affecting / relevant to moment in past, e.g.
• state leading up to moment in past Shed been
  away
• indefinite event(s) leading up to present Had
  you ever been to Japan?
• habit or recurrent event leading up to present
  Id lived in Italy for many years.

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Testimony

• noun (uncount)
• meaning
• Testimony is touristic promotion of a
  destination or hotel by recognisable
  spokespersons association with the rich and
  (in)famous, and the verbatim accounts of
  satisfied customers. Testimonial rhetoric as an
  authenticating device can also be found in the
  narratives of tour guides. As a type of word of
  mouth communication, testimony rates high in
  terms of credibility.
• (G. Dann in Jafari 2003 576)

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Text types

• noun (count)
• meaning
• local varieties of text, whose linguistic
  features realize specific communicative functions
• examples
• descriptive
• narrative
• evaluative
• argumentative
• instructive
• directive

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Webpage

• parts
• header the rectangular area at the top of the
  page, usually containing a logo and webpage
  title, and often a search box
• footer the rectangular area at the bottom of the
  page usually containing links to the main
  sections of the website
• menu a list of commands or options, displayed
  horizontally or vertically
• navigation bar usually a horizontal menu bar in
  which the individual items are links to the main
  sections of the website each item is usually
  associated with a pulldown menu listing the
  subsections of each main section
• main body the main textual content
• images static (including buttons) or animated

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References

• Cappelli, G. Sun, Sea, Sex and the Unspoilt
  Countryside. How the English Language Makes
  Tourists out of Readers. Grpsseto Pari.
• Cohen, E. 2004. Contemporary Tourism. Diversity
  and Change. Oxford Elsevier.
• Dann, G. 1996. The Language of Tourism. A
  Sociological Perspective. Wallingford CAB
  International.
• Jafari, J. (ed.) 2003. Encyclopedia of Tourism.
  London Routledge.
• Potter, S. 1970. The Complete Upmanship. New
  York Holt, Rinehart.
• Swales, J. 1990. Genre Analysis. English in
  Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge
  Cambridge University Press.