1. LANGUAGE & WRITTEN COMMUNICATION

The nature of Writing is a product of the functions it serves in language use: speech & writing have complementary functions (are complementary: dynamic & static functions)

Writing was not intended to replace Speech: they serve different purposes & this leads to structural differences (differences in form & function)

Writing: a means of recording language, presenting it as a sound-recording mechanism in a straightforward, mechanical process

Some constructions may only be found in writing, others only occur in speech (uses different types/registers of language: slang and swear words).

2. ELEMENTS & RULES GOVERNING WRITTEN DISCOURSE

a) FORMAL ELEMENTS

3. TEXT TYPOLOGY: CRITERIA FOR CLASSIFICATION

Action, events in time & life in motion in order to tell a story, but also to entertain, to inform, to change attitudes/social opinions or to provide an aesthetic experience

4. ROUTINES & FORMULAS

Formal / Informal letters:

• Beginning: "Dear sir/madam" or "Dear Mr/Mrs/Miss Jones" / "Hi"
• Ending: "Yours sincerely/faithfully", "Best regards" / "Love/Kisses"

In the very early stages of life when there was a need for animals & humans to communicate so as to carry out basic activities of everyday life (hunting, eating or breeding), express their feelings and attitudes. However, even the most primitive cultures had a constant need to express their feelings and ideas by other means than guttural sounds and body movements as animals did. Humans’ constant preoccupation was how to turn thoughts into words.

A much wider domain of enquiry of which language is part: the analysis of linguistic & non-linguistic signs in communication processes in general. It deals with patterned human communication in all its modes and in all contexts

The producer's attitude. Instrumental in fulfilling the speaker's intentions/purpose

To compensate the absence of paralinguistic devices & feedback

The relatioships among the different meanings or contents of a text. When texts are not coherent, they do not make sense or make it difficult for the reader to follow & understand

How the components of the textual world, thus the concepts and relations which underlie the surface text, are mutually accessible & relevant

How individual utterances are linked structurally (grammatically & lexically) and facilitates interpretation of a text by means of cohesive devices which connect ideas within & between sentences

How the components of the surface text, the actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence

• Reference: referring back or forwards to a previously mentioned concept
• Substitution: replacing one item by another (an equivalent)
• Ellipsis: omitting an item that can be deduced/understood from the context
• Conjunction: Logical connections btw clauses or sentences
  (indicate the logical relationships btw ideas)

Fixed utterances/structures which must be considered as single units/a whole, because meaning cannot be derived from any of its parts (they cannot be broken down into component parts). Understanding them usually requires/is based on cultural knowledge (therefore present problems for language learners who may learn the meanings of the words but not its contextual meaning), because they are generally abstract/metaphorical in meaning and must be interpreted at a non-literal level. Also, it fulfills the communicative function, so it is performative in nature

They may be one-sided, that is, contained in the utterance of only one participant in an oral communication event, or they may involve a question-response format. By themselves, routines do not usually have literal meaning, and it simply has a phatic function in conversation (aims to establish or maintain social contact, rather than conveying specific information)

The variety of discourse refers to the different strategies used in the construction of the text. The writer's intention together with the perspective adopted in transmitting such information results in what we call varieties of discourse

• According to the type of discourse: expository, argumentative, descriptive, narrative or dialogic
  

A structured oral interaction between two or more participants, in order to establish a successful exchange of information (btw them). Characterized by the presence of idiomatic expressions, linguistic, extralinguistic and paralinguistic elements.

Whether written or oral, Discourse is essentially social in nature, and inherently dialogic. The orality of discourse permeates social life since it has always been the main vehicle for the transmission of cultural knowledge.