Help me write about the discourse in this text!

[mantissa]

Text in question: http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/englishlanguage/2013/2013englang-cpr-w.pdf - scroll down to text 1. (pg.23)

Overall i'm terrible at analysing these, however the only think i could speak about in relevance to discourse is the topic management. Can anyone else point something else out for me, and how i would relate it to the social purpose?

[joecantwell]

Inference is used through the Military Jargon such as its inferred that 'corporal' (Line 3) and 'ADF' (Line 11) are known terms by the audience.Reduces social distance and also creates rapport.Relates to the social purpose of honouring Corporal Keighran and reflecting on the Australian government in a positive manner due to them adhering to the audiences positive face needs by inferring jargon that they may be familiar with which creates a tighter relationship and also respects The Corporal Keihram by using specific lexical choices.

You could also use features for this text such as synonyms (avoid repetition of the same lexemes), repetition (enforcing ideas) and the various features of information flow (such as front focus).

Good luck for the Exam!

[vcestudent123]

In future think about this..
When it comes to discourse.. Inference and cohesion are the biggest two.
Discuss those and you should be fine for most things regrading discourse.

[psyxwar]

Inference is used through the Military Jargon such as its inferred that 'corporal' (Line 3) and 'ADF' (Line 11) are known terms by the audience.Reduces social distance and also creates rapport.Relates to the social purpose of honouring Corporal Keighran and reflecting on the Australian government in a positive manner due to them adhering to the audiences positive face needs by inferring jargon that they may be familiar with which creates a tighter relationship and also respects The Corporal Keihram by using specific lexical choices.

You could also use features for this text such as synonyms (avoid repetition of the same lexemes), repetition (enforcing ideas) and the various features of information flow (such as front focus).

Good luck for the Exam!

Small nitpick but you don't "use" inference. Inference is to do with the receiver/ audience. I'm also uncertain if inference is good to talk about for this question: I'd talking about conventional opening/ closing or the use of "corporal" as a vocative to address the corporal throughout.

[NyaTaku]

In future think about this..
When it comes to discourse.. Inference and cohesion are the biggest two.
Discuss those and you should be fine for most things regrading discourse.

Discourse on a macro level is more to do with turn-taking, conversational strategies, and floor management. On a micro-scale, you can talk about non-fluency features, discourse particles, topic management, and interlocutor traits.

[Reus]

Yeah discourse in this case is the way the text is essentially spoken. I feel like cohesion, inference and coherence are types that bring a text together (flow and ebb of the conversation etc), the discourse of the 'text' itself whereas turn taking and floor management are there discourse features between interlocutors.

[vcestudent123]

Yeah discourse in this case is the way the text is essentially spoken. I feel like cohesion, inference and coherence are types that bring a text together (flow and ebb of the conversation etc), the discourse of the 'text' itself whereas turn taking and floor management are there discourse features between interlocutors.

I didn't notice the text was spoken.
I was talking about along the lines of written text rather than spoken.
My bad

[psyxwar]

Well, this text is not your typical spoken text. There isn't much you can say on turn taking and floor management because well, there is only one speaker.

[Reus]

I didn't notice the text was spoken.
I was talking about along the lines of written text rather than spoken.
My bad

What you said is still applicable to a spoken text

Well, this text is not your typical spoken text. There isn't much you can say on turn taking and floor management because well, there is only one speaker.

Yes, but the speaker's conversational strategies in terms of syntactic construction (front focus) and rising pitch inform the audience that there is more information to come thus holding the floor. This further supports the function of the text as the speech is designed to commemorate the endless heroic attributes the corporal had exemplified in Afghanistan. 

But yep you're right because there is one speaker its quite limited to analyse the conversational strategies as compared to an informal dialogue.

[psyxwar]

Yes, but the speaker's conversational strategies in terms of syntactic construction (front focus) and rising pitch inform the audience that there is more information to come thus holding the floor. This further supports the function of the text as the speech is designed to commemorate the endless heroic attributes the corporal had exemplified in Afghanistan. 

Hm, I'd be careful of calling it holding the floor though. She's not really doing it to hold the floor; the turns are scripted and it is only she who is speaking. I agree that it does signal an incomplete utterance/ that there is more to come, but personally I don't think it's the best thing to talk about. It's difficult to tie to formality imo, but maybe that's just me.

Not sure if the example of front focus is good to talk about here either. Front focus, whilst a part of information flow which is discourse, is also syntax. Not sure if she fronts 'with the medal' for the purposes of signalling that more information is to come either. imo it's more to emphasis the medal and to shift the topic back to the medal itself, allowing her to close off the speech nicely and actually award the Victorian Cross to the corporal after providing some background info about his heroics.

[Reus]

Hm, I'd be careful of calling it holding the floor though. She's not really doing it to hold the floor; the turns are scripted and it is only she who is speaking. I agree that it does signal an incomplete utterance/ that there is more to come, but personally I don't think it's the best thing to talk about. It's difficult to tie to formality imo, but maybe that's just me.

Not sure if the example of front focus is good to talk about here either. Front focus, whilst a part of information flow which is discourse, is also syntax. Not sure if she fronts 'with the medal' for the purposes of signalling that more information is to come either. imo it's more to emphasis the medal and to shift the topic back to the medal itself, allowing her to close off the speech nicely and actually award the Victorian Cross to the corporal after providing some background info about his heroics.

Just of course there are instances where front focus is used for emphasis... it really depends on the example used to back it up tbh

What would you include in an analytical considering its formal?

[psyxwar]

yeah ma bad, thought you meant the example they mentioned in the SA stem lol