FIELD

Field is an element of the experiental macrofunction of language.

The field of a text tells you which domain of experience the text is about: family life,
religion, law, medicine...
How the field can be detected:
Semantic Domain: discipline, lexical items referred to
Specialisation: targeted at a general or specific audience
The Process and Circumstance types
Type of processes chosen (verbs): stative & dinamic, vs of movement, vs of
thinking, existential.
Circumstance types: concessive, reson, time (type of adv cl)

MODE
Mode is an element of the textual macrofunction of a text.
The mode of a text tells about the method the text appears to have been produced in.
Mode refers to the channel you select to communicatespeech and writinge-mail,
telephone, radio, television, video, film and so on.
Axes
Spoken/Written: some texts are prototypical spoken texts (face-to-face
conversation) and display signs of high interactivity; others are prototypical written
texts (scientific journal article) and display no signs of interactivity at all.
Between them there is a continuum of texts which carry characteristics of both.
Action/Reflextion: Depending on how close in time a text is to the events it
describes, it may display signs of spontaneity. (dialog during a sports match is more
spontaneous than a newspaper report on the same match the following day)
INTERACTIVITY
Whether the text has been constructed in an interactive process
Indicators of interactivitively produced texts:
The presence of terms of address
The presence of attention atracting words (look, let's)
The presence of questions and answers
Indicators that help you determine the precise nature of the interaction:
Face-to-face conversations:
Turn-taking
Interruptions
Overlaps
Hesitators
Supportive feedback (right, OK, really?)
Deictic references to the shared physical environment (Could we move that into
this corner here?)
Intentionally vague language if the vagueness concerns information which can be
found in the shared environment (this thing instead of this chair). The speakers
are in the same environment (=shared knowledge and context)

 Discourse markers (Anyway, right)

Thematic organisation of the text:
- Experiential themes = pronouns (I, You)
- Interpersonal themes = interrogative words (how, when)
Oral conversations when the participants can't see each other (telephone call)
Same features as face-to-face conversations, but usually lack the deictic references and
the intentionally vague language (except when the participants are both looking at a copy
of the same document)
Written Exchanges
Synchronous (internet chat): These are written but bear the same characteristics as
oral conversations.
Asyncronous (e-mail discussions): These involve repetition or quoting of what
others have said in preparation for a response.
These indicators may be a reflection of the way a text was actually produced, or they may
be a deliberate attempt to make the text appear interactive, with the intention to make the
audience feel involved.
Typical techniques:
Direct address to the audience: You can bet that...
Rethorical questions: Just how much damage can they do?
Responses to an imagined contribution from the audience or from another
speaker/writer: Sure, we all know....
SPONTANEITY
When analysing a text for its mode, you will want to answer:
Whether the text seems to have been produced in real time, without an opportunity
to correct/edit it.
Whether it seems to have been produced in a situation when it is possible to edit
and correct it before it is finally presented to the audience
This distinction refers to both spoken and written texts. Spoken texts can also be prepared
and rehearsed before delivery
Indicators of a spontaneous text:
Pauses and hesitators
Mid-utterance corrections and reformulations
Qualification of what has been said before
Mid-utterance changes of syntax
Repetition
Abrupt changes of topic
Clauses have heads (The white house on the corner, is that where she lives?)
Clauses have tails (It can leave you feeling very weak, shingles, can't it?)
Adverbials are placed arbitrarily, in places where they would not occur in a preplanned text.
Chains of clauses connected with coordinating conjunctions, typically and
Subordinate clauses are used as if they were coordinate clauses
- Well actually one person has applied
- Which is great (if not spontaneous = And that is great)

- Though it's all relative, of course. (though would be ommitted if not spont.)
Low lexical density: less lexically dense texts are easier to follow, because they
appear to be more interactive, and more gripping.
There isn't much nominalisation (or other examples of grammatical metaphor)
Noun phrases are simple and short. Long and complicated noun phrases require
planning.

TENOR
Interpersonal metafunction of a text
Its linked with the interaction sender-receiver. Language is understood as a way of doing.
TENOR is an element of the INTERPERSONAL FUNCTION
Tenor
The tenor of a text tells you
What kind of person the author is, or is presenting himself to be
What kind of people the expected audience are
What the relationship between them is, or what relationship the author is
presenting it as
Linguistic features
Identify the person selections in the grammar
Identify the choice of mood (imperative, questions, statements, etc.)
Recognise the speech act (statement, question, command, offer)
Attitudes and judgements embodied in the lexical choices
IN INTERACTIVE TEXTS
Interactive texts are usually spoken (face-to-face conversation, telephone conversation,
but not a prepared lecture). Some written texts are also interactive (real-time internet
chat, written texts directed at a single participant known to the writer).
RELATIVE STATUS
The status of the participants to each other. Whether there is equality or inequality
between them. This is reflected in the choices the speakers make while speaking.
The way a participant comes across may be
Determined by the context (customer>shop assistant)
Deliberate (when the shop assistant wants to resist the pre-positioning by
deliberately speaking to the customer in the imperative, reversing the
equality/inequality aspect of the relationship)
Terms of address
How A addresses B defines the tenor of the conversation, whether showing A
as superior (or vice versa) or deliberately attempting to pretend equality and
mutual respect.
Those who pass judgements or make assessments come across as superior in their ability
or competence to judge or assess.
Those who choose or change the topic of the conversation come across as superior to the
other participants.
SOCIAL DISTANCE
Social distance may be MAXIMAL or MINIMAL. The degree of distance can be detected
from the presence or absence of informal language:

1. Colloquial vocabulary
2. Use of a dialect
3. Use of terms of address: given names, nick names, pet names indicate closeness,
and formal names indicate distance.
4. Contracted forms
5. Ellipsis: Failing to mention something out of shared knowledge
These may be an indication of actual social closeness or distance or deliberate
attempts to make the writer appear closer to the reader, perhaps to persuade him.

IN NON-INTERACTIVE TEXTS
Usually written texts directed at the public. Some spoken texts (lectures, rehearsed
speeches) are also non-interactive.
PERSONALISATION
Whether the speaker is revealed in the text and drawn attention to (by the use of
personal pronoun I);
or whether hes obscure and underplayed.
Whether the audience is referred to and drawn attention to (by the use of personal
pronoun you).
Personal pronoun we is also an example of personalisation, referring to both the author
and the audience.
Personalisation can be achieved with these techniques
1. Personal pronouns
2. Directives
3. Rhetorical questions
4. Questions seemingly coming from the reader or from another imagined
participant
Personalisation can be used for many purposes
1. To position the audience as agreeing, making it difficult for them to disagree
2. To create a feeling of solidarity between the author and the audience (we)
3. To create a feeling of intimacy
4. To create an impression of the interactivity of a one-to-one conversation
5. To make the reader feel like theyre physically present in a situation
Impersonalisation
Are meant to create a feeling of OBJECTIVITY, mainly in scientific texts and can be
detected by the presence of the ANTICIPATORY IT.
STANDING
How much of a claim the author lays to expertise and authority.
1. Does the author refer to external, (seemingly) respectable, sources?
- STRONG STANDING
- WEAK STANDING
2. Does the author come across as possessing expertise?
3. Does the author come across as being in a position to criticise or give praise?
This can be detected by the presence of EVALUATIVE EXPRESSIONS (those who
go beyond describing facts and express an opinion on facts)
Sometimes there is a choice between a neutral expression (feature) and an
evaluative one (weakness), or an adjective may be inserted into an otherwise
neutral expression to make it evaluative (the fragile bond)

This is an example of the tenor being manipulated deliberately

4. Does the author come across as being in a position to tell other people what to do?
- Presence of imperative sentences
- Presence of meanings involving obligation and necessity (will have to,
should, must)
Instructions can be given in less obvious ways to appear less bossy.
STANCE
How certain the author is (or want us to believe he is) that what they are saying is true.
The space he allows you to agree or disagree with the content.
ATTITUDE
tells you whether positive, negative or neutral meanings are expressed. Realised in the
text by:
Lexical choices: words that carry negative meanings are used to construct a
negative attitude in the text.
Evaluative expressions (=standing)
Agency and affectedness
Transactional actors: actors who have a goal at the other end of the process.
They have the most agency.
Non-transactional actors: actors who do not have a goal at the other end of the
process. They have less agency because they are constructed as not influencing
anybody.
Entities who do not appear as actors. These have no agency at all.
The agency can be further manipulated by:
Shot passives shots were fired (by the police)
Nominalisations The 70s saw several factory closures (in the 70s the company
management closed several factories)
Ergatives several mines closed (several mines were closed)
As regards affectedness, entities who are often presented as affected can be constructed
as victims and attract sympathy.

MODALITY
Epistemic: the likelihood that the experiential content is (believed by the author to
be) true. Indicators:
o Modal Verbs will = certainty (strong EM)
would= probability based on a hypothetical condition
must = deduced to be fairly certain
may,might,could= possibility (weak EM)
o Modal Adverbs definitely = strong EM
possibly = weak EM
o Modal Adjectives It is definite/possible that
Authors who write with a high epistemic modality may appear as dogmatic
Authors who write with a low epistemic modality may appear as open to
negotiation or even uncertain

DEONTIC MODALITY: The amount of obligation, permission or necessity

conveyed by the text.
o Modal Verbs and other expressions conveying meanings of obligation,
permission or necessity
- have to, must, had better =strong obligation
- ought to, should = obligation
- need to = necessity
- be supposed to = weaker obligation