Different Oral Genres

Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais – Faculdade de Letras
LET060 INGLES: EXPRESSAO ORAL - M4
Profa.: Gladys de Souza
Leonardo Henrique Machado
Topic: Oral Genres

The language user is in a position to act in different communicative situations and with different purposes. To be able to express oneself fluently, the language user draws on a number of different competences or linguistic resources which, together, make up language proficiency or communicative competence. Many of these competences are naturally shared by both the spoken and the written language. If one looks at a written version of a perfectly normal conversation, one is sometimes amazed at how much the spoken language diverges from the written one. Typical of the spoken language are the many incomplete sentences, the interruptions and the sudden changes of subject. There are also a great number of 'fill-in words, such as 'yes', 'mmm', 'well' and 'let's see', which on the face of it do not express any particular content, but which rather seem to have a social function in the universe of oral conversation. The spoken language has various genres - monologue and dialogue. Monologue, where the purpose is often to give information, is much more common on the written language than on dialogue. There are no changes of speaker and the structure is far tighter, since the utterances are linked with the aid of conjunctions or adverbials that support the structure of the argumentation. Dialogue speech, where a number of conversation partners communicate with each other, is characterised by shorter statements with a much freer and more unpredictable structure. This is especially due to the fact that the dialogue develops as an interaction between the participants, since the interpersonal function, i.e. taking account of the mutual relationships and opinions of the participants, plays a major role. Various oral genres follow particular conventions that have to be mastered and adhered to. I have already mentioned the difference between the monologue and the dialogue. If we are dealing with a more cohesive oral presentation of a subject or a more formal conversational situation with less frequent or more regulated changers of speaker than, for example, an informal chat, there will naturally be different demands made on. As in written communication, various oral genres will also be characterised by particular types of language acts and particular demands regarding politeness markers. In oral presentation or in a discussion, considerable demands will, for example, be made to the structure of the argumentation and thus to the knowledge of particular reasoning language acts, for example, how one presents attitudes, counter-arguments, etc. The Functional Grammar of Halliday(1997) is a complex system that is very useful to analyse both written and oral genres. The following picture is the Jean Ure’s Text Typology chart. It was used to organize texts types to be analysed based on the Functional Grammar. It has some examples of spoken genre.

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Exemple of lecture and speech:

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

It’s wonderful to be here. What Indira didn’t tell you is that this lecture series used to be called the Last Lecture. If you had one last lecture to give before you died, what would it be? I thought, damn, I finally nailed the venue and they renamed it. [laughter] So, you know, in case there’s anybody who wandered in and doesn’t know the back story, my dad always taught me that when there’s an elephant in the room, introduce them. If you look at my CAT scans, there are approximately 10 tumors in my liver, and the doctors told me 3-6 months of good health left. That was a month ago, so you can do the math. I have some of the best doctors in the world. Microphone’s not working? Then I’ll just have to talk louder. [Adjusts mic] Is that good? All right. So that is what it is. We can’t change it, and we just have to decide how we’re going to respond to that. We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand. If I don’t seem as depressed or morose as I should be, sorry to disappoint you. [laughter] And I assure you I am not in denial. It’s not like I’m not aware of what’s going on. My family, my three kids, my wife, we just decamped. We bought a lovely house in Virginia, and we’re doing that because that’s a better place for the family to be, down the road. And the other thing is I am in phenomenally good health right now. I mean it’s the greatest thing of cognitive dissonance you will ever see is the fact that I am in really good shape. In fact, I am in better shape than most of you. [Randy gets on the ground and starts doing pushups] [Applause] So anybody who wants to cry or pity me can down and do a few of those, and then you may pity me. [laughter] All right, so what we’re not talking about today, we are not talking about cancer, because I spent a lot of time talking about that and I’m really not interested. If you have any herbal supplements or remedies, please stay away from me. [laughter] (…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
Lecture transcription: http://hi.baidu.com/nwxinong/blog/item/2bef0f386bbad3f5b311c7d0.html

Obama Addresses America

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition. Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents. So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans. That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights. (...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwfpQ89E2vI
Speech transcription:
http://www.mahalo.com/obama-inauguration-speech/