英语文体学论文

Text analysis for the Course of Stylistics Topic 1: Register Analysis and relevant features

This essay is due to analyze the text “What does i t mean to be a digital native?”. (/2012/12/04/business/digital-native-prensky/index.html)

Firstly, author will analyze the register of the text, and then discuss three significant features of the text in different aspects which related to the register.

1.Register

To analyze the register, it is necessary to know the definition of register. Here is the description from Wiki-pedia:

In linguistics, a register is a variety of a language used for a particular purpose or in a particular social setting. For example, when speaking in a formal setting, an English speaker may be more likely to adhere more closely to prescribed grammar, pronounce words ending in -ing with a velar nasal instead of analveolar nasal (e.g. "walking", not "walkin'"), choose more formal words (e.g. father vs. dad, child vs. kid, etc.), and refrain from using contractions such as ain't, than when speaking in an informal setting.

We can get the register’s definition clearly from above sentences. To say it popularly, it is different types of texts.

Back to the text “What does i t mean to be a digital native?”, without stylistic feature, it is better to consider in three aspects: the text’s publication site, text’s content and its

purpose.

(1)Publication site

This text is published at CNN’s website in December 8, 2012, by a journalist of CNN. Usually, there are three registers of essays will be put in a public website: News Report, Conversations and Speeches, Science and Technology. It is obvious that the register is not belong to Conversations and Speeches.

(2)Content

Reading the whole text through, we could get the main idea of this text: It introduces the situation about people adapting to digital age in nowadays and gives the prospect in the future. The content does not have the timeliness, while it is a summarize of recent situation. What’s more, the text introduces situations of many places around the world. Therefore, the register of it must not be News Report. As a result, it belongs to Science and Technology part.

(3)Purpose

The purpose of this text is simple: To let readers know the situation of people within digital age nowadays. To a large extent, it is like popular science readings. The purpose of it is conveying knowledge to its readers. So the register is Science and Technology without question.

From analysis of these three aspects, it is obvious that the register of this text is Science and Technology. Specifically, in terms of field of Science and Technology, it is a typical scientific reading concerned with social science and digital science. In terms of tenor, it is concerned with communication between specialist and layman. In terms of mode, it is a monograph.

2.Significant features