Lingua e traduzione inglese 1

https://meet.google.com/juo-cazr-zrn

Meeting 11
More about grammar
register

Sergio Pizziconi
sergio.pizziconi@unistrasi.it
 Plan of the day
● From our last meeting
● More about noun and noun phrases
● Register

Extra-class work
Read DEG&V Chps 6, 7, 8, and 9 (verbs, adj, prep, adv)
TEAM WORK: A new version of the Vistaprint ad
FORUM
All in all, what is grammar?

- A system
- A scientific grammar is a set of rules in the
sense of regularities observed in context
and co-text.
→ descriptive approach
we assess grammaticality by describing
speakers’ behaviors in context.
In context, because grammar is not
ontological; it is relational.
A traditional grammar, instead...

- A set of ideal rules. For English, those sometimes

“fabricated” by the first British grammarians in the XVII
century on the basis of Latin grammars.
- The rules are meant as prescriptions that “good”
writers/speakers are to comply with to belong to the right
social class.
→ prescriptive approach
“Never use two negative forms in one sentence”
Rules Vs Heuristics
Rules Vs Heuristics
Heuristics: Nouns

DEG&V, p. 30
Noun phrases

DEG&V, pp. 31-32

Heuristics: Noun Phrases

DEG&V, p. 32
Determiners DEG&V, p. 36
 Commercials & variation

Commercial 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OinrnIwu-uk

What is the structure of this

commercial?
Make a note of the two
sentences overwritten in the
middle of the commercial
 Commercials & variation

Commercial 1
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=OinrnIwu-uk
 Commercials & variation

Commercial 1
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=OinrnIwu-uk

Commercial 2
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=XMN6HM3_iD8
 Commercials & variation
[rapper, gangster]
Commercial 1
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=OinrnIwu-uk [wedding planner]
Setting: wedding site
Commercial 2
“No, no and no,
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=XMN6HM3_iD8 The ice sculpture goes
over there. Frank, get in
here……..”

[wedding planner]
“am I here by myself”
Register definition

( )
REGISTER situation
ISA = f topics covered
Linguistic variety profession

Registers differ from one another on the basis

of the linguistic choices made by the speakers.
In-class activity

The goal of this activity is to

understand whether you are able to
shape language with a specific
register. It is not meant to assess your
competencies as copywriters.
However, creativity is a (one out of
many) telltale of intelligence!
 Commercials & variation
Following the ……
structure of
the Vistaprint ……
commercials,
create a new
……
version for ……
Vistaprint
cards with
different
characters
and
professions.
…………
 How technical is the vid?

Look at this vid.

What register is this?

● Who is the speaker? Who are hearers supposed to be?
● What is the topic?
● How technical is it?
● What type of text is it?