Reading & Study Guide for Bakhtin’s Speech Genres

1) How does Bakhtin define SPEECH GENRES? Each area of human activity in which
language is used develops its own relatively stable types of utterances, these may be called
speech genres. Speech genres are heterogenous and inexhaustible as human activities. We
acquire speech genres from concrete utterances that we hear in live speech communication
with people around us, we learn the sorts of exchanges that are most likely to occur in these
situations. We learn to cast our speech in well-established generic forms that have a
particular compositional structure. Speech genres have a great predictive value.

2) What is the difference between PRIMARY & SECONDARY SPEECH GENRES?

Primary speech genres have a cause and effect explanation as it can be uttered in a variety
of situations. They have no markers of typicality. Do not exhibit functional difference.

E.g.: a photo of a woman in bikini. (It´s a primary iconic genre)

Secondary speech genres are complex in the use of language with a highly coded
compositional structure such as an abstract from a scientific journal. They have markers of
typicality and functional difference according to the context.

E.g.: a photo of a woman in bikini selling dieting supplements. (It´s a secondary iconic
genre because marketing strategies are involved, so this is marked by typicality, it is typical
of dieting supplements to be associated with a slim naked body).

3) How can utterances (being so diverse, so heterogeneous) be studied? What is the

THEMATIC, STYLISTIC and COMPOSITIONAL structure of a speech genre? Language
is realized in the form of concrete utterance that can be oral or written by participants in the
previous areas of human activity. The specific nature or structure of an utterance is
determined by three aspects:

a- Thematic content: what is being discussed, the theme of the utterance defers profoundly
in various spheres of communication.

b- Linguistic style: each sphere of communication or each area of human activity pre-
determines the style used in my utterance. Style is related to typicality, typical forms of
utterances that are expected from the participants in a specific situation. There is also the
speaker individuality, the use of a certain tone, a certain turn of phrase, choices of lexis and
grammar, whether the speaker tends to use irony or sarcasm, etc.

c- Compositional structure: the speaker´s speech plan or speech will, determines the entire
utterance, its length and boundaries. We also use the speech plan to measure the finalization
of the utterance. This plan determines both the choice of the subject itself, the boundaries
and its semantic exhaustiveness. It also determines the choice of a generic form in which
the utterance will be constructed.
4) How is Bakhtin’s notion of the UTTERANCE different from Saussure’s notion of
PAROLE? According to Saussure the only way to know which is the emotional tone in
pragmatics (parole) is to be at the moment of speech communication. While the abstract
system of the language (langue) doesn´t allow this, only language in use does.

Emotion, evaluation and expression are foreign to the way Saussure conceived language as
an abstract system. According to Bakhtin the most special attribute or feature of utterances
is there expressive nature, their emotional tone, that is what gives them meaning.

5) How is Bakhtin’s notion of SPEECH COMMUNICATION different from Saussure’s

SPEAKING CIRCUIT?

Bakhtin says that the utterance is a unit of speech communion, no utterance ever exists in
isolation. Here Bakhtin is criticizing Saussure, since in Saussure´s speaking circuit graph,
“speaker B” -the addressee is represented as having a very passive role (the process of
enunciation is reversed in “B”). Bakhtin will contest this passivity in terms of addressivity
and what he calls the “emotional coloring” or “emotional evaluative attitude” of the speaker
and of the listener. He describes an active role to the addressee, the listener has an active
responsive attitude towards “A´s” utterance.

6) Demonstrate by means of a simple example how understanding on the part of the listener
is always ACTIVE and not a mere duplication of SFRs/SFDs.

E.g. 1: A: Do you love me?

B: ( phatic language: silence)

E.g. 2: A: What a nice day! Shall we go for a walk?

B: (nods the head to show agreement) / aha (expletive to show affirmation) / the
listener may point to a park near where they are (index to show agreement).

7) How does the UTTERANCE differ from a SENTENCE? An utterance finishes when
other speaker begins his/her own utterance (can also be me talking to myself and
responding to myself as if there was a change of speaker). The utterance may include
several sentences or not sentence at all, a sigh may be a responsive utterance to a verbal
message uttered before. A whole text written by the same person can be an utterance. We
limit an utterance by the change of speakers. While a sentence is a grammatical unit, starts
with a capital letter and finishes with a full stop. This last term is used in language but not
in linguistics.

8) How does Bakhtin define EXPRESSIVE INTONATION? Why is it a key constitutive

marker of the utterance? Why is this another criticism of Saussure’s theory?
The most special attribute or feature of utterances is their expressive nature, their emotional
tone is what gives true meaning to the utterance. The meaning is not on the syntagma or
choice of linguistic signs but on the emotional coloring with which we imbue the whole
structure. This is another criticism to Saussure´s theory because the only way to know
which is the emotional tone is pragmatics (parole) to be at the moment of speech
communication. While the abstract system of the language (langue) does not give you this,
only language in use allows this.

Emotions, evaluation and expression are foreign to the way Saussure conceived language as
an abstract system. Expressivity has to do with emotions (irony, sarcasm, etc.), expression
only emerges in live usage or in the concrete utterance.

9) How does RE-ACCENTUATION work? Provide a simple, concrete example.

Words always carry with them their own historical meanings, expressions, evaluative tone
which we assimilate, rework the word and re-accentuate, that is to say re signify the word.

A: It was very brave of you to call the police when you saw the robbers get into your
neighbor’s house!

B: Brave? Brave is to go and catch the robbers yourself.

Assimilation: We have the repetition of the key word “brave”, speaker “B” uses a different
expressive intonation, he is casting a doubt upon speaker “A´s” affirmation. Then speaker
“B” re-works the utterance by re-signifying “brave” as being unafraid of dangerous things
without considering your own safety, to be daring an act impulsively. This re- accentuates
the condemnation of a particular cautious behavior as being brave and encourages people to
become brave by taking the law into their own hands. Here we are polemicizing,
disagreeing, refuting speaker “A´s” utterance.

10) what are the DIALOGIC REVERBERATIONS of an utterance? Any utterance is a link
in the chain of speech communication and each utterance is filled with echoes of utterances
said before and after. No speaker is like the Biblical Adam speaking or uttering words for
the very first time. We don´t speak, we are spoken. All words have already been uttered and
reaccentuated in many different ways. All words we heard or used have varying degrees of
our-own-ness and varying degrees of detachment (both consist of emotional coloring added
to the word by me).

So, each utterance must be regarded primarily as a response to preceding utterances by

refuting, affirming, disagreeing, agreeing, invalidating, polemicizing or reacting in multiple
ways to what came before.

11) Why is ADDRESSIVITY important? How is this concept tied to previous concepts
discussed? The role of the others in the communicative chain is not passive but that of
active respondent in the speech event. Benveniste proof of the speaker´s active role through
the use of deictic (this/that, here/there). Bakhtin said that the listener (addressee) had an
active responsive attitude towards the speaker (addresser) since both imbue the utterances
with their own emotional coloring or emotional evaluative attitude. The speaker always
expects a response from the listener which can be an agreement, disagreement, sympathy,
regret, objection, execution of an action, etc. Not only the listener but also de speaker is
respondent to the utterance, the speaker is not the first speaker in the universe, but
him/herself responding to what other speakers (traceable or not as sources) said before
him/her.

12) Analyse how the TWEETS below are UTTERANCES LINKED in a complexly
organized CHAIN OF SPEECH COMMUNION.

Utterances of analysis:
Utterance 1: Aaron Rupar tweet
Utterance 2: Dr. Judy Melinek retweet
Utterance 3: Maryland Emergency Management
Agency tweet

Utterance 1: Aaron Rupar tweet

Aaron Rupar is a journalist and associate editor at Vox, covering politics and policy. He is
known on Twitter for sharing unflattering clips of Trump, he usually mocks the president.
This tweet is during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was posted on 24th April, 2020 at 12:19 am
after the medical community lambasted President Trump for spreading his ideas publicly
through the media suggesting a research into whether coronavirus might be treated by
injecting disinfectant into the body.
Disinfectants are hazardous substances and can be poisonous if ingested, even external
exposure can be dangerous to the skin, eyes and respiratory system
Stylistic component: the message quotes President Trump´s words during a TV broadcast
on C-Span2, he is very informal in the way he speaks, the choice of lexis is very vague. (C-
Span is an American cable and satellite television network created in 1979, it is a nonprofit
public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States federal government, as
well as other public affairs programming).
The length of the message is no more than two hundred eighty characters, (what tweeter
allows). The purpose of the social network is to enable direct social interaction between
users, it is a quick way of finding and following interesting conversations. It often uses to
post political commentaries or salient news. Tweets in general are on social or political
issues, it is a fast-moving social media.
Thematic component: The component has to do with politics, here we have the president of
the U.S.A, Donald Trump. He represents the republican party. North Americans this year
will vote for president, Trump has mentioned several times about his wish to be reelected,
one great opportunity to win the next election would be if he proves to be a good leader and
U.S scientists develop a vaccine for COVID-19 during his office.
Compositional structure: Trump´s speech genre is not that of a person in his position. We
expect a president to be well-informed, the information he spreads is not scientifically
sound this is not expected from a state leader.
E.g.:
“The disinfectant” as if there was only one very well known by everyone.
“it knocks it out in a minute” is a very informal way to refer to the result of the disinfectant.
“is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning. It
gets in the lungs” He uses question form sentences to inform people. Evidently, he doesn´t
know what he talks about, he seems to be looking for answers/solutions he doesn´t have.
He suggests scientist/ doctors/ people what to do as if he were a specialist on the field.
Emotional evaluative attitude: Aaron Rupar is once more ridiculing Donald Trump, another
tweet of Donald “being Donald”. He needed to do no effort since the president speaks from
total ignorance, based on no other evidence but on how disinfectants work on surfaces. He
quickly suggests a solution for COVID-19 that clever scientist/ doctors haven´t thought
about, disinfectants should work the same inside the human body. He speaks from his own
belief, out of knowledge, out of scientific support, just a belief. He doesn´t even consider
his position and the impact of his words on the U.S citizens. Aaron

Utterance 2: Dr. Judy Melinek retweet

Dr. Judy Melinek American forensic pathologist and writer, she was leading the Covid-19
response for a sheriff-coroner office in Oakland at the Alameda County, California, but
became increasingly frustrated with the handling of the pandemic, both by state officials
and President Donald Trump. So, she moved to New Zealand on July 7th, 2020.
The retweet was during the COVID-19 pandemic, 24th April, 2020 at 9:19 pm she retweeted
Aaron Rupar´s tweet as a way of supporting the medical community who were criticizing
Trump for spreading misleading, insubstantial information. She did this also to prevent
people from following Donald´s suggestions to self-medicate with disinfectant and
encourage them to call a doctor who knows best.
Stylistic component: the message is a short retweet refuting the content in Aaron Rupar
tweet, the language used is informal in the first two sentences when she answers to Trump´s
suggestions through Aaron Rupar´s tweet. She shows Donald deserves no respect from her,
that is not the register we expect a doctor to use when talking to a president. There is
informal language, there is also a euphemistic initialism “FFS” (for fuck's sake) used to
express exasperation, frustration or anger, without explicit vulgarity. The last two sentences
represent what one expects from a doctor; imperative sentences giving instructions/advice
about what to do in case you feel sick.

The purpose of tweeter is to enable direct social interaction between users, tweets in
general are on social or political issues.
Thematic component: The component has to do with politics and social health, here we
have Aaron Rupar (a journalist who is known on Twitter for sharing unflattering clips of
Trump, he usually mocks the president). Aaron´s tweet was during the COVID-19
pandemic, it was posted after the medical community criticized President Trump for
spreading his unsubstantial ideas publicly through the media about injecting disinfectant to
take coronavirus out of people´s body. Dr. Judy Melinek in her retweet is judging Trump´s
suggestion as not being the correct one and she is also trying to convince people to better
call a doctor than to follow the president advice.

Compositional structure: The structure is that of a tweet, very brief. At the beginning of the
retweet Judy´s register is not that of a doctor since it is very informal. But then when she
addresses people she changes the register to a more formal, she makes use of imperatives to
give advice.
Emotional evaluative attitude: I believe she felt frustrated and disappointed by Trump´s
response to the pandemic and by people who help spread this misinformation.
Judy assimilates Aaron Rupar´s tweet about Trump´s speech pointing that the disinfectant
could be a treatment for the coronavirus. She reworks it by disagreeing with it. Then she
reaccentuates it by making new suggestions about health care.

Utterance 3: Maryland Emergency Management Agency tweet

MEMA is a national leader in Emergency Management that provides Maryland residents,

organizations, and emergency management partners with expert information, programmatic
activities, and leadership in the delivery of financial, technical and physical resources.
This is a tweet during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was posted on 24th April, 2020 at 4:24
pm after President Trump expressed his idea publicly suggesting coronavirus might be
treated by injecting disinfectant into the body.
It seems the president´s words had an impact on lots of people who called to Maryland
Emergency Management Agency to know about the effectiveness of ingesting disinfectant
to treat coronavirus (disinfectants are hazardous substances and can be poisonous if
ingested, even external exposure can be dangerous to the skin, eyes and respiratory system).
Afterwards cleaning product companies and state health official had to issue warnings
about the dangers of ingesting/ injecting disinfectants.

Stylistic component: the message genre is a tweet from Maryland Emergency Management
Agency about health care. The language used in the tweet is formal, clear and specific,
The purpose of this tweet is to enable direct social interaction between users and spread
qualified information on health and social issues.
Thematic component: The component has to do with social health. This tweet warns people
about the danger of injecting or ingesting any disinfectant. Clearly this tweet refutes tweets
spread by people with misinformation provided by president Trump publicly on tv.
Compositional structure: The structure is that of a tweet, very brief. It is introduced by a
short sentence to provide context (assimilation) why they are warning people. Then, they
rework the utterance by the word alert in capital letters and the icon next to it to call people
´s attention, they are warning about an utterance that is not quoted here but we can back up
it from the context presented or the preceding tweets or even from the president´s speech on
tv (reverberation). Finally, there´s a reaccentuation by disagreeing with a particular speech
given by the president and giving new clear advice to people.
Emotional evaluative attitude: MEMA express a disagreement with the ideas expressed
publicly by the president, they probably felt overwhelmed by the possible consequences
this might bring for people and the health system.