Grouping Written Texts - 24.02.15

Grouping Written Texts

Texts A, C and F all share similar effective uses of a lexical field in their text. However texts A and F are strong inclusions as they have similar, strong and apparent uses of a lexical field, and text C is a weaker inclusion as it uses a less apparent and weaker lexical field. In text A, it is a description of a granola-snacks as a product packaging anduses its lexical field to persuade customers to buy their product, as the themes of 'taste' are reifnorced throughout the small amount of text that is given. It uses lexis like 'sweet' and 'fruity-tasting', 'satisfying' and 'sweetened' to evoke these feelings of taste to the reader, but also it uses repition as a alternative technique to link to the lexical field and further develop the recognition of 'taste'. It uses 'great tasting food', 'Taste the Difference', 'taste tested' and 'fruity-tasting' to continually bring the idea to the readers attention that it truly is a great-tasting and quality product. Similarly in text C, the lexical field is also taste, however it lies mainly on graphology to get the message accross. It also is a weak inclusion to this grouping as the lexical field is not as apparent as this product packaging lacks a description of the product itself. The lexical choices such as 'nature valley' gives connotatios of an active, healthy lifestyle, but also the rich, organic tastes of nature. It also uses 'crunchy' so that readers can get an idea of the texture of the product and 'canadian maple syrup' so that consumers can imagine this product in their minds which could encourage and persuade them to buy it. However, in text F, a strong lexical field of war is used, and effectively uses these ideas blended well throughout the text which continually underpins the ideas of war and uses that to describe the contrasting event of piecing a puzzle together. It uses lexis 'like 'rounded up', 'segregated', 'struggle' and 'revolution', which are an effective use of strong and powerful nouns together to form this lexical field. In this case, the lexical field is used to entertain the reader as the seriousness and devastations that are associated with war, will evoke these feelings in the reader but when they realise the true meaning of the writing, and that it is simply based on the struggles of two people comstructing a cardboard puzzle, of what I would assume, it can be found quite humourous.

Texts B and E use contrasting uses of sibilance and consonance, which are two devices to emphasise the particular phonemes in a sentence for effect. In text B, sibilance is strongly and significantly used to describe an appealing beach holiday in the Maldives. This text, similar to text C, also mainly relies on graphology to represent the main ideas of the advert as the picture of the beautiful beach says it all about this holiday. It evokes feelings of relaxation and calmness. It uses lexis like 'swim', 'ninety-seven sustainably chic...' 'spin', 'bespoke', 'surf' and 'famous waves', to create a desirable and paradisiacal effect, which furthermore persuades the readers to go on this holiday. This use of sibilance also creates a relaxing tone, which reflects and mirrors what the holdiday will actually be like, so the reader can get a small insight as to what it might be like before they go. In contrast, text E uses consonance also to persuade, however it uses the phoneme device differently as it uses the repeated 'f' sound. It says 'foundation infallible', 'brush-perfect finish', 'foundation fingers' which similarly evokes an idea of beauty in the reader and makes them think they will have 'perfect finish' skin like the beautiful model on this advertisement if they also use this foundation. However, I think it may be also trying to reach out to a target audience perhaps to people who are quite busy and maybe do not have a lot of time on their hands, and so with this 'brush-perfect finish', they dont need to spend a lot of time with different brushes trying to perfect their makeup look when they don't have much time, because this foundation already offers that, and reinforces these ideas with consonance.

Texts D and F both have similar purposes to entertain, and are both strong inclusions as it is both of their primary purposes. Text D uses an extended metaphor which is the use of zoomorphism to describe their hungry self. The writer uses 'a baby lion is growling', and builds up feelings of fear and anxiety about the line but actually uses this effectively to describe how hungry they are. This is a clear device to enteratin the reader because they have to try harder to work out what is really going on in the text and furthermore the reader may enjoy reading the text more if its more challenging to work out. Text D also uses powerful nouns and verbs to describe how they are feeling in their apparent situation, it uses 'growling', 'lion', and 'moment will last forever', which conveys the strong feelings of the character towards the lion which contrasts at the end of the text and this also entertains the reader as it could be seen as humourous or witty. In text F, it similarly uses an analogy which uses war to represent the construction of a puzzle. Again, the reader will only realise the true meaning of the text until the end and therefore they have to try harder to work out what it means, and this again is a clever device to entertain the reader. It also, similar to text D, uses strong verbs and nouns to make the clear ideas of war understood to the reader. It uses 'segregated', 'pieces', 'restricted' and 'attacks' and this clearly passes on these thoughts in the readers mind, but also creates a punchy, wittiness as it is very clever how the writer has used these powerful words to describe the piecing of a puzzle.

Grouping Texts to Persuade

Grouping Texts to Persuade

Texts E, CC, H and K all share either a primary or secondary purpose to persuade. Text K is a strong inclusion to this group, as it is an advertisement for a beauty product therefore its primary purpose is to persuade customers to buy their product. It uses an instruction of how to use the product with strong imperatives blended with rich adjectives such as ‘rub the creamy gel into a luxurious lather’ and ‘massage into damp skin. Adding the adjectives with the imperatives, it makes the product sound much more luxurious and desirable. . Another way in which text K uses techniques to persuade, is it uses French lexis like ‘cremé de gel’ that perhaps might evoke connotations of cleanliness, luxuriousness and beauty, because when consumers see French products they might associate it with things like fashion and perfume which is desirable, like Chanel.

Text H is also a strong inclusion to this group as similarly, it uses rich adjectives that the reader cold directly link to the product, like ‘yummy’ and ‘delicious’. However this could also be an attempt of accommodation to target a younger audience, as these lexical choices and bold and colourful graphology suggest it might be targeted towards children, or perhaps parents with young children. The packaging also advertises a game on the back which states it is a ‘family game’, it uses the imperative ‘play tv matchmakers’ which also persuades them to play the game but primarily to actually buy the product.

In contrast, text E is a much weaker inclusion to this group, as it is only a secondary purpose, because it is a transcript of a conversation between a customer and an employee, where one speaker, in this case the customer, has a higher status or more power in the conversation, as the employee wants them to return as a valued customer. Towards the end of the conversation, the employee uses negative face by saying ‘I’m not getting much right today’. This lowers their status as a worker and makes the customer feel more powerful or perhaps more respected, in order for them to maybe visit the shop again. However this is an underlying prompt to persuade the customer without them actually knowing it therefore is only a weak inclusion to persuade.

Text CC is another weak inclusion as it similarly is a conversation but between two friends. The way this text is similar to text E is that there is still one more powerful speaker. Maureen is the more powerful and she uses subtle hints in order to persuade Juliane to try and get the tickets. She says ‘so now we can’t go’, uses emotive lexis which makes Juliane feel guilty and consequently persuades her to try and get the tickets. Maureen’s dominance in the conversation also means that she doesn’t have to actually persuade her with powerful verbs and nouns or use of conversion, as she speaks very little and Juliane is still persuaded by her.