Written Speech

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WRITTEN SPEECH

Discourse is a notion with many meanings.


In everyday use, a speech is a formal address: the verbal and oral act of
addressing an audience.
In linguistics and in the social and cognitive sciences, discourse is a form of
written ( text ) or spoken ( conversation in its social, political or cultural context )
language.
In anthropology and ethnography we also talk about a communication event .
In philosophy , for example with Foucault , a discourse is rather a system of discourses,
a social system of thought or ideas.
Discourse analysis is a 'trans-discipline' that developed in the 1960s in
anthropology, linguistics, sociology, philosophy, and psychology, and later also in other
disciplines, such as history and the study of communication.
Given the multiplicity of approaches, discourse can be defined as a verbal
structure, as a cultural communicative event, a form of interaction, a meaning, a mental
representation, a sign, etc. Both spoken discourse and written discourse (text) are
nowadays considered a form of contextually situated interaction.
As a verbal structure, a discourse is a coherent sequence of sentences. Global
coherence is defined by the themes or topics -- which are expressed, for example, in
headlines or summaries of the speech.
As an interaction (conversation, dialogue ) discourse is a coherent sequence of
turns and actions of several participants, in which each act is carried out in relation to
the previous one, and prepares the next.
Apart from their sequential structures, discourses have many other structures at various
levels, for example structures of grammar ( phonology , syntax , semantics ), style ,
structures of rhetoric (such as metaphors , euphemisms ), and 'schematic' structures. '
that define the global format of the discourse, such as argumentation , narration , or the
conventional format of a news story in the press.
From the perspective of cognition , discourse is described as mental processes
and representations, in which language users apply word by word, sentence by sentence,
production or comprehension strategies before storing fragments of discourse in
memory . Because users of the same language and culture share so much knowledge,
discourse is fundamentally 'incomplete'. The ethnographic approach to discourse
emphasizes the cultural variation of discourses: Conversations, political speeches,
negotiations, stories, and many other genres have other structures and strategies in other
cultures.

TEXT
A text is a composition of signs encoded in a writing system (such as an
alphabet ) that forms a unit of meaning. Its size can be variable, from a literary work
such as " Don Quixote " to the Linux kernel stack dump message.
Text is also a composition of printable characters (with spelling ) generated by
an encryption algorithm that, although they do not make sense to anyone , can be
deciphered by their original clear text recipient.

Text and speech

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It is closely related to discourse , since this is the specific emission of a text, by a
specific enunciator , in a specific communication situation.
There can be no discourse without a text to support it; Therefore, it must be
taken into account that what is postulated about the texts is valid for the discourses.

Text as "dialogue" and text as "monologue"


Another important notion is that texts (and speeches) are not only monologues .
In linguistics, the term text serves both for productions in which there is only
one sender (monomanaged or monocontrolled situations) and in which several exchange
their roles (polymanaged or polycontrolled situations) such as conversations .
Examples:

MONOLOGAL
Oral : A declamation, a political speech
Written : A letter of request, a novel

DIALOGAL
Oral : A conversation in a bar
Written : A chat conversation

Textual typologies
Textual typologies are methods and proposals whose purpose is to group or
classify linguistic texts (and discourses ) according to common characteristics.
The topic of text types is addressed from disciplines such as Discourse Analysis and
Text Linguistics .

Difficulty of typologies
Due to the diversity of texts and their variable length, it is difficult to establish a
typology that covers all the aspects of a text.
A sign with the legend "DO NOT ENTER" has very different functions than a
"love letter ." And the configuration of a " historical novel " can be much more complex
than the "story" of a football match.
That is why classification attempts use various criteria. classification:

Socio-cultural
Human society distinguishes different types of texts that are the product of what
Mikhail Bakhtin calls "discursive practices."
This criterion allows us to distinguish, for example, between a military order, an
advertisement, a telephone conversation, or a sermon in church.

Functional
Texts can also be characterized according to the function they fulfill in
communication, or the intention pursued by the interlocutor(s).
Informational text: Report something
Directive text: Incites the interlocutor
Expressive text: Reveals the subjectivity of the speaker

Structural

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This criterion classifies texts according to the mode of organization that
predominates in the text. They are abstract schemes or superstructures or global
structures.

ORAL TEXT
Every oral text is born from a purpose (to say hello, to tell something, to ask,
etc.) and is carried out in a certain communication situation that in turn conditions the
message. For example, we generally express ourselves differently when we are with
family (informal register) than when we are talking at work with a superior (formal
register). The communication process puts into operation a whole system of involuntary
skills that act during the perception of oral text.

NARRATIVE TEXT
There are various ways to present ideas or events. Texts that fulfill this function
are called expository texts. When the purpose of the text is to tell or narrate events in
which characters intervene, we have a narrative text.
The facts or events that make up the narrative text take place in a time and space
that can be real or virtual.
Example:
That humid dawn was happening. The saltpeter came with the air and got tangled in the
hair and skin every time the sheet was wrung out. He was also in the chair next to the
bed with the lamp, some books and a started pack of cigarettes. It was one of the wettest
sunrises in the world.
"The narrative text is characterized by having a style specific to the author who
produces it. In this sense we speak of a literary style given that the presentation of
events is organized in a particular way."
ITEMS
When a text tries to bring together the events that develop over time, and
narration predominates, we have a narrative text.
Temporal development is, therefore, an element that characterizes narrative texts.
Its structure is sequential, in it the facts are presented in an orderly manner according to
two criteria:
The time in which they occur.
The order in which they occur.
In this type of structure, temporal or ordinal connectors abound to indicate the
succession of events.

ARGUMENTATIVE TEXT
It stages mental processes that establish relationships between the denoted facts.
Generally, it includes a thesis or opinion around which arguments are presented that
support it; It is fundamentally, although not exclusively, about value judgments,
positive or negative appraisals about what is exposed (Good, bad, ugly, beautiful);
valid/invalid, appropriate/not appropriate.
The argumentative discourse is typical of the essay and criticism in general, p. e.g.: A
review of shows.

INSTRUCTIONAL TEXT

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They contain brief explanations that allow us to do a manual task, perform an
activity step by step, or solve a problem. For example : putting together a toy,
connecting an appliance, preparing a cooking recipe, learning the rules of a board game,
finding an address in a city we don't know, etc.

EXPOSITIVE TEXT
The word expose basically refers to the idea of explaining something or talking
about something so that others know it. Thus, we can define exposition as the type of
speech that aims to transmit information. The text that meets this objective is called
expository text.
It is used to explain a topic of study, to inform someone of our ideas, to inform
someone of our ideas, to give news... And scientific and technical treatises, educational
books, instruction manuals, and all those texts whose purpose is to inform about
concepts, facts or the way in which a process is carried out are also expository texts.
Since the expository text seeks to inform and make the information
understandable, it must present the contents in a clear and orderly manner. Clarity, order
and objectivity are the main characteristics of expository texts.
ITEMS
A precise topic, clearly identified and delimited.
A structure, that is, a way of organizing the information presented in the text.
A purpose previously established by the sender and subsequently interpreted by
the receiver.
The issuer can be individual or collective; It can also be individual or
institutional.
Sometimes, the recipient is a group of people with defined characteristics,
however, the texts must be adapted to the nature and level of knowledge of the
recipients.

TECHNICAL TEXT
The technical text is a writing that aims to present, in an organized and clear
way, the result of the application of a scientific principle: an instrument and its
application.
Classes:
Descriptive: they describe an instrument, without making interpretations or
drawing conclusions. Interpretive: They emphasize the importance of a specific
technical element. Demonstrative: They establish the relationship between a technical
element and some scientific principles that have been applied for its elaboration.
Characteristics:
Objectivity
Clarity
Precision
Unit
Coherence
Documentation
Brevity
Recommendations for writing technical articles:
Search for specialized bibliography.
Preparation of a content plan or structure that shows us the topic and the
subtopics into which we have divided it for its development.

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Draft writing.
Review and correction.
Production of the final text.
They are generally accompanied by illustrations or graphics, which help to
understand their meaning more easily.

JOURNALIST TEXT
The main objective of the media is to provide information. To achieve this
objective, various journalistic genres are used, that is, different types of texts.
Journalists report on reality in different ways: they narrate recent events
objectively: the news, or they present the information in expanded form, presenting a
particular point of view or interpretation: the chronicles. In both the news and
chronicles, events are linked by temporal connectors. On the other hand, both the news
and the chronicle are characterized by ordering the information in descending order, that
is, the data of greatest interest are presented at the beginning in order to capture the
attention of the readers.

ITEMS
As texts that carry information of general interest, journalistic texts contain a
series of data that respond to some basic questions, and that are organized in descending
order:
What happened? - THE FACTS
Who did it? - THE PARTICIPANTS
Where did it happen?- THE PLACE
When did it happen? - TIME
How did it happen? - THE MODE
Why did it happen? - THE CAUSES

DESCRIPTIVE TEXT
Provides concrete information about what a person, an experience or an object is
or has been like; This information is presented rather in a cumulative manner.
Descriptive text represents characters and circumstances arranged in space. Everything
we perceive can be the object of description ; It is common to distinguish the objective
or technical description, typical of scientific language, from the subjective description
that arises with aesthetic intention or that may contain the impressions or personal
evaluations of the person describing.
According to Charaudeau (1992), the components of a descriptive construction
are three: name, locate and qualify; They constitute the basis for the identification of the
beings of the world and are, at the same time, autonomous and inseparable. These
components give rise to the discursive procedures of identification , objective
construction and subjective construction.

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL TEXTS


Science is understood as the set of exact and reasoned knowledge that has been
acquired by man through research and study. This includes both Experimental Sciences
and Non-Empirical Sciences.

THE LANGUAGE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL TEXTS

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One of the peculiarities that characterize these texts is that they have a marked
conventional character, since they are only used by people who have a certain initiation
in the subject matter the text deals with. Its access is, therefore, limited.
The priority objectives of scientific and technical texts are precision and clarity, they are
usually accompanied by graphic elements.

Morphosyntactic features
They have a simple syntax:
-As for sentences, reflex passives and periphrastic passives with the verb to be
are abundant.
To elaborate definitions, copulative sentences with the verb to be are used. For
this reason, the referential function of language predominates, and declarative sentences
are fundamentally used. Furthermore, impersonal constructions with se are frequent.
However, the plural of modesty is often used, through the first person plural.
-As for verbal forms, the present indicative predominates, which usually has a
habitual or timeless stylistic value.
However, the imperative is frequently used for its appellative function, the
present subjunctive, the future indicative and the conditional for its hypothetical value.
-The adjectival is predominantly specific and postponed. Descriptive adjectives
are common.
-Repetitions, clarifications and parentheses.

The lexical-semantic component


From a lexical point of view, scientific and technological texts are characterized
by the presence of technicality, that is, by those words that constitute the specific
terminology of a science or technique.
-Use of concrete nouns, as opposed to abstract nouns, although sometimes these
are precise. Examples are the so-called quality abstracts and phenomenon abstracts.
-Conventional nature of scientific nomenclature: scientific nomenclature must
have a universal character, since the terms must extend to the greatest possible number
of countries.
-Unstable lexicon and terminology permeable to linguistic borrowing.
-Systematic and coherent character: observed in the endings of chemical
compounds, botanical classifications, etc.
-Creation of artificial languages: they are created through signs of diverse
nature.
The scientific lexicon must be characterized by avoiding ambiguity of terms.
This is achieved with monosemic and monoreferential lexicon. The vocabulary used
must be denotative. Polysemy, synonymy and homonymy should be avoided.

CREATION OF SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY


The creation of scientific-technological terminology through the usual lexical
generation mechanisms in the common language is very abundant. The most used are
derivation and composition. Sometimes we find terms generated by acronyms.
Another feature is the abundance of acronyms that have a universal character.

The classical basis: Latin and Greek


For many centuries, Spanish has turned to the classical languages - Latin and
Greek - to form its scientific lexicon. There are three lexical generation procedures that
take classical languages as their starting point.

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-Existing terms in these languages are used.
-Components of them are used.
-New words are composed by taking an element from each language and giving
rise to so-called hybrids.

Loans
Very often, the scientific lexicon of our language is enriched by borrowings.
During the Middle Ages, Arabic was the language that contributed the greatest number.
In the 18th century, the inclusion of terms from French predominated. Currently there is
a clear predominance of loans belonging to Anglo-Saxon languages, since the majority
of scientific-technological texts are published in them: Anglocisms and Germanisms.
There are also rubbings of French origin.
The mechanisms for adapting foreign loans to Spanish are of various kinds.
-Adoption of the foreign technicality without changes.
-Accommodation to the phonology of Spanish.
-Replacement of the foreign word with one that already exists in the language.

Other procedures for creating technicalities


-The transfer of terms from common language to scientific language is common.
-Words formed in honor of discoverers or their countries.
-New technicalities are also created by changes in grammatical category or by
the composition of already existing words.

THE PARAGRAPH
The paragraph is a graphic and meaningful unit. It is divided into two important
aspects: *Formal Paragraph - *Conceptual Paragraph. The formal paragraph generally
begins with an indentation and a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
The conceptual paragraph contains ideas that are linked to each other, and in addition, a
hierarchy is established between them. All based on a base called central prayer.
In view of that, we can define the paragraph as a linguistic structure that
expresses the development of a central idea. It is made up of one or more sentences.
Of these one is called the main sentence. When the topic sentence is located in
the center of the paragraph, the sentences move upward, and all other sentences revolve
around it.

DEVELOPMENT METHODS
There are several methods of writing a paragraph. When preparing a paragraph,
details based on a description must be taken into account in order to convey a clear idea
to the reader. Another important factor is the definition, if required, for the preparation
of the paragraph.
The basic thing is to define in a concrete way and with an established order the
object, animal, science or thing that you want to develop, then the subsequent sentences
must emphasize other qualities and differential factors.
It is also important to develop criteria such as antithesis, comparison and
examples to give versatility to the paragraph. Finally, defining causes and
consequences, working on the argument, which is nothing more than the set of facts and
narratives that revolve around the main idea, will conclude the proper development of a
paragraph.

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In summary, we can conclude that a paragraph is composed of a topic sentence
and several important sentences. The main or topic sentence is what summarizes the
paragraph, that is, it extracts the general idea about the topic we are developing.
Secondary clauses complement the main clause and define the attributes and
qualities of the main clause. The main sentence must be precise and encompassing.
Furthermore, every paragraph contains linking elements that allow establishing links
and relationships between the ideas of a paragraph. A paragraph can be prepared using
one or more of the methods explained above.

QUALITIES OF THE PARAGRAPH


Writing is writing clear, complete, brief and original. Therefore, when writing a
paragraph, certain qualities must be taken into account that will help the clear and
precise presentation of the message. We have the unity of meaning and coherence.
Unit: The unit determines the writing criteria of a paragraph. All sentences in a
paragraph must be related to the main sentence so that it can be said to be unified. That
is to say, all the ideas that make it up must deal with the same topic or issue.
Coherence: Coherence consists of following the logical order of the ideas that make up
the paragraph. That is, all the sentences follow one another in a logical and natural
order; helping to maintain the main idea throughout the paragraph.
Linking Elements: In paragraph writing, coherence is highlighted by using linking and
transitional elements. These elements speed up and facilitate the expression of ideas.
When writing a paragraph, different types of links are used that will help present a clear
and coherent message. These are: propositions, conjunctions, relative pronouns and
adverbs.

SUPPORTING SOFTWARE
The support software is the program that will serve us as a tool to give a better
explanation, have better writing in our text, among other things, we mainly use the
office package (PowerPoint, Word, Excel,...). In the Windows environment.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_Types
http://www.memo.com.co/fenonino/aprenda/castellano/castellano2.html
http://www.bibliotecavirtual.com.do/Espanol/parrafo.htm
http://apuntes.rincondelvago.com/texto-etrabajo.html
http://www.uc.cl/sw_educ/conectores/html/textodesc.html
encarta encyclopedia 2006

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