Discourse types
Encyclopedia
The term discourse type is preferred to other labels which might be encountered in linguistics, such as text-type or genre
since, for some, text-type implies work on written texts, whereas much of CADS has been carried out on spoken discourse, and genre is a term which is accompanied by huge baggage in literature
, and some of the discourse types we may wish to examine might not meet everyone’s criteria of what constitutes a “genre”. For instance, Parliamentary debates on the Iraq war, White House press briefings, or the speeches of Silvio Berlusconi, all objects of recent Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) scrutiny, may not be classifiable as separate genres.
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
since, for some, text-type implies work on written texts, whereas much of CADS has been carried out on spoken discourse, and genre is a term which is accompanied by huge baggage in literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, and some of the discourse types we may wish to examine might not meet everyone’s criteria of what constitutes a “genre”. For instance, Parliamentary debates on the Iraq war, White House press briefings, or the speeches of Silvio Berlusconi, all objects of recent Corpus Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) scrutiny, may not be classifiable as separate genres.