Register and Genre Theory

1.
Register and genre theory (R&GT) is a label which can be applied to a range of linguistic
approaches to discourse which seek to theorise how discourses, or texts, are like and unlike each
other, and why. The R&G analysis consists of 2 steps: analysis of linguistic patterns and
explanation why such patterns are used.
Step 1 of R&G analysis focuses on the detailed analysis of variation in linguistic features of discourse,
that is, there is explicit (ideally quantifiable) specification of lexical, grammatical and semantic
patterns in text.
In our Texts 1 and 2 we can find three areas of differences:
Text 1
Text 2
Step 2 of R&G analysis seek to explain linguistic variation by reference to variation in context, that is,
explicit links are made between features of the discourse and critical variables of the social and
cultural context in which the discourse is enacted.
Texts appear to carry with them some influences from the context in which they were produced.
Context gets into text by influencing the words and structures that text-producers use.
In our Texts 1 and 2 choices of vocabulary and structure are influenced by three contextual
dimensions:
a. Mode is the channel of communication (spoken or written),
b. Tenor relates to role and relationship of text-producer(s) and the audience of the text,
c. Field is the subject matter of the text.
The immediate situational contexts dimensions help to explain why each text uses the linguistic
patterns that it does. The analysis of Text 1 and Text 2 has demonstrated that linguistic differences
between texts can be correlated with differences in the contexts in which the texts were produced.
2. Texts are semantically multidimensional, that is they are making more than one meaning at a
time and those meanings can be intertwined. There are three types of meanings that can be
listed:
a. Textual meaning organizes language into coherent and meaningful spoken or written
texts,
b. Ideational (or experiential) meaning expresses what is going on, the people or things
involved and the circumstances surrounding the events,
c. Interpersonal meaning expresses the different ways of establishing relationships with
others for example the way people position themselves in an argument or the way they
evaluate phenomena.
3. The notion of meanings being intertwined in texts, and their correlation with contextual
dimensions give approaches to R&GT and the two steps: analysis and explanation. Register and
genre are the technical concepts employed to explain the meaning and function of variation
between texts.
4. Register is a theoretical explanation of the common-sense observation that we use language
differently in different situations. Contextual dimensions can be seen to impact on language by
making certain meanings, and their linguistic expressions, more likely than others.
The language-context relationship (what dimensions of context matter to text, and how
context gets into text) is a central concern of register theorists.
5. In addition to register variations, texts may also exhibit variations in terms of genre. In traditional
literary studies the term refers to types of literary productions (for e.g. poems, novels, plays,
etc.), each genre in turn can be sub-classified so that in an anthology we can have: ballads, epics,
lyrics, etc. But genre has been broaden to include everyday types of interactive utterances,
spoken or written, such as: transactional encounter of buying meat or a staff meeting in the
workplace. Secondly, genres are defined functionally in terms of their social purpose. Thus,
different genres are different ways of using language to achieve different culturally established
tasks, and texts of different genres are texts which are achieving different purposes in the
culture. We also recognise a texts genre by the sequence of functionally distinct stages or steps
through which it unfolds.
6. M.A.K. Hallidays model of register theory
According to Halliday the most useful and accurate way of picturing language is as a system of
choices. Each choice (whether made consciously or not) contributes something to the meaning of
what is said.
His work on Chinese and later English grammar led him to the observation that the choices of
meaning are organized into three main components, which he refers to as ideational,
interpersonal and textual metafunctions. Halliday made the important point that model of
language of this kind can be naturally related to the organization of context, with ideational
meaning used to construct field (the social action), interpersonal meaning used to negotiate
tenor (the role structure) and textual meaning used to develop mode (symbolic
organization).
Hallidays approach to register emphasizes systematic links between the organization of

language and the organization of context. The relationship between the language
components (the ideational, interpersonal and textual metafunctions) and context variables
(field, tenor and mode) is term realization. From the perspective of context, realization refers
to the way in which different types of field, mode and tenor condition ideational,
interpersonal and textual meaning. From the perspective of language, realization refers to
the way in which different ideational, interpersonal and textual choices construct different
types of field, tenor and mode.

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1.

Hallidays approach to register emphasizes systematic links between the organization of

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