M.A. / While linguistic theorists have been grappling with the intricacies of language for many years and a myriad of theories on the production of speech has graced the intellectual world, most theorists over this time have come to agree on one thing, and that is that language is inextricably linked to culture (esp. Sapir Whorf; Halliday). One of the implications herein is that if language and culture are linked, then as society changes, so too does language change with it. The changes can be as severe as a complete language system or changes to vocabulary, so that what is true for a language at one point in time may differ with changes to that society over time. The relationship between language and culture is a two-way one: language is affected by the culture of a society (in such a way that it is possible to see how changes in that society have affected language), and it is also possible to make deductions about the culture of the society by looking at the changes in the language it speaks. . Inferences about the readership can be made from clues that the writer unwittingly provides in the form of cultural conventions. These conventions (which are evident in the text) are used by the writer knowingly or unknowingly because the writer writes in a specific sociocultural context and therefore shares the cultural conventions with the readers. Different reading types- i.e. point-driven or information driven- are also indicative of the readership, and the features common to each are exclusive and are exploited by the writer for relating to his/her specific readership.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:1711 |
| Date | 21 November 2011 |
| Creators | Chweidan, Jodi |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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