The Language of
Popular Texts…read more

Discourse structure
· All texts communicate meaning and in
Language studies, anything that communicates
meaning is known as DISCOURSE
· In order to analyse a piece of discourse it is
essential that you first address its structure.
· What is discourse structure?
· It is quite simply how the discourse (the text
you are analysing) is held together
· So, for example, you have to analyse a piece of
fiction, a poem, an advert ...or a blog…read more

A Blog
(Blog is a portmanteau word: web + log)
· E.g. Check this out. It has a pretty standard blog
format:
· http://www.talkingteenage.com/blog/
· This is a blog (web+log) ­ like an online journal)
· It is not possible to adequately discuss how it is
structured without addressing WHAT it is, WHO
it is for and its PURPOSE, so deal with that first.
· Now the structure description makes sense as it
relates to its function/purpose
· Headline and sub-headline(An elaborate
heading that comprises illustration and writing)…read more

The main body: consisting of text occupying the
centre of the page, arranged under headings with
a brief extract and a link to further reading.
· [These would be the equivalent of chapters in a
book, or sections in a newspaper]
· To help the reader decide if this is the topic they
wish to follow, there are also a number of key-
words relating to that text arranged along the
bottom of each section and to offer the
opportunity for the reader to interact there is a
"comment" box and a "share" link
· A series of hyperlinks, adverts and links to social
media (Facebook, Twitter etc) arranged vertically
along the right hand side…read more

Audience and Purpose
· The audience and purpose for this as for any other
text assumes a certain set of values and ideologies in
the audience, and we should be able to see the
dominant set of values or ideologies of the
producer, or author(s) as well as of the audience or
receiver
· E.g. This is aimed at Western (particularly American)
parents of teenagers: How can we tell?
· Well, this one is easy: go to the Homepage and it
tells you!
· It also tells you the purpose... and the
values/ideologies are
· a matter of applying your pragmatic sense:…read more

The ideologies inherent in this text are those of
`modern' parents who wish to understand and
communicate with their teenage children,
rather than say, more traditional ones who wish
to lay down the law and demand that they are
obeyed.
This is evident from the language used:
e.g.
There is a semantic field of mutual trust,
exemplified by the lexemes: guilt, sincerity,
honesty, confidante etc…read more