According to Jim M., "register" is a variable of
the situation, while "genre" is trans-situational -
an artifact at a "higher" stratum. Thus, a report
will proceed through the same typical sequence of
steps whether it is prepared for municipal court or
for a scientific journal -- no matter the content
or audience.
Ruqaiya H. rejects this version, as I understand it,
because what is generic about report 1 and report 2
is only trivially the same (if that!). Terry Threadgold, by
the way, makes this argument more radically, referring
to genres as "parking lots" for meanings of all
sorts that are prevalent in the culture.
The issue it seems to me is legalistic. I found it
very helpful at first to "detach" the notion of
genre from that of register; genre as structure (or
rather, sequential staging...) and register as
the sort of language that gets used in response
to situational pressures. The distinction mapped
onto that between context of culture and
context of situation. Now, however, the
distinction seems to oversimplify the notions of
"strata" at which meanings are made (the boundary
is not a fixed line but a dialectical tension:
situations and culture are co-constitutive)
& to overdetermine what "genres" can be.
Hope that is somewhat comprehensible and not
altogether redundant with what you and Nick
have been discussing. I'm interested in what
others will say.
Judy
At 08:41 PM 9/28/98 -0400, you wrote:
>This is a request for enlightment in an awfully narrow, technical area of a
>pretty specialized field. For that, I apologize to the vast number of
>xmca'ers who won't be in the slightest interested. If anyone could help
>us, I would be glad to receive any notes to my personal e-mail address
>(below).
>
>Nick Martin (in Australia) and I (in Northern Ontario, Canada) have been
>having an email collaboration discussing the ins and outs of genre theory
>these last few weeks. We're both students and make no pretence to any
>great expertise. . . . If anything, we are huddling together for mutual
>support!
>
>In any case, we keep running aground on an apparent dispute between Jim
>Martin's group and another group which seems to be represented by R. Hasan.
> The issue seems to be whether genre is a distinct level of analysis
>separate from register (Martin), or whether genre is merely an expression
>of register (Hasan).
>
>I know there are several people on xmca who are extremely knowledgeable in
>this rather technical area. We would very much appreciate a concise
>explanation of what this issue is all about, at least as much as that is
>likely to be possible -- if anyone has the time.
>
>--glenn
>
>
>Glenn D. Humphreys
>P.O. Box 11
>Echo Bay, Ontario
>Canada, P0S 1C0
>Telephone: (705) 248-1226
>Internet: glenhump who-is-at soonet.ca
>Fax (Phone/Email to arrange fax transmission): (705) 248-1226
>
>
Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183