Verb-particle constructions in the language of business and finance

Although verb-particle combinations are generally relatively uncommon in formal English, they occur with a certain frequency in texts related to the economy, and specifically in journalism and academic analysis focusing on the financial markets. The first part of this paper consists of a corpus study of the verb-particle combinations found in two 200,000 word corpora of business English, one consisting of market reports from the Financial Times, the other of academic research papers on economics from a series of peer-reviewed journals. The particles UP, DOWN, OFF, OUT, BACK and AHEAD are found to be particularly frequent, in combination with a wide range of verbs, mainly verbs of motion. The last section of the paper provides some models for creating exercises for teaching purposes, which start from an analysis of the metaphors associated with each particle and progress to comprehension of real examples from market reports published in the Financial Times.Aunque las partículas verbo combinaciones son por lo general relativamente poco común en Inglés formal, que se producen con cierta frecuencia en los textos relacionados con la economía, y específicamente en el periodismo y el análisis académico se centra en los mercados financieros. La primera parte de este trabajo consiste en un estudio de corpus de las combinaciones de partículas verbo-que se encuentran en dos palabras corpora 200.000 de Inglés de negocios, uno que consiste en informes de mercado del Financial Times, el otro de los trabajos académicos de investigación sobre economía de una serie de pares revisadas por colegas. Las partículas UP, DOWN, OFF, OUT, atrás y adelante se encuentran para ser particularmente frecuentes, en combinación con una amplia gama de verbos, principalmente verbos de movimiento. La última sección del documento se ofrece algunos modelos para crear ejercicios con fines didácticos, que comienzan a partir del análisis de las metáforas asociadas a cada partícula y el progreso de la comprensión de ejemplos reales de informes de mercado publicado en el Financial Times

Tarnished stars: the discourses of celebrity in the british tabloid press

This study analyses the discourse of celebrity in texts from the British tabloid newspaper The Sun. The analysis focuses on the linguistic resources deployed in association with celebrities, and the typically vernacular voice with which the writer engages readers and claims to speak for them. The article then discusses factors underlying the subject positions offered to the readers and the nature of the rhetorical relations that are established. Conclusions are drawn about the operation of tabloid newspapers as social mediators that are irreverent without being threatening, generating populist discourses that contrive to engage mass audiences in an age of fragmentation. En este estudio se analiza el discurso referido a las celebridades en la prensa popular inglesa. El análisis se centra en los recursos lingüísticos utilizados en este contexto, y el discurso informal que se emplea para atraer y representar a los lectores. Se procede a un estudio crítico de las posiciones de sujeto ofrecidas al lector, y las relaciones retóricas que se establecen. En las conclusiones se subraya la función de la prensa popular como mediador social, irreverente sin ser amenazador, que genera discursos populistas para enganchar una audiencia de masa en una época de fragmentación

Book Review: Kong, Kenneth. (2014). Professional Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 288

Book Review: Kong, Kenneth. (2014). Professional Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp 28

Variaciones on a Theme: Party Manifesto Discourses in the UK 2010 Election

The British General Election of 2010 raised high expectations due to the social and political situation of the country, both externally and internally alike: the global economic crisis, the troops in Afghanistan, the anticipation of a political landslide with the accession of the Liberal Democrats to power. However, it seems apparent that the parties involved did not live up to them in terms of political debate and engagement with the issues. This article sets out to explore the discourses of the manifestos published by the three main parties, with a view to identifying differences in their means of relating to the electorate, and tracing their discursive construction of key issues.Las elecciones generales británicas de 2010 crearon un alto grado de expectación debido a la situación socio-política del país. Tanto a nivel externo como interno: la crisis económica global, las tropas en Afganistán, la posibilidad real de un cambio en los equilibrios de poder con la entrada de los liberaldemócratas en el gobierno. Sin embargo, los partidos políticos no satisficieron tales expectativas en relación con el nivel del debate político y su respuesta a los temas candentes. Este artículo explora las prácticas discursivas de los programas electorales publicados por los tres partidos principales con el propósito de identificar las posibles diferencias en la construcción discursiva de los temas más relevantes y sus estrategias para conectar con el electorado

Dimensions of intercultural education in the twenty-first century

The multicultural society is already a fact, and intercultural education is both a pragmatic necessity and a moral duty. The challenge is to find ways of promoting intercultural education in practice. Much earlier discussion of this issue should be seen against the background of liberal humanist concepts, a logical extension of the rights of man.proclaimed at the Enlightenment, moving from individual liberté and égalité to the freedom of expression of different groups and cultures, and ultimately to a notion of the equality of all cultures. However, the liberal solutions which this approach engendered seem now to have worn somewhat thin as they do not take into account the human person, his or her individual psychology, or the all-pervasive nature of the cultures into which he or she has been born. It is significant that the postmodern solutions to the problems of multiculturalism retreat back into the person, dealing with questions of an affective nature, the relationship to otherness, self-esteem and the education of virtues. Only if these issues are satisfactorily resolved can the project of intercultural education be carried forward. From the base of self-esteem and solid values, people will be capable of going out into society to live out not just an absence of prejudice, but a positive solidarity with others. In this perspective, schools with religious commitments have a positive contribution to make to intercultural education, providing they approach the question with realism and trust

"Or so the government would have you believe": uses of "you" in Guardian editorials

Although second person pronouns are relatively unusual in formal written genres, they are frequent in the editorials of some newspapers. This has been associated with ongoing trends towards a more informal style of public discourse, and with the construction of more equal relationships between writers and readers, which may be either ideologically or economically motivated. This analysis of all the instances of “you” in Guardian editorials for 2011 brings to light several different ways in which the writer employs the second person. Although the primary motivation appears to be epideictic, in that the writer seeks to forge strong bonds with the readership and thereby strengthen the sense of communion and shared values, some other uses are identified, including dramatisation and irony. This leads on to consideration of the type of reader constructed by these uses of “you”, and the relationships projected between writer/newspaper, reader, and other entities

Tired of nice people? An appraisal-based approach to Trump's dichotomies

Political discourse is rich in dichotomies, but there is considerable variation in the way this rhetorical strategy is used. This article explores the dichotomies in two of Donald Trump’s high-profile pre-election speeches, showing how the speaker uses a full range of attitudinal resources to exploit their persuasive effects. To ensure a systematic analysis, Appraisal theory is used, which proves productive to analyse political speeches on the different levels proposed, particularly when the regions of affect and judgement/appreciation are considered holistically.El discurso político se sirve de las dicotomías, pero la aplicación concreta de esta estrategia ofrece una variación considerable. En este artículo se estudian las dicotomías que surgen en dos de los discursos más conocidos de la campaña electoral de Donald Trump, y se investiga cómo el hablante usa una amplia gama de recursos actitudinales para conseguir unos efectos persuasivos potentes. La teoría de la valoración, aplicada aquí para sistematizar el análisis de los textos, se demuestra fructífera para el abordaje de los discursos políticos en los distintos niveles propuestos, especialmente cuando se consideran de forma holística los niveles del afecto y del juicio/apreciación

Families, language, and equal opportunities : identifying good practices in family literacy projects

It has long been known that children who grow up in situations of economic and social disadvantage tend to have more difficulties when they enter school, and that these are often perpetuated, leading to underachievement and disaffection. The role of the family and home environment in stimulating children's language acquisition and pre-literacy competences during their earliest years is clearly important. It is possible that with appropriate exposure and encouragement before the age of 3, children from disadvantaged backgrounds could start school on an equal footing with their more privileged counterparts. We provide a conceptual overview of the factors in the home affecting language and subsequent literacy development in children aged 0-3, and a review of programs designed to enhance the home learning environment

Building literacies in secondary school history: The specific contribution of academic writing support

This paper considers the specific role and effect of academic writing support in a secondary school Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context. After discussing the potential place for academic writing support in the ongoing process of fostering disciplinary literacy, we report on an experimental study in which 45 Spanish secondary school students received a short academic writing module as part of their history course. The descriptions/explanations written in their post-tests were generally found to be more complete, with more explicit discourse markers and with better textual organization than the pre-tests. We discuss the implications of this for students’ progress towards disciplinary literacy.Este estudio considera el papel específico y el efecto del apoyo a la escritura académica en un contexto AICLE de escuela secundaria. Después de analizar el lugar potencial que el apoyo a la escritura académica podría tener en el proceso continuo de promoción de la literacidad disciplinar, se presentan los resultados de un estudio experimental en el que 45 estudiantes españoles de la escuela secundaria recibieron un breve módulo de escritura académica como parte de su curso de historia. Las descripciones / explicaciones escritas en sus post-tests se consideraron generalmente más completas, con marcadores de discurso más explícitos y con una mejor organización textual que las pre-tests. Finalmente, se discuten las implicaciones de estos resultados para el desarrollo de la literacidad disciplinar por parte de los estudiantes