Handbook of Genre Analysis

Handbook of Genre Analysis. 2012. Edited by Vesa Heikkinen, Eero Voutilainen, Petri Lauerma, Ulla Tiililä & Mikko Lounela. Helsinki: Gaudeamus.

Presentation translated by Marja Heikkinen, Transearly.

Genres

Genres are an essential part of language use and other human activities. We perceive, interpret, and organize our lives according to them. Our society, which is turning increasingly mediatized and textualized, requires its members to have many practical genre skills, together with a deeper and deeper language and genre awareness. 

In everyday language, genres are referred to mostly when talking about the arts. However, research has lately foregrounded the central status of genres in all human activities where meanings are produced, conveyed, and interpreted. As action patterns, genres guide people’s behaviour and ways of perceiving the world.

Genres can be analysed as, e.g., linguistic, textual, rhetoric, cognitive, and social phenomena – and as various combinations of these aspects. Genres have to do with both thinking and acting, both individuals and groups, both identities and ideologies. Genre questions are, in fact, essential in more disciplines than we would think. Research dealing with genres or touching upon genres is carried out in many humanistic and social scientific research areas. In our present work titled Handbook of Genre Analysis, this research and other interesting perspectives on genres are brought together and diversified. By bringing together, presenting, and evaluating the wide-ranging research, and by producing new knowledge, we aim to facilitate dialogue between the different approaches.

As patterns of human action, genres do not follow the limits of different branches of life. That is why genre analysis, too, should often surpass the limits of scientific disciplines – possibly even questioning their existence. Different theoretical and methodological approaches do not necessarily void each other. They shed light on their objects from different perspectives, bring up different problems, and give the same questions answers that work in different ways.

Handbook of Genre Analysis

Handbook of Genre Analysis is a scientific publication, aiming at producing new knowledge and understanding. What makes the publication a handbook is that it, e.g., enables the readers to check issues related to genre and the closely related concepts, as well as things related to different genres and genre analysis – just like a dictionary or encyclopaedia. The book has four parts. The introduction in Part 1 is an overview of the book’s themes and approaches and previous research. The conceptual overviews in Part 2 describe concisely the concepts that bear an especially close relationship to the concept of genre. At the same time, they present and evaluate different theoretical and methodological views linked to the concepts. The concepts are language, grammar, text, discourse, context, text type, register, style, intertextuality, ideology, and corpus. Part 3 addresses many different approaches of genre analysis: analysing genres and structures, their diversity and change; the contribution of corpus linguistics; and ethnographic focus. Approaches emphasizing genres as action are not assigned a separate section in the handbook, but they are strongly present throughout the book. Part 4 focuses on disciplines: the overviews in this section present concisely, yet extensively, linguistic and other genre studies carried out so far. The overviews number 37 in all.

The book includes a bibliography, which covers genre analysis and other literature related to the theme in a comprehensive manner. There are extensive indexes on the topics, people, and genres in the book, which increases its usefulness as a reference book. 

Handbook of Genre Analysis is published by the Institute for the Languages of Finland. Its two sister publications are the collection of papers Linguistic features and genres. Influential choices from one text to another (Finnish Literature Society, 2009), and the web publication Genre analysis – analysing texts in practice (Institute for the Languages of Finland, 2012).

Many of the books on genre have aimed at producing a general genre theory or method of genre analysis coherent from their own perspective. The present handbook does not share this objective and, in fact, we are not certain whether it would be even possible to develop a universally applicable genre theory or methodology in practice – at least at the moment and with the knowledge currently available. In contrast, our objective is to present and evaluate diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives and ways of analysis, and to thus pave the way for future multi-perspective genre research. We believe that it is only possible to inspire fruitful cooperation between researchers representing different fields who share an interest in genre by analysing different conceptions and looking for shared starting points. A well-functioning genre theory must also be reconciling and open in such a way that it is capable of re-evaluating its own presumptions.

Handbook of Genre Analysis is aimed at functioning as a tool for answering many needs: for researchers as a source of information and inspiration; for students as a textbook; for people applying research in practice, e.g., teachers, journalists, translators, language planners, and “language people” of many different workplaces, clubs, and communities, as a basis for new ideas and solutions. The book is based on scientific research; yet it also aims at serving – by discussing and explaining the language used in the book – as a non-fiction work to be enjoyed by a wide readership.

CONTENTS

Foreword (Pirkko Nuolijärvi)

To the reader (Editor)

Part I: Introduction

Genre – a multidisciplinary perspective (Vesa Heikkinen & Eero Voutilainen)

Part II: Concepts

Language (Petri Lauerma)

Grammar (Eero Voutilainen)

Text (Vesa Heikkinen)

Text type (Petri Lauerma)

Register (Eero Voutilainen)

Style (Eero Voutilainen)

Context (Vesa Heikkinen)

Discourse (Vesa Heikkinen)

Intertextuality (Vesa Heikkinen, Petri Lauerma & Ulla Tiililä)

Ideology (Vesa Heikkinen)

Corpus (Mikko Lounela & Vesa Heikkinen)

Part III: Perspectives on methodology

Section 1: Structure of text and genre

Language, language use and its genres in systemic-functional theory (Susanna Shore)

Systemic-functional theory in text analysis (Susanna Shore)

Rhetorical structure theory (Johanna Komppa)

New Rhetorics in genre analysis (Anne Mäntynen & Minna Sääskilahti)

Interplay between form and function: move analysis as part of genre analysis (Suvi Honkanen & Ulla Tiililä)

Cognitive-semantic structure analysis of genres (Pauli Saukkonen)

Section 2: Change and diversity

Genre systematics (Pauli Saukkonen)

Three perspectives on the analysis of intertextuality, i.e. the analysis of relationships between texts and genres (Vesa Heikkinen, Ulla Tiililä & Petri Lauerma)

Contrastive genre analysis (Anna Mauranen & Marja-Leena Piitulainen)

Qualitative analysis of genre change (Salli Kankaanpää)

Multimodality and genre. Spread of a picture book as an example (Kai Mikkonen)

Section 3: Corpora

On the classification principles of large textual volumes (Irma Taavitsainen & Jukka Tyrkkö)

On the genres of English standard corpora. Brown and Helsinki corpus families
(Terttu Nevalainen & Matti Rissanen)

Corpora and their use in genre analysis (Vesa Heikkinen, Mikko Lounela & Eero Voutilainen)

How was the Oulu corpus created? What was it used for? (Antero Niemikorpi)
Corpus-driven genre analysis: word lists and generic key words ( Jarmo Harri Jantunen)

Automatic analyser in genre analysis (Vesa Heikkinen, Mikko Lounela &
Eero Voutilainen)

Section 4: From texts to people

Social genres of narratives – challenges to narrative and genre researchers (Matti Hyvärinen)

Participant observation (Hanna Lappalainen)

Interviews in genre analysis (Liisa Tiittula)

Linguistic reception analysis at the service of the genre analyst (Toini Rahtu)

Ethical questions in text and discourse analysis (Liisa Tiittula)

Part IV: Fields of genre analysis

Directions of Fennistic genre analysis (Riitta Juvonen, Mikko Virtanen & Eero Voutilainen)

Genre analysis in Estonia (Reet Kasik)

Film studies (Kimmo Laine)

Philosophy (Panu Raatikainen)

Folkloristics (Outi Lehtipuro)

Public administration theory (Jari Stenvall & Matti Mälkiä)

Historical studies (Jorma Kalela)

Hypertext studies (Raine Koskimaa)

Education theory (Tanja Vehkakoski)

Conversation analysis (Liisa Raevaara & Marja-Leena Sorjonen)

Literature studies (Tuomas Juntunen)

Cognitive linguistics (Minna Jaakola)

Cognitive psychology (Johanna Kaakinen & Jukka Hyönä)

Construction grammar (Suvi Honkanen & Jaakko Leino)

Critical discourse analysis (Anna Solin)

Cultural studies (Erkki Vainikkala)

Translation theory (Tuija Kinnunen)

Child language research (Anneli Kauppinen)

Press studies (Jyrki Pietilä)

Logopedics (Anna-Maija Korpijaakko-Huuhka)

Musicology (Eero Tarasti)

Onomastics (Terhi Ainiala)

Law studies (Heikki Mattila)

Political science (Matti Wiberg)

Lexicography (Eija-Riitta Grönros)

Lexicology (Oili Karihalme)

Semiotics (Eero Tarasti)

Social work studies (Suvi Raitakari & Kirsi Gunther)

Sociolinguistics (Hanna Lappalainen)

Sociology (Jari Aro, Marja Alastalo & Kirsti Lempiäinen)

Gender research ( Jaana Vuori)

Art history (Tutta Palin)

Television studies (Pasi Nyyssönen)

Computer science: Self-organising text collections (Teuvo Kohonen & Timo Honkela)

Computer science: Data extraction (Silja Huttunen)

Second language learning analysis (Mia Halonen)

Comparative religion studies (Tommi Lehtonen)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEXES
AUTHORS