Genre relations: Mapping culture

From Vladimir Propp's (1968) analysis of Russian folktales to William Labov's description of oral narratives (Labov & Waletzky 1967) and Bakthin's (1986) investigations of speech genres, linguists have found the idea of socially structured ways of using language to satisfy social purposes key in understanding the role of language in social life. According to the authors, this approach to genre is socio-semiotic, integrated within a functional theory of language and with basic concepts that apply across strata and modalities of communication while being committed to social action. The model of context in relation to language used here builds from the idea that language use varies according to the situation (i.e. register) and adds another layer where context of culture is accounted for by considering social processes that are recognizable and realized in patterned ways (i.e. genre).