Department of Linguistics
Seminars
On the cultural conditioning of text types
Dr Stefan Hauser - University of Zurich
October 22, 6-7.15 pm
The relationship between text and culture will be addressed in this seminar, with a particular focus on the question of the cultural specificity of text types. The project will examine text types from one particular thematic area, namely sports commentary, in two languages (English and German), and four countries Australia and Great Britain, Switzerland and Germany, with a view to comprehending and describing instances of cultural conditioning within them. In this presentation newspaper texts from Switzerland and Australia will be compared as they report on international sports events (Olympic Games, world championships, grand slams, etc). The data shows systematic differences in the projection of sports events and issues such as doping, and the construction of the players - evidence for the cultural conditioning of text types.
Stefan Hauser studied German Literature and Linguistics, English Literature and Developmental Psychology at the University of Zurich. From 1999 to 2004 he was assistant and instructor at the German Department of the University of Zurich. From 2003 to 2004 he was lecturer at the School of Applied Linguistics in Zurich. As a visiting scholar at Macquarie University he is currently working on his postdoctoral project on the cultural conditioning of text types.
Venue: Macquarie University, Building W5C 221
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