John D. Villanueva, Jr.

ABEL 107 (Registers in English)

III – ABEL B Mr. Jessie Paragas

TEXT 1 FIELD TENOR MODE

“The great book of nature is written in Activity – Relationship – Channel –
the language of mathematics”, said academic teacher-student spoken
Galileo. comparison
But, when faced with some particularly between manual
tricky equations, scientists have found and
a useful ally in the computer! So we electronic/comput
then turn to computers. Faster than us er calculation.
using its values at multiple points. If Vocabulary – Power - unequal, Key – successful
the function satisfies the equation at plain words, teacher is of and good
each point, then we have found a technical jargon, course, an
numerical solution to the problem. names, collocation academician and
student is being
fed with
information.
Syntax – Affective Genre – academic
repetition, simple Involvement – comparison and
and complex medium due to formal statement
sentences, personal contact
exclamatives, and face-to-face
dependent interaction.
clauses, active
voice, quotation,
first person
viewpoint
Contact –
personal as the
teacher has to
compare the topic
in front of his/her
student/s.
TEXT 2 FIELD TENOR MODE
Doctor: How long have you been Activity – medical Relationship – Channel –spoken
having this pain? consultation of a doctor-patient
Patient: It started in June. So for patient’s stomach
more than five months now. My pain.
stomach hurts after some meals, but
not always. Vocabulary – Power - unequal, Key – successful
Doctor: You should have come in plain words, doctor is an and good
earlier. Let's get to the bottom of this. technical jargon, expert, and
Have you changed your eating habits names, collocation patient is of a
during this period? regular person.
Patient: No, not really. Well, that's
not true. I'm eating the same foods, Syntax – Affective Genre –
repetition, Involvement – medical/health
but less. You know, the pain seems to
come and go. hyphenation, moderate as the consultation
Doctor: How strong is the pain modal, discourse focus of
markers, communication is
exactly? On a scale of one to ten, how
would you describe the intensity of the affirmatives and on a patient’s
negatives, ellipsis, medical/health
pain?
Patient: Well, I'd say the pain is simple and status.
compound
about a two on a scale of one to ten.
sentences,
Like I say, it's not really bad. It just
keeps coming back... imperatives,
interrogatives,
Doctor: How long does the pain last
when you get it? declaratives,
exclamatives,
Patient: It comes and goes.
Sometimes, I hardly feel anything. active voice, first
and second person
viewpoint
 Other times, it can last up to half an Contact –
hour or more. personal as the
Doctor: Is there a type of food that patient has to
seems to cause stronger pain than consult his/her
other types doctor.
Patient: Hmmm ... heavy foods like
steak or lasagna usually brings it on.
I've been trying to avoid those.
Doctor: Does the pain travel to any
other parts of your body - chest,
shoulder or back? Or does it remain
around the stomach area.
Patient: No, it just hurts here.
Doctor: What about if I touch here?
Does it hurt there?
Patient: Ouch! Yes, it hurts there.
What do you think it is doctor?
Doctor: I'm not sure. I think we
should take some x-rays to find out if
you've broken anything.
Patient: Will that be expensive?
Doctor: I don't think so. Your
insurance should cover routine x-rays.

The above table illustrates the two different tabular analysis that is needed to compare their differences
and similarities in the field level, tenor level, and mode level. The first text is just a teacher’s discussion,
second is an exchange conversation of a doctor and patient. The comparative analysis of the two texts are
shown below:

First, at the field level, the activity of the first text is about academic comparison between manual and
electronic/computer calculation, second is a medical consultation of a patient’s stomach pain. The speakers
on both texts used plain words (first text: book, language, nature, computer, values; second text: pain,
food, expensive), technical jargon (first text: mathematics, equations, numerical solution; second text:
insurance, x-rays), names (first text: Galileo, scientists; second text: (June; one, ten, steak , lasagna,
stomach, chest, shoulder, doctor, x-rays), and collocation (first text: great book, tricky equations, useful
ally, multiple points, numerical solution; second text: eating habits, heavy foods, find out). In relations on
both of their syntax, there is a repetition of the words “computer”, “equation” and “function” in the first
text, and “pain”, “stomach”, “food/s” and “x-rays” in the second text. In the first text there is a quotation
which is the first sentence of the text (“The great book of nature is written in the language of
mathematics”), while the second text has a hyphenation of the word “x-rays”. The first text are in the first
person viewpoint for using the nouns “we” and “us”, as well as the second text that has the words “let’s”,
“my”, “I”, “I’d, I’ve, and I’m”, however – some lines in the second text is in the second person viewpoint.
Also, the first text comprises mostly with dependent clauses (that is followed by another dependent clause).
Both have simple sentences but, complex sentences are also present in the first text, and compound
sentences in the second text. Exclamatives are common to them however, in the second text, imperatives,
interrogatives, and declaratives are also present. Some syntax on the second text are not present in the
first, like affirmatives and negatives, discourse markers, modals, and ellipsis. To better understand the
syntax under the second text, it was done through a line-by-line analysis:
 Line 1 is obviously an interrogative sentence.
 Line 2 is a simple and compound sentences in declarative form. There is also a usage of
discourse marker (so).
 Line 3 is all simple sentences in imperative and interrogative form. There is also a usage of modal
(should).
 Line 4 is a simple and compound sentences in declarative form. There is also a usage of discourse
markers (well & you know), and negatives (no).
 Line 5 is all interrogative sentences.
 Line 6 is all simple sentences in declarative form. There is also a use ellipsis, and discourse markers
(well & like).
 Line 7 is an interrogative sentence.
 Line 8 is all simple sentences in declarative form.
 Line 9 is an interrogative sentence.
 Line 10 has ellipsis on the first sentence before the discourse marker (hmmm). The sentences are
compound and simple in declarative form.
 Line 11, the sentences are both interrogative, but one has no question mark.
 Line 12 starts in the negative (no), and the sentence is simple in the form of declarative.
  Line 13, both sentences are interrogatives and simple.
 Line 14 has exclamative, declarative, and interrogative sentences. There is a use of affirmative
(yes).
 Line 15, both of its sentences are simple. There is also a modal ( should).
 Line 16 is a simple interrogative sentence.
 Line 17 has simple sentences, and one is in imperative form.

Then, at the tenor level, the relationship shown on the first text was teacher-student relationship, while
doctor-patient relationship on the other. The text’s power is both unequal due to that the teacher and the
doctor are an expert on their field of work, and the student/s as well as the patient are just some regular
people whom are being fed with information given to them. In terms of their affective involvement, the
first text is in medium due to that the teacher and student/s are interacting personally with each other –
the second text is moderate though their contact is personal, they don’t know each other well because the
focus of their communication is on a patient’s medical/health status. Both texts are in personal contact as
the teacher and doctor discuss some important matters to their student/s and patient.

After the two levels, last is the mode level. On the first text, the channel of communication is spoken similar
to the other. The teacher’s goal in differentiating manual and electronic/computer calculation fulfills the
purpose successfully and good, same with the patient’s purpose in consulting his/her doctor. The genre of
the first text is on an academic comparison and formal statement, and the second text is on medical/health
consultation.

When it comes to their language variation, it is obvious that the first text is of a Cognitive Academic
Language Proficiency (CALP). CALP is used in discussing academic topics that are formal – by just simply
looking at its genre which is ‘academic comparison and formal statement’, is another way to determine its
language variation. The first text also comprises with the CALP’s language set which features: formal words
(jargon/technical terms: mathematics, equations, numerical solution), written or spoken with a serious tone
(as the teacher in the text discusses his/her topic seriously, he/she made his/her students believed him/her
and understand their topic), and content-focused (as the text’s field of activity is on ‘academic comparison
between manual and electronic/computer calculation’ which is the text’s content). Moving on to the second
text, due to that it is a conversational text and its genre is on ‘medical/health consultation’ of a patient to
his/her doctor, its language variation is of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. The second text also
follows the BICS’ language set: lots of informal words or plain words (pain, food, expensive) and limited
jargon/technical terms (insurance, x-rays), contracted words (let’s, that’s, I’m, I’d, it’s, I’ve, you’ve ), face-
to-face contact with non-verbal cues, presence of code switching/mixing/borrowing, and trivial to lightly
important topics (as the text’s topic is on a patient’s health/medical status, it’s not lightly important but it
seems a sort of trivial topic due that the patient consulted a doctor to know or inform him about his health).