ABSTRACT
Central to this chapter is the idea of text functionality including cohesion and coherence, that is, the function of “what you are speaking about; who your addressees are; how well you know them; whether you are addressing them orally or in writing.” This second set of factors relates not so much to the individual user as to language use in certain situations. Use varieties are called diatypes or registers and are treated under the four aspects of field, function, style, and medium, all of which turn up repeatedly in this chapter. Specific topics are English for Specific Purposes, speech acts, ways of analyzing conversation, and discourse markers.
