A Habitat for Using Language

Amy J. Devitt: Writing Genres, pages 12-32

Anis Bawarshi: "The Genre Function" and "Greeting Cards and the Articulation of Desire"

David Russell’s grocery list seemed more like a sociological study than an examination of a genre, so I was a bit gratified when Anis Bawarshi explicitly mentioned sociology in relation to his discussion of the genre function and notes that “like social institutions, genres also provide the conditions that make textual activity possible” (GF 345). Thinking this way helps me understand genre more as a function or relationship and less as a classification system.

I am less sure about the idea of the genre function as something that has an overarching role in language, but that may be because I’m resisting the idea that everything people read, write and say falls into predetermined patterns. Not that I can think of any exceptions at the moment, except perhaps in the case of people who are less bound by social constraints or norms whether habitually or episodically. But even with these people, we often display generic reactions to their behavior, from ignoring it (“don’t pay any attention to him, he’s crazy”) to tolerating it (sometimes with a pasted-on smile) to making allowances for it (“of course she’s angry, she just lost her job”). Does that mean that there are genres for inappropriate speech and behavior if it is recurring or at least recognizable? Or is genre a function only of the response in these cases?

Both Bawarshi and Amy Devitt emphasize that genre allows for easy and appropriate responses, though the response is circular and ongoing; Devitt notes that “people construct situations through genres, but they also construct genres through situations” (22). This circularity is an ongoing theme but makes sense. If, for example, a friend wants to discuss relationship troubles at work, the initiation and the response will (hopefully) be different than if the same topic is broached in a private home and will perhaps be different again if discussed in a crowded, noisy bar. At work, the discussion might be for informational purposes, in private it will take on the nature of a confidence and in a public but neutral place it might take the form of a diatribe.

Because aspects of the surroundings might temper or encourage a particular response, Devitt adds context of culture and context of genre to the notion of genre entailing purposes, participants and themes.  In her reaction to Russell’s grocery list, she notes that culture and genre play a large part in the establishment and use of a grocery list. First, shopping for food is a cultural norm, a recurring and appropriate activity. This culture values order and grocery lists are an established genre, adapted to purpose, participants and theme by Russell and his daughter.

Culture can play a huge part in the genre of driving directions. There is a formula to the request for directions, but the response is determined by the culture and the participants. In some areas, a concise turn-by-turn list with street names might ensue. When I lived in rural North Carolina, almost no one could resist throwing in building landmarks, especially churches. Still, there were road names included and directions could be jotted down in a list form if desired, so it came as a surprise to find that in South Carolina, where road signs are few and memories are long, directions are often a narrative with references to where something used to be or where someone used to live.