Texting makes a move

The article 'Texting makes a move' is taken from the Guardian online website. As the Guardian is a broadsheet newspaper the use of broadsheet conventions have been extended to this article. The use of language by broadsheet newspapers would suggest a more sophisticated audience and this article has many examples of sophisticated and specialised vocabulary.

The subject of this article is text messaging, but also comments on the impact of text messaging on the business market.The informative function of this text is displayed through the format and the language used throughout. The main features of the text are: specific vocabulary; formality; the semantic and lexical fields produced and the cohesion of the text. The article 'Texting makes a move' uses specific vocabulary that requires assumed knowledge from the audience. The use of noun phrases such as "buffer at the base station", "store and forward technology", "short codes" and "load balancing software" all combine to illustrate that this article requires knowledge of certain technical terms.

The use of specific lexis can be used to investigate the type of audience the article is aimed at. In addition to the assumed knowledge required for this article the writer also uses sophisticated language to target a specific audience. The use of these sophisticated nouns and adjectives such as "infrastructure", "remedial" and "apathetic" are just a few examples of the writers attempt to attract a particular audience. As well as the use of individual words, the use of cultural references will also ensure an appreciation from the targeted audience.

The writer uses the philosophical phrase "I think, therefore I am" said by Rene Descartes and changes it to "I am, therefore I text" to relate the reference to the subject of the article. The use of this statement serves only to reiterate the audience that the article is trying to attract. Despite the use of sophisticated language throughout the article, the opening paragraph Throughout the article, the writer uses certain types of lexis and structures to indicate the level of formality of the text. Due to the source of the article, the Guardian website, the use of more formal language is to be expected.Throughout the piece, the use of polysyllabic words for instance, "infrastructure", "predictably" and "intermediaries" all suggest that the article aimed at a readership that expects some formality to the text. The use of modifiers in this article such as "touted", "remedial", "urgent", "warning", "huge" and "moderate" have different functions, some of the modifiers such as "touted" and "remedial" add to the content of the article but other for example "urgent" and "huge" are used for impact.

The writer uses many of the modifiers before nouns therefore shaping the readers response the forthcoming lexis.In addition to specific lexis, the writer refers to all the sources in a formal context. The use of quotes from high-ranking officials and full titles such as " Per-Johan Lundin, Sicap head of marketing" and "2SMS managing director" stresses again the level of formality that occurs throughout the article and the type of audience that this type of article would attract. As well as the formal use of vocabulary, the structure to the article suggests a more formal style. The sentence structure throughout the text is varied, and therefore places more demand on the reader.

The use of more compound and complex sentences such as the relative clause "... investment in the infrastructure that manages the text service" and the adverbial clause " It also saves money because it means they don't need to carry a pager" suggests a more formal and complicated text and therefore a readership that can accommodate this complexity. When using more complex and compound sentences the reader must be able to have the necessary knowledge to interpret the more complicated content and the way it is given and therefore this article would require a reader who could do this.In addition to the use of complex sentences there are several examples of declarative sentences, for instance, "New Year celebrations were punctuated by a record 110m texts sent on January 1".

The use of these types of sentences reiterates the informative purpose of the text, which is suited to a more formal text structure. The article uses several lexical and semantic fields, which allow the writer to use more complex language and aim the article at a specific audience.Throughout the text, the lexical fields of text messaging improvement, text message usage and text messaging in business are extremely evident. Within the fields, the field-specific lexis takes on many different forms.

The use of extended noun phrases such as "fixed line text facility" in the improvement field and declarative sentences such as "Big Brother 3 saw... " are used to convey the subject of the article. The use of a wide range of structures in the lexical fields suggests a more formal text and would require an audience that could appreciate and understand these features.In addition to particular phrases, the different lexical fields contain many hyponyms that would require a more sophisticates or an informed audience to appreciate them, for instance, "bandwidth", "buffer", "broadcast" and "premium".

In the article, the writer also employs the semantic field of leadership when obtaining quotes. The quotes used in the text are all taken from senior officials within companies, "head of commercial partnerships", "marketing director", "head of marketing" and "chairman of MDA". When reading this article the benefits of the use of distinguished people is noticeable on the reader.The use of these leading figures gives more credibility and authority to the article, which would be one of the main points that the readership of this type of article would be looking for.

Despite the formal use of sentence structures and vocabulary the article is easy to read due to the grammatical and lexical cohesion used. Through the article the writer uses several determiners such as "this" and "that" in anaphoric reference to save on repetition of information that would be unnecessarily repeated, for instance, "Despite this, texting is ... ".

In addition to the use of determiners the use of connectives are common. Throughout the entire article the use of the connectives "but", "and" and " although" allow a steady progression through the article and therefore the article does not to become fragmented, examples of these are " ... home phone and even have the text message ..

. ", "But even if texting gets...

" and "Although the operators... ". The benefit of using non-standard sentences such as "But even if texting gets.

.. allows the writer to maintain the cohesiveness of the text but still qualify what has come before in the text.From the outset, the writer uses dashes to add extra information but still keeps the flow of the article constant. The use of these dashes for example in ".

.. available at the priory - a clinic famed for..

. " maintains the rhythm of the article. The patterning in this article is typical of its type. Throughout the article, the writer follows a standard convention of patterns of three. The use of tripartite construction over paragraphs allows the writer to add more clarity to his points but still keep the cohesive nature of the text intact, for example: "..

. ew daily record" "... up 18% from a year ago" and "..

. amount to £1. 7 bn in yearly revenue..

. "In conclusion, the vocabulary employed by the writer in many sections is advanced and would require a more sophisticated audience or a person with technical knowledge to appreciate the article. The use of the advanced vocabulary is complemented by the use of complex sentences structures to attract the desired audience. The audience and purpose of this article are portrayed in the language and structure throughout the text.