Genre as diversity, and rhetorical mode as unity in language use

Resumo

Current theorizing on genre within Systemic Functional Linguiscs (SFL) as well as other traditions of genre analysis have not paid much attention to the interrelationship between the notions of rhetorical mode and genre. In this paper I argue that rhetorical mode may be an important notion in genre studies and that it should thus be foregrounded. I elaborate on the different linguistic and functional status of genres and rhetorical modes attempting to show that it is essential for text/discourse analysis to draw a clear distinction between them. Within this perspective I propose that while genres stand for diversity and fit the notion of specific text type identifiable by specific format and used in specific social contexts to fulfil specific functions, rhetorical modes stand for unity as they constitute general patterns of language organisation strategically used by authors/ writers as linguistic resources in the creation of specific genres. I illustrate the discussion by analysing the strategic use of clause relations as rhetorical modes occurring in a specific genre, namely, a fable. The paper should be relevant for discourse analysis and genre studies within SFL and other genre traditions as well as for language teachers involved with reading and writing.