Texts of semiotic processes potentially leading to social processes

Semiotic processes can lead to social, i.e. doing processes. Two socio-semiotic processes are of this type, namely recommending and enabling.

Recommending texts serve to advise or encourage addressees to undertake certain actions. The text types include advertisement, advice, consultation, business message, invocatory prayer, etc. Example 13 is taken from an insurance advertisement that promotes a new product of the company by summarizing the advantages of the product and encouraging potential customers to buy it.

Example 13

[field: field of activity: recommending;

tenor: institutional roles: insurance company to potential customers; power roles: seller to potential buyer; familiarity: stranger; mode: medium: written; channel: online media; turn: monologue]

0 m , <£ Ш If Hfr Ш ^ m КЗ , x x £ f] & Ш чй Ш.

на n ч a , ж & a m w ю № m u w m # ж ж ,

-ЙЯШШ&г+ЙЬ

шш1им “шшмтъ&” тштттышжтш шт, &я-мтш, ш-мтшюлтит^, штшжМ'Ь шш&тив?тш шиш,

(At the critical period of epidemic prevention and control, XX company has quickly responded to the call of the supervision department, proceeded from the urgent needs of epidemic prevention of the public, and launched an annual product of critical illness insurance - Critical Illness Insurance Plan.

The liabilities of “critical illness of acute pneumonia” included in the plan have targeted the frequently occurring critical diseases of the respiratory system. Once diagnosed, a client will obtain an insurance benefit of ¥ 100,000 to restore his/her mental and physical health and to cover the cost of lost labor during the period of treatment.)

Similar to recommending texts, enabling texts, which either instruct or regulate addressees, also expect addressees to take certain actions. The related text types include procedure, slogan used to regulate one’s behavior, law, and regulation. Example 14 instructs readers to wash their hands by following the procedures. As revealed by the RST analysis (see Figure 6.6), multi-nucleus enhancing relations of sequence are applied, following a fixed order from the first step to the seventh.

Example 14

[field: field of activity: enabling;

tenor: institutional roles: expert to common people; power roles: those who know how to wash hands to those that need to be instructed; familiarity: stranger;

mode: medium: written; channel: poster & online media; turn: monologue]

Figure 6.6 Rhetorical relations in Example 14

ШЖШШ-,

2. ^т^т^шшжжш, шш-,
3. ж^хшшжтш-,
4. МШР- ЖШ, ЗШШт_;

ШШП-,

6. шшп-,
(Seven Steps of Hand-washing
1. Rub your hands palm to palm, keep your fingers together and rub each finger;
2. Rub the palm and the back of each hand with the palm of your opposite hand, repeat for both hands;
3. Scrub between your fingers by interlacing them and rubbing them back and forth;
4. Clean the back of your fingers by rubbing your interlocked fingers into your palm, repeat for both hands;
5. Clean around each thumb with your opposite hand, repeat for both hands;
6. Rub your five fingertips into the palm of your opposite hand, repeat for both hands;
7. Wash each wrist when necessary.)

Examples 15 to 20 are slogans written on banners put up by various local governments or neighborhood committees. The slogans advise residents to beware of the virus (Example 15), to stay away from crowded areas and wear masks (Examples 16, 18, 19, and 20) at home, to report any symptom of fever (Example 17) or to avoid visiting friends and relatives (Examples 18 and 20). Some slogans are stated politely (Examples 15 and 16); some threaten readers and explicate the potential danger of losing their lives (Examples 18 and 20); some label the unreported patients as class enemies (Example 17); and some even warn the readers about the possibility of being beaten up (Example 19). In terms of mode, all the slogans are of written mode, while some are suitable to be read aloud, evidenced by the presence of rhymed couplets (Examples 16, 18, and 20).

Examples 15-20

[field: field of activity: enabling;

tenor: institutional roles: leader to citizen; power roles: people in charge

to people being controlled; familiarity: stranger;

mode: medium: written; channel: slogan; turn: monologue]

Example 15

£i№F3?ilj, ШШ1М, БШЛШШЬ

(Life is weightier than Mount Tai, the outbreak is the order, and the prevention and control are the responsibilities.)

Example 16

(Stay away from the crowd, wear a mask when you go out.)

Example 17

ШЪША, ШШШАША^ШШША.

(Those who do not report their symptoms of fever are the class enemies hidden among the masses.)

Example 18

^#±п, ш±ж,

(In this year, you visit others. In the coming year, others will visit your grave.)

Example 19

жштнш, шпш*

(If you go out, I’ll break your leg; if you dare to retort, I’ll knock your teeth out.)

Example 20

(Today you go to gatherings for fun, tomorrow you enjoy yourself in the cremation urn.)