"Never judge a book by its cover": Generic and Promotional Variation in English and Arabic Linguistics Book Blurbs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31973/aj.v1i119.339Abstract
Blurbs are short descriptions of the contents of books usually written on their back covers for promotional purposes. This study explores the rhetorical and promotional structure of back cover blurbs accompanying English and Arabic linguistics books from genre- and evaluation- analysis perspectives. To achieve the study aims, a selected corpus of 100 blurbs, divided equally into 50 from English and Arabic linguistics book blurbs, has been considered for analysis. Results have revealed that the generic structure of book blurbs is built around a five-schematic move structure for both languages’ corpora. As to the promotional structure, positive and evaluative adjectives take precedence over other lexical categories in English and Arabic corpora. The generic and promotional structure identified all contributes to the communicative function of promoting the marketing sales of books advertised. Book blurbs can be considered as an advertising discourse performing a persuasive effect on the part of potential customers to buy and read the books advertised.
Downloads
References
-Bhatia, V. (1997).Genre-mixing in academic introductions. English for Specific Purposes, 16: 181-96.
-Bhatia, V. (2004). World of written discourse. London: Continuum.
-Bhatia, V. (2005). Generic patterns in promotional discourse. In H. Halmari & T. Virtanen (eds.), Persuasion across genres: A linguistic
approach, pp.213-225. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
-Basturkmen, H. (1999). A content analysis of ELT textbook blurbs: Reflections of theory-in use. Regional English Language Council Journal, 30:18-38.
-Basturkmen, H. (2009). Back cover blurbs: puff pieces and windows on cultural values. In K. Hyland & G. Diani (eds.), Academic evaluation:
Review genres in university settings, pp.68-83. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
-Berkenkotter, C. and Huckin , T. (1995). Genre knowledge in disciplinary communication. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
-Cacchiani, S. (2007). From narratives to intensification and hyperbole:
Promotional uses of book blurbs. In M. Davies, P. Rayson, S. Hunston and P. Danielsson (eds.) Proceedings of the Corpus Linguistics Conference, University of Birmingham, 27–30 July 2007.
-Chahkandi, F., and Zeinali, M. (2016) Windows into the theories-in-use of ELT community: A generic and corpus analysis of ELT blurbs across four decades. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 5: 77-91.
-Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive rhetoric: Cross cultural aspects of second language writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-Connor, U. (2004). Intercultural rhetoric research: Beyond texts. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 3: 291-304.
-Douglas, K. (2001). Blurbing biographical: Authorship and autobiography. Journal of Biography, 24: 806-826.
-Fairclough, N. (1994). Language and power. London: Longman.
-Gea-Valor, M. (2005). Advertising books: A linguistic analysis of blurbs. Ibérica, 10: 41-62.
-Gea-Valor, M. (2007). Book advertisements as a genre: The case of blurbs. In P. Garcés-Conejos, R. Gomez Moron, L. F. Amaya & M.P. Cruz (eds.), Studies in intercultural, cognitive and social pragmatics, pp.157-171. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
-Gea-Valor, M. & Inigo Ros, M. (2009). On the dynamic nature of genre: A diachronic study of blurbs. In K. Hyland & G. Diani (eds.), Academic evaluation: Review genres in university settings, pp. 199-216. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
-Gesuato, S. (2007). Evaluation in back-cover blurbs. Textus , 20: 83-102
-Goddard, A. (1998). The language of advertising. New York: Routledge.
-Kathpalia, S. (1997). Cross-cultural variation in professional genres: A comparative study of book blurbs. World Englishes, 16: 417-26.
-Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (1993). Marketing: An introduction. Englewood Cliffs: NJ, Prentice Hall.
-Kuhi, D. (2008).An analysis of move structure of textbook prefaces. Asian ESP, 7: 63- 78.
-Marčiulioniene, V. (2003). Publisher's blurb as a promotional genre. Unpublished BA Paper. Vilnius: Vilnius University.
-Önder, N. (2013). Generic structure and promotional elements in best-selling online book blurbs: A cross-cultural study. Ibérica, 25: 171-194.
-Swales, J. (1990). Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright and Licensing:
For all articles published in Al-Adab journal, copyright is retained by the authors. Articles are licensed under an open access Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license, meaning that anyone may download and read the paper for free. In addition, the article may be reused and quoted provided that the original published version is cited. These conditions allow for maximum use and exposure of the work.
Reproducing Published Material from other Publishers: It is absolutely essential that authors obtain permission to reproduce any published material (figures, schemes, tables or any extract of a text) which does not fall into the public domain, or for which they do not hold the copyright. Permission should be requested by the authors from the copyrightholder (usually the Publisher, please refer to the imprint of the individual publications to identify the copyrightholder).
Permission is required for: Your own works published by other Publishers and for which you did not retain copyright.
Substantial extracts from anyones' works or a series of works.
Use of Tables, Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks if they are unaltered or slightly modified.
Photographs for which you do not hold copyright.
Permission is not required for: Reconstruction of your own table with data already published elsewhere. Please notice that in this case you must cite the source of the data in the form of either "Data from..." or "Adapted from...".
Reasonably short quotes are considered fair use and therefore do not require permission.
Graphs, Charts, Schemes and Artworks that are completely redrawn by the authors and significantly changed beyond recognition do not require permission.
Obtaining Permission
In order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication process, you should start obtaining permissions as early as possible. If in any doubt about the copyright, apply for permission. Al-Adab Journal cannot publish material from other publications without permission.
The copyright holder may give you instructions on the form of acknowledgement to be followed; otherwise follow the style: "Reproduced with permission from [author], [book/journal title]; published by [publisher], [year].' at the end of the caption of the Table, Figure or Scheme.
How to Cite
