Making meaning in language is a matter of choices. The text of an obituary is radically different from the inscription in a Mother's Day card. A newspaper health report has almost nothing in common with a restaurant menu. And all that the text of an SMS message shares with a bumper sticker or an epitaph is the necessity for brevity. Arguably, a language might be thought of as the sum total of an immense number of text-types, each of which has evolved over time to be appropriate to its situation and to meet the needs of its users. Text-types have two important distinguishing features. First, they are purpose-driven, with the choices being deliberate and strategic – What words are used? What relationship is assumed with the reader/listener? What shape does the text take? Second, text-types are fashioned by culture, as a people's ways of doing and achieving are conventionalised over time; this applies as much to culture in the sense of Spanish or Arabic as it does to subcultural ways – for example, the occupational, linguistic rituals among doctors, carpenters or park rangers – where speaking appropriately to one's identified workplace role is essential to successfully carrying out that role. The sections in this chapter each explore the language choices that characterise ten different text-types.

Menus

Eating is a sensual experience. You go to a fancy restaurant with certain expectations. You know that you're paying for a culinary experience designed in every way to enhance your sensual pleasure.