title: Operationalization of genre as a categorizer of academic and professional texts: A review of construct validity in six landmark studies

authors: Bruce, Ian

subjects: Operational definitions

abstract: This study reviews the application of genre theory to the classification of texts in six landmark studies, specifically in relation to the issue of construct validity. The genre theories that the studies draw upon include: North American New Rhetoric (more recently termed Rhetorical Genre Studies), genre theory influenced by Systemic Functional Linguistics and the English for Specific Purposes approach. The operationalization of genre in each study is examined using a framework of knowledge categories drawn from the dual social genre/cognitive genre model of the author (Bruce, 2005, 2008b). The findings indicate that the central genre-identifying element in the reviewed studies is some form of schematic or move structure to account for the staging of content within texts. While some studies associate the schematic structure with contextual, socially-constructed knowledge, others attempt to relate its stages to what are seen as genre-characterizing, linguistic features. However, what appears to be lacking in the three theories is a comprehensive, integrated approach to account for the socially constructed, general rhetorical and linguistic elements of genre knowledge. The findings of this study emphasize the developing nature of genre theory and research, and appear to support the need for a multi-faceted approach to genre in order to operationalize adequately so complex a phenomenon.

text: Operationalization of genre as a categorizer of academic and professional texts: A review of construct validity in six landmark studies This study reviews the application of genre theory to the classification of texts in six landmark studies, specifically in relation to the issue of construct validity. The genre theories that the studies draw upon include: North American New Rhetoric (more recently termed Rhetorical Genre Studies), genre theory influenced by Systemic Functional Linguistics and the English for Specific Purposes approach. The operationalization of genre in each study is examined using a framework of knowledge categories drawn from the dual social genre/cognitive genre model of the author (Bruce, 2005, 2008b). The findings indicate that the central genre-identifying element in the reviewed studies is some form of schematic or move structure to account for the staging of content within texts. While some studies associate the schematic structure with contextual, socially-constructed knowledge, others attempt to relate its stages to what are seen as genre-characterizing, linguistic features. However, what appears to be lacking in the three theories is a comprehensive, integrated approach to account for the socially constructed, general rhetorical and linguistic elements of genre knowledge. The findings of this study emphasize the developing nature of genre theory and research, and appear to support the need for a multi-faceted approach to genre in order to operationalize adequately so complex a phenomenon.

year: 2011

title: The Taupō eruption sequence of AD 232 +- 10 in Aotearoa New Zealand: a retrospection

authors: Lowe, David J.

subjects: Taupō eruption, Taupō supervolcano, eruption Y, non-welded ignimbrite, low-aspect ratio ignimbrite, inverse volcano, pyroclastic flow, density current, plinian, phreatoplinian, radiocarbon wiggle-matching, breakout flood, rhyolite, tephrochronology, tephra, Vitrands, Pumice Soils, volcanic hazard, Taupō Volcanic Zone, gullying, cobalt deficiency, plantation forestry

abstract: The Taupō eruption, also known as eruption Y, occurred in late summer to early autumn (typically late March to early April) in AD 232 +- 10 yr at Taupō volcano, an ‘inverse’ caldera volcano underlying Lake Taupō in the central Taupō Volcanic Zone, North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. The complex rhyolitic eruption, the most powerful eruption globally in the last 5000 years, lasted between several days and several weeks and generated five markedly contrasting pyroclastic fall deposits (units Y1 to Y5) followed by the extremely violent emplacement of a low-aspect-ratio ignimbrite (unit Y6). The fall deposits include three phreatomagmatic units, Y1, Y3, and Y4, the latter two being the products of archetypal phreatoplinian events; and two magmatic units, Y2 and Y5, the latter being the product of an exceptionally powerful plinian (previously described as ‘ultraplinian’) event with an extreme magma discharge rate around 108 to 1010 kg s-1. The pyroclastic fall-generating eruptions were followed by the climactic emplacement of the entirely nonwelded Taupō ignimbrite (Y6). It was generated by the catastrophic collapse of the 35 to 40-km high plinian eruption column (Y5) that produced a very-fast-moving (600 to 900 km h-1), hot (up to 500 deg C) pyroclastic flow (density current) that covered about 20,000 km2 of central North Island over a near-circular area ~160 km in diameter, centred on Lake Taupō, in fewer than about ten to 15 minutes. This violent ground-hugging pyroclastic flow generated its own air lubrication, forming a near-frictionless basal region, and the resultant highly fluidised ignimbrite was spread as a near-continuous but thin sheet over the entire landscape, both infilling valleys and mantling ridges. Caldera collapse formed a new basin in the older Ōruanui caldera in Lake Taupo. The pressure-wave arising from the plinian-column collapse probably generated a global volcano-meteorological tsunami. Studied intensely by extraordinary volcanologists Colin Wilson and George Walker, and others, the exceptionally well-preserved and readily-accessible Taupō eruptives provide a one-in-a-hundred classic sequence that is arguably the most informative in the global world of volcanology with respect to explosive rhyolitic eruptions and their products. The total volume of the Taupō eruptives amounts to ~35 km3 as magma, equivalent to ~105 km3 of bulk (loose) pyroclastic material, of which the Taupō ignimbrite comprises ~30 km3. The impacts and landscape response of the eruption were profound, spatially extensive, and enduring, and the young glassy soils (Vitrands in Soil Taxonomy, Pumice Soils in the New Zealand Soil Classification) developed in the silica-rich pumiceous deposits, although well suited to plantation forestry (especially exotic Pinus radiata), pose unique problems for agriculture and other land uses, including a high susceptibility to gully erosion and an inherent deficiency in cobalt and other trace elements, and require special management.

text: The Taupō eruption sequence of AD 232 +- 10 in Aotearoa New Zealand: a retrospection The Taupō eruption, also known as eruption Y, occurred in late summer to early autumn (typically late March to early April) in AD 232 +- 10 yr at Taupō volcano, an ‘inverse’ caldera volcano underlying Lake Taupō in the central Taupō Volcanic Zone, North Island, Aotearoa New Zealand. The complex rhyolitic eruption, the most powerful eruption globally in the last 5000 years, lasted between several days and several weeks and generated five markedly contrasting pyroclastic fall deposits (units Y1 to Y5) followed by the extremely violent emplacement of a low-aspect-ratio ignimbrite (unit Y6). The fall deposits include three phreatomagmatic units, Y1, Y3, and Y4, the latter two being the products of archetypal phreatoplinian events; and two magmatic units, Y2 and Y5, the latter being the product of an exceptionally powerful plinian (previously described as ‘ultraplinian’) event with an extreme magma discharge rate around 108 to 1010 kg s-1. The pyroclastic fall-generating eruptions were followed by the climactic emplacement of the entirely nonwelded Taupō ignimbrite (Y6). It was generated by the catastrophic collapse of the 35 to 40-km high plinian eruption column (Y5) that produced a very-fast-moving (600 to 900 km h-1), hot (up to 500 deg C) pyroclastic flow (density current) that covered about 20,000 km2 of central North Island over a near-circular area ~160 km in diameter, centred on Lake Taupō, in fewer than about ten to 15 minutes. This violent ground-hugging pyroclastic flow generated its own air lubrication, forming a near-frictionless basal region, and the resultant highly fluidised ignimbrite was spread as a near-continuous but thin sheet over the entire landscape, both infilling valleys and mantling ridges. Caldera collapse formed a new basin in the older Ōruanui caldera in Lake Taupo. The pressure-wave arising from the plinian-column collapse probably generated a global volcano-meteorological tsunami. Studied intensely by extraordinary volcanologists Colin Wilson and George Walker, and others, the exceptionally well-preserved and readily-accessible Taupō eruptives provide a one-in-a-hundred classic sequence that is arguably the most informative in the global world of volcanology with respect to explosive rhyolitic eruptions and their products. The total volume of the Taupō eruptives amounts to ~35 km3 as magma, equivalent to ~105 km3 of bulk (loose) pyroclastic material, of which the Taupō ignimbrite comprises ~30 km3. The impacts and landscape response of the eruption were profound, spatially extensive, and enduring, and the young glassy soils (Vitrands in Soil Taxonomy, Pumice Soils in the New Zealand Soil Classification) developed in the silica-rich pumiceous deposits, although well suited to plantation forestry (especially exotic Pinus radiata), pose unique problems for agriculture and other land uses, including a high susceptibility to gully erosion and an inherent deficiency in cobalt and other trace elements, and require special management.

year: 2021-02-25

title: Aroha

authors: Maxwell, Te Kahautu

abstract: Waita Tira. Lyrics composed by Te Kahautu Maxwell, muscial score composed by Raharuha Mitai, Thomas Mitai, Renee Mitai. Performed by Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti (Kapa Haka group) (3mins)

Waiata ā Tira: Aroha
Whakaeke: Pinepine Te Kura
Mōteatea: Tērā te haeata
Waiata ā Ringa: Tiaho Mai
Poi: E ia, e ia
Haka: Ranginui
Whakawātea: Te Tiriti o Waitangi

text: Aroha Waita Tira. Lyrics composed by Te Kahautu Maxwell, muscial score composed by Raharuha Mitai, Thomas Mitai, Renee Mitai. Performed by Ōpōtiki Mai Tawhiti (Kapa Haka group) (3mins)

Waiata ā Tira: Aroha
Whakaeke: Pinepine Te Kura
Mōteatea: Tērā te haeata
Waiata ā Ringa: Tiaho Mai
Poi: E ia, e ia
Haka: Ranginui
Whakawātea: Te Tiriti o Waitangi

year: 2020-02-06