Tenor and Domain

The word tenor is used to define the formality of a text or an utterance. The domain is a defined area of language such as legal, journalism, lonely hearts, estate agents' house descriptions etc.

A domain also usually has domain functions, like the intention of persuading or expressing or describing and this will affect the way in which the language is expressed.

Understanding tenor and domain give us criteria on which to judge and assess a given piece of language and domain functions allow us to test whether a text is successful in achieving its aims.

A domain may have one or more of the following functions:

• Referential - conveying information
• Expressive - feelings and opinions
• Conative - persuasive
• Poetic - creative, literary
• Phatic - keeping open the channels of communication for their own sake ("Morning!" - "lovely day!")

Look at the strategies for identifying an unknown text

Look at these examples of domains.