A Study of Generic Intertextuality in Corporate Press Releases

Ruiqi Zhou*, Yongcui Zhao**
* Associate Professor of English, School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China.
** Teaching Assistant, Chengdu Institute of Sichuan International Studies University, Chengdu China.
Periodicity:March - May'2018
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.12.4.14525

Abstract

As an important communication vehicle in the area of public relations, Corporate Press Releases (CPRs) contribute to establishing favorable corporate images and maintaining good relations between corporations and stakeholders. Through Corporate Press Releases, companies usually report on the corporate news while attempting to develop positive reputations which may be reflected by the generic intertextuality in those releases, where genres of both news reports and advertisements are embedded.

In order to find out whether there exists such generic intertextuality in CPRs, the authors of this paper conducted a qualitative research. The authors collected 50 pieces of CPRs from the official websites of 42 Fortune 500 companies as research data for the current study. Firstly, to find generic intertexuality between different genres, the authors adopt Swales' move analysis to identify the move structure of CPRs and then compare it with those of news reports and advertisements respectively. It turns out that there is a high level of similarity between the move structure of CPRs and that of news reports and also between those of CPRs and advertisements. As a result, the generic intertextuality of CPRs is exposed. This paper also indicates that social transformations, such as commercialization and rise in technology have impact on CPRs, which lead to the emergence of generic intertextuality.

Keywords

Generic Intertextuality, Corporate Press Releases, Move Structure, Causes.

How to Cite this Article?

Zhou, R and Zhao,R. (2018). A Study of Generic Intertextuality in Corporate Press Releases. i-manager’s Journal on Management, 12(4), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.12.4.14525

References

[1]. Bell, A. (1991). The Language of News Media. (p. 9). Oxford: Blackwell. Oxford University Press.
[2]. Bhatia, V. K. (1993). Analyzing Genre: Language Use is Professional Settings. London: Longman Press.
[3]. Bhatia, V. K. (2008). Words of Written Discourse: A Genre-based View. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
[4]. Bizfluent. (n.d). What is the Purpose of a Press Release. Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www.ehow.com/ facts_4892618_what-purpose-press-release.html
[5]. BP Global. (n.d). BP makes second significant gas discovery in Egypt's East Mediterranean sea. Retrieved from https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/media/ press-releases/bp-makes-second-gas-discover yegypt. html
[6]. Catenaccio, P. (2008). Press releases as a hybrid genre. Pragmatics - Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), 18(1), 9-31.
[7]. Dai, G. Y. (2012). A Stylistic Study on Business English. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Education Press.
[8]. ExxonMobil. (n.d). ExxonMobil Begins Production at Hadrian South in Gulf of Mexico. Retrieved from: http://news.exxonmobil.com/press-release/exxonmobilbegins- production-hadrian-south-gulf-mexico
[9]. Fortune (n.d). Wealth Ranking List of World's Top 500 in 2014. Retrieved from Fortune China Network Website: http://www.fortunechina.com/fortune500/c/2014- 07/07/content_212535.htm
[10]. Han, X. M. (2009). A study of Chinese company public discourses from the perspective of interdiscursivity – An analysis of Chinese company news and chairman's statement ( Unpublished paper). Guangzhou: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
[11]. Hoey, M. (1983). On the Surface of Discourse. London: George Allen and Unwin.
[12]. Huang, S. (2014). Move Analysis and its Development. Research on Language and Culture, 02, 44-49.
[13]. Jacobs, G. (1999). Preformulating the News: An Analysis of the Metapragmatics of Press Releases (Vol. 60). John Benjamins Publishing.
[14]. Jacobs, G. (2006). The dos and don'ts of writing press releases (and how learners act upon them). In The map and the landscape: Norms and practices in genre (pp. 199-218). Peter Lang.
[15]. Kelleher, T. (2007). Public Relations Online: Lasting Concepts for Changing Media. California: SAGE Publications, Inc.
[16]. Kong, K. C. (2006). Property transaction report: news, advertisement or a new genre? Discourse Studies, 8(6), 771-796.
[17]. Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in Language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. Columbia University Press.
[18]. Kristeva, J. (1986). Word Dialogue, and Novel. Columbia University Press.
[19]. Laurent J. (1982). The strategy of form. In T. Todorov (Ed.), R. Carter (Trans.), French Literary Today. Cambridge: CUP.
[20]. Maat, H. P. (2007). How promotional language in press releases is dealt with by journalists: genre mixing or genre conflict? The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 44(1), 59-95.
[21]. McLaren, Y., & Gurau, C. (2005). Characterising the Genre of the Corporate Press Release. LSP and Professional Communication (2001-2008), 5(1),10-30.
[22]. McLaren-Hankin, Y. (2008). We expect to report on significant progress in our product pipeline in the coming year”: Hedging forward-looking statements in Corporate Press Releases. Discourse Studies, 10(5), 635-654.
[23]. Microsoft. (n.d). Microsoft announces solutions to help businesses modernize in the digital world. Retrieved November 30, 2015, from https://news.microsoft.com/ 2015/11/30/microsoft-announces-solutions-to-helpbusinesses- modernize-in-the-digital-world/
[24]. STEP UP your rep. (n.d). Press Release – Servicing Nationwide. Retrieved from: http://www.stepupyourrep. com/philadelphia-pennsylvania-press-release/
[25]. Swales, J. M. (1981). Aspects of Article Introductions (No. 1). University of Michigan Press.
[26]. Swales, J. (1990). Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge University Press.
[27]. Tench, R. (2003). Public relations writing–a genrebased model. Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 8(2), 139-146.
[28]. TESCO PLC (n.d). Half a million children set to learn how to cook healthy meals. Retrieved from https://www.tescoplc.com/news/news-releases/2015/ half-a-million-children-set-to-learn-how-to-cook-healthymeals/
[29]. Van Dijk, T. A. (1988). News as Discourse. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
[30]. White, P. R. (2000). Media objectivity and the rhetoric of news story structure. Language in Performance, 379- 397.
[31]. Xin, B. (2000). Intertextuality from a Critical Perspective. Suzhou: Suzhou University Press.
[32]. Xin, B. (2001). Generic intertextuality and subject position: A pragmatic analysis. Foreign Language Teaching and Research, 33(5), 348-352.
[33]. Xin, B. (2005). Generic intertextuality in discourse studies. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching,
[34]. Zhao, B. R. (2012). Analysis of generic intertextuality in advertisements (Unpublished paper). Harbin: Heilongjiang University.
If you have access to this article please login to view the article or kindly login to purchase the article

Purchase Instant Access

Single Article

North Americas,UK,
Middle East,Europe
India Rest of world
USD EUR INR USD-ROW
Pdf 35 35 200 20
Online 35 35 200 15
Pdf & Online 35 35 400 25

Options for accessing this content:
  • If you would like institutional access to this content, please recommend the title to your librarian.
    Library Recommendation Form
  • If you already have i-manager's user account: Login above and proceed to purchase the article.
  • New Users: Please register, then proceed to purchase the article.