Rhetorical Move Structure of Literature Book Prefaces in English and Persian

Abstract

Genre analysis dealing with how people use language in particular discourse communities has become the focus of research in the last two decades (Tahririan & Jalilifar, 2004). Considering the importance attributed to genre studies, the present research was conducted to report on a move analysis of literature book prefaces in English and Persian. The obligatory moves in the English corpus were found to be: General statement about or general description of the book/ The purpose/ Information about the chapters or other volumes and the obligatory moves in Persian prefaces were found to be: the significance of the topic/ general explanation about the topic/ Thanking others and expressing gratitude to people who have helped in the process of writing the book (acknowledgements).

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n4p317