Reflection: Category labels in block language

Block language refers to varieties of written English – such as headlines, book titles, labels, notices, lists and some types of postcard, advertisement, instructional manual – where “communicative needs strip language of all but the most information-bearing forms” (Biber et al. 1999: 263). This phenomenon is usually mentioned in grammar books, because it is characterized by reduced syntax – non-sentences consisting of a noun, noun phrase or nominal clause, the omission of closed-class items, such as forms of the verb to be, the articles, pronouns and generally whatever can be understood from the context (Quirk et al. 1985: 845–848). Consider this personal advertisement from a newspaper:

We might rewrite this more fully thus:

I am a London man, 32 years old, smart and a non-smoker. I am an accountant, but I have Left interests and outlook. I am looking to meet an attractive, optimistic woman.

As can be seen, the use of capitals, or in some cases bold, is another characteristic of block language. But what we are specifically interested in here is the use of category labels inviting associative inferencing. The occupational term accountant places the advertiser within a particular social group, that is people whose occupational role is accountancy. People frequently perceive others as members of social groups rather than as individuals, and these groups are assumed to provide the basis for cognitive categories. However, if – as in the schema theory view – cognitive categories or concepts are organized as structured networks, then the word accountant primes the activation of other social information which is part of the network. The problem for the advertiser is that, although accountant might appear merely to denote a particular social role, for some people accountant is schematically linked to politically right-wing group membership and to particular personal interests (e.g. materialistic interests). These schematic links arise as a result of experience; certain kinds of people have tended to fill certain social roles. So, the writer has to block schematic associative inferences that are not wanted. This he does through the formal device but, a conjunction that carries the conventional implicature (Grice 1975; this phenomenon) that an expectation generated by the preceding text does not apply.