TEXT TYPES ANALYSIS FAIRY TALES

1

• TEXT TYPES ANALYSIS FAIRY TALES
• - Galluzzi Rosalinda
• - Giglio Laura
• - Maggio Antonio
• - Ricchiuto Daniele
• University of Salento

2
What is a fairy tale?

• Fairy
  tales do not have to be stories about fairies.
  Fairy tales can be part of folklore, but folk
  tales are not necessarily fairy tales. Fairy
  tales are a subgenre of folklore along with myths
  and legends. Folklore comes from oral
  storytelling tradition.

3

• Most fairy tale studies deal with literary fairy
  tales, tales that are once removed from oral
  tradition, set down on paper by one or more
  authors. Once the story is written down, it
  becomes static in that version. It is no longer
  only folklore, but part of the world's body of
  literature.

4

• By contrast, the beauty of storytelling is how
  the same story is slightly different each time it
  is told, even by the same storyteller. Oral fairy
  tales are elusive tales that folklorists study,
  record and try to trace through history. It is an
  invigorating field of study. Sometimes the
  literary fairy tale came first and was then
  absorbed back into oral tradition.

5
Structure
6
Basic model

• A hero or heroine performs one or more tasks
  and is rewarded at the end.

7
Hero/heroine

• ? At the beginning young, often poor, all alone
  and unhappy
• ? At the end respected, powerful and happy.

8
Tasks

• adventures
• the overcoming of dangers
• "impossible" tasks battle against evil and
  powerful creatures
• rescue and release of a spellbound character.

9
Means

• own qualities courage, cunning, goodness
• the intervention of a character with magical
  powers
• a magic object which helps.

10
Other characters in fairytales

• talking animals
• adversaries like evil stepsisters, elder
  brothers, etc.
• enemies like witches or dragons
• a character in great danger.

11
Method of construction

• clear contrast between good and evil
• good and bad behaviour
• groups of two or three characters
• set phrases
• repetition of sayings.

12
(Happy) ending ?

• triumph of the good and defeat of the evil
• typical rewards wealth, happy weddings,
  homecoming

13
Place, time and names

• fairytales are
• placeless (a wood, a castle)
• timeless (Once upon a time....)
• nameless ("the youngest son)
• characterized by self-explanatory names (she
  sat by the fire, near the cinders. That is how
  she got her nickname, for everybody called her
  Cinderella).

14
Analysis of four different fairy tales

• Giglio Laura Cinderella
• Galluzzi Rosalinda The three little pigs
• Maggio Antonio Hansel and Gretel
• Ricchiuto Daniele The ugly duckling

15
Genre analysis Lexis
16

• Frequent use of phrasal verbs
• - to get rid of sb
• - to slip out of sth
• - to pick sth up.
• Family-related words
• father and mother (mummy/daddy), brother,
  sister, daughter, son, children, family, home,
  folks, stepmother and stepsister.
• these words occur mostly in Cinderella.

17

• Colloquial expressions
• - brats colloq./spreg. pesti, monelli
  to nag sb rompere le scatole a qn
  (Hansel and Gretel)
• - hand-me-downs vestiti passati ad altri
  rags stracci scraps avanzi cheer
  up! su col morale! (Cinderella)
• - nonexistent in The three little pigs and in
  The ugly duckling.

18

• Idiomatic expressions
• - to be burnt to a cinder essere ridotto
  in cenere youre nothing but skin and bones
  non sei altro che pelle e ossa. (Hansel and
  Gretel).
• - a flick of her magic wand un tocco della
  sua bacchetta magica the stroke of midnight
  il rintocco della mezzanotte.
  (Cinderella).
• - he blew with all his might si mosse con
  tutte le sue forze. (The three little pigs).
• - to lay plenty of eggs deporre molte
  uova to be sitting on a clutch of new eggs
  stare seduto/a su una covata di nuove uova.
  (The ugly duckling).

19

• Magic vocabulary
• witch, spell, magic wand, magic couch, the
  big bad wolf, the house made of nougat and
  chocolate, fairy, pumpkin, magic slipper, to turn
  sth/sb into sth/sb, to turn sth/sb back into
  sth/sb.
• - nonexistent in The ugly duckling, except
  for to turn sb into sb.

20

• Nature vocabulary
• - forest, wood, plains, summer, winter, rain,
  cold, wind and snow very used in The three
  little pigs
• - pond, bed of reeds, winter and spring in The
  ugly duckling
• - almost nonexistent in Hansel and Gretel
  and Cinderella.

21

• Animals
• mice, pigs, ducklings, horses, wolf, the
  stepmothers cat and birds
• - animals appear mostly in The ugly duckling
• - no animals found in Hansel and Gretel.

22

• Words related to fear, rage and grief
• angrily, to scream, tremendous push, grimly,
  bad eyesight, alarmed, to die of fright, scared.

23

• Words related to happiness and beauty
• nice, kind, love, loving touches, lovely,
  splendid, elegant, amazing, wonder of wonders,
  enchanted, grace, wonderful, beautiful, happier,
  warm welcome, fun, play, admiringly, finest,
  fine.
• - very frequent in Cinderella and The ugly
  duckling
• - almost nonexistent in Hansel and Gretel.

24
Syntax
25

• Passive
• negligible use of passive forms.
• Simple NPs
• - a tiny cottage
• - his second wife
• - all the nice things.

26

• Use of simple past with all the verbs except for
  the imperative forms and the direct speech
• - get me a pumpkin, she ordered
• - why are you so different from the others?.

27

• Modals
• Use of modals both in narration (past and
  conditional tenses) and in dialogues (present
  tense).
• - while her stepsisters, no matter how
  splendid and elegant their clothes, were still
  clumsy, lumpy and ugly and always would be .
• Modals used only in dialogues and imperative
  forms in Hansel and Gretel.
• - we must get rid of the two brats.

28

• Pronouns
• Use of pronouns
• with reference to the characters
• in idiomatic expressions
• with phrasal verbs.
• - He left his two children by
  themselves .

29

• Ellipsis
• No ellipsis found. All logical relationships
  are made clear
• - The two children found that they really
  were alone
• instead of
• - The two children found () they really were
  alone.

30

• STYLE

31

• Low register (addressed particularly to
  children)
• Presence of terms and expressions which make the
  language magic
• - Bring me seven mice, said the fairy . I
  didnt know fairies ate mice too, replied
  Cinderella.
• - The sugar candy cottage belonged to an old
  witch.

32

• Use of onomatopoeias
• - As for the cat, he just said Meoow!
  (Cinderella).
• - Clunk, clunk, clunk! (The three little
  pigs)
• - Tock, tock (The ugly duckling)
• - nonexistent in Hansel and Gretel.

33

• VISUAL TEXT and SETTING

34

• Fairy tales make use of images and bright colours
  in books in order to arouse children s
  enthusiasm and make the reading enjoyable.
• Fairy tales are very often told to children in
  order to induce their sleep.

35
ENDS
36

• The purpose of the fairy tale is to teach
  children about a moral making reference to the
  different vicissitudes and mishaps of the main
  characters, who obtain a final reward at the end
  .

37
KEY
38

• Different tones according to different contexts
  of situation
• - tone of anger
  
  (used byCinderellas
  stepmother, wolf, birds vs the duckling)
• - tone of sadness
  
  (used byCinderella, Gretel, the
  duckling and the three pigs)

39

• - tone of comfort
  
  (used byCinderellas cat and the
  fairy, Hansel vs Gretel, the wise pig, the farmer
  who rescues the duckling)
• - tone of fear
  
  (used in the witchs house, when the
  wolf enters the pigs house, when Cinderella has
  to rush away from the ballroom at the stroke of
  midnight, when an old woman threathens the
  duckling)

40

• authoritarian tone
  
  (used by the witch, the wolf, Cinderellas
  stepmother and stepsisters)
• - tone of happiness
  
  (it occurs mainly at the end of every
  fairy tale with the happy ending).

41
INSTRUMENTALITIES
42

• FAIRY TALES ARE
• Written in books to be read
• Told to children for their entertainment or to
  fall them asleep.

43

• NORMS OF INTERPRETATION

44

• There are some implicit associations in fairy
  tales, such as
• colours
• opposition between good/evil characters
• animals having human characteristics
• places
• Everybody shares them as they are deeply rooted
  in the common knowledge.

45

• Fairy tales have to be interpreted making
  reference to the ancient times. As a matter of
  fact, every boy had to face very hard physical
  and psychological challenges. If he succeeded, he
  was rewarded by getting in with the adult
  community.

46

• Thats why the different characters of the
  different fairy tales run into unexpected
  difficulties and they are rewarded at the end
  (happiness, happy wedding, homecoming, etc.).

47

• THANK YOU
• FOR YOUR
• ATTENTION

48

• and dont forget!

49

• .As the fairy godmother says

50

• With a flick of your magic wand,
• Your troubles will soon be gone!!!