Utterance and Text Analysis PDF

An utterance can be defined simply as a section of spoken speech, separated by pauses or silence. The specific definition of the term is hard to pin down, because some people believe it to relate to an entire spoken \"turn\" in a conversation, while others believe the definition to be more episodic,...

An utterance can be defined simply as a section of spoken speech, separated by pauses or silence. The specific definition of the term is hard to pin down, because some people believe it to relate to an entire spoken \"turn\" in a conversation, while others believe the definition to be more episodic, almost the equivalent of sentences for spoken English. Regardless of the preferred definition, an utterance can be generally defined as a chunk of spoken language. ================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================ An utterance is considered the smallest unit of speech. It can be defined as "a natural unit of speech bounded by breaths or pauses." Thus, it necessarily doesn't covey a complete meaning. An utterance can, therefore, be a clause, a single word, pause, and even a meaningful statement. However, unlike a sentence that can exist in both oral and written form, utterance exists only in the oral form. However, they can be represented and delineated in the written form using many ways. =================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================== An utterance, since it happens primarily in the oral speech, has several related features such as: ================================================================================================== Fig.1 These include stress, intonation, and tone of voice, as well as ellipsis, which are words that the listener inserts in spoken language to fill gaps. In addition to these, an utterance may also include voiced/un-voiced pauses like "umm", tag questions, false starts, fillers like "and stuff", deictic expressions such as "over there" with other simple conjunctions like "and," "but," etc. Moreover, "We use the term 'utterance' to refer to complete communicative units, which may consist of single words, phrases, clauses and clause combinations spoken in context, in contrast to the term 'sentence' which we reserve for units consisting of at least one main clause and any accompanying subordinate clauses, and marked by punctuation (capital letters and full stops) in writing." (Carter & McCarthy, 2008) ==================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================== Hence some examples for utterances can be: *"Well.. you know.... Errr; Umm, what I.... No, don't mind."* ========================================================================================================= The notion of "text" refers to one of the most complicated, ambiguous and polysemantic notions, and it is the object o f study not only in text linguistics, but also in many other humanitarian sciences - theory of literature, textology, history, germenevtics, aesthetics, culturology and others. As M.M. Bakhtin stated, text is an initial point of any humanitarian science (Бахтин, 1986:474). So, the definition of text seems to be a very difficult problem because it depends on the area of investigation, the chosen approach and aims. Different approaches to text can be evidenced by its various definitions in the lexicographical sources: ================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================  ===================== Fig.2 A text contains information presented in written or printed form, and the presence of an agent is not necessarily significant; it may or may not exist, and its presence doesn\'t directly influence the content perceived by the reader. For instance, whether it\'s a textbook, an essay, or a press release, the information is conveyed regardless of the presence of an agent or speaker. Typically, text lacks interactivity and doesn\'t convey conversational speech. Readers engage with the presented facts as a sequence of paragraphs representing a cohesive unit of speech. Thus, grammatical cohesion is pivotal in texts. Analyzing a text involves understanding linguistic and grammatical categories, as well as interpreting meaning, grammatical structures, and overall text organization to grasp its intended message. ============================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================== In contrast, discourse involves interactive communication, where there\'s always an agent involved in conveying information. Discourse often involves conversational exchanges between individuals and is defined as a social event encompassing various forms of communication: verbal, textual, visual, and auditory, with an interactive social purpose. The presence of an agent distinguishes discourse from text. Unlike text, discourse includes cohesive sentences along with utterances from communicating agents, serving social purposes through language usage. Analyzing discourse entails studying the individuals involved, their social purpose, and the medium of communication---verbal, written, audio, or visual---to understand its meaning fully. ======================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================= Therefore, to analyze a discourse, one should study the persons or the agents involved in the communication (who to whom), the purpose of them (the social purpose), and medium used (verbal, written, audio or visual). Thus, to grasp the meaning of discourse, one should analyze all these three basic elements in the discourse. ===================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================== The difference between text and discourse (Hardison, 2011) can be summarized as follows: ======================================================================================== +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | {#section-6} | TEXT | DISCOURSE | | | ==== | ========= | +=======================+=======================+=======================+ | Definition | a written form of com | can be from spoken, w | | ========== | munication informatio | ritten, visual and au | | | n, which is a non-int | dial form, communicat | | | eractive nature | ing information that | | | ===================== | is interactive in nat | | | ===================== | ure. | | | ===================== | ===================== | | | =============== | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ==== | | | | | | | | {#section-4} | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Agent | not crucial for the t | crucial, and it is th | | ===== | ext | at what makes up a di | | | ===================== | scourse. | | | === | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ======== | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Nature | non-interactive in na | interactive in nature | | ====== | ture | ===================== | | | ===================== | | | | ==== | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Analysis Parts | the grammatical cohes | involved in the commu | | ============== | ion and the structure | nication, the social | | | of sentences are ana | purpose and the mediu | | {#section-5} | lyzed | m utilized are analyz | | | ===================== | ed to comprehend the | | | ===================== | meaning of it | | | ===================== | ===================== | | | ===== | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ============= | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Medium or Form | usually in written fo | can be either in writ | | ============== | rm | ten, verbal, visual o | | | ===================== | r audio form | | | == | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ============ | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | Examples: | | | | ========= | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ | *Examples of texts in | | | | clude press reports, | | | | street signs, documen | | | | ts, etc. whereas disc | | | | ourse can be dialogue | | | | s, conversations, int | | | | eractions in audio-vi | | | | sual programmes, etc, | | | | anything that depict | | | | s the social usage of | | | | the language.* | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | ===================== | | | | =============== | | | +-----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+ Fig.3 ACTIVITIES ========== +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 1. Write the difference between text and discourse | | ================================================== | +=======================================================================+ | | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | Match the t | | | | | | erm on the | | | | | | left with i | | | | | | ts correspo | | | | | | nding | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | ===== | | | | | | | | | | | | definition | | | | | | on the righ | | | | | | t: | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | == | | | | | +=============+=============+=============+=============+=============+ | 1 | Utterance | | a | spoken or w | | = | ========= | | = | ritten expr | | | | | | ession that | | | | | | conveys me | | | | | | aning in a | | | | | | particular | | | | | | context. | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | ======== | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | 2 | Text | | b | A coherent | | = | ==== | | = | piece of wr | | | | | | itten or sp | | | | | | oken langua | | | | | | ge. | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | === | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+ | 3 | Dıscourse | | c | The overall | | = | ========= | | = | framework | | | | | | of a spoken | | | | | | or written | | | | | | communicat | | | | | | ion that gi | | | | | | ves it mean | | | | | | ing and con | | | | | | text. | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | =========== | | | | | | ===== | +-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+