Text Linguistics PDF

Text Linguistics Dr Thorsten Brato Department of English and American Studies VL Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use  Recap Maxims of Conversation The Politeness Principle Intercultural pragmatics...

Text Linguistics Dr Thorsten Brato Department of English and American Studies VL Introduction to English Linguistics: English in Use  Recap Maxims of Conversation The Politeness Principle Intercultural pragmatics (Leech 1983) Guidelines for effective Explores the interaction of communication Minimise (other things being language and culture in equal) the expression of Proposed by Paul Grice impolite beliefs communication Maxims: Maximise (other things being How cultural factors influence equal) the expression of polite pragmatic aspects of language Quality: Be truthful and accurate. beliefs use Quantity: Provide appropriate Maxims of politeness Cultural Variations information. Tact Relation: Stick to the topic. Misinterpretations and Generosity Manner: Be clear and organized. Misunderstandings Approbation Benefits Context and Language Use Modesty Enhances cooperation Agreement Intercultural Competence Avoids misunderstandings Sympathy 2  Today's lecture 1 Text and text linguistics 2 Coherence and cohesion 3 Achieving coherence 3  1 Text and text linguistics What makes a text a text? (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/text) 4  1 Text and text linguistics What makes a text a text?  In the morning, maybe you have a conversation with a housemate. As you have breakfast you might listen to a radio announcer or read the news online. Then you might send a text message to a friend or family member. As you get ready for a class, you might proofread a paper that is due that day or look over the reading you did for homework. When you attend the class, you probably talk with friends, listen to a lecture, and write notes. (Biber & Conrad 2019: 1)  A text is a passage of discourse which is  A text is a stretch of language which seems coherent in these two regards: it is coherent appropriately coherent in actual use. That, the text ‘coheres’ in its real-word context, with respect to the context of situation, and semantically and pragmatically, and it is also therefore consistent in register; and it is internally or linguistically coherent. For this coherent with respect to itself, and therefore latter facet, the term ‘cohesive’ has been cohesive. applied, referring to the actual forms of linguistic linkage. (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 23, (Quirk et al. 1985: 1423, cited in Schubert 2012: 18) cited in Schubert 2012: 18) 5  1 Text and text linguistics Definitions Dictionary Linguistics Written Spoken or written Rather long Long or short Excludes visuals Active and passive Coherence and cohesion Text: Any passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that forms a unified whole. 6  1 Text and text linguistics Definitions  Text linguistics is concerned with larger units of speech, i.e. above the level of the traditional sentence. It investigates how these larger units fit together and how sensible arguments or expositions are constructed by employing specific linking devices. The notion of text here encompasses not only what we traditionally see as text, i.e. a collection of written materials, but also spoken discourse, such as speeches, sermons, dialogues, etc. (Weisser 2005) 7  1 Text and text linguistics Textuality de Beaugrande and Dressler (1981, summarised in Schubert 2012: 20-22) identify seven standards of textuality 1. Cohesion 5. Informativity The surface structure of the text must linguistically fit The extent to which the contents of the text are new to the together grammatically and semantically recipient 2. Coherence 6. Situationality The content of the text (underlying the surface structure) A text must be relevant in a specific context must be functionally connected 3. Intentionality 7. Intertextuality The communicative goals a writer or speakers wants to In order to interpret a text, a recipient needs to have an idea achieve about the characteristics of text genres and/or specific other texts 4. Acceptability The expectation the reader or listener has towards the text in terms of connectedness and relevance 8  2 Coherence and cohesion A comparison Coherence Cohesion Cognitive, interpretative Semantic, formal Underlying the surface level Surface level ‘Exophoric reference’ ‘Endophoric reference’ Continuity of meaning within a text Intersentential semantic relations within a Variable text Depends on a user’s interpretation Invariant User- and context-independent 12  2 Coherence and cohesion A comparison For a text to be coherent it needs to have order and structure Explicit: chapters, headings, sub-headings, etc. Implicit: Using cohesive devices (‘textual glue’, Weisser 2005) Meaningful thematic progression Weisser (2005) provides a ‘sentence scrambler’ to illustrate these points. Example 4 Example 5 On this holiday, John and Mary went mountain-climbing. John and Mary were poor. They did not want to stay So they bought a lottery ticket. Now they were poor poor all their lives. So they bought a lottery ticket. They again. However, they were careless. They did not want to won some money. Because of this, they were able to go stay poor all their lives. Because of this, they were able on a holiday. On this holiday, John and Mary went to go on a holiday. Thus they had an accident. Therefore, mountain-climbing. However, they were careless. Thus they had to spend two weeks in hospital. They won they had an accident. Therefore, they had to spend two some money. John and Mary did not enjoy the holiday. weeks in hospital. John and Mary did not enjoy the John and Mary were poor. holiday. Now they were poor again. 13  2 Coherence and cohesion Grammatical cohesion Reference Pro-forms Substitution Ellipsis Syntactic constructions Grammatical cohesion Parallelism Conjunction Tense Grammatical categories Aspect 14  2 Coherence and cohesion Lexical cohesion Repetition/partial recurrence Synonymy Antonymy Semantic relations Hyponymy Lexical cohesion Meronymy Expansion Paraphrase Condensation Lexical field Collocation Lexical set 15  3 Achieving coherence Pro-forms Example 6 Anaphoric personal reference (1) Your dinner companion can't breathe, can't talk, and is turning blue. (2) He's gasping for [h]e (2, 3) and his (2)  ‘your dinner air and puts his hand to his throat. (3) These signs tell you he's choking. (4) Do you know companion’ (1) what to do? (5) Choking on a foreign object, usually food, is all too common. (6) The most Anaphoric demonstrative reference frequent setting for choking in adults is the evening meal, often in a restaurant or at a party. (7) This situation increases the risk of choking in several ways: First, the victim is likely This situation (7)  ‘the evening meal, to have been drinking alcoholic beverages, and this may slow the reflexes that normally often in a restaurant or at a party’ (6) keep food from going down the wrong way. (8) Second, the victim is likely to be distracted these meats (9)  ‘solid meats’ (9) from the business of eating by conversation or entertainment. (9) Finally, this is the time Anaphoric comparative reference that solid meats such as steak are most commonly eaten, and these meats are usually the culprits in adult choking. wider variety of objects (10)  ‘solid (10) Children stick a much wider variety of objects into their mouths, are likely to do so at meats such as steak’ (9) any time of the day or night, and are much less likely to complicate the situation with Anaphoric substitution alcohol. do so (10)  ‘stick a much wider variety (11) Nevertheless, a child is still most likely to choke on food. (12) The most likely foods are of objects into their mouths’ hot dogs, grapes, peanuts, and hard candy. (Vickery & Fries 1997: xii, cited in Schubert 2012: 58) 16  3 Achieving coherence Syntactic constructions and conjunctions Example 6 Ellipsis (1) Your dinner companion can't breathe, can't talk, and is turning blue. (2) He's gasping for Subject (Your dinner companion) is left air and puts his hand to his throat. (3) These signs tell you he's choking. (4) Do you know out before ‘can’t talk’ and ‘is turning what to do? (5) Choking on a foreign object, usually food, is all too common. (6) The most blue’ (1) frequent setting for choking in adults is the evening meal, often in a restaurant or at a Parallelism party. (7) This situation increases the risk of choking in several ways: First, the victim is likely to have been drinking alcoholic beverages, and this may slow the reflexes that normally ‘be likely to’ (7, 8, 10, 11) keep food from going down the wrong way. (8) Second, the victim is likely to be distracted Additive conjunction from the business of eating by conversation or entertainment. (9) Finally, this is the time ‘and’ (e.g. 9) that solid meats such as steak are most commonly eaten, and these meats are usually the culprits in adult choking. Adversative conjunction (10) Children stick a much wider variety of objects into their mouths, are likely to do so at ‘[nevertheless]’ (11) any time of the day or night, and are much less likely to complicate the situation with alcohol. Temporal conjunction (11) Nevertheless, a child is still most likely to choke on food. (12) The most likely foods are ‘second’ (8), ‘finally’ (9) hot dogs, grapes, peanuts, and hard candy. (Vickery & Fries 1997: xii, cited in Schubert 2012: 58) 17  3 Achieving coherence Repetition and partial recurrence Example 6 Repetition (1) Your dinner companion can't breathe, can't talk, and is turning blue. (2) He's gasping for ‘choking’ (5, 6) air and puts his hand to his throat. (3) These signs tell you he's choking. (4) Do you know ‘food[s]’ (5, 7, 11, 12) what to do? (5) Choking on a foreign object, usually food, is all too common. (6) The most frequent setting for choking in adults is the evening meal, often in a restaurant or at a Situation (7, 10) party. (7) This situation increases the risk of choking in several ways: First, the victim is likely Partial recurrence to have been drinking alcoholic beverages, and this may slow the reflexes that normally keep food from going down the wrong way. (8) Second, the victim is likely to be distracted ‘eating’ (8) and ‘eaten’ (9) from the business of eating by conversation or entertainment. (9) Finally, this is the time ‘alcoholic’ (7) and ‘alcohol’ (10) that solid meats such as steak are most commonly eaten, and these meats are usually the culprits in adult choking. (10) Children stick a much wider variety of objects into their mouths, are likely to do so at any time of the day or night, and are much less likely to complicate the situation with alcohol. (11) Nevertheless, a child is still most likely to choke on food. (12) The most likely foods are hot dogs, grapes, peanuts, and hard candy. (Vickery & Fries 1997: xii, cited in Schubert 2012: 58) 18  3 Achieving coherence Paraphrase and collocation Example 6 Expansion (1) Your dinner companion can't breathe, can't talk, and is turning blue. (2) He's gasping for ‘several ways’ (7) is ‘expanded on’ with air and puts his hand to his throat. (3) These signs tell you he's choking. (4) Do you know the enumeriation (‘First’, ‘Second’, what to do? (5) Choking on a foreign object, usually food, is all too common. (6) The most ‘Finally’) in frequent setting for choking in adults is the evening meal, often in a restaurant or at a (7, 8, 9) party. (7) This situation increases the risk of choking in several ways: First, the victim is likely Condensation to have been drinking alcoholic beverages, and this may slow the reflexes that normally ‘These signs’ (3) summarise the events keep food from going down the wrong way. (8) Second, the victim is likely to be distracted outlined in (1) and (2) from the business of eating by conversation or entertainment. (9) Finally, this is the time that solid meats such as steak are most commonly eaten, and these meats are usually the Lexical fields (same word class) culprits in adult choking. Parts of the body  ‘hand’ (2), ‘throat’ (10) Children stick a much wider variety of objects into their mouths, are likely to do so at (2), ‘mouths’ (10) any time of the day or night, and are much less likely to complicate the situation with Lexical sets (not necessarily the alcohol. (11) Nevertheless, a child is still most likely to choke on food. (12) The most likely foods are same word class) hot dogs, grapes, peanuts, and hard candy. Time references  ‘evening meal’ (6), ‘time’ (10), ‘day and night’ (10), yesterday (not in text) (Vickery & Fries 1997: xii, cited in Schubert 2012: 58) 19  3 Achieving coherence Theme and rheme  The theme and rheme represent two complementary communicative functions of different semantic components of a statement: in almost every statement, we distinguish between what is being communicated (the topic) and what is being said about it (the rheme, the statement in its own, narrower sense). (my translation of Daneš 1970: 72-73) 21  3 Achieving coherence Theme and rheme Theme Rheme The information writers/speakers takes for The ‘new’ information writers/speakers do granted their reader/listener will know not take for granted because of the because reasons mentioned for theme. It was mentioned previously Usually realised by putting it at the end of a It is considered world knowledge sentence (the predicate) It is clear from situational context Usually realised through the first constituent of a sentence (the subject) 22  3 Achieving coherence Theme and rheme Example 7 Theme Rheme John likes playing the guitar. Example 8 Theme Very soon I’ll know more about thematic progression Example 9 Theme Doing sports is good for your health. Example 10 Theme The grass is kept short by the sheep. 23  3 Achieving coherence Thematic progression Daneš (1970: 75-78, cited in Schubert 2012: 80-82) differentiates between five types of thematic progression 1. Simple linear progression The rheme turns into the theme of the following sentence Example 11 The dictionary was published by Daniel Jones. He was a well-known phonetician. Phonetics is the study of speech. 2. Progression with a constant theme Several sentences have the same theme, each time introducing a new rheme Example 12 The United States of America stretches across central North America. It consists of fifty states. The country is a presidential democracy. 24  3 Achieving coherence Thematic progression 3. Progression with derived themes Themes are derived from a ‘hypertheme’, in this case this is geographical knowledge about Belize. Example 13 Belize is a small Central American country located on the southeast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Its coastline is on the Golf of Honduras. The coastal area and the north are swampy. 4. Development of a split rheme The rheme of the preceding sentence is split into two or more themes in the following sentences. Example 14 The BBC has six radio stations. Radio 1 is almost exclusively pop music. Radio 2 is oldies and chat. Radio 3 broadcasts classical music. On Radio 4 you can listen to spoken-word programmes... 25  3 Achieving coherence Thematic progression 5. Progression with a thematic leap As the theme progresses one or more themes are left out. The reader/listener uses their world knowledge to fill the gap. Example 15 Cigarette smoking kills millions of people each year. Lung cancer is one the best-known outcomes. 26   Keywords Acceptability Lexical cohesion (and subtypes) Coherence Rheme Cohesion Situationality Endophoric reference Text Exophoric reference Text linguistics Grammatical cohesion (and subtypes) Textuality Informativity Thematic progression (and types) Intentionality Theme Intertextuality 31  ÿ References Bublitz, Wolfram. 2011. Cohesion and coherence. In Jan Zienkowski, Jan-Ola Östman & Jef Verschueren (eds.), Discursive pragmatics, 37–49. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Esser, Jürgen. 2009. Introduction to English text-linguistics: Jürgen Esser. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Schubert, Christoph. 2012. Englische Textlinguistik: Eine Einführung, 2nd edn. Berlin: Schmidt. This book (chs. 2 and 3 in particular) is highly relevant for all LA Gym students in preparation of their Staatsexamen. Weisser, Martin. 2005. Text Linguistics. Online: http://martinweisser.org/courses/intro/textling.html (last checked: 09/05/2023) 32