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TOPIC 31. TEXT AND CONTEXT. TYPES OF TEXT. CRITERIA FOR TEXT TYPOLOGY.…
TOPIC 31. TEXT AND CONTEXT. TYPES OF TEXT. CRITERIA FOR TEXT TYPOLOGY. REGISTER
TEXTS
Beaugrande
defined text as a communicative occurrence that is an organised whole which meets
7 standards of textuality
: coherence, cohesion, acceptability, situationality, informativity, intertextuality and intentionality.
constitutive principles
Beaugrande defines texts as communicative occurrences which form an organised whole that meets
7 standards
and function as constitutive principles of communication: they create and define the form of identifiable behaviour as textual communicating.
intertextuality
: factors that make the use of one text dependent upon knowledge of (+)1 or + previously encountered txts.
situationality
: factors that make a text relevant to the situation
informativity
: the extent to which the occurrences of the text are (un)expected
acceptability
: the receiver accepts the relevance of the message
intentionality
: the writer's attitude; to produce a cohesive and coherent text.
coherence
: logical connections of the meanings that make a text understandable.
cohesion
: grammatical/lexical linkings within the elements of a txt
Randolph Quirk
defined text as a stretch of language which makes coherent sense in the context of its use. He stated that texts must be linguistically, pragmatically and semantically correct since they are made of meanings coded in words and structures (which will be sound or written symbols).
Loureda (2003) defines texts as oral or written
speech acts
produced by an individual for an addressee,
fulfilling a definite sense
in a specific situation.
Jean-Michel Adam
saw texts as units of communication which go beyond individual sentences. For him, texts are structured and organised entities that contribute to the overall meaning of discourse
CONTEXT
TIMELINE
(1935)
Firth
considered context as all the
circumstances in which a spoken utterance occurs.
In his view, meaning is context-dependent. He framed context in
4 HEADINGS
:
the
participants
in the situation (persons and personalities)
the
action
of participants [(non)verbal actions]
the
effects
of the verbal action (changes)
relevant
features
of situation (surroundings)
(1967) Dell
Hymes
proposed a
set of concepts
for describing the context of situation which led to a renewal of interest in the different ways in which language is used in diverse cultures. He identified:
the form and content of the message
the setting
the participants
intent and effect of communication
the key
the medium
the genre
the norms of interaction
(1923)
Malinowski
coined the term:
context of situation
to refer to the cultural context of use in which an utterance was located
Halliday
considered the context of situation as the
immediate environment where a text is actually functioning
. He defined context of situation as the
extralinguistic circumstances
that influence the linguistic form of an utterance. He analyses the structure of the context of situation into a conceptual framework of
3 HEADINGS
:
Tenor
= who's taking part, (the nature, statuses and roles of the participants)
Field
= what's happening (the nature social action ocurring); what the participants are engaged in
Mode
= what part of language is playing. According to Halliday and Hassan, mode is the function of the text in the even, including both the channel taken by language and its genre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvNnb5lKzZk&pp=ygUVbWFrIGhhbGxpZGF5IHJlZ2lzdGVy
CULTURAL CONTEXT, INTERTEXTUALITY AND COHERENCE
learning a FL consists in learning to
make the right predictions
(prospective environment). The context of a situation and the wider context of culture make up the non-verbal environment of a text.
part of the environment for any text is a set of previous texts that are taken for granted as shared among participants in communication
. This kind of
INTERTEXTUALITY
includes the more obviously
experential
features that make up the context and other aspects of meaning: types of logical sequencing that are recognised as valid, even
interpersonal
features.
According to Loureda (2003), Intertextuality encompasses all those
processes that make the encoding and decoding of a text dependent on knowledge of others: it immerses a discourse in a story of words
.
text = context characterised by coherence
. After the beginning, what's gone before provides the environment for what's next. This
sets up internal expectations
(prospective environment) that are matched up with the expectations that the receiver brings from the context of situation or culture (retrospective environment)
3. TYPES OF TEXTS
According to Tomaszkiewicz (2006),
text typology
is understood as a certain
system of classifying texts on the basis of the field they belong to, their genre and purpose
as well as the type of discourse.
3.1. TEXTS AND GENRE
Texts are determined by the meanings of discourse and the form of genres.
The conventionalised forms of the social occasions (in which texts occur) lead to conventionalised forms of texts, to specific genres
.
According to Poynton (1989),
genres
are
structured or staged ways of getting things done by means of language in a particular culture
. Goal-oriented activities include: interview, essay, conversation, sale, tutorial, sports commentary, novel, instruction, etc.
texts
are the
material form of language
. Texts arise in specific social contexts and they're constructed
with specific purposes out of a particular problematic
, and can be identified depending on the moment as oral/written, (in)formal, colloquial/specialised, monologues/dialogues.
3.2.
TEXTUAL CLASSIFICATION INTO GENRES
based on text's main objective = their function
Jean-Michel Adam
distinguished
5 types of texts
explanatory
: to explain/analyse a phenomenon to make it understandable.
injunctions: to make sb do sth (give instructions).
Descriptive
text: intended to describe, present the reader with an image of sth they cannot see but can imagine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UFbOC9ndw&t=86s&pp=ygUad2hhdCBhcmUgZGVzY3JpcHRpdmUgdGV4dHM%3D
Narrative
text: intended to tell a story, to make a past/imaginary story seem real and bring it to the present.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0eHEkS6CYI&pp=ygUYd2hhdCBhcmUgbmFycmF0aXZlIHRleHRz
argumentative texts: used to argue, convince, persuade or defend a POV trying to make the addressee share the author's perspective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sESFtPyL8Yk
For Loureda (2003), each type of text incorporates a number of properties that distinguish it from others, making it a model for the addresser to choose.
IV.
4 MAIN CRITERIA
FOR A CLASSIFICATION OF TEXTS
the
intention
of the text = its
communicative
function
text genre
and the corresponding subgenre
system of organisation
of the text involves its structure, coherence and cohesion, which are essential for effective communication in Loureda's (2003) view.
Benveniste made a difference between story (where only the speaker or writer is considered) and discourse (where both are considered). He pointed out different ways of organising texts
depending on the presence or absence of the addressee
.
tone
of the text, which
depends on the emotion
or feeling the author wishes to communicate to the addressee (tragic, didactic, dramatic)
Isenberg
established 4 fundamental
principles
or systematic/rigorous approach to text typology.
monotype
: parts of text cannot be classified in different typologies simultaneously; a
text must represent only one type
/genre. Each text should fit in one category.
rigor
: text must be
precise
and without ambiguity. Thus, a text cannot be classified in +1 category; it must adhere to the rules or conventions of a type.
homogeneity
: unitary base as reference. a text should exhibit
internal consistency and uniformity
.
pureness
: all texts must be assigned to
certain category and should not mix
elements from other types.
5. REGISTER
term first used by
T.B.W. Reid
in 1956 and brought into general currency in the sixties by a group of linguists who wanted to distinguish among variations in language according to the user (defined by variables such as sex) and the use (varieties and choices)
Halliday (2014) defined register as a
functional variety of language used with specific communicative purposes in particular social settings
.
TYPES
Martin Joos
describes
5 registers
in Spoken English
formal
: one-way participation with no interruption and full of technical vocabulary in professional settings where social distance is maintained
frozen
: static and printed unchanging language.
consultative
: 2-way participation; background info is provided. "Back-channel behaviour": (uh huh). Interruptions are allowed
intimate
: non-public; private vocabulary, Non-verbal messages; intonation + important..
casual
: in-group friends. No background info provided; interruptions, ellipsis and slang are common.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNua7N7njQU
Biber
(1999) examined
lexico-grammatical structures
and concentrated on the
actual use
of these linguistic features in different varieties of English to identify universal patterns of variation. He considers
5 major registers
:
Conversation
Fiction writing
:
Newspaper language
:
Academic prose
other written
language: such as personal letters, emails, and other non-fictional texts.
Main register labels in the Oxford Thesaurus of English
(2006):
Humorous
: intention of sounding funny.
Historical
: still used today, but refers to sth no longer part of the modern world
Literary
: in an elevated style
Dated
: no longer used by the majority of English speakers
Technical
: specialist language
Archaic
: old-fashioned, not in ordinary use
Vulgar slang
: informal language that may cause offence
rare
: not in common use
Formal
: used in writing
Informal
: used in conversations or letters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWAEeRlHOqQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxN3w5OTuU0&t=101s
INTRO
TF Doyle declared that context affects meaning and it is a relevant part of communication since it influences the texts and register we may use. It will avoid communication failures.
Despite what one can hear about failures of communication in the fields of linguistics, literatures and other communication studies, people generally understand each other.
However, the focus should be on the successes because it is surprising that we comprehend utterances with all the noise that surround us. Then, how do we explain the success with which people communicate?
Halliday & Hasan answered that question in 1985, suggesting that we know what the other person is going to say since we always have an idea of what is next, so that we are seldom totally surprised. And this is the most important phenomenon in human communication: unconsciously predictions, the process below the level of awareness that tell us what the person will say and that is how we understand what they are uttering.
webliography
www.adideandalucia.es
www.juntadeandalucia.es
www.boe.es
www.britishcouncil.es
www. britannica.com
Bibliography
Hymes, D. (1972). "On Communicative Competence".
Firth, J. R. (1957). "Papers in Linguistics"
Halliday, MAK & Hasan, R. (1976). "Cohesion in English"
Halliday, M. A. K. (2013). "A Short Introduction to Functional Grammar"
Biber, D. (1999). " Longman Grammar of written and spoken English"
Joos, M. (1967). "The Five Clocks"
Reid, TBW (1956). "Linguistics, structuralism, philology"
Tomaszkiewicz, T. (2006).
Text typology and its significance in translation
Doyle, F. (2007).
The Role of Context in Meaning and Understanding
.
Adam, J-M. (1992). "Linguistics and Textual Analysis".
Beaugrande, R. (2014). "Discourse Analysis: An Introduction".
Quirk, R., et al. (1985). "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language"
Poynton, C. (1989). "Relationship between Language and Gender"
Loureda, O. (2003). "Introduction to Text Typology"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ujtenxk6Xk
