Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
TOPIC 33. DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS. STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS, webliography …
TOPIC 33. DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS. STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS
Jean-Michel Adam
views a text as a unit of communication that goes beyond individual sentences. According to him, a text is a structured and coherent entity where each part contributes to the overall meaning and purpose of communication.
He 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.
use the language to draw objects for the reader's mind.
A description means a
pause in the succession of the action
, enabling the referential function of the narrative text.
The content and organisation of a description depend on the writer's POV and on the function of the texts
TYPES
OBJECT
of description
Topography
: where the object of description is a
place
chronography
: description of an
age
/period characterises the time of an event through the circumstances that define it.
prosopography
: description of the
physical
qualities of a (non)fictional being
Portrait
: describes both
physical and moral
of a character
Parallel
: description of 2 objects or characters, showing their
moral/physical (dis)similarities
.
Picture
: descriptions of
passions
, actions, events, physical/moral circumstances.
Ethiopeia
: description of the habits, character,
vices, virtues
, good and bad moral qualities of a (non)fictional character.
WAY
of description: DERP
decorative
descriptions: mimetic character and aesthetic idealisation.
expressive
descriptions: from the narrator's POV. The thing is being described according to their state of mind (subjective).
Representative
: descriptions with a mimetic function to place the historic, spatio-temporal setting where the action will take place.
Productive
descriptions to provoke the imagination of the reader who has to produce meaning from the few details given.
Description
procedure
: PPOA
descriptions of
place
: begin with a
geographical location or visual description of a place with its historical details
. [POV of the observer]
Descriptions of
objects
: follows the
structure: size-weight-material-age-colour-purpose-origins.
Smart Women Make Amazing Cakes of Palestine Origin
Descriptions of
actions
define a character; they characterise the situation; they describe technical operations, productive processes or developmental stages.
descriptions of
people
: normally begin with a
physical description
, then it continues with details of their
life
and ends with a description of the person's
character
.
FUNCTIONS
in a
DOCumentary
is used to give a faitfhul image of the real object that readers cannot see.
in
ADvertising
, enumeration of characteristics lead to the illocutionary act of recommendation or incite to buy
within a
fictional piece of writing
, it can be used to:
create an
atmosphere
or an
impression
to enrich the reader's
experience
.
give indications or
clues about how the story will develop
give a poetic or
aesthetic value
develop the
symbolism
of the text.
STYLE
specific, vivid details
paint a picture in the reader's mind and appeal to their senses.
figurative language
: to add depth to authors' descriptions, they may use tools such as
precise language
or employing specific adjectives and nouns to give life to the picture being painted in the reader's mind.
thoughtful organisation
with a natural order (from general to particular), including: chronological, spatial and order of importance.
objective and subjective
description, blending what we see/imagine with, sensations and memories
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UFbOC9ndw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhYwOgN5Tlc&pp=ygUUamF2aWVyIGxlbmd1YSB0ZXh0b3M%3D
Narrative
text: intended to tell a story, to make a past/imaginary story seem real and bring it to the present.
argumentative
texts: used to argue, convince, persuade or defend a POV trying to make the addressee share the author's perspective.
Randolph Quirk
saw 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).
CHARACTERISTICS
General
precision
:
attention to the object
being characterised without adding external elements. This exactness imposes the limits of the attributes whose presence is pertinent.
clarity
: it's important to know how to use a language and a
vocabulary that is sufficiently related to the object
described. It is necessary to explain it too. The intention of the sender of the message is relevant along with the type of description.
coherence
: distinctive features of the detailed element require a
specific order of meaning
.
Specific
operations
anchorage
: It plays an essential
activation role, calling all the knowledge memorised
in relation to the topic of description. This is related to the second phase of the REA, the activation phase.
aspectualisation
: considered the most common base for a description which is a sort of
exposition of the different aspects
to be recognisable through its parts.
relating
corresponds to
assimilation
, developed linguistically through comparisons, metaphors, negations, etc.
subthematisation
: sequences can be chained together at the heart of the descriptive expansion, selecting a part to become the base for a new descriptive sequence, as a new theme-title considered under different aspects with their properties and sub-parts.
organisational
spatial frame
if the observer remains watching the spaces and describes what they see from that POV.
a temporal frame
if the observer moves and describes their progressive discoveries.
a thematic organisation
: the text describes a whole theme but it is divided into parts (the sub-themes).
stylistic devices
: give the text cohesion.
lexical
spatial signs
: dividing the space into delimited zones, describing from the overall to the little details of each zone.
temporal signs
: indications of time to refer to different moments of when the person is moving from one place to another.
lexical field of the senses
: descriptions based on the info received through sight. A person may make use of the other 4 senses to present a complete description of the place.
GRAMMATICAL
tense
: typically
past simple
; present simple is used to recreate the precise moment of perception or to give a timeless validity to the description
nouns
:
precise name of everything
is used to group into different lexical fields depending on the object of description.
adjectives
to
qualify the different parts
of a description.
STRUCTURE
HIERARCHICAL
where a topic is usually divided into sub-topics with some properties being applied to describe them
Linear
:
chronological
order to show a simple and definite story. It is found in some novels with the following organisation:
presentation
of the theme (what's the work about),
characterisation
of the theme or character (qualities and importance),
linking
the subject with external reality (final purpose revealed)
Circular
: in fiction novels. They're characterised by
altering time and space
of the narrative (a story can start at the end or it can start and end with the same phrase).
STEP, CHAIN, BALANCED DESIGN, according to Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2001).
Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication*
.
the
balanced
procedure offers a full amount of
opposite
ideas.
It's often used in texts that aim to
present information in a neutral and unbiased
manner,
the
chain
is
unpredictable
and appears in literary descriptive texts, where each piece of information is
linked
to the next, creating a continuous
flow
of ideas
step by step
, a
unidirectional
and
planned
goal structure presented in a
logical
sequence.
INTRODUCTION
It is important to know different kind of texts we can encounter in our daily lives. With respect to descriptive texts, we are to find them in advertisement or novels we may be reading and even within the texts we constantly read on the internet (whether it be social media or articles posted on the web).
The Cambridge Dictionary (which will be citated in the final section titled "References" along with other sources that have contributed to develop this topic) defines description as "something that tells you what something or someone is like." Nevertheless, a description is not just a simple enumeration of features or elements; it implies using the language in an organising way for a specific purpose.
Therefore, the content and organisation of a description will depend on the writer's perspective as well as on the function of the texts where they're found.
Regarding the linguistic means used in a description, it should be pointed out that what characterises a descriptive text is the
presence of a particular lexical field
(related to the object to be described),
the frequency of stative verbs and qualifying adjectives, the use of comparison and metaphor
to qualify the object, place or character, and the
use of the simple past
in those texts written in the past.
DIDACTIC TRANSPOSITION
The study of the descriptive text may help FLteachers to have a clearer idea of what this kind of texts are and where to find them.
Likewise, having a deeper knowledge of texts give language teachers more possibilities of working with them in class in different ways, escaping the conventional way of just showing them but now they can introduce them to students in their right contexts.
This topic will allow the teacher staff to create interactive activities that include descriptive texts in a way that students engage in real-life situations and learn a realistic use of the language at the same time they are comprehending and producing texts in a foreign language while interacting with others in cooperative projects.
REFERENCES
Adam, J-M. (1992). "Linguistic and Textual Analysis"
Beaugrande, R. (2014). "Discourse Analysis: An Introduction "
Quirk, R. (1985). "A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language".
Loureda, O. (2003). "Introduction to Text Typology"
Kress, G. R., & van Leeuwen, T. (2001).
Multimodal Discourse: The Modes and Media of Contemporary Communication
. Arnold.
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.
According to the Collins Dictionary, a description is an account of sb or sth which explains what they're and how they look like.
Beaugrande
defined text as a communicative occurrence that form 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
https://youtu.be/7Ujtenxk6Xk
webliography
www.adideandalucia.es
www.juntadeandalucia.es
www.boe.es
www.britishcouncil.es
www. britannica.com
Cambridge
Dictionary
