UNIT 31. TEXT AND CONTEXT. TYPES OF TEXTS. CRITERIA FOR TEXT TYPES.REGISTER

UNIT 31. TEXT AND CONTEXT. TYPES OF TEXTS. CRITERIA FOR TEXT TYPES.REGISTER

UNIT: rel between text & context. 1) construction of text, 2) coherence & context, 3) historical dev of theory of context & situation, 4) different classifications of texts & 5) register.

0. INTRODUCTION

1. TEXT AND CONTEXT

1.1 Text and its internal structure

1.2 Context.

2. TYPES OF TEXTS. CRITERIA FOR TEXT TYPES

2.1 Narrative texts

2.2 Descriptive texts

2.3 Argumentative texts

2.4 Expository texts

2.5 Procedural texts

3. THE NOTION OF REGISTER.

4. CONCLUSION

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Linguistic analysis traditionally looked at construction of sentences, but now ↑ understanding of need to look at language in context (participant´s beliefs/expectations/knowledge/situation etc) to truly understand meaning, rather than isolated sentences/syntax/grammar etc & need to see lang as a dynamic, social, interactive phenomenon.

Linguists/linguist philosophers/sociolinguistics - different goals ∴ different approaches. Terminology different too - eg ‘discourse analysis’ & 'text analysis' sometimes used interchangeably, sometimes only to refer to spoken/written

A text cannot be fully understood without the context in which the text has been produced.

Halliday – "the word text is used in linguistics to refer to every passage, written or spoken, or whatever length that forms a unified whole". Later added the word functional. So: must be doing a job in some context - not just isolated word/sentence. (∴Help! is a text but The isn’t).
Quirk: "a text may be as long as a book or as short as a cry for help"

Text: best regarded as a semantic unit with presence of cohesion & coherence - so mutual dependence between sentences, not random.

Ties that bind a text together = cohesion (eg anaphora, cataphora, ellipsis, substitution, connectors + lexical devices eg repetition/synonymy).

Grammatical devices

a) Reference (A participant introduced at 1 place can be taken as a reference point for something that follows) – eg Kirsty works at the hotel. She’s a receptionist. Can be exophoric eg ‘Look at that!’ - or endophoric - reference is present in the text. (Anaphoric – it looks back, Cataphoric – looks ahead eg It’s only got 3 legs, that cat!)

b) Ellipses (we presuppose something by means of what is left out - E.g. “why didn´t you use a pencil?” “ I didn´t have any”) & substitution (an element is inserted to hold the gap – E.g. I’ve lost my pen. Get a new one). Can be at level of clause, (Ellipses: when are they coming? Tomorrow; Substitution: Do you think they will make it? I guess so) verb group – mainly with do (Does it hurt? It did last night) & nominal group (1st examples)

c) Connectives – different from reference, ellipsis etc as don’t refer to info in text but signal a relation between segments of the discourse – connect clauses & help interpret relation between them. Can be conjunctions (and, but so, so that, because, although etc) adverbs (yet, nevertheless, still, therefore, on the other hand) adjuncts (to conclude, to summarise, it follows that).

Lexical devices

a) Repetition (most direct form)

b) Synonymy (sound/noise, cavalry/horses etc): eg 24 blackbirds baked in a pie, When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing. Can have cohesive relations of same or higher levels of generality: Hyponymy (specific-general eg tree: oak, pine, elm) meronymy (part-whole eg “tree: trunk, branch, leaf...”).

c) Antonymy also has cohesive effect e.g. he fell asleep. What woke him was a loud crash. Collocation also lexical cohesion - doesn´t depend on any general semantic relation but on a particular association between items in question e.g. cold” & “ice” (though if they can’t be separated - no cohesive effect eg fully aware/sheer nonsense).

d) Phonological cohesion – how words sound- esp. imp in verse/poetry/plays. Alliteration, assonance, consonance etc. Eg: cold grey stones

Lyon: "to determine the meaning of an utterance we have to take contextual features into account"

So meaning goes beyond what is said/written - inc. the situational & non-verbal environment in which texts occur. Eg ‘what do you think?’ needs context - about what?!

Malinowski 1st introduced idea of context in 1923, coining phrase ‘context of situation’. (experience relating encounters with inhabitants from remote islands in South Pacific, as culture completely different ∴ translation ineffective). Later also + ‘context of culture’ as realised imp. of also providing info about cultural background. Both considered necessary for understanding. Context of situation v imp - allows us to predict what other will say (eg in a greeting).

J. R. Firth (1890-1960, founder of London School of Linguistics): all linguistics is study of meaning and all meaning was function in a context. In 1950 Firth improved Malinowski’s idea & + parameters to framework: the participants (eg roles/status), the action of the participants (verbal & nonverbal), other relevant features eg surrounding objects/events & the effects of the verbal actions - changes brought about by what the participants said.

Dell Hymes developed further & identified: the form & content of the message, the setting, the participants, the intent & effect of communication, the medium, the genre and the norms of interaction.

Halliday & Hassan offered 3 features of the context of situation – field (what is happening & why, where, when etc) tenor (participants & their social relations (eg manager/employee)– this affects register & how formal/informal discourse is) & mode (what function/purpose is – asking/persuading etc. Includes medium – written-prose/books etc- & spoken -speeches/plays. These three factors can change according to the culture.

Relationship between text and context reciprocal. Usually we use knowledge of the context to interpret the text but the other way is possible too e.g. ‘dangerous corner’ knowledge of the text allows us to provide/fill in knowledge of situation.

Coherence also v important – involves interaction between text & reader. When we read a text we draw on our own experiences of the world to understand it – inference. Lots of inference in (eg) narratives, as we take certain things for granted (people go to bed, wake up etc etc). Reader supplies the gaps – called schemata – essential to establishing the coherence of a text. Socio-cultural dependent (some readers will supply more info from schemata than others). Eg ‘Find the ball. Win a house. Pg 4’ – most can interpret this & understand it's an ad of a competition.

Necessity of situation context to understand a text is clearly seen in deixis (‘verbal pointing’)– relationships between structures of languages & context in which they are used (eg yesterday was really fun!… or I’ll see you there). Reference with an expression whose interpretation is relative to the context of the utterance eg who is speaking, time and place etc.

SUMMARY: Texts have to be both cohesive & coherent so we can understand meaning (can be v cohesive but incoherent eg Cats have four legs. The cat is on the mat. Mat has 3 letters).

Text typology = identification of criteria which allows us to classify texts. Finding a fully exhaustive & universally applicable method = v challenging task.

Most obvious criteria: texts can be spoken/written, spontaneous/prepared, informal/formal etc. This is situational classification – classifies texts according to the sphere of activity.

Communicative function another imp. criteria (determines the choice of expressive means of language) – eg if the purpose is to warn, congratulate, instruct etc.

Functional classification identifies text types according to dominating illocutionary act:

Representative or assertive type – weather forecasts, reports, CVs etc

Directive type – commands, orders, giving advice etc

Expressive type – apologies, thank you notes etc

Commissive type – promises, pledges, vows etc

Declarative / performative type – appointments, dismissals, certificates etc.

Strategic classification deals with the topic and the way of its expansion. The most useful use of text type is the traditional 4-part rhetorical categories of narrative, descriptive, exposition and argumentation.

(NB: Genre subtly different from text type – genre usually based on external, non-linguistic, ‘traditional’ criteria, whereas text type based on the internal, linguistic characteristics of texts themselves). Within same genre we can have linguistically different texts, just as linguistically similar texts can belong to different genres.

We'll consider types of text following the traditional categories, considering that texts belong to the same type share the same contextual configuration & the same GSP (Generic Structure Potential) as well as common linguistic features.
3 elements are considered in the structure of a text:

Obligatory elements: they belong to the same type of text.

Optional elements: typical of a text but not always present in the same type of texts.

Interactive elements (obligatory or optional, but occur more than once in same text).

The obligatory elements plus any combination of optional/interactive elements form the GSP.

About events. Tell a story. Has a setting & a problem that develops & then resolved.

Purpose: to entertain, tell a story, provide a literary experience

Structure: uses that of stories. Eg: folktales, fiction, mysteries, historical fiction etc. Implies the existence of a sequence of relationships of cause & effect & ∴ a chronological order (however, sometimes rules are broken)

Medium:news, comics, jokes, novels, diaries etc...

STORY MAP

Beginning

Setting; Characters & Problem (source of tension)

Middle

Events/action: the middle of a narrative is organised around a plot: initiating events, subsequent events, rising excitement and climax (the high point in the story where the problem is solved).

End

Resolution: there's an outcome eg the problem is solved. Sometimes the point of the story.

About the objects themselves – people, things, landscapes. Often (but not always) external – start with the whole, then move onto the different parts eg a house.

Purpose– to create a picture in the reader’s mind.

Depending on what is being described, there are common language features e.g. person: descriptions of features, behaviour, attitudes, occupational roles, personality. Syntax: descriptive adjectives, existential there sentences, comparison, stative verbs, relative pronouns.

Can be a place description, a functional description eg it’s used for…, a psychological description in which the feelings something gives us are described etc.

Medium: descriptive texts appear in novels, travel guides, reports, postcards etc

About ideas – shows process of supporting or weakening another statement. . "Defending a position" means EXPLAINING the ideas & giving REASONS for them.

Many different types of structures:

Classical (intro, explanation of the case, outline of the arguments, proofs supporting the arguments, refutation (even though …etc) conclusion.

Pro and con discussion (pro-con-pro-con (if author favours the idea) or con-pro-con-pro (if author opposes the idea). Zig-zag solution.

One sided (no counter arguments, forcing the reader to follow author’s ideas)

Eclectic approach – outlines some of the key opinions on the theme, proceeds to accept some and reject others.

Opposition’s arguments 1st (traditionally it has been believed…however)

Other side questioned (no direct refutation, mainly posing questions, allowing reader to make own mind up, but posing doubts)

Medium: articles, speeches, essays, debates etc´

Dominant language features: Simple present tense, thinking verbs, general and abstract nouns, conjunctions/transition, modality, adverbs of manner.

Purpose: inform/describe. Often well researched. Organisation: logical/interesting.

Structure: presentation – development- summary/conclusion

Medium: textbooks, articles, encyclopaedias, dictionaries

Dominant language features: Simple present tense, action verbs, passive voice, noun phrase, adverbial phrases, technical terms, general and abstract nouns and conjunctions of time and cause-effect.

aka instructive texts.

How-to texts – tells us how to do something

Structure – clearly organised – step 1, step 2 etc. Order v important. No conclusion.

Dominant language features: forms such as: in order to, so as to etc. Imperatives: peel the potato. Adverbs & connectors of sequence: first, then, next, once you have etc

Medium: recipes, instruction manuals, traffic signs and any how-to-text – much of the instructions we encounter in everyday life is how-to text.

Register: a language variety associated with particular contextual or situational parameters of variation & defined by its linguistic characteristics – includes the expressions and the lexical grammatical features that are typically associated with field, mode and tenor (Halliday).

Many varieties, ranging from closed to relatively free/open:
Closed registers – no scope at all for individuality. Eg: international Language of the Air.
More open: official forms, tickets, legal documents etc.
More open still: headlines in newspapers, technical instructions, legal documents…
Even more open – register of transactions- eg buying and selling at markets etc
Most open kind: informal narrative and spontaneous conversations

Within open registers, we can define formal, informal, familiar & ceremonial registers:

Familiar: used between people who know each other well. Features: lack of grammar, slang, jargon etc. (But still will be different between eg 2 teenagers & teenager/parent).

Informal: used by journalism and sometimes academic writing. Degree of casualness & a close relationship between writer & audience BUT grammar all correct etc

Formal: Academic writing. Strong opinions are expressed objectively

Ceremonial: speeches, sermons, judges in court, announcements etc.

In A Beginner´s Guide to Discourse Analysis, Sean Sutherland identified these types of registers:

Formal – long sentences, several clauses, careful word choice

Consultative – polite conversations with strangers (or even friends in formal situations) – some spontaneity & imprecise word choices

Casual – friends & family – word choice general (guys, stuff etc) imprecise, polite language features omitted without causing offence.

Intimate – parents with children, partners, others with long term bonds etc

NB: Dialects are varieties of language too but a different kind. A register varies according to use – who you are with, context of situation etc. You can have 1 dialect all through life BUT you will inevitably have many registers. Registers are the semantic configurations that are typically associated with particular social contexts.

Seen: importance of the environment of a text to complete understanding of it. Eg - two texts can have the same content but if the context is different then we can say they are two separate texts.

We adapt our register (in both oral & written contexts) to the situation and people we are with.

Educational implications: V important for students to be able to select the most appropriate language to use. Also need to know that (eg) in more formal registers certain language needs to be avoided like idioms, phrasals etc. Should also know that Latin/French derived words (which may seem more familiar to them) are sometimes too formal - eg make usually better than elaborate, ask vs question etc.

Students must be exposed to different types of text narration, descriptive and at higher levels argumentation – and to know the linguistic features characteristic of every text type will help them achieve communicative competence in writing and speaking.

1) Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, Svartvik. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English language; 2) Elizabeth Closs Traugott , Linguistics for students of Literature Standford University, 1980 (Chapter 7); 3) Van Dijk, 1984. Explorations in the Semantics and Pragmatics of Discourse

Sean Sutherland: CONtext (everything outside text) & COtext - (words around the phrase in question) - both crucial. CONtext - can be divided into PLACE - eg put your pants on - different meanings in US vs GB & TIME - when the text was produced