Lecture 7. Text level

1.

2.

Generative Grammar (S. Harris, N.
Chomsky, M. Postal)
• Inner relations b/n context and form
within the sentence
• Any syntactical SD is capable of
generating un unlimited number of
sentences within the given pattern
• Two kinds of structures – a deep
structure (unobservable) and a surface
structure (actual sentences)

3.

Text linguistics
• aims at investigating the objective
criteria concerning ways and means
of constructing texts of different
kinds and genres

4.

Text linguistics
• Our purpose – to find the elements
into which any text may fall (certain
constituent units of which any text
is composed)
• Supra-phrasal units are the basic
constituents of a text

5.

Supra-phrasal units (SPU)
• comprises a number of sentences
interdependent structurally (by means
of pronouns, connectives, tense-forms)
and semantically (one definite thought
is dealt with)
• It can be extracted from the context
without losing its relative semantic
independence

6.

Supra-phrasal units (SPU)
• may be defined as a combination of
sentences presenting a structural and
semantic unity backed up by rhythmic
and melodic unity.
• Any SPU will lose its unity if it suffers
breaking

7.

SPU (an example)

8.

2 SPUs within a paragraph (an
example)

9.

The paragraph
• a graphical term used to name a
group of sentences marked off by
indentation at the beginning and a
break in the line in the end
(intonation, pauses of various
lengths, semantic ties, etc.)

10.

The paragraph
• in some styles (e.g. scientific,
publicistic) generally has a topic
sentence (which embodies the main
idea of the paragraph / which may
be interpreted as a key-sentence
disclosing the chief thought of the
writer)

11.

Actual division of the sentence
• is to reveal the correlative
significance of the sentence parts
from the point of view of their
actual informative role in an
utterance. The main components of
the actual division of the sentence
are the theme and the rheme.

12.

Actual division of the sentence
• The theme expresses the starting point of
the communication, i.e. denotes an object
or a phenomenon about which smth. is
reported. The rheme expresses the basic
informative part of the communication, its
contextually relevant centre. Between the
rheme and the theme are positioned
intermediary, transitional part of the
actual division of various degrees of
informative value.

13.

Actual division of the sentence
• the theme of the actual division of the
sentence may or may not coincide with the
subject of the sentence. The rheme of the
actual division, in its turn, may or may not
coincide with the predicate of the sentence
— either with the whole predicate group or
its part, such as the predicative, the object,
the adverbial.

14.

Actual division of the sentence
• Thus, in the following sentences of various
emotional character the theme is expressed
by the subject, while the rheme is expressed
by the predicate:
• Max bounded forward. Again Charlie is
being too clever! Her ad-vice can't be of any
help to us.

15.

Text cohesion
• is the grammatical and lexical
linking within a text or sentence
that holds a text together and
gives it meaning. It is related to
the broader concept of coherence.

16.

Text cohesion
• There are two main types of cohesion:
grammatical cohesion, which is based on
structural content—and lexical cohesion,
which is based on lexical content and
background knowledge. A cohesive text is
created in many different ways (five general
categories of cohesive devices: reference,
ellipsis, substitution, lexical cohesion and
conjunction).

17.

Text cohesion
• Conjunctions create a certain link
between two clauses (e.g. the
conjunction and, transitions then,
however, in fact, and consequently).
Conjunctions can also be implicit
and deduced from correctly
interpreting the text.

18.

Text cohesion
• Referencing:
Anaphoric reference occurs when the
writer refers back to someone or
something that has been previously
identified, to avoid repetition. Some
examples: replacing “an English
teacher" with the pronoun "he" or
“she". Another example can be found in
formulaic sequences such as "as stated
previously" or "the aforementioned".

19.

Text cohesion
• Referencing:
• Cataphoric reference is the opposite
of anaphora: a reference forward as
opposed to backward in the
discourse. Something is introduced
in the abstract before it is identified.
For example: "Here it comes, our
long-looked-for... summer!"

20.

Text cohesion
• Ellipsis
How are you?
Fine.

21.

Text cohesion
• Substitution
The word is substituted for another,
more general word. For example,
"Which season do you prefer?" – "I
prefer the hottest one“ / I like when
it’s a beautiful and warm season, it
doesn’t matter what its name is.

22.

Coherence
• is what makes a text semantically
meaningful. Coherence is achieved
through syntactical features (the use
of deictic, anaphoric and cataphoric
elements or a logical tense
structure), as well as presuppositions
and implications connected to
general world knowledge.

23.

Coherence vs. cohesion
• A text is cohesive if its elements are linked
together. A text is coherent if it makes sense. It
should be clear that these are not the same
thing. That is, a text may be cohesive (i.e. linked
together), but incoherent (i.e. meaningless).
Here is one such (invented) text: I am a teacher.
The teacher was late for class. Class rhymes with
grass. The grass is always greener on the other
side of the fence. But it wasn't.

24.

Coherence vs. cohesion
• The following dialogue is coherent to
most people, even though there are no
obvious links between its parts (no
cohesion):
• A:
There's the phone.
• B:
I'm in the bath.
• A:
OK.

25.

Topical Progressions
• parallel progression, in which topics of successive
sentences are the same, producing a repetition of topic
that reinforces the idea for the reader (<a, b>, <a, c>,
<a, d>);
• sequential progression, in which topics of successive
sentences are always different, as the comment of one
sentence becomes, or is used to derive, the topic of the
next (<a, b>, <b, c>, <c, d>); and
• extended parallel progression, in which the first and
the last topics of a piece of text are the same but are
interrupted with some sequential progression (<a, b>,
<b, c>, <a, d>).