TEXTS, Texture AND TEXTUALITY LM118/19 (Boyd) 25 October 2018

what is (a) text? TEXT is an actual instance of language in use (Fairclough) or discourse, or, more generally, any stretch of language, either spoken or written, that forms a unified whole. A text can be seen as “freezing in time one moment of the on-going dynamic use of language in the speech community”. The linguist or discourse analyst tries to make sense of texts, what it is that makes parts of texts hang together (or create texture); Texts cannot be understood fully without understanding their context in that discourse. It is also important to focus on the text itself so that we can understand how the linguistic elements that make up the texts interact with discourse as well as with processes in the human mind (cognitive processes).

what is (A) discourse? DISCOURSE has different meanings which have changed over time including: a linguistic unit longer than a sentence, which is similar in meaning to text: a “collection of connected language units – such as sentences and paragraphs – that together make up a coherent, cohesive text.” (Trimble) the use of language in a given context, such as legal discourse, political discourse, etc. [Functionalist view, SFL] the way language embraces ways of thinking, being and acting in the world: so it goes beyond linguistic and situational elements to also include: language, action, interaction, values, beliefs, symbols, tools and places (social practice) [Bourdieu, Foucault, Critical Discourse Analysis]

What is (A) Genre? the term that was originally used in reference to a category of artistic composition characterized by similarities in form, style, or subject matter. In Discourse Analysis genres are specific or conventional text categories associated with particular types of social occasion or communicative event that are readily distinguished by mature speakers of a language. Some examples include: business letter, news report, editorial, recipe, novel, political speech, political interview, etc. Texts can combine different genres in various ways – mixing or hybridizing them, or combining them in ‘formats’, etc.

what is Texture? TEXTURE “For a text to achieve coherence, it is not enough that it have a hierarchical structure. Additionally, all of its component parts must fit together in a manner that is recognizable to the hearer or reader.” (Meyer 2009: 98). Various devices work together to create texture: constituents within a clause are ordered in a specific way so that the thematic structure can promote the easy flow of information [cf. suprastructure], relationships between clauses are indicated by markers of cohesion, i.e. the linguistic elements that connect clauses of a text (=cohesive devices), and coherence, i.e. the relation between the conceptual structures (things, people, activities, etc.) or stored background knowledge, which may be expressed by the words in the text but may be present in the mind of the text producer or processor. Cohesive devices often depend on coherence.

what is cohesion? the set of resources for constructing relations in discourse that connect one part of a text to another (backwards, forwards or outwards in a text). It is often seen as a function of the semantic relations between sentences and can occur linguistically in the surface structure of a text through: conjunction reference substitution / ellipsis lexical cohesion

what is coherence? a more general notion which refers to the quality of a text that makes it function as a meaningful whole in its context the relation between propositions in a text (e.g. cause and effect, chronological sequence) knowledge of the context in which the text was produced and beyond that (of relevant extra-linguistic knowledge and cultural practice), which is generally inferred and not explicitly expressed in text (Hewings & North)

what is context? the language used within the text itself (cohesion or structure of the text) is studied as well as within the situational and social contexts in which it occurs and is produced. Typically there are three different types of context (Cutting 2002: 3): the situational context (i.e. what speakers know about what they can see around them) the background knowledge context (i.e. what they know about each other and the world) the co-textual context (i.e. what they know about what they have been saying)

What is text? “Understanding a text means that people are able to construct a mental model for the text” (van Dijk 2004); “Texts require readers to carefully separate different kinds of reality and also to ‘tag’ claims about the truth of events and situations” (Chilton 2009)

what are frames (and scripts)? FRAMES are the non-linguistic knowledge structures for a particular domain of human experience (e.g. university, school, law courts, politics). SCRIPTS are background knowledge about sequences of events, which are often dependant on frames. Frames and scripts are held in long-term memory and are activated by the meanings of words when you process texts.

cohesion (cohesive) devices COHESION: the set of resources for constructing relations in discourse that connect one part of a text to another (backwards, forwards or outwards in a text). It is often seen as a function of the semantic relations between sentences and can occur linguistically in the surface structure of a text through: conjunction reference substitution / ellipsis lexical cohesion

conjunction words that relate propositions to one another in various ways Temporal conjunctions interact with the tense system of verbs, which also plays an important role in textual cohesion. (see also Halliday and Hasan, Coherence in English, 1976) Type Examples additive and; in addition adversative but; however causal because; consequentially temporal then; subsequently

Reference 1 While conjunction links entire clauses, reference creates cohesion by creating links between elements. Reference can be deictic, i.e., referring directly to something in the world, Or they can be phoric, which provides an index (indexical) to some part of the discourse. For example, pronouns can refer and identify, not by describing them or naming them but by pointing them out. Third-person pronouns are used to refer to entities, situations or events that may be mentioned lexically in the co-text or sometimes information outside of the text. Thus, reference forms may be: anaphoric: when reference can be inferred by looking back in the co-text cataphoric: when reference can be inferred by looking forward in the co-text exophoric: reference is from “outside” the text (either in immediate context or shared world view) [Cf. Intertextuality]

reference 2 Different types of reference forms Type Examples pronouns he, she, it, him, they demonstratives this, that, these articles a(n); the other forms such a

Reference 3 We can infer the meanings by what we know about English grammar (number, person, gender), co-textual knowledge and our background knowledge. In the case of articles the indefinite article generally introduces a new referent, while the definite one refers back to an already mentioned referent. Compare the use of articles in these two examples: A man in a dark suit sidled up to the bar. Mary watched him warily. After a few seconds, the man said, “Hello, darling.” The street was dark. The curtains were drawn across the windows. Mary walked cautiously along the pavement.

substitution/ellipsis structures are only fully realised or repeated when they need to be, so ellipsis and substitution are a speaker’s choice made on pragmatic assessment of the situation. Ellipsis is when some element of the grammatical structure is left out of the sentence Type Examples one(s) I offered him a seat, but he didn’t want one. These towels are dirty; we need some clean ones. do Did she take that? –She might have done. so/not Do you need this?- If so/if not, then you… same John chose the hamburger. – I chose the same. – Jane went to the lecture, but Harry didn’t [go].

PRACTICE Look at the use of cohesive devices in the texts below: If you’d like to give someone a phone for Christmas, there are plenty to choose from. Whichever you go for, if it’s to be used on the BT network, make sure it’s approved—look for the label with a green circle to confirm this. Phones labelled with a red triangle are prohibited. Lord Melbourne, who was Prime Minister when Victoria became Queen in 1837, did not like birdsong and could not distinguish a woodlark from a nightingale. He preferred the singing of blackbirds anyway; best of all he liked the cawing of rooks and could watch them for hours as they circled at sunset. Victoria was surprised by this: she disliked their grating and insistent calling.

lexical cohesion created by the repetition of words or related words through their reiteration (repetition) within the text : synonymy hyponymy antonymy lexical (semantic) field (related words) collocation (words that often pattern together) An example of hyponymy from the Bully Text (Chilton): Ms Ball is in education. She teaches in a primary school. education is a superordinate term and primary school is the hyponym. Collocation is the co-occurrence of lexical items in the same environment (which can also be grammatically related in some way).

superstructures Texts have recognizable parts that are organized according to conventional patterns (Cf. genre) NEWSPAPER REPORT= headline + by-line + journalist + (lead) + body of text story = the chronological sequence of episodes plot = the order through which the text presents the events Even when stories are scrambled, texts retain their cohesion and coherence by means of the tense system and other markers that indicate the time at which events take place relative (a) to one another and (b) to the time of writing or speaking.

theme and rheme 1 clauses consist of a THEME (or FOCUS), which establishes what the clause is about, and a RHEME, which says something about it. The THEME is generally at the beginning of the sentence, while the RHEME is everything that follows.

theme and rheme 2 There are various ways to bring things into focus (FRONTING DEVICES). How does the THEME change what is being implied by the speaker? John kissed Mary. Mary was kissed by John. It was John who kissed Mary. It was Mary who was kissed by John. What John did was kiss Mary. Who John kissed was Mary. Mary, John kissed her.

theme and rheme 3 Fronting devices in English Type Example Adverb fronting Sometimes he goes to the beach. It-theme Cleft Sentence It was Michael who won the prize. Pseudo-Cleft Sentence What John did with his playing was encourage the rest of the team. Embedded clause That he would finish his dissertation was never in doubt. Adverb-Thematisation Against all odds, they won the tournament. Late that afternoon she received a response Passive voice Only the best papers are nominated for the award.