Lecture 1

TEXT CATEGORIES

Category ( in the linguistic sense) is any group of language elements which is singled out on the basis of some common feature.

As a more narrow notion it can be described as some feature (or parameter) which serves as a basis of division of uniform language units into certain classes.

Scientists differ in opinions as for the number of text categories, their types. Traditionally, such text categories can be singled out: prospection, retrospection, informativeness, cohesion, locality, temporality, anthropocentricity, modality, etc.

Prospection is the text category which unites different linguistic forms of referring information to what will be said in the following parts of the text.

He strode into the living-room, feeling very brisk and competent. He could not know, of course, that when Louise did get home he would be out cold on the divan (R.P.Warren).

The main signal of prospection in this fragment is the change of grammatical tense, transition to the form of Future-in-the Past.

Lexical units to realize this category are: in the next chapter; later we will describe; як буде сказано нижче; подальша розповідь покаже, еtс.

The prospective fragments are usually not big because the information given in these fragments will be described in detail in the following parts of the text.

Prospection is a text category characteristic for all texts e.g. technical, scientific:

We shall look further into some of the theoretical differences later in this chapter (Lyons, “Grammar”).

First of all, prospection is actualized in the title. Let us take the titles of A.Christie’s novels and stories: “The ABC Murders”, “Murder on the Orient Express”, “Murder is Easy”, “Murder is Announced”, “The Murder of Roger Acroyd”, etc. Here the aim of the title as the first sign of the text is to attract the reader’s attention, to establish a contact, the title takes part in the creation of the reader’s attitude – expectation. The same function can be observed in the titles of other detective, criminal, horror stories, films.

But very often, because the title is a strong position, it is devoid of the necessary context and has isolated position, the lexical units in the title are polysemantic. It is difficalt to foresee what the text will be about.

Thus, the title of the novel by the Polish writer Henrik Senkevich “Хрестоносці” (“The Crusaders”) corresponds to the content of the text – it is devoted to the time of the crusades and the Polish gentry of that time. However, the novel of the modern American writer Stephen Heym “The Crusaders” is about WWII, the title is ironic and metaphoric at the same time.

So in major cases titles are polysemantic. Even the sentences as a title do not reduce polysemy: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “And Also the Sun Rises” (E. Hemingway), “Хіба ревуть воли, як ясла повні?” (П.Мирний).

The title “The Sporting Life” of the novel by D.Story was translated as “Такова спортивная жизнь”, though this novel is not about sport and the title should be translated “Таке шикарне (або багате) життя” (sporting-generous).

The title of the film “Dead Man’s Eleven” was incorrectly translated as “Одинадцятий мертвяк”. In fact, eleven in the context of the film is the team, and the dead man was a coach or a manager of this team. So the title can be translated as “Команда мерця”.

The meaning of the title is realized only in the direct connection with the whole text (film, etc) after reading and analyzing the text, i.e. retrospectively.

Retrospection

Retrospection is the text category which unites the forms of language expression referring the reader to the previous information.

The lexical signals of retrospection are such phrases: as it was mentioned before (earlier, in the previous chapter), as you remember, it is necessary to remind, the abovementioned (the aforesaid), etc.

The grammatical signals of retrospection include different forms of past tenses. In technical, scientific articles, papers, dissertations there is a special part “Conclusions” where the author repeats and sums up the preceding information. In newspaper articles retrospection has special forms of realization, some newspapers often remind readers about the previous events, there are quotations from the previous articles (speeches), and then there are new comments. In fiction epilogues often contain elements of retrospection.

At the same time practically every text is to some extent based on retrospection. The accumulation of information by the reader is impossible without remembering or rethinking the previously obtained information.

According to I.R.Galperin, retrospection can be objective or subjective. If it is objective, it is the author’s retrospection, i.e. the result of the author’s references to the preceding parts of the text or past event (lexical, grammatical signals). If it is subjective, it is the reader’s retrospection. Why is it called subjective? Because it is based on the reader’s ability to keep in memory the previous information and to unite or combine it with the information in the given part. So the reader’s retrospection is the result of the individual creative perception. The main functions of retrospection in the text are: 1) to refresh the given information in the reader’s memory; 2) to give new data, facts referring to the past; 3) to give the reader a chance to rethink the given information in a new context; 4) to foreground certain parts of the text.

Cohesion

Cohesion is one of the major text categories, it is a compulsory category. Every text must be based on cohesion. Cohesion is defined as special types of connection of separate facts, actions, parts of information in a text. Another definition: cohesion is special types of connections of different parts in a text (Galperin).

According to M.Halliday and Hasan, cohesion is a set of special relations which is common for all texts and which serves to reveal the interdependence of the content of separate fragments in a text. Cohesion does not reveal what the text informs about, it reveals how the text is organized into the semantic whole.

The forms of cohesion in fiction, newspaper articles, scientific texts are very rich. First of all, there are traditional words and phrases used to connect different ideas: firstly, secondly; then, after that, that’s why. The most characteristic type of actualization of this category is repetitions – not only lexical, but also syntactical, phonetical, tropeic.

According to the places of the repeated parts we can distinguish contact and distant cohesion. Contact cohesion takes place when the repeated language units are close to each other, e.g. Our grief turned to anger, and anger to resolution (the speech of G.Bush). Distant cohesion can be observed when the repeated fragments are in different parts of the text (e.g. the beginning – the end), far from each other, as in the article in “International Herald Tribune”, where the title “No Star, Just a Bright Sun of Journalism, Fades Out” is repeated in the last paragraph. Frame repetitions are often the examples of distant cohesion.

According to the type of language units used different types of cohesion can be singled out. Phonetical cohesion is based on repetition of sounds (alliteration, assonance). Lexical cohesion can be identical, synonymic, periphrastic, or amplified. Identical cohesion involves the repetition of the same language units – words, sentences. Periphrastic cohesion is the use of periphrastic expressions, like oil – black gold – this raw material. Amplified cohesion includes the use of the same lexical unit, but in the environment of other words: people in pain, people in fear of death (Maugham).

Grammatical cohesion includes the use of conjunctions for connecting sentences: however, that is why, in connection with this. Deixis is another example of grammatical cohesion. Deixis is the term which linguists use to denote pointing expressions – this, that, here, there, pronouns he, she, it, they. Deixis applies to time as well as space, as the contracts between the adverbs now and then show.

Stylistic cohesion involves the repetition of the same stylistic device (metaphor, simile, epithet). A very important type of cohesion is image-making cohesion based on the extended metaphor. It can integrate a paragraph or even a whole text. The peculiarity of this cohesion lies in the fact that the author connects not objects or phenomena but images by means of which these objects and phenomena are depicted, like in the poem “O Captain! My Captain” by H.Longfellow. Due to image-making cohesion a prose text can be made poetical, like “The Star-Child” by O.Wilde, “The Dress” by D.Thomas.

Compositional-structural cohesion is based on the identical structure of sentences, paragraphs (parallelism), syntactical repetitions like anaphora, frame repetition as in the poem “If” by R.Kipling, in the sonnets of Shakespeare.

Modality

It is a text category which reflects the attitude of the speaker (writer) to reality. Modality is a compulsory text category. As there is no stylistically neutral text, there is no text without modality. Modality is the result of the author’s subjective world outlook.

Modality is reflected not only in modal words, verbs and evaluative words (lexical units with a connotative evaluative meaning) but also intonation, stylistic devices, syntactical means, compositional aspects.

2 types of modality can be singled out – phrasal and textual. Phrasal modality is expressed by lexical or grammatical means. Textual, besides these means, also manifests itself in characteristics and description of people (characters), in text structure.

In different texts modality is expressed to a different extent. Especially obvious it is in poetic texts:

Once, upon a midnight dreary,

While I pondered, weak and weary (E.Poe).

The most direct device of realizing modality in a sentence is epithet, like: a rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore (E.Poe). An article about the ecological problems in Russia is called “The Tortured Land” .

Interjections are direct means of expressing subjective-evaluative modality

(Gee! Oh God !Wow!)