Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Kazakh Ablai Khan University of International Relations and World Languages
Pedagogical Faculty of Foreign Languages
Theory of Linguistics and Communication Chair
Specialty: 5B011900-Foreign language: two foreign languages
TEXT LINGUISTICS
Analysis of a text (control task)
Done by: Nurtyleuova Aigerim
223gr
Checked by: Asanova G.S.
Master of philology,
senior instructor
Almaty, 2014
1. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE TEXT
The text, Baucis and Philemon, which will be analyzed is a version of one of the Roman myths written by E.Hamilton by using the Ovid’s poem as a source for it. Before analyzing the text considering the seven standards of textuality, it is better to have a general knowledge about the type of the text, which is a myth, and the topic of it.
The fact that “Myths” mainly make up the oral tradition of literature by being told of mouth from generation to generation, they might survive by being handed down and contributed to written literature, which enables us to read them now and survive them for the next generation. Myths are generally about strange and wondrous events, talking animals or objects, superhuman characters, gods and goddesses, monsters which don’t exist in real life. Even if they don’t exist in real life, they give an idea about the “life” itself; maybe more than the real stories succeed to do.
Before reading a myth, it is essential to have an idea about the outline of this text type since it makes it easier to follow the story effectively and leads us while we are analyzing it as it is aimed. (Prentice Hall Literature Bronze, 1989: 540-1)
Background: Associated with Greeks and Romans, MYTHS are anonymous stories that convey cultural ideas and beliefs, or explain natural occurrences. All countries are said to heve their own traditions of such imaginative stories( some of them have legends, some have folk tales, some myths, or two or all of them) explaining natural events, teaching moral lessons, emphasizing behaviours, attitudes, and ideals admired by the people who create them.
Reading Strategies: While reading the myth, a reader should have the awareness that although it includes some strange and non-existent things, it tells about other people and cultures which are useful to understand their literary history; furthermore, they were created long ago and in different cultures, they convey ideas and attitudes common to people today. As a reading strategy, the strategy that is used while reading other literary texts might be applied.( Since these strategies are given to be utilized in teaching reading in that book, it won’t be discussed here. However, it enables us to see that myths, folk tales, legends are all included in literary text type in their written forms even they were oral before.)
Themes: In line with the explanations made above, different subjects might be subject to myths and accordingly the theme varies. Here it may be enough to give an idea about the theme of the text which will be studied: The importance of relationships both within the society, such as hospitality and within the family, such as love and loyalty.
Characters: Only the characters in the myth will be mentioned here:
Baucis and Philemon: Husband and wife who were rewarded by the gods for their hospitality to strangers.
Jupiter: King of the gods in Roman Mythology, like Zeus in Greek mythology.
Mercury: The messenger of the gods in Roman Mythology, like Hermes in Greek Mythology.
The summary of “Baucis and Philemon”:
This is the story telling how a devoted couple is rewarded by the gods for their behaviour, which is hospitality. In the Phrygian country (an ancient country in Asia) people were not kind to the guests visiting their houses and Jupiter realised it when he decided to visit Phrygian with Mercury to see how the people of this country were. However, in one house they encountered with good people who devoted themselves to each other and the people coming to visit them. They served best even if they were poor. Upon this, Jupiter gave punishment to the whole country except “Bucis and Philemon”. Jupiter told them to wish something. Living long together happily, they wanted to die together. In the end, they died together and the gods turned them into two trees with a single trunk after they died.
2. ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT
The text “Baucis and Philemon” will be analyzed according to the seven characteristics of text linguistics given below:
Cohesion
Coherence
Intentionality
Acceptibility
Informativity
Situationality
Intertextuality
2.1. COHESION
In a text , cohesion provides continuity at the grammatical level; here it will be studied in sub-items showing how the grammatical units help to form and give meaning to a text.
a. Recurrence: The repeated words in the same text.
* ... Over this she hung a little kettle full of water and just as it began to boil (line 60)....Into the kettle(line 63)
* ...great marvel(line3)
...great house(29)
...great help(56)
* Presently he brought them cups of...(75)...to refill each cup...(81)...No matter how many cups...(86)...
* “We have a goose...(94)...To catch the goose(97)
...under the ashes...(58)...roasted in the ashes...(71)
* ...whitest marble...(121)...the marble...(136)
* ...so long together...(128)...die together...(130)...still they were together...(145)
* ...Trembling old hands...(67)...trembling all over they begged...(93)
* ...had always been happy...(53)...proud and happy...(79)
b. Partial recurrence: The repetition of the words; but within different word classes.
* ....poorer than...”We are poor folk”...but poverty...poor stranger...
* ...how hospitable...Hospitality...hospitality
c. Parallelism: Being a narrative, the text was written in the Simple Past Tense:
*...there were...pointed out...came about...
Also sometimes Past Perfect tense is used :
*But when Both Philemon and Baucis had had to give up...
When the narrater wants to flash back to today, she uses Simple Present Tense:
* ...The story doesn’t say whether they ever missed their ....
d. Paraphrase:
* ...make comfortable... rest
Synonyms:
* ...grand...great
* ...wept...cry...
e. Proforms:
Anaphora:
* ...there were once two trees which all the peasants near and far pointed out as a great marvel, and no wonder, for one was an oak and the other a linden, yet they grew from a single trunk. (lines 1-5)
Here firstly “two trees” are mentioned, and then these two trees are explained as “one” and “the other”. Following them, two trees are referred as “they”.
* ...When Jupiter was tired...(line 10)...he would come down...(line 14)
* ...Jupiter had determined to find out how hospitable the people of Phrygia...important to him...(20-3)
* The two gods, accordingly, ...(26)...they made...(33)
* ...a cheerful fire was burning. Over this...(59-60)
* ...full of water...it began to boil...(61)
* Baucis set the table with her trembling hands..(66)... One table leg was too short, but she propped it up...(67-8)
Here there are two anaphoras; the first one is Baucis, her, she; the other one is one table leg, it.
Cataphora:
* His favourite companion on these tours was Mercury.(16-7)
Here “his favourite companion” refers to “Mercury” which is mentioned afterwards.(In anaphora “Mercury” would be mentioned before)
* ...and the old woman threw ...Her name was Baucis.(48-9)
f. Ellipses:
a) Sharing of structural components among clauses of the surface text:
* The two gods ...took...wandered...came...(26-9)
b) Follow-up structure lacks the verb:
* ..for one was an oak and the other a linden( there is no “was” before “a linden”)
* The story of how this came about is a proof of the immesurable power of the gods, and also of the way they reward. (“proof” isn’t used for two times; the first one reflects also “the way they reward”) (line 6)
* ...tired of eating...drinking...(“tired of” is used once) (line 10)
* ...asking for food and a place...(26)
* They had...had always..(“they” used once) (51)
* ...was...proud and happy...(79)
* ...were so pleased and excited (83)
* ...will be punished but not you (it means “you won’t be punished”; the sentence with its verb isn’t repeated)(line 109)
g. Tense and Aspect
Tense: Simple Past, Past Perfect, Simple Present. ( For the examples see “Parallelism”)
Aspect: Starting with approximately conventional structure to the story (there were once...) and going on with the same structure and tense, the aspect of the text is well-built. Apart from this, coming back today while making explanation about the story (The story doesn’t say whether they ever missed their ..) is the typical example of telling a story of a myth, folk tale,etc.
h. Junction:
Conjunction:
* The story of how this came about is a proof of the immeasurable power of the gods, and also of the way they reward...
* The two gods ...took...and wandered...(26-9)
...(There are a lot of sentences exemplifying this item; but they all include “and”, so it will be enough to see the above ones)
Disjunction:
* the story doesn’t say whether they ever missed their cozy room...
Contrajunction:
* ...yet they grew...(line5)
* ...But here,...(37)
Sentences including “but”: lines 37, 40,68, 117,96, 103, 135.
* Philemon, however,...(79)
Subordination:
* ...Hospitality was..imporatnt to him, since all guests...were under his especial protection.(23)
* ...since we had lived so long together...(1289
* ...As they saw this...(88)
* ...As the words passed their lipsthey became trees...(143)
i. Updating:
When we think of Iliad by Homer, or Tacitus’ writings in ancient Rome, thsi new version myth was written in an updated language form. Since we don’t have an old version, we don2t have opportunity to compare; yet we can understand it from the words that are used, which we don’t force us to understand.
Note: “Intonation” and “Keys” cannot be studied here, naturally, since it is not a spoken text.
2.2.COHERENCE
a) Concept:
* The old man set a bench near the fire ( To learn more about the bench, we should see the rest of the paragraph- or sometimes preceeding of it.)
* ..a soft covering...( What kind of covering is it? Linen, paper, etc? We can understand it from the text; just one word or sometimes one sentence is not enough to understand the implied meaning of the word in the text.)
*..reward...(In order to learn the reward we should read the rest of the text; otherwise it can be anything such as a car, a pencil, or a medal,etc. Who can guess that it is dying and being together without looking at the text as a whole.)
b) Decomposition:
god Here the words are related with
one another.
power mortal punish temple
tree The words are peculiar to the tree.
oak linden trunk
c) Spreading Activation: The words remind each other.
* temple, great, marvel, god, power, punish, mortal, shrewdest.
* couple, married, life, husband, living together, happy.
* fire, burning, coalsunder the ashes, fanned, boil, kettle.
* cup, an earthenware mixing bowl, vinegar, water, supper, pour, mixing, bowl.
d) Use of Global Patterns:
* As a pattern: Using “once” while starting to tell the myth; finishing it “from and wide people came to admire the wonder” are classical and global patterns that are used in such type of texts.
* Looking at the concepts: Hospitality, power, protection, companion, poor folk, reward.(Global)
e) Procedural Attachment:
1.Frame: The aim of the myth is to give “lessons in living” and it is mentioned as an aim before text in the book. Acoordingly, the text pursues this goal.
2. Schema: The same structure that is used in literary text might be used here. To follow the structure given in the book that this text is given we should summarizethe situation as follows:
* Questioning: The title is questioned firstly. Who are they? For this purpose, some explanation should be made before reading the text as it is done at the beginning of that study; the characters are introduced to prevent discontinuity.
* Prediction: Why were these “two trees” so important to people?(line 2) A reader tries to guess the rest of the text while s/he is reading it in terms of her/his stored knowledge.
* Clarification:
...Jupiter had determined to find out how hospitable the people of Phrygian(lines19-21)...
...a kindly –faced old man welcomed them...(42-3)
..you shall have your reward. This wicked country... will be punished but not you(108-110)
...Grant that we may die together...(110)
...The linden and the oak grew from one trunk.(146)
As seen in the above sentences, the writer begins to make explanations and clarifies the things in readers’ minds.
* Summary : The last paragraph here.
3. Plans: The text user pursues his/her goal by following the structure implied to him/her. If it had been an oral tradition this would have been diffrent; but here the writer’s hidden aim and logical procedure in line with the text users’ stored knowledge on this subject is succeede through a careful planning.
4. Script: This text here is aimed to teach; so it is included in a course book.
f. Discovery of control centres: