Introduction to text linguistics. Учебное пособие
.pdfpersonalReference(substitutionbypersonalpronouns,e.g.MrJones–he), and different kinds of Repetition (Anaphoric, Periphrastic, Synonymic, Contextual and full ones, of course). Among Lexico-grammatical ones Parenthetical words and phrases, Conjunctions and Conjunctive adverbs can be named, whereas Grammatical are mostly Syntactical, like Inversion
and Parallel Construction, not to mention Verb Tenses andAspects.
In case sentence parts have similar lexical semantics, syntactic link is enhanced by lexical one.
Let’s write another example to fit these requirements.
2.Anne is a student. Many students go in for sport. Going in for sport is good for your health. My health is good. So is my academic progress [12].
Formal lexical Cohesion of this paragraph is obvious, but we are hard put to call it Text either. Although every previous sentence is formally connected to the following one, creating a formal link by repeating the final element of the previous sentence in the beginning of the next one, there is no common topic of the utterance. It is clear that the second important property of Text is Coherence, also sometimes called Topicality, Co-reference and even “aboutness”. Text as a connected and united group of sentences must be dedicated to a certain topic, which is called Referent or Topic of communication, something all the sentences of the text refer to. It does not correlate directly with any language units in the text and emerges as a result of the comprehension process in the course of analyticsyntactic activity of an addressee.
Before we proceed with Coherence, let’s look at another kind of formal Cohesion, which rests upon grammatical dependencies. Absence of verbal tense, number and person unity in a text makes it quite difficult to understand it.
3.Anne is a student.At school you will like such subjects as Literature, History and Foreign Languages. That is why they always got good grades for them. When I have got good grades for the subjects I like, it will be very easy and interesting to study. After school you should go to study Humanities at the University.
As you see, grammatical Cohesion is as important as lexical.
But we should not forget that the addresser always sets a goal of transferring a certain kind of information to the addressee.As interferences are inevitable they try their best to ensure that the addressee achieves as adequate understanding of the author’s message as it is humanly possible. This message appears in the addressee’s mind as simultaneous, not quite
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apprehensible dynamic representation of some subject matter as the topic of communication may be defined as Coherence [13, P. 81].
Coherence is more important for Text than Cohesion, as in case Cohesion is formal in character, in absence of Coherence the unit still has to be described as a Nontext.
If the addressee does not get a coherent idea of the Communication Aim, it is considered to be Communication Failure, and the blame is laid solely at the author’s door, as the author failed to create a text effectively and efficiently enough. The addressee may have been not ready to perceive this message (lack of experience, ignorance of the subject, bad command of the language), but it is up to the author to organize information in a proper way, taking these factors into consideration.
Let’s try and introduce topicality in our example.
4.Anne is a student. Obviously she does not study anywhere, so she has a lot of time. Why is she always short of time? It takes her a lot of time to get to the University.
Again this is a Nontext, as all sentences have a different Modality. Modality in a broad meaning of the term is manifestation of Text author’s attitude towards reality (Objective Modality) and author’s assessment of the information in the message (Subjective Modality).
Modality in a certain way reflects “complex relationship among the four elements of communication: addresser, addressee, message content and reality” [14].
Any message possesses a certain Modality – in contains a statement, uncertainty, negation, etc. Inside Text Modality may vary, but not excessively so. In our example the sentences should form a unit, no part should contradict another. Thus common Modality – including grammatical unity – unity of Tense, Person and Number is another essential property of Text being an important ingredient of Coherence.
Look at another example.
5.Anne is a student. That is why she always got good grades in them. After finishing school she went to study Humanities at the University. And when you get good grades in the subjects you like, it is quite easy and interesting to study. At school she liked Foreign Languages, History and Literature.
This example illustrated the importance of logical order in Text
Cohesion. Structure is an inherent property of any complex matter, it reflects
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the relations among its elements (units). Text is a multilevel structure where topical, compositional and semantic levels may be singled out.
Text Composition is one of the most important means of Cohesion [15]. A good example may be a short standard structured text, like a newspaper weather forecast “where some clichéd features of its structure have become commonly accepted norm” [15]. It consists of a standard sequence of information blocks. When created, “its informativity as a category of semantics correlates with structural category of linking separate parts into an integrated communicative unit” [16].
So Integrity of Text is achieved by two most important elements: Cohesion (formally expressed by language means) and Coherence (based on the contents). It is within the framework of Coherence that Text topic develops, and this process actually is the main means of Text production. That is why Integrity includes both of them in close interrelation – topical Coherence presupposes formal Cohesion [8, P. 76]. It is manifested through semantic, formal and communicative link of elements, as well as formal structural means of Text Integrity [15, P. 150].
The remaining standards of Textuality are user-centered, concerning the activity of textual communication by the addressers and addressees of texts.
Every text has a Communicative Aim that expresses the author’s intention to inform/instruct, persuade/urge/warn or entertain the addressee. If we analyze even a very simple sentence like “He is coming now”, depending on the intention it could be a) plain information, b) a threat, or c) reassurance. Thus Intentionality is another integral property of Text. Intentionality relates to the intention on the part of an addressee to produce a cohesive/coherent text aimed at attaining an identifiable goal.
Taking into consideration the listed properties we may define Text as a written document consisting of logically ordered units, united by lexical, grammatical bonds and co-reference, having a definite Modality and Intentionality.
One of the founders of Text Linguistics in Russia, I. R.Galperin defined Text as a completed statement in the form of a written document, edited according to the Functional Style and genre of this type, consisting of a number of peculiar units, united by different kinds of lexical, grammatical and logical links and having a definite Modality and Pragmatics [17]. Today a many parts of this definition are disputed, mainly the “written”, as oral speech may or may not be considered Text, depending on its conforming to Text features.
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1.3.Defining Limits of Text as a Language unit
The problem of defining Text limits is still being debated. Most researchers stick to the opinion that Text should comprise at least several Supraphrasal (suprasegmental) units. Still, smaller texts may very well exist, like proverbs consisting of one sentence only (according to V.A. Zvegintsev and O.A. Akhmatova), as scientific acquisition and study of new concepts and ideas constantly causes relevant texts compression. As an example we may quote a hypothetical attempt to describe a car in Ancient Greece. To create an accurate and detailed description we would have needed a long text, as every concept would have needed a detailed explanation. In midnineteen century the text would have been much shorter. And it would have continued to get more and more compact until it turned into a modern definition. This is how cognition and civilization develop.
Abstracts (Supraphrasal units) and titles (sentences) appear to be individual texts, especially in scientific and technical texts. There is nothing extraordinaryaboutthat–atotherlevelswehavesentencesconsistingofone word, words, consisting of one morpheme and morphemes consisting of one phoneme. Yet we mostly consider Supraphrasal unit to be the lower limit ofText,whereasthereis no upperlimit,asTextis theultimatelanguageunit. Also, within the concept of Intertextuality1, it just cannot be established.
1.4. Text Linguistics main topics and units
So what is the subject of Text Linguistics research? Obviously it is formulating general and individual conditions and rules of Text construction. This determines the problems and main directions of Text Linguistics development, which are now growing into separate subdisciplines. The main problems being contemplated by Text Linguistics today are the following:
General theory of Text Linguistics, including
1)studying Text as a phenomenon and as a system whose main properties are Cohesion and Coherence; studying properties of Text;
2)communicative situation and its elements as a process of Text realization;
1 See Chapter 5.
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3)text Typology and Classifications based on different parameters of Text and related linguistic properties;
4)intertextuality;
5)hypertext theory;
Text Grammar
6) different kinds of Text, their structure and its components; 7) differentiation, description as well as functional and semiotic
analysis of the main text-forming components;
8)text unit means of Cohesion study;
Text Interpretation
9)author’s intention, its components and their influence on Text realization;
10)defining main Text Categories;
11)special features that linguistic units of various levels (Phonemes, Morphemes, Lexemes, Sentences) acquire in particular types of texts: appearance of new properties, contextual implication, etc. [18];
Applied Text Linguistics
12)principles and methods of creating scientific, technical, business and official texts of different types;
13)principles and methods of Text transformation (most importantly, compression);
14)principles and methods of Text analysis and appraisal.
1.5. Text Linguistics and its place among related sciences
This coursebook has been constructed on the basis of covering these topics. You will learn to reveal the structure of the text, uncover the author’s intention, and, on the basis if this, acquire skills of creating basic types of Text correctly. These skills play an important role, as the ability to structure and coherently present one’s thoughts helps to discipline one’s thinking process and to present one’s ideas in a more persuasive form, make them easier to perceive by other people. This has become of utmost importance today, when we come across a task of creating different kinds of Texts, and it is of utmost importance that anybody knows how to structure them correctly.
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As far back as in Ancient Greece Rhetorics emerged as a separate discipline, built around the skills of proper speech construction. It was and is closely connected with Linguistics, Logics and Literature studies. Unfortunately after the 1917 revolution a lot of its researchers had to leave Russia, which boosted its development abroad. Today debating and academic writing are taught in most European and American schools, and you cannot be considered a cultured person unless you have mastered the skill of organizing your speech, both written and spoken. Rhetorics and Neorhetorics are closely connected with Text Linguistics and are being actively researched in most Universities.
Another theory has appeared quite recently, in mid-70s of the XX century. This is Information Science which contemplates scientific, technical, official and business texts from the angle of information they communicate. Structural and informative organization of Text, its typology and classification, creation, assessment and transformation are studied within the framework of this science.
Similarly Applied Text Linguistics has a lot in common with another modern science that appeared approximately at the same time, Documentation science. It also has a lot in common with Information Science, it studies Text as Document and the Psychology of Text Perception; different Documental text type structure and standardization, alignment and harmonization of Document structures.
Logical, syntactic and stylistic properties of Text are studied by Stylistics and Editorship theory that look at similar aspects of text structure and lexis, as well as their cohesion, logics and persuasiveness. And, last but not least, creation and transformation of some text types is the subject of Theory of Translation which has its own classification and problems that are quite similar to many of those in Text Linguistics, such as text structure, methods of Text transformation, means of organizing Text and distribution of different strata of lexis there.
Discussion and tasks
1.What spheres of scientific knowledge served as sources for Text Linguistics?
2.What is Text, Discourse, Texteme?
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3.Name Text properties. Create you own text (up to 50 words) describing them.
4.What are the “upper and lower” limit of Text? Give examples of
texts.
5.What are the main features that differ Text and Nontext? Explain the inherence of these text properties for any kind of text.
6.What is the subject and main problems of Text Linguistics?
7.Name main units of Text Linguistics.
References
1.Синтаксис. Энциклопедический словарь «Русский язык» М.,
1979.
2.Попов Ю.В., Трегубович Т.П. Текст: структура и семантика. М., 1984. 189 c.
3.Баранов А.Г. Текст в функционально-прагматической парадигме. Краснодар: Кубан. гос. ун-т. 1988. 146 с.
4.Гринев С.В. Семантическая эквивалентность информационных текстов в АСНТИ по строительству и архитектуре // Научнотехническая информация в строительстве. 1982. Вып. 4. С. 1–7.
5.Караулов Ю.Н. Роль прецедентных текстов в структуре и функционировании языковой личности // Научные традиции и новые направления в преподавании русского языка и литературы: Докл. сов. делегации наVI Конгрессе МАПРЯЛ. М.: Русский язык, 1986. С. 105–126.
6.Лингвистический энциклопедический словарь / Гл. ред. В.Н. Ярцева. М.: Сов. Энциклопедия, 1990. 686 с.
7.Trask R.L. Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics. L. N.Y.: Routledge, 1999. 312 р.
8.Genette, Gérard. Palimsestes: La littérature au second degré. (Poétique). Paris: Seuil, 1982. С. 76.
9.Бахтин М.М. Эстетика словесного творчества. М.: Искусство, 1979. 423 с.
10.Кожевникова К. Об аспектах связности в тексте как целом // Синтаксис текста. М., 1979. С. 59.
11.Метс Н.А., Митрофанова О.Д., Одинцова Т.Б. Структура научного текста и обучение монологической речи. М., 1981. С 20.
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12.Вейзе А.А. Реферирование текста. Минск: БГУ. 1978.
13.Миклош П. Двойное сообщение в одной картине //Семиотика
ихудожественное творчество. М.: Наука, 1977. 68 с.
14.Модальность // Лингвистическая энциклопедия. М., 1989.
15.БогинГ.И.Явноеинеявноесмыслообразованиеприкультурной рецепции текста // Русское слово в языке, тексте и культурной среде. Екатеринбург: Арго, 1997. С. 146–164.
16.Николаева Т.М. Лингвистика текста. Современное состояние
иперспективы. // Новое в зарубежной лингвистике. М.: Прогресс. 1978. Вып.VIII. С. 5–39. (30)
17.Гальперин И.Р. О понятии текст. // Вопросы языкознания. 1974. № 6. С. 31–45.
18.Чикина Л.М. Лингвистика текста: Учеб. пособие. Саранск, 1986. 83 с.
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2. MAIN COMPONENTS OFASPEECHACT DETERMINING TEXT PROPERTIES
2.1.Act of communication and its main components
The majority of basic Text Linguistics concepts are closely connected with those of Communication theory, as the main function of any text is message transfer. This concerns any kind of text: Belle-lettre or scientific, written or oral. Speech Act is characterized by two distinct groups of factors – extralinguistic and intralinguistic (linguistic proper), which together form what is called Communication Context. Let’s consider the first group now.
They include the Author of the text (addresser, sender) who creates the message that carries certain information, Referent (the topic of communication), Addressee (the one who receives information, reader), Communicative Aim (what the addresser hopes to achieve) and circumstances under which this communication takes place.
2.2. Peculiarities of participants in communication
“A must” of any communication is at least two interlocutors, the author and the addressee who have to be looked at immediately. In rather uncommon cases the author and the addressee may be one and the same person (diaries, notes, students’synopses, etc.) The properties of a text are first and foremost influenced by the following characteristics of the author: the social status, situational role, background knowledge, as well as age, gender, number and intention.
Social status (social role, social position) is determined by the author’s position (relative position) in the society. The same situation may look different when described by a professor, student, translator, critic, secretary, janitor etc.
Situational role (Situative role) in contrast to the social role which may be changed only several times through the lifetime (a child, a pupil, a student, an employee, a pensioner), may be changed a dozen times a day – a lodger at home, a pedestrian in the street, a customer in a shop, a colleague, a loving son or daughter, a good companion, etc.) also plays an essential role in producing texts. This role is determined by the
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circumstances: the professor will formulate his speech in a different way speaking before students, taking part in an academic discussion, speaking to colleagues, going shopping or at home with different family members.
A very good illustration of this influence is a quotation from a book, where a young man (Teppic) brought up in a city, inherited a throne in a very traditional kingdom and does not know how a king is expected to speak. His High priest (Dios), who actually rules the kingdom, “translates” speech into the proper form, expected of the king:
‘Having listened to both sides of the case,’ he said firmly, the mask giving it a slight boom, ‘and, being impressed by the argument and counter-argument, it seems to us only just that the beast in question should be slaughtered without delay and shared with all fairness between both plaintiff and defendant.’
He sat back. They’ll call me Teppic the Wise, he thought. The common people go for this sort of thing.
The farmers gave him a long blank stare.
Then, as if they were both mounted on turntables, they turned and looked to where Dios was sitting in his place on the steps in a group of lesser priests.
Dios stood up, smoothed his plain robe, and extended the staff. ‘Harken to the interpreted wisdom of His Greatness the King
Teppicymon XXVIII, Lord of the Heavens, Charioteer of the Wagon of the Sun, Steersman ofothe Barque of the Sun, Guardian of the Secret Knowledge, Lord of theoHorizon, Keeper of the Way, the Flail of Mercy, the High-Born One, the Never-Dying King,’he said.
‘It is our divine judgement that the beast in dispute is the property of Rhumusphut.
It is our divine judgement that the beast be sacrificed upon the altar of the Concourse of Gods in thanks for the attention of Our Divine Self.
It is our further judgement that both Rhumusphut and Ktoffle work a further three days in the fields of the King in payment for this judgement.’ Dios raised his head until he was looking along his fearsome nose right
into Teppic’s mask.
He raised both hands.
‘Mighty is the wisdom of His Greatness the King Teppicymon XXVIII, Lord ofothe Heavens, Charioteer of the Wagon of the Sun, Steersman of
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