Introduction to text linguistics. Учебное пособие
.pdfCompleting tasks 3–8 requires additional texts. Use your instructor’s choice, see Supplement 2 or choose your own from reliable native speaker sources.
3.Analyze text lexes.
4.Single out Semantic text structure.
5.Find Connectors in the text.
6.Single out Text units in the text.
7.Name means of cohesion in the text.
8.Analyze the surface structure.
9.A most frequent type of tasks for Text comprehension is restoring order in a jumbled text. See Supplement 1.
References
1.https://osjournal.org/submissions.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAgJTGBRDL r5_az_Ouk44BEiQAIxaA4gWcdaIeWFs_CpACJF0e_ScE_E6B1UITy 0ywlUnjFxYaAvWR8P8HAQ.
2.http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001268/126852EB.pdf
3.Функциональные типы русской речи: Учеб. пособие. / А.Н. Кожин и др. М., 1982. 224 с.
4.Мусхелишвили Н.Л., Шрейдер Ю.А. Значение текста как внутренний образ // Вопросы психологии. 1997. № 3. С. 79–91.
5.Марчук Ю.Н. Компьютерная лингвистика: Учеб. пособие. М., АСТ: Восток-Запад, 2007. 317 с.
6.Beaugrande R. de, Dressler W. Introduction to text Linguistics. L., Longman, 1981, 240 p.
7.Основы научной речи: Учеб. пособие / Н.А. Буре, М.В. Быстрых, С.А. Вишнякова и др.; Под ред. В.В. Химика, Л.Б. Волковой. СПб.: Филологический факультет СпбГУ; М.: Издательский центр «Академия», 2003. 272 с.
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4. TEXT CREATION PROBLEMS: THEORYAND PRACTICE
4.1 Modern approaches to text creation
Modern books on teaching writing offer two approaches to text creation depending on whether their authors concentrate on the process of creation (Processual Approach) or the end result (Resultative Approach). The latter is more traditional and is based on analyzing and imitating different types of text samples. The focus is on text fragments – sentences and paragraphs that are later combined to form the final text, as well as the style (choice of narration elements, descriptive elements, notions, comparison and contrasting, persuasion, explanation and illustration), depending on the type of text.
Thedrawbacksofthisapproachhavebeenmentionedbymanyresearchers and are concerned with lack of attention to the author’s individuality and different tasks performed in the process of creating the text.
In the other, Processual approach, the attention is paid to developing the author’s ideas and choosing SDs, depending on the text topic, the addressee, the intention, the author’s characteristics, the size of the text and the situation of its creating.
The Resultative approach ignores the author’s unique characteristics and concentrates on text types which are offered as models [1, P. 13]. As these approaches complement each other, this book will deal with both. In different sections we are going to contemplate peculiarities of basic text type writing. These recommendations are general in their character and may be applied partially or in full to publicist and scientific publicist, didactic and some kinds of scientific (especially oral) style texts as well as some others. It is not applicable to texts with rigid fixed structure, like official documents, contracts and such.
4.2. Main stages of text creation
Text creation is a complex procedure and includes several stages:
1)conception of the idea and forming a text outline;
2)collecting material and preparing a draft text;
3)analysing and improving the draft text;
4)designing the final text.
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Each stage in its turn includes several operations.
As is well known, the text composition (this includes oral text too) is determined by the author’s intention, which reflects all elements of communication, but in different ways and to a different extent.
At the initial stages of text creation the communicative situation (temporal and locational setting, sphere of communication, character of occasion and presupposition) is usually already set, and is included in text creation as a matter of course. Most authors’peculiarities will be reflected in the text one way or another, you needn’t pay any specific attention to that. That is why at the first stage of text creation the author’s attention should be focused on two aspects: text pragmatics, that include the function and the aim of the text, as well as the author’s intention, and the addressee’s interests and expectations (although the latter should be kept in mind throughout the process of text creation).
A lot of useful information on principles and methods of text writing may be found in English-language books on rhetoric and speech composition [2] [L. Elsbree, 1972; R.G. Bander, 1978; E. Roy, S. Roy, 1986; M.K. Rice, J.U. Burns, 1986; D. Brown, B. Burnette, 1987; J. Harris, 1993; P. Besser, 1994; A. Meyers, 1995], which may be summarized into several recommendations of universal character.
4.3. Forming the intention and creating the detailed plan of the text
In the beginning one should consider the addressees: how much they know about the topic and what their possible attitude to the problem may be. On the other hand, one should consider what one’s angle of the topic is and what is the aim of creating the text. By defining the aim we make a statement of intent that will later become the main point of our text.
Then one should write down the main ideas and associations connected with the topic. Sometimes choosing and shaping ideas, suggestions and arguments of the main theme present considerable difficulties, especially for a beginner. To simplify the task, several techniques may be used.
The easiest one is to write down everything that occurs to you as soon as it comes to your head, using a sentence or several words for each. Then they will be arranged logically.
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The facet method presupposes singling out different aspects of the problem – describing the subject matter, comparing the problem with others (similar or contrasting), enumerating different links or relations with other objects or problems, analyzing the structure and composition elements, methods, prospects and problems of employment, pros and cons of the problem or proposed ways of solving it.
The classification approach is to define the range of problems, related to the theme and includes enumerating main properties of the object or problem, isolating the properties that differ it from similar ones and/or defining its place in the system of similar objects, the limits of how it may be changed without compromising its essence, establishing its components and ways they may combine.
Free speech expression method works as follows: for five minutes write down everything that comes to your head, in case nothing does, just write: “I can’t think of anything”. Then stop and evaluate whether there are interesting relevant ideas, and if so, try to develop them for the next five minutes. Make a short break to rest and repeat it again.
Cluster analysis of associations with the topic looks like this. Take a large sheet of paper and white the topic in the middle. Then write down everything that can be said about it. The closer the connection, the closer it should be written to the centre, and mark the connections with arrows.
Having written down all the ideas on the topic that have come to your mind using one of these or any other methods, you should evaluate them, by discarding irrelevant or useless ones, leaving good ones and correcting badly-worded ones. Simultaneously you should be assessing the range of the topic, and in case it is too wide, narrow it down to the most important or interesting aspects. While you are doing this, new ideas may occur to you. If they develop the ones you have already written down, you continue their descriptions by putting “because” and writing down the new ideas about them. This will make shortcomings of those ideas quite obvious. Then organize all your ideas logically and try to transform them into the plan of the text. The aim of these activities is forming a dependable, unequivocal and reasonably detailed plan of the text.
Plans come in different shapes and sizes. The shortest is the traditional plan containing the main parts (Introduction, Body, Conclusion) or its extended variety listing subdivisions of the Main Body. For larger texts
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the plan also includes detailed description of the text Architectonics that gives all the names of compositional sections – chapters, sections and subsections.
But all that is not sufficient for creating a really good text. A much better result may be achieved by a draft plan of Linguistic Composition – a logically organized topics list of SPUs that will comprise the future text. Such a plan allows the author to assess the future text pragmatics, contents and aim, arrange information in the best logical and advantageous way, get rid of repetitions and cut down on less informative parts of the text or remove them altogether.
This plan may consist of a simple succession of key words and word combinations, each of them denoting a separate topic of a separate SPU. The problem of such a plan is that all SPUs are presented on the same level and seem equal, when it is not the case. So it may be a good idea to structure it in such a way as to point at relevant importance of SPUs, their interrelations and relative sizes of the sections.
The latter is necessary to ensure that the size of the section corresponds to its importance. Later this plan may evolve into a more detailed one by substituting words with full phrases describing the planned aim of each SPU. If executed correctly, such a plan will make creating a quality text much easier.
4.4. Introduction, its functions and their implementation
The next stage of creating the first text draft is coordinating its sectors. Introduction requires a lot of attention and effort, being the beginning of the text, which is traditionally described as the strong position. Psychologically the first impression is the strongest and remains in the reader’s memory, throwing its shadow on the rest of the text. The main purpose of the introduction is to give the necessary situative context awareness, to bring the main subject and prepare the listeners for the following information, but it also may be used to attract the audience and present the subject in the best possible way. Means of doing it are studied inApplied Text Linguistics.
When preparing an introduction we should keep in mind that in order to attract the reader’s attention it must be not very long, relevant, clear,
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and captivating. Sometimes it is helpful to use the following means of beginning the text [3]:
–an amusing event, anecdote, a joke that brings the reader to the central idea of the text;
–an apt proverb, saying or unusual opinion of a well-known person, a paradox;
–an astonishing fact or historical event, an interesting story, leading to the main idea of the text;
–a striking analogy, comparison;
–an account of personal experience (showing the author’s competence in the chosen problem);
–statistical data, concerning the chosen subject;
–definition of the main concept and related ideas;
–a number of provoking questions making the reader to start reflecting on the subject;
–expression of personal opinion on the chosen subject or a problem;
–introduction into the circumstances (time and place) of an event;
–fictional perspective of the future;
–and, last but not the least;
–a clear statement of the main idea and the author’s intentions.
4.5. The Body of the Text
The main concern of the author when preparing the body of the text should be the relevance of the stated facts and the logical order of their presentation. The body of the text is often considered to be the most important part of the text. But psychological analysis of text perception (and common experience) show that in every case introduction plays an important role in conditioning the attitude (and subsequent understanding) of the recipient of the message. The first minutes of a lecture, the initial part of the text enable the addressee to form their attitude to the subject and their behaviour in case of oral text presentation (trying to write down everything, just listening, acquiring critical attitude, paying no attention, etc.) and the same refers to the first pages of a book. The enormous amount of information contained in the body of the text (or the lecture) goes to the memory in a very generalized form.
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The body of the text usually contains arguments, proof, facts, examples and other illustrations, all of them developing and supporting your general idea, formulated in the Introduction. Arguments are usually organized in order of diminishing importance, growing specificity and detalization. But in activating, polemic texts the reverse order is often advisable as a more effective one. A detailed plan is often a great help in choosing the right strategy.
The main logical elements of a text, depending on the genre, are identification, description, exemplification, explanation, arguments for and against, evaluation, establishing logical connections (e.g. causeresult), comparing, contrasting, inference, and some others.
Description in most genres should be accurate, include all the necessary details and exclude irrelevant ones. The same goes for arguments. Strict logic is especially important for instructions. In case they are lengthy, it may be a good idea to introduce midline summaries to make it easier for the addressee to follow. When establishing cause-end-effect links, frequent use of connectors is advisable.
When creating text body, one should keep in mind that each SPU has a structure similar to a text – introduction, body and conclusion. Combined together, they form the linguistic structure of text (see 4.1) [4].
4.6. Conclusion
The conclusion should contain the summing up of the ideas in the text, so that the reader can see the problem as a whole again, and often the implications and the applications of the presented ideas. It should be compact but not jerky. Experience shows that for a text not exceeding 2–3 pages it often suffices to limit conclusion to a sentence, while with larger texts we need at least a paragraph and when text exceeds 10 pages we should devote to the summary at least one page. There are also some ways of finishing the text:
–repetition of the main ideas of the text;
–astonishing fact, story, data, supporting the ideas of the text;
–personal appraisal of the presented facts;
–expression of expedience of work in the given direction;
–presentation of the nearest and remote perspectives;
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–list of possible realizations of the presented ideas;
–concrete program of further activities connected with the proposed ideas.
In preparing the text you should avoid making too long sentences and too large paragraphs. The optimal length of a paragraph is 7–8 lines. We may suppose it is connected with the peculiarities of human perception.
The next stage of text preparation is appraising the first draft of the text.
4.7. Text appraisal
When appraising the draft text it is useful to answer the following questions:
–Does the text agree with its main purpose?
–Is the main idea clearly stated in introduction?
–Are there any contradictions or repetitions in the body of the text?
–Are there any parts of the text which would be difficult for the reader?
–Is the conclusion sufficiently convincing?
–Are the parts of the text sufficiently connected?
One of the simple means of checking up the presence of logical order and cohesion between the parts of the text is mentally introducing the words “it follows that” after the end of each division (part or chapter) and seeing whether the beginning of the next division would fit with these words.
When appraising a text, especially the main body, you should keep in mind that the previous paragraph often includes sentences that really belong to the next one [5]. You should adhere to the principle “one paragraph – one idea”. Cramming several ideas into one paragraph leads to subconscious random choice of one idea as the main and omitting the others on the part of the reader. Supporting sentences should develop and/ or reiterate the main idea of the SPU, be closely connected with its main sentence and form a smooth logical sequence leading to the paragraph’s conclusion [6].
A very common problem with modern texts (both written and oral) is the absence of the conclusion. In this case the addressee perceives the final fragment of the body as being one, whereas it may be very loosely connected with the author’s main idea. In this case all the author’s efforts to achieve the main communicative aim are, to all intents and purposes, rendered null [7].
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Discussion and tasks
1.What is the difference between processual approach and (resultative approach?
2.Name the main stages of text creation.
3.What are the main aspects of text creation at the first stage?
4.Name the main methods of topic angles contemplation.
5.Assess the text (Use your instructor’s choice or choose your own from reliable native speaker sources.)
References
1.Adams-Tukendorf, Malgorzata & Rydzak, Danuta. Developing writing skills.Amanual for EFLstudents. Opole, 2003. 243 р.
2.Elliot F.T. Language in you. San Francisco, 1964. Book 1. 118 p.
3.Ср. Bander R.G.American English Rhetorics. N.Y., 1978.
4.Перекальская Т.К. Абзац как средство вычленения и соединения сегментов научного текста // Вопросы лингвистики и методики преподавания иностранных языков. Проблема языка науки. М.: МГУ. 1981. Вып. 5. С. 56–63.
5.Валгина Н.С. Теория текста: Учеб. пособие. М.: Логос, 2003.
280 c.
6.Лурия А.Р. Язык и сознание. M.: МГУ, 1998. 258 c.
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5. INTERTEXTUALITY AND HYPERTEXT THEORY
5.1. Intertextuality and its role as a Text Category
As it has been mentioned before (1.2), there is no common view of text categories in linguistics today. There is discrepancy in terms naming Text Categories. But there is a number of generally accepted categories commonly agreed to be inherent to any kind of Text. They are Cohesion, Coherence, FormalComposition,Modality,IntertextualityandFunctionalType.
The concept of Intertextuality is one of the main postmodernists’ contributions to Text Categories problem. It was introduced by Julia Kristeva in 1967 to denote a common quality of all texts – the existence of links and connections that ensure the ability of texts (or their parts) to cross reference either explicitly or implicitly. At first glance it appears to repeat Source Theory, but actually introducing a new term reflects a new way of Text interpretation. Intertextuality includes concepts of citation and allusion, parody and pastiche, collage and plagiarism. Variety of forms notwithstanding, they all possess one common feature – the author who employs them one way or another uses an existing text.
Intertextuality provides for the Text fragmentary nature and heterogeneity. In her book Introduction a L’lntertextualite Nathalie PiegayGros compares it to mosaics, inlay or kaleidoscope, mentions “legitimate” and “illegitimate” borrowings, draws parallels between the author an a bee, collecting honey, or a thief, committing a robbery. Another metaphor likens it to a palimpsest and speaks about “layers” – the idea so close to R. Barthes’s heart [1, P. 118].
However one should understand, that to find the elements of “mosaics”, the “interpenetrating layers” the addressee can only in case if their thesaurus equals that of the author. The “ideal” reader spends as much time and effort on understanding the test under analysis, as the author did to create it. Moreover, the reader is able to find there (especially in case of Belle-lettres or Publicist Text) meanings the author did not suspect to be there. But the “real” reader often only glides over the surface meaning, perceiving only the direct meaning of the text, which often is the least important.
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