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прагматика и медиа дискурс / Teun A van Dijk - Text and Context

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PREFACE

ix

introductory chapter, in which some basic problems of the study of discourse are raised. The inquiry is in two parts, one semantic and the other pragmatic, which means that all aspects of the surface structure properties of discourse are neglected. In the semantics we proceed from a study of the conditions of connection between propositions, as expressed by natural connectives, to other coherence conditions of discourse, first at the level of sequences and then at the level of global semantic macro-structures. In the second or pragmatic part, some of these phenomena are taken up again in tercos of speech acts and speech act sequences.

Since the theoretical foundations of these respective parts, viz FORMAL SEMANTICS and the PI-ILOSOPHY OF ACTION, are not yet generally familiar to the student of linguistics, I have added two introductory chapters about these important domains instead of referring the reader to other introductory surveys (if any), which are short, simple and relevant enough for our purposes. For further details, however, we have referred to more specialized studies in these respective fields.

Not only is the aim to explore the linguistic theory of discourse and the relations between semantics and pragmatics in general, but to provide an introduction to the subject and offer some insights into a number of basic issues in (text) grammatical theory. Some elementary knowledge of modern linguistics and the theory of speech acts, however, is presupposed, as well as some notions from rudimentary set theory. Although notions from formal semantics are explained and applied, our mode of exposition will on the whole be informal. Finally, it should be emphasized that on many points our observations are tentative and/or incomplete, many issues deserving booklength treatment. It seemed more appropriate at the moment, however, to raise a number of issues and show how they are interrelated rather than to go into the full intricacies of one single phenomenón.

For critica] comments on the preliminary draft of this book and for discussions concerning some of the topics treated in it I am indebted to Lubomír Dolezel, Alois Eder, Uwe Mónnich, Petr Sgall, Helmut Schnelle, and in particular to David Harrah, Cees van Rees, Hugo Verdaasdonk, Jeroen Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof who have pointed out my worst errors (some of which require correction in our future work). To Robert de Beaugrande I am indebted for many helpful suggestions on style, and I also would like to acknowledge the helpful comments of the editors of the Linguistics Library in which this book appears, as well as the assistance and suggestions of Peggy Drinkwater of Longman.

Finally, special thanks for many discussions and suggestions are due to my wife Dorothea Franck, who has also been the essential 'happiness condition' in the production context of this text, and to whom, therefore, this book is dedicated.

University of Amsterdam

TA V D

June 1976

Contents

Preface

vii

Symbols and technical conventions

xv

INTRODUCTION

 

1 The linguistic study of discourse

 

1 Aims and problems

1

2 The organization of this study

8

3 The study of discourse

11

PART 1 SEMANTICS

 

2 A brief introduction to formal semantics

19

1 Formal languages

2 Truth-functional semantics

21

3 Predicate logic and its semantics

23

4 Modal logics and their semantics

27

5 Extension and intension

33

6 Formal semantics and natural language

37

3 Connection and connectives

 

1 Connection

43

1.1 Aims and problems ofdiscourse semantics

43

1.2 Conditions of semantic connection

45

2 Connectives

52

2.1 Connectives in natural language

52

2.2 Natural and logical connectives

53

2.3 Conjunction

58

X11

 

CONTENTS

2.4 Disjunction

63

2.5

Conditionals

67

2.6

Contrastives

81

2.7 Connectives combined

82

2.8

Connected sequences

86

2.9 Connection and connectives: conclusions

88

4 Coherence

 

1 Aims and problems

93

2 The semantics of coherence

95

3 Coherence analysis: some examples

98

4 Fact ordering and sequence ordering

103

5 Explicit and implicit information in discourse

108

6 Topic, comment, focus, and their functions in discourse

114

5 Macro - structures

 

1 Introduction

130

2 Topics of discourse

131

3 Macro-operations and semantic information reduction

143

4 Macro-structures and the conditions of

148

connection and coherence

5 Linguistic evidence for macro-structures

149

6 Macro-structures and discourse types

153

7 The cognitive basis of macro-structures

155

PART II PRAGMATICS

 

6 Sorne notions from the theory of action

 

1 Introduction

167

2 Events, actions, processes

168

3 Doings, acts, actions

172

4 Mental structures of action

178

5 Negative action

181

6 Interpretations and descriptions of action

182

7 Action logic

184

8 Interaction

185

7 Contexts and speech acts

1 The aims of pragmatics

189

2 The structure of context

191

3 Acts of language

195

CONTENTS

x111

8 The pragmatics of discourse

 

1 Aims and problems of discourse pragmatics

205

2 Sentences and sequences

206

3 Connectives, connection and context

210

4 Speech act sequences

213

5 Pragmatic information processing

218

6 The pragmatics of representation in discourse

223

7 Text versus context

228

9 Macro - speech acts

 

l The global organization of communicative interaction

232

2 Macro-action

233

3 Macro-speech acts

238

4 Macro-speech acts and discourse

243

Bibliography

249

índex

257

Just The Way It Is.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:

Executors of James Joyce Estate, Jonathan Cape Limited, and the Society of Authors for an excerpt from `Ivy Day in the Committee Room' from Dubliners by James Joyce; Robert Hale & Co, and James Hadley Chase for extracts from his book

Symbols and technical conventions

CONNECTIVES

&, V , , -

r

IF

=

logical connectives of conjunction, disjunction, material implication/conditional, material equivalence

logical negation meta-variable for connectives

derivability (provability, theoremhood) in logical syntax semantic entailment

identity; strict material equivalence strict material implication

relevant implication/conditional

strict relevant implication (expressing entailment) causal relations of necessitation, conditioning, together with E, 0, 0

semantic mapping (macro-rule) (based on entailment)

OPERATORS

 

0,0,0

modal (alethic) operators of necessity, probability and

 

possibility

P, F, N

tense operators of past, future and now

K, B, W

epistemic, doxastic and boulomaeic operators of

 

knowledge, belief and want

I, DO

action operators of intention and bringing about

T

change operator over states of affairs

SET-THEORETICAL SYMBOLS

e,,

is an element of, is not an element of, is part of

{. , .}

set indicators

 

ordered set (n-tuple) indicators

xvi SYMBOLS AND TECHNICAL CONVENTION 5

V

set-union

.)

functíons (where <k may be any letter)

EXPRESSIONS

 

p, q, r, ...

proposition letters

a p, y, ...

meta-variables for propositions

x, y, z, ...

individual variables

a, b, c,...

individual constants

u, v, .

action variables

A, B, C, ...

event variables/constants; person variables/constants

f, g, h, ...

predicate letters

4), vi,...

predicate (meta-)variables

S., S;, ...

sentence variables

E;, Ej, ...

sequence (of sentences) variables

f, fa,...

fact variables

QUANTIFIERS

 

V

universal quantifier: for all .. .

3

existential quantifier: for at least one .. .

SEMANT1C SYMBOLS

V

valuation function

V +

valuation function for truth and connection values

1, 0

truth and falsity; connectedness and disconnectedness;

 

topic and comment

D; d;, da,...

set of individuals and its members

W; w;, wj, ...

set of possible worlds and its members

T; t;, t., ...

set of time points and its members

Z; z;, z;, ...

set of possible topics of discourse/conversation and its

 

members

<D, W, ..., V> model of modal predicate logics

Ok

union of the sets of individuals referred to by expressions

 

of sentences satísfied in the first k —1 models of a

 

discourse model (fe the set of previously mentioned

•^ (= V(¢))

referents).

the denotatum of r¢

L, 4, 1;

the set of locations and its members

w0, to, z0, ...

the actual possible world, time point, topic of

 

conversation, .. .

R

binary relation over W: accessibility, alternativity

<

(sometimes with epistemic índex)

binary relation over T: precedence

1

binary relation over Z: initiatability

T( )

set of conceptual frames and its members

topicalization function

SPACED SMALL CAPITALS.
SMALL CAPITALS.

SYMBOLS AND TECHNICAL CONVENTIONS

Xvii

PRAGMATIC SYMBOLS

 

C, c;, c;, ...

set of possible contexts and its members

 

co

the actual context

 

S(

speaker function

 

H(

hearer function

 

U, u;, u;, ...

set of utterance types and its members

 

uo

the actual utterance type

 

luol

the actual utterance token

 

<to , lo , co ...

> here-now in actual context

 

OTHER CONVENTIONS

1 Cited expressíons and sentences are always in italics when occurring in the text (but not when shown on separate example lines).

2 Propositions are enclosed between bold `single quotes'.

3 Utterances are in italics and between "double quotes".

4 Concepts are between single quotes'.

5 Important and theoretical terms are in

6 Frame-names are in

INTRODUCTION