LM1 – Boyd 2017/18

24 October 2017

§ “a somewhat loose ‘umbrella term’ covering a range of approaches to the study of language” (Coffin & O’Halloran) focuses more on single sentences than on sentences combined into texts;

§ historically based on classical descriptions of Greek and Latin grammar

§ The main goal of creating traditional grammars was to reform and standardize language, which led to codification “official rules for grammar, orthography, pronunciation and vocabulary”;

§ Criticism is directed primarily at the prescriptive recommendations of authors, as opposed to the descriptive emphasis of linguistic studies.

§ developed in the 1930s in both North America and Europe as an empirical, scientific and objective approach to the study of language and linguistic features in terms of structures and systems

§ describes languages without the preconceived notions of what a language shouldcontain and how it should operate (prescriptive vs. descriptive grammar): § “In their view language constituted a set of behaviour patterns common to the members

of a particular community” (Coffin & O’Halloran, p. 19)

§ greater emphasis on the structural characteristics of linguistic elements: form (lexical) vs. function (grammatical) words; sound system; focus on sentence patterns (syntax), e.g.§ Villager | s | search | ed | the | country | side | for | many | day | s

§ an alternative to structural linguistics’ focus on surface forms: it analyzes the deep structures of language, which underlie all human languages and are genetically programmed in the human brain (Chomsky)

§ grammar is an abstract device used for producing and understanding sentences in any and all languages (universal grammar)

§ sentences are labelled according to hierarchical relations between component parts but such a tree structure does not indication the function of a particular constituent

§ Example: NP1−Aux−V−NP2 ⇒ NP2−Aux+be+en−V−by+NP1 § (where be is a form of the verb to be, and en represents the past-participle ending of the

lexical verb). The rule is said to ‘operate’ on the first, underlying phrase-marker, converting it into a second, ‘derived’, phrase-marker.

§ the study of large bodies of language data (corpus) with electronic software: demonstrates that native speaker intuitions about general language usage are not necessarily reliable§ “Instead of relying on their intuitions of how language is used, or on small amounts of

data, linguists can now make empirically robust statements about widespread language use” (Coffin & O’Halloran, 2010:11).

§ corpus-based grammars provide information on the frequency of different types of language use

§ languages are more patterned that previously thought, which can be seen in collocations highlighted by concordances

§ allows one to compare what occurs in individual texts with a large number of texts

§ part of the ‘functional’ turn in linguistics, which considered language, text and context as being systematically tied together

§ focus more on how language is functioning, what semantic meanings it is making and the overall communicative effect.

§ Language is considered as a system of choices from which speakers/writers select elements

§ The notion of register serves to highlight 3 aspects of the social context, i.e. 3 situational variables§ field§ tenor§ mode

§ The notion of register serves to highlight 3 aspects of the social context, i.e. 3 situational variables – “that relate to the three general language functions”§ field=the type of social activity taking place, it links to the function of language to

represent experience§ tenor=the social roles and relationships between the participants, it links to the

interpersonal relationships between speaker/listener, writer/reader§ mode=aspects of the channel of communication like how interactive or

spontaneous a text is and how close or distant in time to the event represented, it links to the function of language to to organise field and tenor in a cohesive manner.

Grammar creates meaning through metafunctions that are related to phenomena outside language:

§ The ideational metafunction is concerned with the 'ideation’ of grammatical resources for construing our experience of the world around us and inside us.

§ The interpersonal metafunction is concerned with the interaction between speaker and addressee(s).

§ The textual metafunction is concerned with the creation of text, with the presentation of ideational and interpersonal meanings as information that can be shared by speaker and listener in text unfolding in context.

From http://minerva.ling.mq.edu.au/resource/VirtuallLibrary/Publications/sfg_firststep/SFG%20intro%20New.html

§ Interpersonal metafunction includes the grammatical resources for enactingsocial roles in general, and speech roles in particular, in dialogic interaction; i.e. for establishing, changing, and maintaining interpersonal relations. (Mood/Modality);

§ Ideational metafunction can be expressed through TRANSITIVITY, the resource for construing our experience the flux of ‘goings-on’, as structural configurations; each consisting of a process, the participants involved in the process, and circumstances attendant on it. For example: [Location:] in the open glade [Actor:] the wild rabbits [Process:] danced [Accompaniment:] with their shadows.

§ Textual metafunction: One of the major textual systems is THEME, the resource for setting up a local context for a clause by selecting a local point of departure in the flow of information. Thus the spatial Location is given thematic status in the example analysed for TRANSITIVITY above: [Theme:] in the open glade [Rheme:] the wild rabbits danced with their shadows

From http://minerva.ling.mq.edu.au/resource/VirtuallLibrary/Publications/sfg_firststep/SFG%20intro%20New.html

Text about fishing

(1) There are four things a young child ought to learn about fishing his first time out. (2) First, hooks are sharp.(3) Demonstrate this by lightly pressing the point against the fleshy part of his thumb. (4) Second, a pole is held in a certain way (usually at the end in two hands, one above the other). (5) Third, noise frightens the fish away. (6) Fourth, the fisherman must be patient. (7) Perhaps the best way to teach patience is to be patient yourself, since his attitude will depend to a considerable extent on how you behave.

Text about fishing

(1) There are four things a young child ought to learn about fishing his first time out. (2) First, hooks are sharp.(3) Demonstrate this by lightly pressing the point against the fleshy part of his thumb. (4) Second, a pole is held in a certain way (usually at the end in two hands, one above the other). (5) Third, noise frightens the fish away. (6) Fourth, the fisherman must be patient. (7) Perhaps the best way to teach patience is to be patient yourself, since his attitude will depend to a considerable extent on how you behave.

Ideational metafunction

Text is interested in giving information about the state of the world, so the language expresses the ideational metafunction (e.g. hooks are sharp, noise frightens the fish away). Another ideational metafunction is realized in (7) with since, which establishes the logical relationship of reason between the two main ideas in the sentence.

Text about fishing

(1) There are four things a young child ought to learn about fishing his first time out. (2) First, hooks are sharp.(3) Demonstrate this by lightly pressing the point against the fleshy part of his thumb. (4) Second, a pole is held in a certain way (usually at the end in two hands, one above the other). (5) Third, noise frightens the fish away. (6) Fourth, the fisherman must be patient. (7) Perhaps the best way to teach patience is to be patient yourself, since his attitude will depend to a considerable extent on how you behave.

Interpersonal metafunction

The writer (a man) reveals his attitude expressing an opinion through modality(e.g. ought to (1), must be (6), perhaps (7)). Gives advice to parents about how they to teach their children to fish. Perhaps (7) indicates that the final point is merely a suggestion, which a reader might decide to reject. Earlier advice of ought to and must be is more urgent. By using the possessive adjective his the writer expresses a view that the child will most likely be a boy, revealing ideological aspects of the writer’s attitude (which he is presenting as being representative of the world).

Text about fishing

(1) There are four things a young child ought to learn about fishing his first time out. (2) First, hooks are sharp.(3) Demonstrate this by lightly pressing the point against the fleshy part of his thumb. (4) Second, a pole is held in a certain way (usually at the end in two hands, one above the other). (5) Third, noise frightens the fish away. (6) Fourth, the fisherman must be patient. (7) Perhaps the best way to teach patience is to be patient yourself, since his attitude will depend to a considerable extent on how you behave.

Textual metafunction

The textual metafunction is realized through the word order of the sentences, through which the information is sequenced for the reader and also through the cohesion devices of first, second etc. It is the mixing of the metafunctions that realizes the meaning(s) of the text as an act of communication between the writer and his readers.

§ Discourse Analysis focuses on knowledge about language beyond the word, clause, phrase and sentence that is needed for successful communication. It looks at patterns of language across texts (both written and spoken) and considers the relationship between language and the social and cultural contexts in which it is used.

§ Discourse analysis also considers the ways that the use of language presents different views of the world and different understandings. It examines how the use of language is influenced by relationships between participants as well as the effects the use of language has upon social identities and relations. It also considers how views of the world, and identities, are constructed through the use of discourse” [Paltridge, Brian (2006) Discourse Analysis. Continuum]

Some important notions of DA:

§ the relationship between language and context: e.g. how people know, from the situation that they are in, how to interpret what someone says (writes)

§ DA and Pragamatics: Pragmatics is concerned with how the interpretation of language depends on knowledge of the real world and it is interested in what people mean by what they say, rather than what words in their most literal sense might mean by themselves (Cf. Semantics which is interested in literal rather than pragamatic meaning)

§ Discourse structure of texts: DA interested in how people organize what they say in the sense of what they typically say first, and what they say next, etc.

§ Cultural ways of speaking and writing: greater cultural context(s) of speech situation.

Critical Discourse Analysis draws upon a wide range of approaches: linguistics (specifically SFL & Critical Linguistics), social theory, sociology, ethnography, psychology, history, etc.

§ It aims to analyse texts and it sees discourse as not only a product of society, but also as an important force in (re)shaping social practices, both positively and negatively.

§ In CDA, since language (text) is seen as a site of struggle, one of its goals is to bring about change in the social structure itself (see, especially, Fairclough).

CDA is different from previous approaches [e.g. SFL], which uses discourse analysis as a means for certain groups to gain access to texts or genres.

§ While discourse is determined by social conditions, it also reproduces and perpetuates those conditions.

§ CDA stresses the need for a close linguistic analysis of discourse-as-text in order to develop in detail the way that discourse can contribute to exploitation and marginalisation of certain groups, or discourse as discursive and social practice (ingroups vs. outgroups).

§ CDA typically analyzes news texts, political discourse (speeches, debates, interviews), advertisements, school books, etc., “exposing strategies that appear normal or neutral on the surface but which may in fact be ideological and see to shape the representation of events and persons for particular ends” (Machin & Mayr 2012: 5)

§ Interested in non-verbal semiotics;

§ It was thought that analysts needed a “toolkit that could facilitate more precise, systematic and careful description that would in turn allow more accurate analysis”

§ Scholars felt that they needed the same tools to be able to study visual features that CDA allowed for the study of lexical and grammatical choices in language (Machin& Mayr 2012: 7)

§ MCDA is “interested in showing how images, photographs, diagrams and graphics also work to create meaning, in each case describing the choices made by the author” (ibid. 9)

§ “When represented participants look at the viewer, vectors, formed by participants’ eyelines, connect the participants with the viewer” (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006);

§ image can be considered a demandbecause it asks something of the viewer, “in an imaginary relationship, so they feel that their presence is acknowledged and, just as when someone addresses us in social interaction, some kind of response is required” (Machin & Mayr 2012: 71)

§ Demand is strengthened by the fact that the represented participant is looking down on the viewer, thereby “exercising symbolic power over us” (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006: 118)

§ Represented participant (Tsarnaev) is looking at viewer

§ Vectors connect the participants with the viewer

§ Demand >asks something of the viewer, they feel their presence is acknowledged, some kind of response is required

§ Demand strengthened by represented participant is looking down on the viewer > “exercising symbolic power over us”

Even if your visit is a short stopover between flights, it is possible to take in some of Singapore’s sights before departure. An evening out with a tour group can lead to all sorts of fun and adventure.

One tour unveils the cultural diversity of Singapore and features Indian, Chinese and Peranakan heritages. It takes in Little India and samples local food, including the flaky, pancake style bread, roti prata.

Next stop is the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Temple, Singapore’s largest Buddhist temple, with its magnificent statues, including one carved from a 10-ton block of marble.

The tour then continues to the Straits National Gallery where you can discover the unique Chinese/Malay Peranakan culture.

The final stop is Arab Street to explore the vibrant Malay culture and the old charm the area has retained.