TEXT AND TEXT-TYPES

Lingua Inglese II - a.a. 2014/2015

WHAT IS A TEXT?

A text is an extended structure of syntactic

units [i.e. text as super-sentence] such as words,

groups, and clauses and textual units that is

marked by both coherence among the elements

and completion.

[Whereas] A non-text consists of random

sequences of linguistic units such as sentences,

paragraphs, or sections in any temporal and/or

spatial extension (Werlich 1976: 23)

WHAT IS A TEXT?

A naturally occurring manifestation of language, i.e.

as a communicative language event in a

context. The SURFACE TEXT is the set of

expressions actually used; these expressions make

some knowledge EXPLICIT, while other knowledge

remains IMPLICIT, though still applied during

processing. (De Beaugrande and Dressler 1981:

63)

DOES THIS MEAN THAT EVERY SPECIMEN OF OUR

OWN LANGUAGE CONSTITUTES A TEXT?

A text must be difined according to standards of textuality,

must be relevant to a situation of occurrence. A text is a

manifestation of a human action in which a person

intends to instruct the receivers to build relationships of

various kinds. (De Baugrande & Dressler 1981)

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY

Standards of textuality (De Baugrande & Dressler 1981)

1. Cohesion

2. Coherence

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY

1. Cohesion

The ways in which the components of the

surface text, i.e. the actual words we hear or

see, are mutually connected within a

sequence.

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY

2. Coherence

The ways in which the components of

the textual world, i.e. the configuration

of concepts and relations which

underlie the surface text, are mutually

accessible and relevant.

COHESION

Cohesion is linguistically explicit and signals

underlying semantic relationships between text

elements.

Cohesion is necessary, though not sufficient, in the

creation of coherent texts.

Cohesion

Lexical

Grammatical

reference

ellipsis

substitution

conjunctions

exophoric

endophoric

Cataphoric

Anaphoric

repetitions

synonyms

superordinates

General words

GRAMMATICAL COHESION

Reference

References are resources to refer to a

participant or to a circumstantial element

whose identity is recoverable.

Speakers use linguistic forms, known as

referring expressions, to enable hearers to

identify the entity being referred to, which is in

turn known as the referent.

REFERENCE

[situational]

Exophoric

[textual]

endophoric

[to preceeding text]

anaphora

[to following text]

cataphora

EXOPHORIC REFERENCE

Child: Why does THAT one come out?

Parent: that what?

Child: THAT one

Parent: That what?

Child:That ONE!

Parent: That one what?

Child: That lever there that you push to let the water

out. (Halliday &

Hasan 1976: 34)

ENDOPHORIC REFERENCE

Anaphoric reference it links back to something that went before in the text:

The first row of cottages looked empty and decrepit . But

behind them stood another row, well kept and with small

bright gardens

Cataphoric reference it links forward to a referent in the text that follows

I would never believed it. Theyve accepted the whole scheme

GRAMMATICAL COHESION

SUBSTITUTION

It holds the text together by avoiding

repletion. It tends to be endophoric, that is,

the noun phrase being substituted is usually

in the text:

You think Joan already knows? - I think

everybody does.

GRAMMATICAL COHESION

ELLIPSIS

it is mainly used to avoid repetition and it

depends on the hearer or readers being able to retrieve the missing words from the

surrounding context:

Joan bought some carnations, and

Catherine some sweet peas (Halliday &

Hasan 1976: 143)

GRAMMATICAL COHESION

CONJUNCTIONS

They are resources which connect

messages via addition, comparison,

temporality and causality:

He fell asleep, in spite of his great

discomfort (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 229)

Cohesion

Lexical

Grammatical

reference

ellipsis

substitution

conjunctions

exophoric

endophoric

Cataphoric

Anaphoric

repetitions

synonyms

superordinates

General words

LEXICAL COHESION

REPETITION

It is simply repeated words or word-phrases.

While substitution and ellipsis avoid

repetition, lexical repetition exploits it for

stylistic effect

LEXICAL COHESION

SYNONYMS

A speaker or a writer can use another word

which means the same or almost the same.

It allows language users to avoid repetition

SUPERORDINATES

They are another way of avoiding repetition by using:

hyponymya word or a word-phrase whose semantic field is included within that of another word; scarlet , vermilion are hyponyms of red

hypernymya word or a word-phrase whose semantic field is more generic than a given word; red is hypernym of colour

GENERAL WORDS

They can be general nouns, such as thing, stuff, place, person,woman,man,etc.,or general verbs, such as do or happen, which are higher level superordinates: they are the

umbrella terms that can cover almost everything.

COHERENCE

stretches of language are connected to each other

by virtue of conceptual or meaning dependencies

as perceived by language users

The ways in which the components of the textual

world, i.e. the configuration of concepts and

relations which underlie the surface text, are

mutually accessible and relevant.

TEXT-TYPES

Texts can be grouped into categories and types on

the basis of their linguistic and conceptual features

and of their communication function (their purpose).

Werlich (1976) bases his classification of

texts on criteria called dominant contextual focus. According to him texts distinctively correlate with the contextual factors in a

communicative situation. They

conventionally focus the addressees attention only on specific factors and

circumstances from the whole set of factors.

1. The focus is on factual phenomena (i.e. persons, objects, and relations). Texts of this group will be referred to as descriptive texts.

2. The focus is on factual and/or conceptual phenomena in the temporal context. Texts of this group will be referred to as narrative texts.

3. The focus is on the de-composition (analysis) into or the composition (synthesis) from constituent elements of concepts of phenomena that the communicants have. Texts of this group will be referred to as expository texts.

4. The focus is on the relations between concepts of phenomena that the communicants have. Texts of this group will be referred to as argumentative texts.

5. The focus is on the composition of observable future behaviour, with reference to phenomena, in one of the communicants, that is either in the speaker/writer or hearer/reader. Texts of this group will be referred to as instructive texts.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

They are concerned with the location of persons

and things in space.

State verbs and relational processes plus adverbial

expressions.

Use of adjectives.

NARRATIVE TEXTS

May be fictional or non-fictional

Sequencing of events expressed by dynamic verbs

and by adverbials such as and then, first, second, third

EXPOSITORY

may be subjective (essay) or objective

(summary,explication).

are characterized by state verbs and epistemic

modals or by verbs indicating typical activities or

qualities.

Use of the simple present tense.

ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS

Usually tries to appear objective and to

persuade by the logic of the argument.

Use of connectors to reveal the structure of

the argument:

Secondly, thus, as evidence of this,

however, etc

Reference to authorities Scientists believe

INSTRUCTIVE TEXTS

Central to these texts are imperatives (open the

box).

Conditional Adjuncts: When the box is open

Purpose Adjuncts: To open the box

TOURISM TEXTS

Editorial (travel books, travel guides, tourist magazine)

Institutional (official leaflets, brochures, websites, advertisments)

Commercial (hotel brochure, leaflets, advertisments, travel agent websites)

Organisational (tickets, bookings, cards, invoices)

Legal (regulations, norms)

Scientific and academic (critical volumes, articles, essays)

Informal (travel blogs, travel chats)

SPECIALISED AND NON-SPECIALISED TEXTS

Specialists (formal tourist documents - highly

technical/specialised lexis)

Specialists and non -specialists (textbooks, essays,

manuals - features of general languague mix to

specialised language)

Specialists and a wider audience (reports in travel

magazine)

Non-specialists C2C ( Travel blogs, travel chats -

genaral language with some specialised words).

STAGES OF A TRIP

Dann identifies three general stages:

Pre-trip (brochures, leaflets) - promotional

On-trip (tourist guides, maps) - informative and

instructive

Post-trip (postcards, souvenirs) - fix the trip

experience in the readers mind and remind the torurist of the destination

TEXT-GENRES AND THEIR GENRE VALUES

Some values may be predominant in some text-

genres for example:

The narrative genre value is predominant in

travel books, diaries and word-of-mouth and in

some specific history sections of the travel

guides

The descriptive genre value is predominant in

the description of geographical areas in travel

guides, reports and diaries.

The instructive genre value can be found in

guidebooks (itinerary sections, giving advice about

tours, events, eating and sleeping options).

The expositive genre value is found in some

guidebook sections offering detailed information such

as timetables, wheather conditions.

The argumentative genre value can be found in travel

reports where both positive and negative elements of a

destination are discussed. It is also used in travel books,

guides and diaries.