Text linguistics

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Text linguistics
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Text

• the spoken or written evocation of an event or
  series of events
• (p.193)

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Event

• Homer eats crap.
• Event Schema Doing

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Event

• Homer eats crap.
• Event Schema Doing

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Text

• I.e., one or more sentences

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Text

• I.e., one or more sentences

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Text

• texere
• to weave
• text
• utterances (usually sentences) woven into a
  perceived whole

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Text
Clusters of language, at least two clauses big,
perceived as a functioning unit woven language.
For purposes of analysis, that is, we close our
eyes to para- and extra-verbal dimensions.
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Textual function Weaving function
The elements and dimensions of language that
serve to weave a discourse together.
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TextPerceived wholeThe two weaving mechanisms
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TextPerceived wholeThe two weaving mechanisms
Texture
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TextPerceived wholeThe two weaving mechanisms

• Cohesion (elements)
• achieved by formal devices, usually
  lexico-syntactic
• semasiological
• Coherence (dimensions)
• achieved by conceptual devices (ideas)
• onomasiological

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TextPerceived wholeThe two weaving mechanisms
Form

• Cohesion (elements)
• achieved by formal devices, usually
  lexico-syntactic
• semasiological
• Coherence (dimensions)
• achieved by conceptual devices (ideas)
• onomasiological

Content
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Cohesion / Coherence

• Cohesion ( coherence)
• Dont trust McBean, because hes a shyster.
• Coherence (low cohesion)
• Dont trust McBean. Hes a shyster.

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Cohesion without coherence (?)

• A week has seven days. Every day I feed my cat.
  The cat is on the mat. Mat has three letters.
  Letters are roughly phonemic. I better phone my
  mother.

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Text LinguisticsCohesion / Coherence

• Cohesion--formal, semasiological
• Structural
• Iteration, balance (iteration of structure),
  connectives
• Coherenceconceptual, onomasiological
• Referential
• Topical definite, indefinite
• Relational
• Paratactic (among nuclei)
• Hypotactic (between nucleus and satellites)

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(No Transcript)
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Referential coherence--Definite/Indefinite

• Indefinite
• Presented, unknown, new
• Definite
• Established, understood, given

A cat is at the door
The cat is at the door
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Referential coherence--Indefinite

• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.
• Signalled by an indefinite determiner (a, an,
  some).
• Used to introduce (new) topics and characters.

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Referential coherence--Definite
Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with
stars. Signalled by a definite determiner (the).
Used to refer to understood (given, old) topics
and characters.
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Referential coherence--Topical

• When the Star-Belly Sneetches had frankfurter
  roasts
• Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,
• They never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetches.
• They left them out cold, in the dark of the
  beaches
• They kept them away. Never let them come near.
• And thats how they treated them year after year.

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Referential coherence--Topical

• When the had frankfurter roasts
• Or picnics or parties or marshmallow toasts,
• They never invited the .
• They left them out cold, in the dark of the
  beaches
• They kept them away. Never let them come near.
• And thats how they treated them year after year.

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Referential coherence--Topical

• Phrasal
• Identical
• Partial
• Proformal
• Anaphoric
• (Cataphoric)
• Elliptical

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Referential coherence / Repetitious
cohesionPhrasal (content words, not proforms)

• Identical (full iteration)
• Star-Belly Sneetches blah blah blah
  Star-Belly Sneetches
• Plain-Belly Sneetches blah blah blah
  Plain-Belly Sneetches
• Sylvester McMonkey McBean blah blah blah
  Sylvester McMonkey McBean

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Referential coherence / Repetitious cohesion
Phrasal (content words, not proforms)

• Partial (reduction)
• Star-Belly Sneetches blah blah blah
  Star-Bellies
• Sylvester McMonkey McBean blah blah blah
  McBean
• Partial (paraphrase)
• Star-Belly Sneetches blah blah blah Sneetches
  with stars
• Plain-Belly Sneetches blah blah blah
  Sneetches without stars on their bellies

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Referential coherence Proformal (not content
words)

• When the Star-Belly Sneetchesi hadj frankfurter
  roasts
• Or Øi Øj picnics or Øi Øj parties or Øi Øj
  marshmallow toasts,
• Theyi never invited the Plain-Belly Sneetchesk.
• Theyi left themk out cold, in the dark of the
  beaches
• Theyi kept themk away. Øi Never let themkcome
  near.
• And thats how theyi treated themk year after
  year.

i
k
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Referential coherence Proformal (not content
words)

• Star-Belly Sneetchesi
• Anaphoric
• Theyi never invited
• Elliptical
• Øi never let them

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Referential coherenceProformal (not content
words)

• Cataphoric
• Theyi Star-Belly Sneetchesi

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Referential coherence Proformal (not content
words)

• Cataphoric
• And he laughed as he drove
• In his car up the beach
• Theyi never will learn.
• No. You cant teach a sneetchi!

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Referential coherenceProformal (not content
words)

• Cataphoric
• Then I was deep within the woods
• When, suddenly, I spied themi.
• I saw a pair of pale green pantsi
• With nobody inside themi!

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Referential coherenceProformal (not content
words)
Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had belliesi with
starsj. The Plain-Belly Sneetchesk Had nonej
upon thars(i,k).
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Referential coherenceProformal (not content
words)
Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had belliesi with
starsj. The Plain-Belly Sneetchesk Had nonej
upon thars(i,k). Alternate analysis Plain-Bellyi
Sneetchesj tharj Øis
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Relational coherenceRestatement

• So they clambered inside. Then the big machine
  roared.
• And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And
  it berked.
• And it bopped them about. But the thing really
  worked!
• When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they
  had stars!
• They actually did. They had stars upon thars.

Nucleus
Restatements
A satellite which reformulates (paraphrases) the
information given in the nucleus.
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Relational coherenceConcession

• So they clambered inside. Then the big machine
  roared.
• And it klonked. And it bonked. And it jerked. And
  it berked.
• And it bopped them about. But the thing really
  worked!
• When the Plain-Belly Sneetches popped out, they
  had stars!
• They actually did. They had stars upon thars.

Concessions
Nucleus
A satellite which concedes potential
incompatibilities with the information presented
in the nucleus.
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Relational coherence
Paratactic Among elements of equal importance to
the text between nuclei Hypotactic Among
elements in which one (the nucleus) is more
important to the text, and the other (the
satellite) extends it in some way.
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Relational coherenceParatactic relations
Now, the Star-Belly Sneetches Had bellies with
stars. The Plain-Belly Sneetches Had none upon
thars. Contrast theme, character
Nuclei
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Relational coherenceParatactic relations
Nuclei
Off again! On again! In again! Out
again! Sequence Narrative elements
Contrast Plot development(equality of
characters!)
Nuclei
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Relational coherenceHypotactic relations

• Nucleus
• Utterance that contributes to the core of the
  text (the story, the argument, the instruction,
  ).
• Satellite
• Utterance that is peripheral to text, and which
  depends on a nucleus (that it extends, explains,
  frames, )

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Hypotactic relations Nucleus and satellite

• Then ONE day, it seems, while the Plain-Belly
  Sneetches
• Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
• Just sitting there wishing their bellies had
  stars
• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

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Hypotactic relations Nucleus and satellite

• Then ONE day, it seems, while the Plain-Belly
  Sneetches
• Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
• Just sitting there wishing their bellies had
  stars
• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

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Hypotactic relations Nucleus and satellite

• Then ONE day, it seems, while the Plain-Belly
  Sneetches
• Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
• Just sitting there wishing their bellies had
  stars
• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

Satellites
Nucleus
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Nucleus and satellite Circumstance

• Then ONE day, it seems, while the Plain-Belly
  Sneetches
• Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
• Just sitting there wishing their bellies had
  stars
• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

Satellites
Nucleus
Circumstance
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Nucleus and satellite Circumstance

• Then ONE day, it seems, while the Plain-Belly
  Sneetches
• Were moping and doping alone on the beaches,
• Just sitting there wishing their bellies had
  stars
• A stranger zipped up in the strangest of cars.

Satellites
Nucleus
Circumstance
A satellite which gives the framework in which
the reader isintended to interpret the situation
described in the nucleus.
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Multiple relations

• And Ive heard of your troubles. Ive heard
  youre unhappy.
• But I can fix that. Im the Fix-it-up Chappie.
• Ive come here to help you. I have what you need.
• And my prices are low. And I work at great
  speed.
• And my work is one-hundred percent guaranteed.

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Contrast
And Ive heard of your troubles. Ive heard
youre unhappy. But I can fix that. Im the
Fix-it-up Chappie. Ive come here to help you. I
have what you need. And my prices are low. And I
work at great speed. And my work is one-hundred
percent guaranteed.
Nuclei
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Solutionhood

• And Ive heard of your troubles. Ive heard
  youre unhappy.
• But I can fix that. Im the Fix-it-up Chappie.
• Ive come here to help you. I have what you need.
• And my prices are low. And I work at great
  speed.
• And my work is one-hundred percent guaranteed.

Problem(s)
Nucleus
The nucleus is a solution to the problem
described in the satelite.
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Justification
And Ive heard of your troubles. Ive heard
youre unhappy. But I can fix that. Im the
Fix-it-up Chappie. Ive come here to help you. I
have what you need. And my prices are low. And I
work at great speed. And my work is one-hundred
percent guaranteed.
Justifications
Nucleus
A satellite which increases the readers
readiness to accept the writers right to present
the information in the nucleus.
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Justification
Not in a box. Not with a fox. I would not eat
green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
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Justification
Not in a box. Not with a fox. I would not eat
green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
Nucleus
Justification
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Justification
Not in a box. Not with a fox. I would not eat
green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-am.
Nucleus
Elaborations
Justification
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Elaboration

• And Ive heard of your troubles. Ive heard
  youre unhappy.
• But I can fix that. Im the Fix-it-up Chappie.
• Ive come here to help you. I have what you need.
• And my prices are low. And I work at great
  speed.
• And my work is one-hundred percent guaranteed.

Nucleus
Elaborations
A satellite which presents additional detail
about (some element of) the situation described
in the nucleus.
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Elaborations
Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would
you? With a fox?
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Elaborations
Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would
you? With a fox?
Satellites
Nuclei
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Restatement
Would you? Could you? In a box? Could you? Would
you? With a fox?
Satellite
Nucleus
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Text linguistics

• Cohesion--formal, semasiological
• Structural
• Iteration, balance (iteration of structure),
  connectives (subordination, coordination)
• Coherenceconceptual, onomasiological
• Referential
• Topical definite, indefinite
• Relational
• Paratactic (among nuclei)
• Hypotactic (between nucleus and satellites)
• Proformal
• Anaphoric, cataphoric, elliptical