What is a text?

What is a text?

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of

speech.

According to De Beaugrande and

Dressler, a text will be defined as a

communicative occurrence which meets

seven standards of textuality.

Text-centered notions:• Cohesion• Coherence

User-centered notions:• Intentionality• Acceptability• Informativity• Situationality• Intertextuality

Text-centered notions: cohesion

• Cohesion concerns the way in which the components of the surface text, i.e. the actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence.

• Cohesion rests upon grammatical forms and conventions

Text-centered notions: coherence

Coherence concerns the ways in which the meanings within a text (concepts, relations among them and their relations to the external world) are established and developed.

Some of the major relations of coherence are logical sequences:

cause-consequence (and so), condition-consequence (if), instrument-achievement (by), contrast (however), compatibility (and), etc.

Cohesion and coherence are text-centered notions, designating operations directed at the text materials.

User-centered notions

• Intentionality: the producer’s attitude aims at producing a set of occurrences which should constitute a cohesive and coherent text.

• Acceptability: it implies the receiver’s attitude that the set of occurrences should constitute a cohesive and coherent text.

Grice’s conversational maxims– Maxims of quantity

– Make your contribution as informative as required. – Do not make your contribution more informative than

is required. – Maxims of quality

– Do not say what you believe to be false. – Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

– Maxim of relation – Be relevant.

– Maxims of manner – Avoid obscurity of expression. – Avoid ambiguity. – Be brief. – Be orderly.

Maxim of quantity

A: Where is the post office?B: Down the road, about 50 metres past the second left.

vs

B: Not far.

Maxim of relevance

A: How are you doing in maths?B: Not too well, actually

VS

B: Sunday was a fine day to go to the beach!

Maxim of manner

A: What did you think of that movie?B: I liked the storyline, but the ending was a real shock!

VS

B: It was interestingly done, sir.

Informativity concerns the extent to which

the occurrences of the presented text are

expected vs unexpected or known vs

unknown/certain.

In language: the degree of informativity is inversely proportional to contextual probability:

• The sea is water • The sea is water only in the sense that

water is the dominant substance present. Actually, it is a solution of gases and salts in addition to vast numbers of living organisms ...

Situationality concerns the factors which

make a text relevant to a situation of

occurrence connected with coherence and

acceptability.

Deictics, for instance, can be decoded

only on the basis of situationality.

Intertextuality concerns the factors which make the utilization of one text dependent upon knowledge of one or more previously encountered texts:

If you are on a diet, your question may be:To eat or not to eat

If you are ready to any compromise, you can borrow Henry IV’s statement Paris is worth a mass.

Channel

• Oral texts • Written texts

Intent of the Communicator

Various types of texts (procedural, expository, persuasive, narrative, descriptive)

Intent of the communicator

• Genre of texts:– Narrative– Procedural– Expository (Informative) – Persuasive (Hortatory)– Descriptive

When are they used?

• procedural text: gives instructions on how to do something.

• expository text: is used to explain something• hortatory text (persuasive): is used to

encourage or to get someone to do something. As a matter of fact, it is argumentation

• descriptive text: lists the characteristics of something.

• narrative text: account of events (novel, newspaper article, biography)

TEXT FORMS

• Text forms evolve and change• Authentic text forms are often mixed• According to modern studies, there

may be even more text types. Nonetheless, practical suggestions tend to classify texts in 3 main types:

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 1

• scientific texts• technical texts• legal, normative, regulative texts

(treatises,essays, technical textbooks and essays; laws and decrees; regulations, administrative acts)

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 2

• expository and didactic texts• popularising informative texts (e.g.

textbooks on social, historical,political topics, popularising texts of various topics,newspaper and magazine articles)

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 3

• literary texts, both poetry and fiction.

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of

speech.

• Semantic• Syntactic• Phonological• Prosodic

• Transcoding • Semiotics• Specialized texts• Non-specialized texts

Specialized texts

• How do we identify them?– External parameters (elements of the

communication process)– Internal parameters (formal structure;

knowledge structure; linguistic structure)

External Parameters

• A specialized text must be written by a specialist

• Those who want to translate specialized texts should get familiar with their specialized context, and should know the domain conventions and lexical/structural peculiarities

Internal Parameters

• Formal structure• Knowledge structure• Linguistic structure:

• Morphological level• Lexical level• Syntactic level• Textual level

• Specialized texts are precise, more concise, and more systematic.

• Precision is a relevant feature. Only experts can control it.

Procedural texts

• Procedural texts can– explain how something works or how to

use instruction manuals; – instruct how to do a particular activity.

Procedural texts

• Structure: elementary. • Format: according to the type of

procedural text. • Language: focuses on people in general

– Verb tense: present; – use of action verbs; – use of linking words related to time, first, then,

when.

Persuasive (or Hortatory ) texts

• The persuasive text represents the attempt of the writer to have the addressee do something or act in a certain way. It wants to be convincing so that the addressee is made to share the writer’s opinion.

Features of Persuasive Texts

• Emotive language – to get a sympathetic reaction.• Imperatives – telling the reader what to do.• Short sentences – dramatic effect.• Logical connectives – e.g. ‘therefore’, ‘because’.• Alliteration• Address reader directly.• Personal and informal tone.• Use of contrasts to emphasize particular points.• Use of facts to shock the reader.

Example

• In all the discussion over the removal of lead from petrol (and the atmosphere) there doesn’t seem to have been any mention of the difference between driving in the city and the country.

• While I realize my leaded petrol car is polluting the air wherever I drive, I feel that when you travel through the country, where you only see another car every five to ten minutes, the problem is not as severe as when traffic is concentrated on city roads.

Example• Those who want to penalize older, leaded petrol

vehicles and their owners don’t seem to appreciate that, in the country, there is no public transport to fall back upon and one’s own vehicle is the only way to get about.

• I feel that the country people, who often have to travel huge distances to the nearest town and who already spend a great deal of money on petrol, should be treated differently to the people who live in the city.

STRUCTURE ANALYSIS• Thesis; paragraph 1• Argument 1; paragraph 2• Argument 2; paragraph 3• Recommendation; paragraph 4

LANGUAGE FEATURES ANALYSIS

• Focusing on the writer: using the first personal pronoun “I”

• Using abstract noun: discussion• Using action verb: treat• Using thinking verb: think, seem• Using passive voice: should be treated

differently• Using simple present tense: there doesn’t

seem…, there is no public transport.., etc

Text genre variation• Text genre can be modified: linguistic

changes mirror the communicator’s intentions.

FROM PERSUASIVE TO ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION

1.No sooner had the British occupation

authorities gained control of Iraq than they set out to issue all manner of declarations and orders to secure their domination over the country’s economic resources in an attempt to recoup their losses.

After they had established their position in Iraq, the British occupation authorities set out to issue all kinds of rules and regulations to secure their domination over the country’s economic resources in an attempt to recoup their losses.

2.

• The British occupation sapped the labours of poverty–stricken peasants, who constituted the majority of the working people, and burdened these desperate people with all kinds of taxes.

• The labours of poverty–stricken peasants, who constituted the majority of the working people, were sapped and they were burdened with various types of taxes.

3.

• The British occupying power subsequently seized the country’s agricultural resources and mercilessly plundered these assets to such a great extent that taxes increased to three times the rate in the period prior to the occupation.

• Subsequently, the country’s agricultural resources were seized and mercilessly plundered to such a great extent that taxes increased to three times the rate in the period prior to the occupation.

The expository text (or explanatory text): structures

• Description, enumerative or listing• Sequence• Comparison and contrast• Cause and effect• Problem and solution

STRUCTURES

• Description, enumerative or listing– includes listing connected information,

outlining a series of steps, or placing ideas in a hierarchy

Structures

• Sequence– when a series of events leads up to a

conclusion, which means that these events are not a mere succession, rather they are organized

Structures

• Comparison and contrast

when you describe how two or more events, places, characters, or other ideas are similar and/or different in several ways

Structures

• Cause and effect

reasons why an event occurred, or several effects from one cause

Structures

• Problem and solution

this technique is used to identify the problem, give possible solutions with possible results, and present the solution that was chosen

Narrative texts

• Narrative texts aim at entertaining, though they can also teach or inform, or even influence attitudes and social opinions (e.g. soap operas dealing with topical issues). The stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually be resolved.

Narrative texts 2

• Features • Characters with defined

personalities/identities. • Dialogues (almost always, but not

necessarily). • Descriptive language to create images in

the reader's mind and enhance the story.

Narrative texts 3.

Structure:• The focus of the text is on a series of

actions:– Introduction– Complication– Resolution

Narrative texts 4.

Language• Action verbs• Frequent use of past tense• Specific nouns• Active nouns (nominalizations)• Careful use of adjectives and adverbs; use of

connectives• Use of rhetorical devices (metaphor,simile,

personification, onomatopoeia)

Key terms

• Text• Semiotics• Semantic• Syntax• Pragmatics• Transcoding• Specialized text• Non-specialized text