Presentation of text linguistics

Text Linguistics

Members Of The Group:

●Mohammad Asif Ali●Syed Ali Mutaqqi●Syed Aitsam Haider●Syed Junaid Ali Shah Bukhari●Mohammad Imran Nazeer

Text LinguisticsDefinition:Text linguistics is a branch of linguistics that deals with texts as communication systems. Its original aims lay in uncovering and describing text grammars. . In general it is an application of discourse analysis at the much broader level of text, rather than just a sentence or word.

• It covers a wide range of fields of investigation ranging from pragmatics to discourse analysis, from socio-linguistics to cognitive sciences and others.

What is a Text?

Definition:•A piece of spoken or written language. A text may be considered from the point of view of its structure and/or its functions, e.g. warning, instructing, carrying out a transaction. A full understanding of a text is often impossible without reference to the context in which it occurs.•A text may consist of just one word, e.g. Danger! (written on a warning sign), or it may be of considerable length, e.g. a sermon, a novel, or a debate.It meets seven criteria of textuality (the constitutive principles of textual communication) and three regulative principles of textual communication.

Constitutive Criteria of Textuality:

•Cohesion•Coherence•Intentionality•Acceptability•Informativity•Situationality•Intertextuality

Regulative Criteria of Textuality:

● Efficiency

● Effectiveness

● Appropriateness

Constitutive Principles of Textual Communication

CohesionIt 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. The surface components depend upon each other according to grammatical forms and conventions, such that cohesion rests upon grammatical dependencies. A close relationship based on grammar or meaning between two parts of a sentence or a larger piece of writing.(Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary)Cohesive relation fit into the overall pattern of language.

Tools of Cohesion

1. Reference2. Substitution3. Ellipsis4. Conjunction5. Lexical Items

1. Reference

•Reference is used to describe the different ways in which entities- things, people, events- are referred to within texts.

•There are range of linguistic features, which enables speakers and writers to make such references, for example pronouns….may refer to entities already mentioned or about to be mentioned.

Example of Reference

“Doctor Faustus went to Gloucester in a shower of rain. He stepped in puddle right up to his middle And never went there again”

'He' and 'There' show that information about them is retrieved elsewhere within the text. It characterizes a particular type of cohesion which is called reference. The relationship of reference is on semantic level. The reference items must not match the grammatical item it refers to.

Reference can be sub-categorized as follow;

ExophoricEndophoric AnaphoricCataphor

1.Exophoric Reference

Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature in a text, which refers to something out side of that text. Examples are words such as there, that, or here, when these are not further elucidated in the text e.g. “The book is over there”, “For she is a jolly good fellow and so say all of us”. Here text is not indicating who she is? And where the book is lying.

2.Endophoric ReferenceGrammatical term used to describe forms of reference made within any given text to other elements within the text e. g in the following sentences: ‘She gave the books, to John. He left the room. 'He' is an example of endophoric reference, referring to John. Endophoric relations are categorized either as:● Anaphoric ( Reference back)● Cataphoric (Reference forward)

(i) Anaphoric Reference Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature, which refers to a previously mentioned element in any given text. In the case of the following two sentences, for example: “The water system is failing because of old pipes and shortage of qualified technicians to repair them. These are the reasons why change is necessary”. These have an anaphoric function, referring back to the reasons given in the preceding part of the text.

(ii) Cataphoric Reference Grammatical term used to describe a linguistic feature,

which refers forward to another element in any given text. For example in the sentence ‘Here are two examples of fossil

fuels: Coal and wood’, the word here has a cataphoric function.

For ExampleChild: Why does that one go?

Father: that what?Child: that one

Father: that one what?Child: that parrot, that you kept in in the cage.

Types of Reference1. Personal Reference (Person)2. Demonstrative Reference (Proximity)3. Comparative Reference (General/ Particular / Comparison)

2. SubstitutionSubstitution is the replacement of one item by another or something that you use instead of the thing you would usually use. Substitution is a relation within the text. A substitute is a sort of counter which is used in place of the repetition of a particular item.

Examples (a) My axe is too blunt. I must get a sharper one.

(b) You think Joan already knows? I think everybody does.

As a general rule, the substitute item has the same structural function as that for which it substitutes. The given example ‘one’ and ‘axe’ are both Head in the nominal group; and ‘does’ and ‘knows’ are both Head in the verbal group.

3. EllipseIt is another cohesive device. An occasion when words are deliberately left out of a sentence, though the meaning can still be understood. The leaving out of words or phrases from sentences where they are unnecessary because they have already been referred or mentioned.

Simple conversational example;

A-“where are you going?”

B- “To town.”

(The full form of B’s reply would be; I am going to town).

4. ConjunctionsA word which joins words, phrases or clauses together,

such as “but” and “when” so that, nevertheless, or, that

and unless etc.

Categories of ConjunctionsConjunctions divided in to four categories;

1. Additive

2. Adversative

3. Causal

4. Temporal

1. AdditiveIt means substance added to another.

2. AdversativeIt means contrary to expectations.

3. CausalThese relations expressed by so, thus, hence, therefore. All these regularly combine with initial ‘and’.

4. Temporal

This relation is expressed in its simplest form ‘then’. 

Lexical CohesionLexical cohesion refers to the ties created between lexical elements, such as words (e.g. rabbit), groups (e.g. the velveteen rabbit), and phrases (e.g. get up steam) (Halliday 537). These lexical ties can occur over long passages of text or discourse. The primary paradigmatic types of lexical cohesion (meaning words of the same type or class) are repetition, synonymy, hyponymy, and meronymy.

RepetitionUsing the same word over again, but not restricted to the same morphological form (572).E.g. Using rum (V), run (N), ran, running, runner, etc., all within the same text.

SynonymyUsing words that are in some way synonymous, or in the case of antonymy, in some way antonymous. E.g. Synonyms: sound-noise; Antonyms: sound-silence

HyponymyOne word represents "a class of thing and the second either a super class or a subclass, or another class at the same level" (574) e.g. tree- oak, pine, elm

MeronymyWords that refer to parts of a whole. E. g. tree- trunk, branch, leaf.

CollocationIs the way in which particular words tend to occur or belong together.For example, you can say Meals will be served outside on the terrace, weather permitting but not Meals will be served outside on the terrace, weather allowing. Both these sentences seem to mean the same thing (The will bring us our meals outside if the weather is good enough) allow and permit have very similar meanings. But in this combination only permitting is correct. It collocates with weather and allowing does not.

CoherenceAccording to the definition given in Oxford advance learners dictionary,“Coherence is a situation in which all the parts of something fit together well.” The key to the concept of coherence is not something which exist in the language, but something which exists in people. it is people who make sense of what they read and hear. They try to arrive at an interpretation which is in line with their experience of the way the world is.

ExampleMy father bought a Lincoln convertible. The car driven by the police was red. That color does not suit her. She consists of three letters. However a letter isn’t as fast as a telephone call. It becomes clear from an example like this that the ‘connectedness’ which we experience in our interpretation of normal texts is not simply based on connections between the words. There must be some other factor which leads us to distinguish connected texts which make sense from those which do not. this factor is usually described as coherence.

Coherence is basically concerned with two things1- The ways in which the things the text is about are mutually accessible and relevant.2- Coherence concerns the textual world that means about what a text is.

3. IntentionalityIntentionality, concerning the text producer’s attitude that the set of occurrences should constitute a cohesive and coherent text instrumental in fulfilling the producer’s intentions, e.g. to distribute knowledge or to attain a goal specified in a plan. ...

4. AcceptabilityAcceptability, concerning the text receiver’s attitude that the set of occurrences should constitute a cohesive and coherent text having some use or relevance for the receiver, e.g. to acquire knowledge or provide co-operation in a plan

5. InformativityThe fifth standard of textuality is called informativity and concerns the extent to which the occurrences of the presented text are expected vs. unexpected or known vs. unknown/certain.For Example The big bad Wolf said “Then I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down!” The Little piggy said, “ Back off or I'll sneeze on you”

6.SituationalityThe sixth standard of textuality can be designated situationality and concerns the factors which make a text relevant to a situation of occurrence.It is connected with coherence and acceptability, e. g. SLOW CHILDREN AT PLAYSome elements in text refer to the context of situation (e.g. deictic) and cannot be decoded unless reliance on situationality is made.

7. IntertexualityTextuality is concerned with the way in which uses of texts depend on the knowledge of other (preceding or following) texts. e. g. “A tale of two cards”Headline for an article in the Daily Mail describing the Xmas cards sent by Blair and Howard – reference to Dickens’s novel ” A Tale of Two Cities”.

Regulative Principal of Textual Communication

The three regulative principles that control communication are:Efficiency:

Text used to communicate with a minimum expenditure of effort by the participants. Effectiveness:

Text creating favorable conditions for attaining the Sender’s goal.Appropriateness:Suitability of the Text to the communicative situation in which it is used.