TEXT LINGUISTICS

Text Categories
 Problems to be discussed
1. Cohesion and coherence.
2. Wholeness and dividedness.
3. Informativity.
4. Evaluation and emotiveness.
5. Continuum (temporal and spatial).
6. Intentionality and acceptability.
7. Intertextuality.
 Cohesion
Cohesion concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text are
connected within a sequence. It rests upon grammatical dependencies.

Signals of cohesion are represented by both linguistic and extralinguistic means.

Linguistic means of cohesion are subdivided into segmental and super-segmental
ones.

Segmental means of cohesion:

• lexical – repetitions, synonyms, antonyms, words belonging to the same topic;
• grammatical – conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, degrees of comparison,
word order;
• stylistic – rhetorical questions, elliptical sentences, gradation.
Super-segmental means of cohesion: intonation, logical stress, pauses.
Extralinguistic means of cohesion: situation, associations.
 Coherence
• If cohesion is connected with surface texts coherence
concerns the ways in which concepts and relations
(cause-result, reason, purpose, enablement, time),
which underlie the surface text, are linked, relevant
and used, to achieve efficient communication.
• Coherence rests upon integration of all informative
blocks of a text, it reveals all implications, in its
boundaries all topics are developed. Due to coherence
a text can be understood and interpreted by readers.
• Loss of coherence and cohesion destroys a text.
 Wholeness
Wholeness of a text means integration of all its structural and semantic levels.
Wholeness makes a text relatively complete and we perceive it as a unified continual
object. This category comprises three components: unity of content, unity of form and
unity of function.

• Unity of content or semantic unity is revealed through representation of the text

concept, through gradual development of the topic by movement from already known
to new facts. It rests on the lexical level of the language.
• Psycholinguists consider that a text is semantically integral if it can be abridged without
serious damage to its general meaning.
• Unity of form or grammatical unity is connected with morphological and syntactical
level of the language. It is resulted by coordination of grammatical forms and relations,
and depends on word order, correct usage of conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns.
• Unity of function or communicative unity is represented by the author’s intention and
results of its realization, esthetic effect of the text, its functional value, its ability to
satisfy communicative expectations of the addressee.
 Dividedness
• Dividedness of the text is represented by the fact that
it comprises relatively independent elements which
serve as components of the whole text.
• Every text has formal and semantic levels of
dividedness.
• At formal level means of text dividedness include:
rubrics, titles and subtitles, chapters, paragraphs,
graphic means (font, italics, bold type).
• At semantic level texts are divided into super-phrasal
unities, microtopics, semantic blocks, plot lines.
 Structural-and-thematic types of
paragraphs
• analytical-and-synthetic pattern (analytical part
(explanation) is given in initial position, then the main idea
is generalized);
• synthetic-and-analytical pattern (at first some statement of
generalized character is given, then it is explained);
• circular pattern (the first sentence hints at the main idea,
then it is explained and finally the author gives
generalization that is close to the introductory part);
• compositional juxtaposition (first part of the paragraph
has reference to the previous part and its second half
foreshadows the following text).
 Title or Heading of the Text
Headings are classified according to their formal
and semantic peculiarities:

• graphic;
• empty;
• numerical;
• verbal;
• combined.
 Informativity
Informativity concerns the extent to which the contents of a text are already
known or expected as compared to unknown or unexpected. No matter how
expected or predictable content may be, a text will always be informative at
least to a certain degree due to unforeseen variability.
 Subcategories of informativity

• Factuality. Factual information includes events, facts and

processes that exist in the real world and are expressed in a text
explicitly.
• Concept. Conceptual information concerns individual subjective
understanding of these events, facts and processes by the author,
his creative intention. It is also connected with the level of
perception of each reader, his understanding of social-and-cultural
value of described events, facts and processes.
• Subtext. Subtextual information is represented by the implicit
level of the text. It is based on the ability of language units to
enlarge into meanings far beyond the scope originally intended
for them through semantic extension of associative and
connotative character.
 Evaluation
Evaluation is the broad cover term for the expression of a
speaker’s - or writer’s - attitudes, feelings, and values. It covers
areas sometimes referred to as stance, modality, affect or
appraisal.
 THE SCALE OF EVALUATION

good (positive) – neutral – bad (negative)

 Evaluation includes the following
components
• Subject. The subject of evaluative structure implies a
person, a part of society or society as a whole, from
standpoint of which evaluation is done.
• Object. The object of evaluation is an estimated
event, thing or person.
• Character. According to its character evaluation is
represented by such types – absolute and
comparative, true and false.
• Basis. The basis of evaluation is a feature or features
of the object which help to render the evaluation.
 Emotiveness
Emotiveness of a text rests upon emotive orientation of the
author’s intention which is realized through usage of emotive
language units aimed at modeling emotions of the reader
provoked by perception and interpretation of a text.
 Language means of emotiveness
Language means of emotiveness include morphological, lexical,
syntactical units, stylistic devices.
• The brightest morphological means of emotiveness is
interjection. Interjections help to express our joy,
cheerfulness, surprise, fear, frustration, sadness, indignation.
• At syntactical level emotiveness is revealed through
rhetorical questions, detachments, parenthetic
constructions, inverted word order, polysyndeton.
• Emotions are also expressed graphically – with the help of
different fonts, italics, usage of color, bold type, underlined
words, exclamatory sign.
 Language means of emotiveness
At lexical level we have different groups of emotive
vocabulary:
• words that denote emotions (joy, cheerfulness, surprise,
fear, frustration, sadness, indignation, annoyance etc.);
• words that describe emotions (e.g. “My pulse shot in my
ears”);
• words that express emotions (words with connotative
meaning, jargonisms, slang words).
Stylistic devices that express emotions include: metaphor,
simile, hyperbole, epithet, gradation, climax.
 Examples of emotive microcontexts

• “The days after the viva were black ones. It was like having a severe
accident. For the first few hours I was numbed, unable to realize
what had hit me.” (R. Gordon. Doctor in the House).

• “We arrived in the examination building to find the same candidates

there, but they were a subdued, muttering crowd, like the supporters
of a home team who had just been beaten in a cup tie.” (R. Gordon.
Doctor in the House).

• “I peeked at Jem: his hands were white from gripping the balcony
rail, and his shoulders jerked as if each "guilty" was a separate stab
between them.” (H. Lee. To Kill a Mockingbird).
 Examples of emotive microcontexts
• "Dear, dear Norland!" said Marianne, as she wandered alone before
the house, on the last evening of their being there; "when shall I
cease to regret you!--when learn to feel a home elsewhere!--Oh! But
who will remain to enjoy you?" (J. Austen. Sense and Sensibility).

• "How strange this is! What can be the meaning of it! But the whole
of their behaviour to each other has been unaccountable! How cold,
how composed were their last adieus! How languid their
conversation the last evening of their being together!" (J. Austen.
Sense and Sensibility).

• "I am monstrous glad of it. Good gracious! I have had such a time of
it"! (J. Austеn. Pride and Prejudice).
 Examples of emotive microcontexts
• “June bit her lip till the blood came, and walked back to her
seat without another word, but she could not help the tears
of rage rolling down her face. The house had been mercifully
darkened for a crisis, and no one could see her trouble»”
(J. Galsworthy. The Forsyte Saga : The man of
property.)

• «He ran forward and back, felt his heart clutched by a

sickening fear, the dark fear which lives in the wings of the
fog» (J. Galsworthy. The Forsyte Saga : The man of property.)
 Continuum
The category of continuum is directly connected with
the notions of time and space. The term “continuum”
itself means “continuous formation of something, i. e.
an unbroken movement in time and space”.
 SUBCATEGORIES OF THE CATEGORY OF
CONTINUUM
• Progression is constant succession of events, of temporary and spatial
facts, which create dynamic plot development.
• Stagnation is slowing of dynamic plot development through description
and digression. Digression consists of an insertion of material that has no
immediate relation to the theme or action. It may be lyrical, philosophical
or critical.
• Prospection as a text category is characterized by combining various
language forms which help to comprehend the further content-factual
information, its role in the plot development and can be either objectively
author’s or subjectively reader’s.
• Retrospection as a text category is characterized by its implicit expression,
it is generated by content-factual information and is based on our memory
ability to keep the knowledge previously informed and couple it with
something being informed in the given part of the narration.
 PROSPECTION
Prospection is presented with the help of such
plot structure technique as foreshadowing.
Prospection serves the following functions:
• to hint at further events;
• to intrigue the reader, to stimulate his
interest;
• to involve the reader in the process of text
production.
 RETROSPECTION
Retrospection is presented with the help of such plot structure technique as
flashback.
Retrospection can be displayed in two ways: a) when the previous information has
already been mentioned in the text; b) when the previous information, necessary
to make the events coherent, is given breaking a fluent narration, i.e. the
transposition of temporal plans of narration occurs.
Retrospection serves the following functions:
• a) to restore the previously given information in the reader’s mind or tell a
recipient the new one referring to the past and necessary for understanding the
further narration;
• b) to give a reader the opportunity to comprehend this information in new
conditions, in the other context in a different way taking into account what has
been narrated before the retrospective part;
• c) to actualize separate parts of the text relevant to the content-factual
information to some extent.
 Subcategory of time
Subcategory of time comprises the following language means of realization:
• words and word combinations which express the meaning of time directly (year,
month, week, hour, minute, summer, autumn, winter, spring, morning, afternoon,
evening, etc.);
• proper names – names of some historical personalities (William the Conqueror, Queen
Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare, Mozart, Thomas Jefferson, etc.);
• names of historical periods, historical realia (Victorian epoch, Edwardian England,
Renaissance, The Battle of Hastings, American Civil War, etc.);
• words denoting household items, implement, vehicles, clothes of a certain historical
period (carriage, sedan-chair, сhandelier, hat-cylinder, mail);
• citations from texts of some historical period;
• archaisms;
• grammatical tense-forms (present, past, future);
• prepositions of time (before, after, at, on, in);
• conjunctions and sentence linkers expressing temporal relationships (after that, before
that, at the same time, since then, just now, meanwhile, etc.).
 Subcategory of space
Subcategory of space comprises the following language means of
realization:
• landscape and interior descriptions;
• toponyms (place names) (London, New York, The Nile,
Mediterranean, Himalayas, etc.);
• words denoting spatial coordinates (top, bottom, center, side,
corner, right, left, etc.);
• words denoting specific places (forest, field, lake, river, bush,
moor, road, park, street, avenue, etc.);
• exotic words (sari, bullfighter, aul, fjord);
• words and word combinations denoting distance;
• prepositions of space (up, down, in, out, to, on).
 Intentionality
• Intentionality concerns the text producer's
attitude and intentions as the text producer uses
cohesion and coherence to attain a goal specified
in a plan. Without cohesion and coherence,
intended goals may not be achieved due to a
breakdown of communication. The author of the
text is the leading force in the text production. His
thoughts, outlooks, morals, values, emotions,
feelings are expressed in the text both explicitly
and implicitly.
 Acceptability
• Acceptability concerns the text receiver's attitude according
to which the text should constitute useful or relevant details
or information such that it is worth accepting. Text type, the
desirability of goals and the political and sociocultural
setting, as well as cohesion and coherence are important in
influencing the acceptability of a text.
• According to O. P. Vorobyova: “Acceptability can be defined
as means of cognitive processing and interpretation of the
text by an actual reader, which is carried out through
reconstruction of the program presented in the text by its
author with the help of linguistic signs.”
 Text addressees
Text addressees are classified according to different criteria:

• According to the character of interaction between text producers

and addressees – direct (real readers and listeners), indirect
(they have access to text information but they don’t participate
in the situation of communication), transmission addressees
(there task is to promote text information).
• From the point of view of the social-and-cultural peculiarities –
national and international.
• From the standpoint of professional orientation – specialists
from the same professional sphere and average readers, who
rely on the authority of the author.
 Intertextuality
Intertextuality refers to the interdependent ways in
which texts stand in relation to one another (as well as to the
culture at large) to produce meaning. They can influence each
other, be derivative of, parody, reference, quote, contrast with,
build on, draw from, or even inspire each other.
 Explanation by Graham Allen
• “Intertextuality seems such a useful term because it
foregrounds notions of relationality,
interconnectedness and interdependence in modern
cultural life. In the Postmodern epoch, theorists
often claim, it is not possible any longer to speak of
originality or the uniqueness of the artistic object, be
it a painting or novel, since every artistic object is so
clearly assembled from bits and pieces of already
existent art”.
 Deliberate and latent intertextuality
• For writers, intertextuality allows them to open new perspectives
and possibilities to construct their stories. Sometimes,
intertextuality is the result of an author’s choice. When a novelist
uses some interesting ideas, plot lines, images, compositional
forms, stylistic devices it creates a relationship between the old text
and the new one. We can call this deliberate intertextuality.
• But even when an author isn’t deliberately employing
intertextuality, though, intertextuality is still there. You can’t escape
it! Everything you’ve ever seen or read sticks somewhere in your
memory and affects your understanding of the world. They all
contribute to building your specific worldview which, in turn,
determines how you write or create art. We can call this latent
intertextuality.
 Examples of intertextuality
• James Joyce’s Ulysses was a deliberate retelling of
Homer’s Odyssey, but transplanted out of ancient Greece into
modern-day Dublin.
 Examples of intertextuality
• William Golding, in his novel Lord of the Flies, takes
the story implicitly from Treasure Island, written by
Robert Louis Stevenson.
 Examples of intertextuality
• C. S. Lewis adapts an important event from The New
Testament, in his fantasy novella, The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe, transforming it into a story about
redemption.
 Types of intertextuality
• Intertextuality proper – fragments from a certain
text are incorporated into the other text (with the
help of citations, allusions, reminiscences,
epigraphs).
• Hypertextuality – reference to another text,
parody, continuation of a text by another author.
• Architextuality – genre, thematic, compositional,
stylistic interaction of different texts (through
ideas, themes, plot lines, images, compositional
forms, stylistic peculiarities).
 Allusion
• The most important means of intertextuality is
allusion. Allusion is a brief and indirect reference to a
person, place, thing or idea of historical, cultural,
literary or political significance. It does not describe
in detail the person or thing to which it refers. It is
just a passing comment and the writer expects the
reader to possess enough knowledge to spot the
allusion and grasp its importance in a text.
 Examples of allusion
• “The unpopular oral examination was held a week after the papers. The
written answers have a certain remoteness about them, and mistakes and
omissions, like those of life, can be made without the threat of immediate
punishment. But the viva is judgement day. A false answer, and the god's
brow threatens like imminent thunderstorm.” (Gordon R. Doctor in the
House).
 Examples of allusion
• “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She did some­thing
that in our society is unspeakable: she kissed a black man. Not
an old Uncle, but a strong young Negro man.” (Lee H. To Kill a
Mockingbird).
 Examples of allusion
• “Let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the
wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are
wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi”
(O. Henry. The Gift of the Magi).
 Examples of allusion
• “They explained that by their studies of the past three months the pigs
had succeeded in reducing the principles of Animalism to Seven
Commandments. These Seven Commandments would now be inscribed
on the wall; they would form an unalterable law by which all the animals
on Animal Farm must live for ever after.” (Orwell G. Animal Farm).
 Examples of allusion
• “If you are an hour late, she will be terrified. She will
think you are killed, or that some siren has caught
you” (Collier J. The Chaser).