Introduction
Reasons for text linguistics
Much attention has been given to the sentence as a self-contained unit, and not enough has been given to studying how sentences may be used in connected stretches of language. It is essentially the presentation of language as sets of sentences. Text is extremely significant inDefinitions
"A text is an extended structure of syntactic units . e. text as super-sentencesuch as words, groups, and clauses and textual units that is marked by both coherence among the elements and completion ... hereasa 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) "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." (Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981: 63)De Beaugrande, R., & Dressler, W. U. (1981) ''Introduction to text linguistics'' / Robert-Alain De Beaugrande, Wolfgang Ulrich Dressler. London; New York : Longman, 1981. " termused in linguistics to refer to any passage- spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole €¦.A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit, like a clause or a sentence; and it is not defined by its size €¦.A text is best regarded as a ''semantic'' unit; a unit not of form but of meaning." (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1–2) "A text is made up of sentences, but there exist separate principles of text-construction, beyond the rules for making sentences." (Fowler, 1991: 59) "Significance of contexts
There is a text and there is other text that accompanies it: text that is 'with', namely the con-text. This notion of what is 'with the text', however, goes beyond what is said and written: it includes other non-verbal signs-on-the total environment in which a text unfolds. (Halliday and Hasan, 1985: 5) According to Halliday, text is a sign representation of a socio-cultural event embedded in a context of situation. Context of situation is the semio-socio-cultural environment in which the text unfolds. Text and context are so intimately related that neither concept can be comprehended in the absence of the other.Three features of context of situation
The field of discourse – experiential meaning
This is the meaning that the social actions and the engagements of the participants are giving to the understanding of the text.Kavcic, A. (2008) ''Text linguistics''. Informally published manuscript, English and German Studies, Retrieved from www.englistika.info/podatki/3_letnik/besediloslovje-I-izpiski.docThe tenor of discourse – interpersonal meaning
This is the meaning that the roles of and relationships among participants give to the understanding of the text. These relationships may be permanent or temporary. The contribution to meaning by social statuses of the participants also fall within this feature.The mode of discourse – logical meaning
This is the meaning that the language, written or spoken, gives to the understanding of the text. This includes the symbolic organization of the text, as well as its intended function within the context.Texture
Texture is the basis for unity and semantic interdependence within text. Any text that lacks texture would simply be a bunch of isolated sentences that have no relationship to each other. (Crane, 1994) A feature of texture is "sequential implicativeness", as suggested by Schegloff and Sacks (1974). This refers to the property of language that each line in a text is linked from or linked to the previous line. As such, language contains a linear sequence, and this linear progression of text creates a context of meaning.Schegloff, E.A. and Sacks, H. (1974) "Opening up Closings", ''Semiotica'' 7(4): 289–327 (reprinted in Turner, R 1974 "'Ethnomethodology: selected readings,'" Harmondsworth: Penguin) This contextual meaning, at the paragraph level, is referred to as "coherence", while the internal properties of meaning are referred to as "cohesion". (Eggins, 1994: 85)Eggins, S. (1994) ''An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics'' London: Pinter There are two aspects of coherence, namely, "situational" coherence and "generic" coherence. There is situational coherence when field, tenor, and mode can be identified for a certain group of clauses. On the other hand, there is generic coherence when the text can be recognized as belonging to a certain genre. Thereby, cohesion is the result of "semantic ties", which refers to the dependent links between items within a text. These ties come together to create meaning. Texture is, therefore, created within text when the properties of coherence and cohesion are present.Text types
Most linguists agree on the classification into five text-types: narrative, descriptive, argumentative, instructive, and comparison/contrast (also called expositive). Some classifications divide the types of texts according to their function. Others differ because they take into consideration the topic of the texts, the producer and the addressee, or the style. Adam and Petitjean, (1989) proposed analyzing of overlaps of different text types with text sequences. Virtanen (1992) establishes a double classification (discourse type and text type) to be used when the Identification text-text type is not straightforward.Structure
As a science of text, text linguistics describes or explains among different types of text the: * Shared features * Distinct features Text linguistics is the study of how texts function in human interaction. Beaugrande and Dressler define a text as a “communicative occurrence which meets seven standards of textuality” – cohesion, coherence, intentionality, acceptability, informativity, situationality and intertextuality, without any of which the text will not be communicative. Non-communicative texts are treated as non-texts.Cohesion
Surface texts are the exact words that people see or hear. Cohesion concerns the ways in which the components of the surface text are connected within a sequence. Grammatical forms and conventions are adhered to by surface components and therefore cohesion rests upon grammatical dependencies. The grammatical dependencies in surface texts are major signals for sorting out meanings and uses. Cohesion encompasses all of the functions that can be used to signal relations among surface elements. Such a text can be divided up into various dependencies. Someone might construe it as a notice about "slow cars" that are "held up", so that conclusions could be drawn about the need to drive fast to avoid being held up. However, it is more likely for one to divide the text into "slow" and "cars held up', so that drivers will drive slowly to avoid accidents or take alternative routes to avoid being caught in the slow traffic. A science of text should explain how ambiguities such as these are possible, as well as how they are precluded or resolved without much difficulty. For efficient communication to take place there must be interaction between cohesion and other standards of textuality because the surface alone is not decisive.Coherence
Coherence concerns the ways in which concepts and relations, which underlie the surface text, are linked, relevant and used, to achieve efficient communication. * A concept is a cognitive content which can be retrieved or triggered with a high degree ofIntentionality
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. However, depending on the conditions and situations in which the text is used, the goal may still be attained even when cohesion and coherence are not upheld. Even though cohesion is not maintained in this example, the text producer still succeeds in achieving the goal of finding out if the text receiver wanted a piggyback.Acceptability
Acceptability concerns the text receiver's attitude that the text should constitute useful or relevant details or information 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. Text producers often speculate on the receiver's attitude of acceptability and present texts that maximize the probability that the receivers will respond as desired by the producers. For example, texts that are open to a wide range of interpretations, such as "Call us before you dig. You may not be able to afterwards" require more inferences about the related consequences. This is more effective than an explicit version of the message that informs receivers the full consequences of digging without calling, because receivers are left with great uncertainty as to the consequences that could result; this plays to people's risk aversion.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. The processing of highly informative text demands greater cognitive ability but at the same time is more interesting. The level of informativity should not exceed a point such that the text becomes too complicated and communication is endangered. Conversely, the level of informativity should also not be so low that it results in boredom and the rejection of the text.Situationality
Situationality concerns the factors which make a text relevant to a situation of occurrence. The situation in which a text is exchanged influences the comprehension of the text. There may be different interpretations with the road sign However, the most likely interpretation of the text is obvious because the situation in which the text is presented provides the context which influences how text receivers interpret the text. The group of receivers (motorists) who are required to provide a particular action will find it more reasonable to assume that "slow" requires them to slow down rather than referring to the speed of the cars that are ahead. Pedestrians can tell easily that the text is not directed towards them because varying their speeds is inconsequential and irrelevant to the situation. In this way, the situation decides the sense and use of the text. Situationality can affect the means of cohesion; less cohesive text may be more appropriate than more cohesive text depending on the situation. If the road sign was "Motorists should reduce their speed and proceed slowly because the vehicles ahead are held up by road works, therefore proceeding at too high a speed may result in an accident', every possible doubt of intended receivers and intention would be removed. However, motorists only have a very short amount of time and attention to focus on and react to road signs. Therefore, in such a case, economical use of text is much more effective and appropriate than a fully cohesive text.Intertextuality
Main contributors
Robert-Alain de Beaugrande
Application to language learning
Text linguistics stimulates reading by arousing interest in texts or novels. Increases background knowledge on literature and on different kinds of publications. Writing skills can be improved by familiarizing and duplicating specific text structures and the use of specialized vocabulary.See also
*References
{{Authority control Applied linguistics Discourse analysis Systemic functional linguistics Text sl:Tekstologija