TEXT AND TEXT-TYPES

Lingua Inglese II - a.a. 2014/2015

WHAT IS A TEXT?
A

text is an extended structure of syntactic

units [i.e. text as super-sentence] such as words,
groups, and clauses and textual units that is
marked by both coherence among the elements
and completion.
[Whereas] A 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)

WHAT IS A TEXT?

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. (De Beaugrande and Dressler 1981:
63)

DOES THIS MEAN THAT EVERY SPECIMEN OF OUR

OWN LANGUAGE CONSTITUTES A TEXT?

A text must be difined according to standards of textuality,

must be relevant to a situation of occurrence. A text is a
manifestation of a human action in which a person
intends to instruct the receivers to build relationships of
various kinds. (De Baugrande & Dressler 1981)

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY

Standards of textuality (De Baugrande & Dressler 1981)

1.

Cohesion

2.

Coherence

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY
1.

Cohesion

The ways in which the components of the

surface text, i.e. the actual words we hear or
see, are mutually connected within a
sequence.

STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY
2.

Coherence

The ways in which the components of

the textual world, i.e. the configuration
of concepts and relations which
underlie the surface text, are mutually
accessible and relevant.

COHESION

Cohesion is linguistically explicit and signals

underlying semantic relationships between text
elements.

Cohesion is necessary, though not sufficient, in the

creation of coherent texts.

conjunctions

Cohesion

substitution
ellipsis

Grammatical

exophoric
reference

Cataphoric
endophoric

Anaphoric

Lexical
repetitions
synonyms
superordinates
General words

GRAMMATICAL COHESION
Reference
References are resources to refer to a
participant or to a circumstantial element
whose identity is recoverable.
Speakers use linguistic forms, known as
referring expressions, to enable hearers to
identify the entity being referred to, which is in
turn known as the referent.

REFERENCE

[situational]
Exophoric

[textual]
endophoric

[to preceeding text]

anaphora

[to following text]

cataphora

EXOPHORIC REFERENCE
Child: Why does THAT one come out?
Parent: that what?
Child: THAT one
Parent: That what?
Child:That ONE!
Parent: That one what?
Child: That lever there that you push to let the water
out.
(Halliday &
Hasan 1976: 34)

ENDOPHORIC REFERENCE

Anaphoric reference it links back to something that

went before in the text:

The first row of cottages looked empty and decrepit . But

behind them stood another row, well kept and with small
bright gardens

Cataphoric reference it links forward to a referent in

the text that follows

I would never believed it. Theyve accepted the whole

scheme

GRAMMATICAL COHESION
SUBSTITUTION

It

holds the text together by avoiding

repletion. It tends to be endophoric, that is,
the noun phrase being substituted is usually
in the text:

You

think Joan already knows? - I think

everybody does.

GRAMMATICAL COHESION
ELLIPSIS
it

is mainly used to avoid repetition and it

depends on the hearer or readers being
able to retrieve the missing words from the
surrounding context:

Joan

bought some carnations, and

Catherine some sweet peas (Halliday &
Hasan 1976: 143)

GRAMMATICAL COHESION
CONJUNCTIONS

They

are resources which connect

messages via addition, comparison,
temporality and causality:

He

fell asleep, in spite of his great

discomfort (Halliday & Hasan 1976: 229)

conjunctions

Cohesion

substitution
ellipsis

Grammatical

exophoric
reference

Cataphoric
endophoric

Anaphoric

Lexical
repetitions
synonyms
superordinates
General words

LEXICAL COHESION
REPETITION

It

is simply repeated words or word-phrases.

While substitution and ellipsis avoid
repetition, lexical repetition exploits it for
stylistic effect

LEXICAL COHESION
SYNONYMS

speaker or a writer can use another word

which means the same or almost the same.
It allows language users to avoid repetition

SUPERORDINATES

They are another way of avoiding repetition by using:

hyponymya word or a word-phrase whose

semantic field is included within that of another
word; scarlet , vermilion are hyponyms of red

hypernymya word or a word-phrase whose

semantic field is more generic than a given word; red
is hypernym of colour

 GENERAL
They

WORDS

can be general nouns, such as thing,

stuff, place, person,woman,man,etc.,or
general verbs, such as do or happen, which
are higher level superordinates: they are the
umbrella terms that can cover almost everything.

COHERENCE

stretches of language are connected to each other

by virtue of conceptual or meaning dependencies
as perceived by language users

The ways in which the components of the textual

world, i.e. the configuration of concepts and
relations which underlie the surface text, are
mutually accessible and relevant.

TEXT-TYPES

Texts can be grouped into categories and types on

the basis of their linguistic and conceptual features
and of their communication function (their purpose).

 Werlich

(1976) bases his classification of

texts on criteria called dominant contextual
focus. According to him texts distinctively
correlate with the contextual factors in a
communicative situation. They
conventionally focus the addressees
attention only on specific factors and
circumstances from the whole set of factors.

1. The focus is on factual phenomena (i.e. persons, objects, and relations).

Texts of this group will be referred to as descriptive texts.
2. The focus is on factual and/or conceptual phenomena in the temporal
context. Texts of this group will be referred to as narrative texts.
3. The focus is on the de-composition (analysis) into or the composition
(synthesis) from constituent elements of concepts of phenomena that
the communicants have. Texts of this group will be referred to as
expository texts.
4. The focus is on the relations between concepts of phenomena that the
communicants have. Texts of this group will be referred to as
argumentative texts.
5. The focus is on the composition of observable future behaviour, with
reference to phenomena, in one of the communicants, that is either in
the speaker/writer or hearer/reader. Texts of this group will be referred to
as instructive texts.

DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

They are concerned with the location of persons

and things in space.

State verbs and relational processes plus adverbial

expressions.

Use of adjectives.

NARRATIVE TEXTS
May be fictional or non-fictional
Sequencing of events expressed by dynamic verbs
and by adverbials such as and then, first,
second, third

EXPOSITORY

may be subjective (essay) or objective

(summary,explication).

are characterized by state verbs and epistemic

modals or by verbs indicating typical activities or
qualities.

Use of the simple present tense.

ARGUMENTATIVE TEXTS

Usually tries to appear objective and to

persuade by the logic of the argument.

Use of connectors to reveal the structure of

the argument:
Secondly, thus, as evidence of this,
however, etc
Reference to authorities Scientists
believe

INSTRUCTIVE TEXTS
Central to these texts are imperatives (open the
box).
Conditional Adjuncts: When the box is open
Purpose Adjuncts: To open the box

TOURISM TEXTS
Editorial

(travel books, travel guides, tourist

magazine)
Institutional (official leaflets, brochures,
websites, advertisments)
Commercial (hotel brochure, leaflets,
advertisments, travel agent websites)
Organisational (tickets, bookings, cards,
invoices)
Legal (regulations, norms)
Scientific and academic (critical volumes,
articles, essays)
Informal (travel blogs, travel chats)

SPECIALISED AND NON-SPECIALISED TEXTS

Specialists (formal tourist documents - highly

technical/specialised lexis)
Specialists and non -specialists (textbooks, essays,
manuals - features of general languague mix to
specialised language)
Specialists and a wider audience (reports in travel
magazine)
Non-specialists C2C ( Travel blogs, travel chats genaral language with some specialised words).

STAGES OF A TRIP
Dann identifies three general stages:
Pre-trip (brochures, leaflets) - promotional
On-trip (tourist guides, maps) - informative and
instructive
Post-trip (postcards, souvenirs) - fix the trip
experience in the readers mind and remind the
torurist of the destination

TEXT-GENRES AND THEIR GENRE VALUES

Some values may be predominant in some textgenres for example:

The narrative genre value is predominant in

travel books, diaries and word-of-mouth and in
some specific history sections of the travel
guides

The descriptive genre value is predominant in

the description of geographical areas in travel
guides, reports and diaries.

The instructive genre value can be found in

guidebooks (itinerary sections, giving advice about
tours, events, eating and sleeping options).

The expositive genre value is found in some

guidebook sections offering detailed information such
as timetables, wheather conditions.

The argumentative genre value can be found in travel

reports where both positive and negative elements of a
destination are discussed. It is also used in travel books,
guides and diaries.