TEXT AND DISCOURSE

Unit 1 and 2: Basic notions of texts.

Introduction: What is a discourse?
I had a dream…
Just do it…
Discourse analysis is the study of language as a whole. It is basically, the science of linguistics that
study the ways in which utterances and sentences are put together to create texts and how those texts
fit into our world.
Also, we need to focus on the social perspective. We have to assume 4 basic assumptions:
1.-Language is ambiguous. It never fully expresses what we want to express. We do not always say
what we mean.
2-Language is in the world. In order to understand what people, mean, we make reference to the
context. The meaning of an utterance can completely changes from one context to another context.
Example: Freddie Mercury
Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury dies of Aids – Too much love will kill you
Context: No matter how powerful you are, if it gets you, you are fucked off. This was what everyone
thinks but it is a song about a love situation that has nothing to do with aids; Bryan may’s divorce cos
he loved another woman. The context can completely change the meaning of a discourse.
3-It is situated within the relationships between the producer and the receptor. There is a relationship
between professor and students.
4-What happens before and after. Also, language can be connected to other languages. Utterances,
texts and discourses usually make reference to other discourses.
It is important to bear in mind:
Reference:
Table: makes reference to an object but it depends on reality; maybe a lost child does not know what a
table is.
If we use word that we do not know, we a re also verbalising the word but this does not make any
reference, it is not part of our reality. The point is, in traditional linguistics, words make reference to
something. As time goes by, modern linguistics change the parody and words make reference to
absolutely nothing, they are letters put together. Words depends on context, on the spoke’s person and
on the receptor.
if nobody is listening, does a discourse make sense? The discourse is still there. A powerful discourse
does not need audience. Reference is part of the action of provoking the discourse. If I say my dad, the
context varies depending on the person, we all have different dads.
My dad came back from Canada yesterday: my dad is alive, he travels, he was working there, imagine
Canada is the name of a pub: a lot of information that is not told directly is there. He is coming back
because he is on holidays, he has some medical issues…we are not aware of that
How long has he is been there? When I receive this message, I suppose this is not a lye
Presupposition: when we talk about it, we have to talk about the common ground: the part that the
receptor shares with us, he/she knows all the circumstances. It helps us to fill gaps in communication.
Implicatures: it is something that the speaker makes, and the hearer is quite likely to accept.
All English men are brave: he is an English man; therefore, he is brave: a common stereotype. There is
an implication. When I say something without saying it directly/explicit.
Cooperative principle:
Quantity: be as informative as required, not be more informative than requested. Being over
informative is a failure in cooperative principle.
Quality: Next lesson is going to be in room 7: room seven does not exist. Ethics, we must not lie.
Relation: be relevant
Manner: the way in which we say things, clear, avoid obscurity of expression, talk in order.
Inference: John was on his way to school: john is a student inference. We can change the inference,
we can infer and say that John is the teacher.

When we are talking we are producing discourses in a social persona: we have different social
profiles; we are students, we are our partners friends, flatmates, son, daughter, grandson, master of our
pets…we play different roles according to our profile. With each identity, we produce different
discourses. We do not have a fix identity. The discourse is biased by social identities, so the style and
the manner are going to change.
Language cannot reach by itself everything we are talking about but we can add meaning by adding
using different things (nonverbal, gestures, signs, images, intonation, objects, )
 THE SEVEN STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY
When we face any kind of text, we have to bear in mind that it has to follow seven standards: if a text
fails in any of this standard; it won’t communicate, t is not probably a text. In order a text to
communicate it has to meet the 7 standards of textuality.
The very first one, is what we call COHESION or surface text: the words that we have one after the
other. Imagine you drive, and we see a traffic sign: children play slow at; it does make sense while you
are driving. There is no cohesion, they do not have a real meaning  Slow, children at play. It does
make more sense than before. One thing we need to establish cohesion is to be adequate to English
grammar.
Slow
Children at
Play: children with mental disabilities, children playing football slowly.
Depending on the vehicle we are using, we will slow down or not. So obviously, we will make
coherence or adapt the messages to our conditions depending on the environment. When we have
cohesion in the surface text it creates something which is called texture with different methods. First of
all, wash six apples; put them in a dish them is connecting the two sentences so we create cohesion
through internal references. There are different references:
Endophoric references: anaphoric (before in the text), cataphoric (after in the text)
Exophoric references: the text make reference to something that is out of the text. These are not very
common. Wash the apples; wash makes references to the reader, which is not part of the text.
There are different types of cohesive relationship:
-Additive: and, also, furthermore, besides, moreover…
-Adversative: but, nevertheless, however, otherwise…
-Casual: because, so, for, since, as, due to…
Temporal: at least, firsly, one year ago…
A code referential text is in a text, the different ways the text makes reference to the same elements.
Lord Melbourne… Prime minister who he  code referential change
Victoria queen she  3 references for the same reality and this creates cohesion to the text
We have also semantic fields birdsong, woodlark, nightingale: they are going to give us which is
important.
Then, we will meet COHERENCE: it is related with the components of the textual word and how the
configuration of context is accessible and relevant. Sometimes those connections between concepts in
the textual world are not explicit in the text. They are not straightforward activated, but people will
supply many of those relations.
Epistemics Seminar: Thursday 3rd June, 2018 Steve Harlow (Department of linguistic, u.of York: due to the
surrounding and context we fill what is missing here. We provide a lot of connexions, so we give
cohesion and coherence to the whole text.
Thirdly, INTENTIONALITY: it is related with the producer and it means that every text has a goal
on the part of the producer. It is always there
Example: the silence in the elevator makes you say irrelevant and stupid things but the message I
produce had a goal; avoid the silence and uncomfortable situation. Also, when I scream because I had
fallen, I scram to realise pain.
Now, we will talk about ACCEPTABILITY: sometimes, coherence is not hundred percent coherence,
but acceptability take part; the degree that the emisor consider the minimum degree for a message to be
understood. We try to produce messages as acceptable as possible.
The telephone company: call us before dig. You may not be able afterwards. If the line goes through your
garden, maybe you break the line. If they wanted to prevent you from breaking the line, the message is
not acceptable. The receiver has to decide if the message is acceptable or not, if it communicates.
Ey you stand up: maybe, the producer is making reference to 70 people. You might mean 2, 3, all of a
line, girls, boys, people with glasses…it is not acceptable at all. Vs ey Erasmus students stand up: is
acceptable.
Let’s move into INFORMATIVITY: sometime texts can be too informative or do not inform at all.
Now, we are going to move to the 6th standard; SITUATIONALITY: it is concerned with the factiors
that make a text relevant to a particular situation. For instance, slow children at play: if you are a
pedestrian you won’t mind because you are not going to tun over a child, but it is relevant for people
using vehicles or bicycle. The text is relevant for motorists. Finally, INTERTEXTUALITY: how texts
make references to other texts. Don Quixote, in the second parr they make reference to the first part of
Don Quixote.
 Unit 3: MEANING AND IDEOLOGY
Where is the meaning?
According to meaning, our background is different. Example: bachelor; a single man (male students in the past
that attended academies).

When talking about words, what we have in our minds is theory which is called: TACIT theory. We can
differentiate ourselves from ordinate people because we have a huge range of knowledge. When we verbalize a
theory, moving from passive theory to verbalization we get an overt theory; there is a big change.

A mortal who talks about a theory will talk about overt theory. Whereas, we will create a scientific theory (we
are experts). After having elaborated a professional theory, it can be shared or not by common people. However,
not many people feel comfortable when using the word theory, so a new concept has been created:
CULTURAL MODELS (everyday people theories). As a result, we can say that having fixing meaning is due
to cultural models, but the thing is that cultural models do not have to be right.

Example: coffee; do we all share the same meaning for coffee? Some people think about the liquid coffee that
comes to our mind is different depending on the person, nationality, age, likes… Some other people think
about beans.
Big coffee is opposed to the new legislation: it makes reference to big corporations.

A bachelor: 70 years old gay man, technically is a bachelor but there is something wrong in it. Another
important problem about the word bachelor is sexism.
Spinster: there difference between a bachelor and a spinster is that spinster has many negative connotations
related to her position in the world, fertility, etc. however, many people in England has started to use the word
bachelor for both men and women. Other people use the word spinster applying positive connotations to it. WE
ARE NEGOCIATIONING MEANINGS ALL THE TIME, WE WILL REDIFINE THE CULTURAL
MODEL exam
Meanings are no so easy, each of one have a little story beyond this meaning. Maybe that stories are even wrong
or not completely accurate, but they work for us, it helps to simplify the word. That’s it; I’m going to use my
cultural model in order to talk about something. Sometimes, these cultural models change depending on our
experiences related to it and they are used by everyone. they help us to avoid thinking in possible meaning or
possible interpretations of reality. As a result, meanings are not definitions given by a dictionary. If these stories
beyond the word change, the meaning is altered too.
Let’s think about the word sea:
-Cultural model for a fisher: hostile place in which you have to fish in order to get food back to house.
Sometimes, it could be a dangerous place.
- Cultural model: a place for having fun
she will cry a sea of tears: we are not talking about metaphorical uses of words. As we can see, cultural models
are different depending on the person.
Let’s think about the word sausage:
-Meal: meat compressed into this kind of bag, usually dried, smoked, chicken, pork, beat, tofu… Can we start
putting random ingredients in sausages? Will we keep the same meaning?
What is acceptable for a sausage, what is not. When we are talking about sausages and we need to agree in the
cultural model, we will discuss it for a long time. Consumers negotiate with industries what a sausage is. Also,
institutions play a role in the meaning of words (Soy milk, you cannot name a vegan drink milk). What we have
on the background of almost everything is IDEOLOGY: Bullfighting is cruel/is not cruel. If we do not get into
an agreement, laws will arrive. THE POINT IS, WE CONSTANTLY NEGOTIATE MEANING WHILE IT,
IDEOLOGY STARTS TO INTERMIT. MEANING ARE COMPLETELY BIASED BY IDEOLOGY.
When you are defending a cultural model, you are influenced by your own ideology and we cannot escape
from it