Discourse Typology and Cultural Perspective

What is discourse?

Etymology, basic definition

Discourse < discursus (Latin)= running to and from Written or spoken communication or debate (Compact Oxford Dictionary, Oxford UP, 2001)

A terminological dilemma Text = ? Context = ? Discourse =?

Text
A linguistic form in a stretch of language whose interpretations dont vary with context. The product of an identifiable authorial intention, which has a relation to its context of culture as fixed and stable. Text meaning: identical with the semantic signs it is composed of (this meaning can be accomplished by text explanations used to retrieve the authors intended meaning and text deconstruction which explores the associations evoked by the text)

Text
The idea of text does not include the role of the reader in decoding meaning, nor the social context of reception or production. Seeing the text as a discourse provides it with its fullest meaning.

Context
Narrow sense: = knowledge of factors outside the text under consideration. Broad sense: knowledge of the above mentioned factors and of the other parts of the text under consideration Co-text.

Context constituents
Co-text Paralinguistic features Other texts (intertextuality) The physical situation The social and cultural situation Interlocutors (knowledge about other peoples knowledge)

Discourse-definition
A coherent stretch of language in use, taking on meaning in context for its users and perceived by them as purposeful, meaningful and connected (Guy Cook) Discourse in context may consist of only one or two words as in stop or no smoking. Alternatively, a piece of discourse can be hundreds of thousands of words in length, as some novels are. A typical piece of discourse is somewhere between these two extremes. (Eli Hinkel and Sandra Fotos)

Discourse - definition
Discourse is the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. Language can never be 'neutral' because it bridges our personal and social worlds. (Frances Henry and Carol Tator)

DISCOURSE QUALITIES
Beaugrande (1981) identified seven criteria which have to be fulfilled to qualify either a written or a spoken text as a discourse: Cohesion Coherence Intentionality Acceptability Informativeness Situationality Intertextuality

COHESION=?

COHESION
grammatical relationship between parts of a sentence essential for its interpretation

COHERENCE=?

COHERENCE
the order of statements relates one another by sense

INTENTIONALITY=?

INTENTIONALITY
the message has to be conveyed deliberately and consciously

ACCEPTABILITY=?

ACCEPTABILITY
indicates that the communicative product needs to be satisfactory in that the audience approves it;

INFORMATIVENESS=?

INFORMATIVENESS
some new information has to be included in the discourse

SITUATIONALITY=?

SITUATIONALITY
The situation in which the discursive process occurs is relevant.

INTERTEXTUALITY

INTERTEXTUALITY
reference to the world outside the text or the interpreters' schemata

Types of discourses
Alexander Bain, English Composition and Rhetoric: Narration Description Exposition Argument

Discourse overlapping
No theory of modes of discourse ever pretends that the modes do not overlap. In actuality, it is impossible to have pure narration, etc. However in a given discourse there will often be . . . [a] 'dominant' mode." (James Kinneavy, A Theory of Discourse. Prentice Hall, 1972)

Narrative discourse
A narrative discourse is a discourse that is an account of events, usually in the past, that employs verbs of speech, motion, and action to describe a series of events that are contingent one on another, and that typically focuses on one or more performers of actions.

Narrative discourse
"Jokes, fables, fairy tales, short stories, plays, novels, and other forms of literature are narrative if they tell a story. Although some narrations provide only the basic who, what, when, where, and why of an occurrence in an essentially chronological arrangement, as in a newspaper account of a murder, others contain such features as plot, conflict, suspense, characterization, and description to intensify readers' interest." (Lynn Z. Bloom, The Essay Connection, Houghton Mifflin, 2001)

Narrative Discourse
"Narration is . . . a component of much of the writing done in the workplace. Police officers write crime reports, and insurance investigators write accident reports, both of which narrate sequences of events. Physical therapists and nurses write narrative accounts of their patients' progress, and teachers narrate events for disciplinary reports. Supervisors write narrative accounts of employees' actions for individual personnel files, and company officials use narration to report on the company's performance during the fiscal year for its stockholders." (Barbara Fine Clouse, Patterns for a Purpose, McGraw Hill, 2003)

Narrative discourse - features

As a rule, events are organized chronologically. First or third person pronoun forms are used. The text is oriented around a specific agent or agents.

Narrative discourse - examples

Folk stories Historical events Mythology Personal experience General informative reports, articles etc.

Narrative discourse - parts

Exposition or setting Inciting moment Developing conflict Climax Denouement Final suspense Conclusion

Example of written narrative discourse

It was a clear, crisp autumn morning, and the wind made Ediths cheeks tingle pleasantly as she walked briskly to work. Pale sunlight shone through the bare branches of the trees lining the road, and fallen leaves moved and made a noise round her feet, while the smell of bonfires staying in the air brought back nostalgic memories of her childhood half a century ago. Her contentment went away, however, the moment she reached the office, where she was greeted by the noise of angry voices and a lot of quick activity. Puzzled, she asked innocently what was wrong. Weve been taken over by another company, someone said hysterically, and theyve fired everyone! Ediths heart san; she had refused to believe office stories of the takeover, and now she felt lost and afraid. She had no idea what she could do, or where she should go. Very surprised, she didnt even take off her coat, but simply took a few personal possessions from her desk before she turned and walked blindly out of the office. Slowly making her way to the park, Edith sat dejectedly on a bench and looked at the ducks moving on the river. After thirty years of loyal service, she told herself bitterly, she had been put aside, and her life was not good. No one would hire an elderly secretary who knew nothing about computers. Then a familiar voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. Cheer up, Edith its not the end of the world! Looking up, she saw her boss, Mr. Blake, smiling happily. As soon as he had heard about the takeover, he explained, he had decided to make other plans, and had bought a small hotel in the south of France. My wife and I need a housekeeper, he continued nicely, and youd be perfect for the job. Edith looked at the beautiful colors of the falling leaves and realized instinctively that this was the chance of her dreams. She was happy at the idea of making a new start in the later part of her life, and a big smile was seen on her face. She knew the event of that day would change her life for ever.

Exercise
It was a clear, crisp autumn morning, and the wind made Ediths cheeks tingle pleasantly as she walked briskly to work. Pale sunlight shone through the bare branches of the trees lining the road, and fallen leaves moved and made a noise round her feet, while the smell of bonfires staying in the air brought back nostalgic memories of her childhood half a century ago. Lingering, rustled, streamed, swirled

Exercise
Her contentment went away, however, the moment she reached the office, where she was greeted by the noise of angry voices and a lot of quick activity. Puzzled, she asked innocently what was wrong.

Evaporated, a flurry, frenzied, an uproar

Exercise
Weve been taken over by another company, someone said hysterically, and theyve fired everyone! Ediths heart san; she had refused to believe office stories of the takeover, and now she felt lost and afraid. She had no idea what she could do, or where she should go. Very surprised, she didnt even take off her coat, but simply took a few personal possessions from her desk before she turned and walked blindly out of the office. Gathered, rumors, stumbled, stunned, wailed

Exercise
Slowly making her way to the park, Edith sat dejectedly on a bench and looked at the ducks moving on the river. After thirty years of loyal service, she told herself bitterly, she had been put aside, and her life was not good. No one would hire an elderly secretary who knew nothing about computers.
Drifting, in ruins, slumped, stared, tossed.

Exercise
Then a familiar voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. Cheer up, Edith its not the end of the world! Looking up, she saw her boss, Mr. Blake, smiling happily. As soon as he had heard about the takeover, he explained, he had decided to make other plans, and had bought a small hotel in the south of France. My wife and I need a housekeeper, he continued nicely, and youd be perfect for the job. Grinning, lifting her head, warmly.

Exercise
Edith looked at the beautiful colors of the falling leaves and realized instinctively that this was the chance of her dreams. She was happy at the idea of making a new start in the later part of her life, and a big smile was seen on her face. She knew the event of that day would change her life for ever. Admired, autumn, fresh, lit up, radiant, thrilled

Descriptive discourse
rhetorical strategy using sensory details to portray a person, place, or thing The descriptive writer's main task is the selection and verbal representation of information. You must choose the details that matter--that are important to the purposes you share with your readers--as well as a pattern of arrangement relevant to those mutual purposes.

Descriptive discourse
"Description can be an engineer describing the terrain where an embankment must be built, a novelist describing a farm where the novel will take place, a realtor describing a house and land for sale, a journalist describing a celebrity's birthplace, or a tourist describing a rural scene to friends back home. That engineer, novelist, realtor, journalist, and tourist may all be describing the very same place. If each is truthful, their descriptions will not contradict each other. But they will certainly include and emphasize different aspects."

Descriptive discourse
Descriptive information will express the speakers categorization of real-world entities and their properties, and his unique perception of those entities, their properties and functions. Hohulin, 2001

Intentionality vs. objectivity

What is the relation between intentionality and objectivity within the context of a descriptive discourse? What gives the descriptive discourse its uniqueness? Different intentions or authorial subjectivity?

Assumed objectivity
It seems that the most crucial feature of descriptive discourse is its assumed objectivity. In this type, the writer places him- or herself completely out of scope. They never surface with authorial comment, and do not write evaluative material. The text is, as much as possible, given from the assumed perspective of a completely objective set of facts and data.

Traits of descriptive discourses

The general characteristics of descriptive writing include:
elaborate use of sensory language rich, vivid, and lively detail figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism and personification showing, rather than telling through the use of active verbs and precise modifiers

Purpose of descriptive discourse

Descriptive writing is usually used to help a writer develop an aspect of their work, eg. to create a particular mood, atmosphere or describe a place so that the reader can create vivid pictures of characters, places, objects etc.

Descriptive discourse language

aims to show rather than tell the reader what something/someone is like relies on precisely chosen vocabulary with carefully chosen adjectives and adverbs. is focused and concentrates only on the aspects that add something to the main purpose of the description. sensory description - what is heard, seen, smelt, felt, tasted. Precise use of adjectives, similes, metaphors to create images/pictures in the mind e.g. their noses were met with the acrid smell of rotting flesh. strong development of the experience that "puts the reader there" focuses on key details, powerful verbs and precise nouns.

Exercise
Read the following descriptions, underline the phrases which refer to the senses and identify each sense.

Exercise
The market buzzes with the sound of womens voices, while the smell of fresh fish, vegetables and spices fill the hot, humid air. Crowds of shoppers jostle each other as they squeeze past the displays of goods, voices grow louder as the people haggle over prices, and the clang of metal bowls and boxes rings through the market.

Exercise
A faint smell of crushed grass wafted up from the court as the hot sun beat down on the crowd watching the players. The silence was punctuated by the rhythmic sound of the tennis ball and the muted gasps of the spectators; then, suddenly, the crowd surged to their feet with a roar.

Exercise
Fill in the gaps with words from the list below: stretch out, is set in, winds through, nestles at, is perched on, curves around, sprawl out, is located in, slopes down to.

Exercise
1. The small house, which the centre of the town, is packed with antiques. 2. The narrow country lane .the wooded valley. 3. The steep hillside the seashore. 4. The hotel.the towering Welsh mountains. 5. The river..the base of the mountains. 6. The plainsin every direction. 7. The cabin .precariously..a cliff top. 8. The suburbsinto the countryside. 9. A tiny village the foot of the high mountain.

EXPOSITION
Definition: A statement or type of composition intended to give information about (or an explanation of) an issue, subject, method, or idea.

EXPOSITION
Etymology: < Latin, to place

EXPOSITION
"The art of expressing oneself in a logical manner we call exposition, but 'logical' is not used here in any precise scientific sense. Indeed, we might say that exposition is the art of expressing oneself clearly, logic being implied in the structure of the sentences employed." (Herbert Read, English Prose Style. Beacon, 1952)

 "In exposition, every statement is offered as a matter of accepted fact. In argument, only some statements are offered as matters of fact, and these are given as reasons to make us believe assertions or claims." (James A. W. Heffernan and John E. Lincoln, Writing: A College Handbook, 5th ed. Norton, 2000)

EXPOSITION
"One of the traditional classifications of discourse that has as a function to inform or to instruct or to present ideas and general truths objectively. Exposition uses all of the common organizational patterns such as definition, analysis, classification, cause and effect.

Definition
A statement of the meaning of a word or phrase. As a method of exposition, a definition may be brief or extended, part of an essay or an entire essay. Examples of expository discourse constructed on the method of definition: A Definition of a Jerk, by Sydney J. Harris A Definition of Pantomime, by Julian Barnes A Definition of Prettiness, by Gore Vidal

Analysis
A method of paragraph or essay development by which a writer explains step by step how something is done or how to do something. Defining aspect of expository discourses Examples of expository discourses constructed on the method of analysis: Camping Out, by Ernest Hemingway The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Parenting, by Joshua Piven

Analysis - example
How to Remove Chewing Gum From Hair Prepare an ice sack. Place several cubes of ice in a plastic bag or thin cloth. Seal or hold it closed. Apply ice pack to hair. Move the affected hair away from the scalp and press the ice against the gum for 15 to 30 minutes or until the gum freezes solid. Use a rubber glove or a dry washcloth to hold the ice compress if your hand becomes chilled. Crack the frozen gum into pieces. With one hand, hold the stuck section of the hair between the gum clot and the scalp, and break the frozen gum into small pieces.

Remove the gum. Gently pull the frozen gum pieces from the hair using your other hand. If the warmth of your hand begins to melt the gum, refreeze and repeat until all the gum has been removed from the hair.

Classification
A method of paragraph or essay development in which a writer arranges people, objects, or ideas with shared characteristics into classes or groups. Expository discourses use classification as it makes the information more easily grasped.

Classification example
"The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; (5) those who know and distinguish." (H.W. Fowler and Ernest Gowers, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, 2nd ed. Oxford Univ. Press, 1965)

Classification - example
"Americans can be divided into three groups--smokers, nonsmokers and that expanding pack of us who have quit. Those who have never smoked don't know what they're missing, but former smokers, ex-smokers, reformed smokers can never forget. We are veterans of a personal war, linked by that watershed experience of ceasing to smoke and by the temptation to have just one more cigarette. For almost all of us ex-smokers, smoking continues to play an important role in our lives. And now that it is being restricted in restaurants around the country and will be banned in almost all indoor public places in New York State starting next month, it is vital that everyone understand the different emotional states cessation of smoking can cause. I have observed four of them; and in the interest of science I have classified them as those of the zealot, the evangelist, the elect and the serene. Each day, each category gains new recruits." (Franklin Zimring, "Confessions on an Ex-Smoker." Newsweek, April 20, 1987)

Cause and effect

A method of paragraph or essay development in which a writer analyzes the reasons for (and/or the consequences of) an action, event, or decision. "If you prove the cause, you at once prove the effect; and conversely nothing can exist without its cause." (Aristotle, Rhetoric) A rhetorical way of achieving logic in expository discourses

Cause and effect - example

"I worry about the private automobile. It is a dirty, noisy, wasteful, and lonely means of travel. It pollutes the air, ruins the safety and sociability of the street, and exercises upon the individual a discipline which takes away far more freedom than it gives him. It causes an enormous amount of land to be unnecessarily abstracted from nature and from plant life and to become devoid of any natural function. It explodes cities, grievously impairs the whole institution of neighborliness, fragmentizes and destroys communities. It has already spelled the end of our cities as real cultural and social communities, and has made impossible the construction of any others in their place. Together with the airplane, it has crowded out other, more civilized and more convenient means of transport, leaving older people, infirm people, poor people and children in a worse situation than they were a hundred years ago." (George F. Kennan, Democracy and the Student Left, 1968)

ARGUMENT
A course of reasoning aimed at demonstrating truth or falsehood. Etymology: < Latin to make clear

ARGUMENT
Two meanings: Daniel J. O'Keefe: 1. Argument = thing people make, as when an editorialist argues that some public policy is wrong (close to the ancient rhetorical notion of argument ) 2. a kind of interaction people have, as when two friends argue about where to have lunch (legitimates the modern interactional research)

ARGUMENT
"Argument, in its most basic form, can be described as a claim (the arguer's position on a controversial issue) which is supported by reasons and evidence to make the claim convincing to an audience.

ARGUMENT
"An argumentative situation . . . is a site in which the activity of arguing takes place, where views are exchanged and changed, meanings explored, concepts developed, and understandings achieved. It may also be a site in which people are persuaded and disagreements resolved, but these popular goals are not the only ones, and too narrow a focus on them threatens to overlook much for which argumentation is a central and important tool "As a 'site,' the argumentative situation is a non-geographical space, located in and created by discourse. We inhabit such spaces with different facility, some of us with ease, others with discomfort. Yet they are crucial to our self-understanding and our understanding of others." (Christopher W. Tindale, Rhetorical Argumentation: Principles of Theory and Practice. Sage, 2004)

ARGUMENT
"In effect, someone who offers an argument for a position is making a claim, providing reasons to support that claim, and implying that the premises make it reasonable to accept the conclusion. Here is a general model: Premise 1 Premise 2 Premise 3 . . . Premise N Therefore, Conclusion Here the dots and the symbol N indicate that arguments may have any number of premises--one, two, three, or more. The word therefore indicates that the arguer is stating the premises to support the next claim, which is the conclusion." (Trudy Govier, A Practical Study of Argument. Wadsworth, 2010)

ARGUMENT
Instances of an argument: Debate, with participants on both sides trying to win. Courtroom argument, with lawyers pleading before a judge and jury. Dialectic, with people taking opposing views and finally resolving the conflict. Single-perspective argument, with one person arguing to convince a mass audience. One-on-one everyday argument, with one person trying to convince another. Academic inquiry, with one or more people examining a complicated issue. Negotiation, with two or more people working to reach consensus. Internal argument, or working to convince yourself.

ARGUMENT
Classic examples of argumentative discourses: "A Modest Proposal," by Jonathan Swift "The Penalty of Death," by H.L. Mencken "The Education of Women," by Daniel Defoe