Discourse Analysis
Uploaded by
cami.scrtDiscourse Analysis
Uploaded by
cami.scrtAPUNTES DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
1. TOPIC 1
Types of cohesion:
- Reference – identification of people/things
- Substitution & ellipsis – economy device/taking something out
- Conjunctive relations – connect events through the logic of
time/cause/comparison/addition
- Lexical cohesion – cohesion through vocabulary/related meanings
2. TOPIC 2
Cohesion of a text a text-forming connections between clauses and sentences,
related to meaning
Textual cohesion semantic connections between an element in the text and some
other element.
Items having the same situational referent: co-reference (Mary – she)
Item belonging to the same class, but not the same situational referent: co-classification (I
play the cello. My husband does, too.)
Items belonging to the same general field of meaning: co-extension (hot vs. cold, boy vs.
man; cousin vs. brother, etc.)
Items are whole messages which are connected through logical relations (when, because, but,
consequently, etc.): organic relations
Items are connected in conversation: question followed by answer, offer by acceptance,
order by compliance: adjacency pairs.
Structural cohesion:
- Parallelism - repeating of sentences with a similar structure): Mary saw John.
- Theme-Rheme and Given-New – structure of sentences: (Mary saw John. John
wanted to ignore her. His ignorance hurt Mary very much). Mary is the Theme-
Rheme, because something is going to be said about her. A participant!!
Co-referential or co-classificational cohesive links A and B A is an implicit coding
device; it is interpreted only by referring to another source:
Omission/ellipsis “lying on the floor” possible question: where is the dog?
Substitution my axe is too blunt; I have to get another one.
Lexical cohesion cohesion based on relations between the meanings of full/lexical words.
Hyponymy.
Organic relations logical relation between one sentence and another. F. e., first… next…
(succession in an argument – internal conjunction)
3. TOPIC 3
Different types of reference.
NOT the same “my mum is a teacher” because mum =/= teacher; “the teacher is very
cute” teacher = cute.
Text reference “Everyone was celebrating. This was a cool moment” A participant.
Comparative reference another cat, smallest cat…
Possessive reference his cat, he has a cat…
Circumstance of time/space demonstrative adverbs – here, there, now…
Generic and specific reference whole category or concrete (Slovene citizens – two
Slovene people)
Identity chain all the mentions of a participant or related participants.
- Presenting reference – participant is mentioned for the 1st time
- Presuming reference – to track participant, identification.
4. TOPIC 4
- Context of culture/share knowledge – homophoric reference (the Sun, the Moon…)
- Context of situation/immediate situation – exophotic (give me that knife)
- Co-text/going back or forward in the text – endophora; can be anaphora (looking
back) or cataphora (looking forward)
- Self-identification – elements pointing to themselves – esphora
- Bridging – referring indirectly; a cohesive item is a specific expression which is
preceded by its hypernym in the identity chain: “he bought some flowers; roses were
the best”
o When an expression is said and then the hypernym, is direct: roses plant.
o Between parts and wholes: branch tree branch
5. TOPIC 5
Ellipsis & substitution
- Nominal ellipsis – the noun is left out: “she asked for the eggs if there were any”.
o Modifiers become headword: “four other people went there, then another
four”.
- Clausal ellipsis (whole or partial) verbal ellipsis, involves the omission of the
whole of part of the clause
o Wh-ellipsis – whole: “What was that? A boat”; or partial “if we don’t do it,
who will?” “What have you been doing? Taking a shower”
o Yes/no ellipsis – whole: “have you finished? Yes”; or partial: “Are you here?
Yes, I am”
6. TOPIC 6
Nominal substitution one/s functions as the head of the nominal phrase. Can be substitute
for any countable noun: “I’ve got a sofa, the other one was ugly”.
Uses of ONE
- As a numeral or substitute: “where are forks? There is one on the table (numeral)
and the other one (replacement) in the kitchen”.
- The same: “he said that he loved her. I said the same” (I said that I loved her).
Clausal substitution
- Yes-no context
o Whole – so & not “if so, if not” – “is he going to be ok? I think so/prob not”
o Partial – so, nor & neither – “I love them. – So did I”
o Verbal ellipsis – “does it hurt? Not anymore; it did last night”
- WH-context
o Whole – negative ‘not’ positive ‘so’ – “This is not right – why not?”
o Partial – substituted by ‘not’ – “you shouldn’t go there – why not go there?”
7. TOPIC 7
Conjunction involves logical semantic relations between clauses or sentences. Are
expressed by linking words. Can be realized as a verb, noun, adjective or adjunct
metaphorical – linking words: afterwards, and then, for example…
4 types of conjuction
- Additive and, besides, moreover, in addition
- Temporal and meanwhile, while, at the same time
- Comparative (similarity, contrast) like, as, whereas, in contrast…
- Casual
o Reason: because, as, since
o Purpose: so that, to this end
o Condition: if, then, otherwise
o Concession: although, in spite of, but…
o Manner: by, thereby, thus…
Explicit marked by a linking word – “she is exhausted because she works hard”
Implicit not marked – “I’d like to stop. I am tired”
8. TOPIC 8
Conjunctive relation
Temporal relations
- Successive: “after going to uni, we waited”
- Simultaneous: “while the dog is being judged, we hope he behaves well”
Metaphorical realization – conj. As a verb or noun – “our tabling the dogs was followed by
the judge handling them”
Cohesive realization – between sentences – “the judge handled the dog. Previously we’d
tabled them”
Internal temporal relations: to organize arguments or info in the text – first, second, next…
Causal relations: express causes/consequences happening outside the text
- Manner – how did you win? By training hard
- Reason – why did you win? Because we trained hard
- Based on the nature of the effect (consequence):
o Reason
o Condition
o Negative condition
o Negative purpose
- Counterfactual condition “if we had prepared well, we would have won”
o Factual cond. Possible if we try, we’ll won
o Factual cond. Certain as long as we enter,, we’ll win
o Manner
o Reason
o Condition
o Purpose
Metaphorical expression of cause – use of nouns & verbs like enable, cause, trigger, reason,
root…
9. TOPIC 9 (+conjunctions)
10. TOPIC 10