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Culture Documents
Discourse Studies 12224
Discourse Studies 12224
hagustien@yahoo.com
Discourse
Definition
Common concern
Abstract
Realised in communication
Realised by language
Realised by texs
Discourse
Definition
Language use beyond sentence
Language use in contexts
Social practice
Language in a social-semiotic
perspective
‘Social semiotic’ as a general ideology
As an intellectual stance
As conceptual angle of the subject
Semiotics
Traffic lights
Colours
Language (sounds, letters)
Interpretation of colours (salted eggs,
navy blue)
Language as social
semiotic
Used by a community
Based on convention
At all levels: word, phrase, sentence,
text
Text
Situation
Who is involved?
(Tenor)
Register
TEXT
Text
It is a semantic unit.
Something is called a text when it is
meaningful.
It is spoken and written.
It is not a phonological or a
graphological unit.
It occurs in a context of situation.
Context of situation
Exchange of meanings
Happens in texts
See the following diagram onn stratification
and metafunctions
CULTURAL LEVEL
Textual
Interpersonal
Lexicogrammatical
Level
Ideational
Phonology/
Graphology
Level
Stratification
• Declarative:
We inspect the growing plants every week
• Imperative:
Brock, get those plants inspected right now!
Love, love changes everything Love will turn your world around
Hands and faces, birds and sky And that world would last forever
Love, love changes everything Yes, love, love changes everything
How you live and how you die Brings you glory, brings you shame
Nothing in the world will ever be the
same
Love can make the summer fly
Or a night seem like a lifetime
Love, into the world we go
Yes, love, love changes everything
Planning future, shaping years
Now I tremble at your name
Love does its acts suddenly
Nothing in the world will ever be
All our wisdom disappears
the same
Love makes moves on everyone
Love, love changes everything
All the rules we make are broken
Days are longer, words mean more
Yes, love, love changes everything
Love, love changes everything
Live or perish in its name
Pain is deeper than before
Love will never, never let you be the
same
Textual Meanings
Reference
Lexical cohesion
Conjunction
Reference
Systems of reference
Retrieval
System of Reference
presenting
presuming
+ comparison
- comparison
Retrieval
Anaphora: points the reader or listener ‘backwards’ to a
previously mentioned entity, process or state of affairs.
Homophora: retrieval of identity with reference to the context of
culture / situation, or from within or outside the text. E.g. When
I woke up, the sun was shining. ‘The sun’ is a culturally shared
knowledge.
Exophora: retrieval from outside the text. E.g. That koala over
there is really sleepy. Esp. in spoken text.
Endophora: Retrieval from within the text. There are two types:
anaphora and cataphora.
Endophora
Anaphora:
Some snakes, though not venomous, are still deadly. They
squeeze their victim to death.
Cataphora:
It was a venomous one, that small green snake.
Bridging:
We walk towards the kiosk but the windows were bolted shut.
Lexical Cohesion
Refers to the relationships between and among words
in a text
Primarily related to field
Field tends to have specialised vocabularies and
tends to engage in specialised activities.
Reveals interpersonal meanings through use of
attitudinal lexis and qualitative attributes.
Categories of Lexical Cohesion
Repetition
Synonymy: leave, depart
Antonymy: leave, arrive
Hyponymy (superordination): flower, rose; rose-
daffodil
Meronymy (whole-part relation): flower, petals
Equivalence: the sailor was their daddy.
Naming: They call their puppy Fluffy.
Semblance: They could see their white caps
looking like seahorses.
Conjunction