ENG 303: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

LECTURE NOTES

LECTURE 1:

DISCOURSE AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Specific Objectives

At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

1. Define discourse and discourse analysis.

2. Demonstrate understanding of the origin and domain of discourse analysis.

3. Explain the relationship between discourse analysis and other disciplines.

INTRODUCTION

Discourse can be viewed in two ways:

1. A structural definition of discourse defines it as a unit of language above the level of

the sentence. This approach looks for constituents which have particular relationships
with each other and that can occur in a restricted number of arrangements. The
problem with this approach is that the units in which people speak do not look like
sentences and are often not grammatically correct.
2. A functional approach to discourse claims that language has multiple functions. The
task of discourse analysis using this approach is to analyse the functions of language,
the way that language is used (meaning as use), what we do with language when we
use it. In other words discourse analysis views discourse as a social phenomenon
rather than a purely linguistic one.
Discourse analysis is highly practical and is used in all areas of communication (especially
institutional areas such as medicine, law and education) and with all forms of talk – speech
and written texts, everyday language, specialized language, formal and informal language.

Discourse analysis also examines how language is used to sustain social institutions and
manipulate opinion; how it is used in the expression of ideology and the exercise of power.
Discourse analysis can also be used to develop awareness of linguistic features in the
interpretation of literary texts.

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Discourse refers to both written texts and oral texts. It is important to identify whether a
text is written or oral. There are also some texts which have both written and oral
characteristics at the same time. Internet chat for example is essentially a written form of
speech. On the other hand a university lecture may be a spoken form of writing. So it is
important to analyze the spoken and written characteristics of discourse, which we do in the
next lecture.

DEFINING DISCOURSE AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

 The dictionary definition of discourse is “conversation” or “the formal and orderly,
and usually extended expression of thought on a subject (Merriam Webster).
 Discourse analysis is the study of the relationship between language and the context
in which it is used. (McCarthy, M., 1991, p.5)
 Discourse analysis is the study of how sentences in spoken and written language form
larger, meaningful units such as paragraphs, conversations, interviews etc. (Richards,
Platt & Weber, 1985, p.4)
 Discourse analysis is a discipline which studies the relationship between form and
function in verbal communication (Renkema, 1999, p. 3)
 Discourse analysis is the study of spoken and written language in its social and
psychological context (Cook, 1983).
 Discourse analysis is the study of naturally occurring connected speech or written
discourse...it refers to attempts to study language above the sentence...it follows that
discourse analysis is also concerned about use of language in social contexts and in
particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers (Stubbs, 1983).

From these definitions, we gain the following insights about discourse and discourse
analysis:

1. Discourse is language above the sentence level, which is rooted in context

2. Discourse analysis considers language in use with regard to 2 kinds of relationships:
the surrounding text in which it occurs (co-text), and the wider context of situation
(physical and social occasion in which the utterance is made).
3. Discourse analysis is concerned with both spoken and written texts, which often have
different social uses and communicative functions. Spoken texts include

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 conversations, monologues etc, and written texts may be essays, news, political
speeches etc.
4. Discourse analysis attempts to explain how linguistic form relates to linguistic
function.

WHY STUDY DISCOURSE?

As linguists – to discover more about how language works, especially beyond the sentence

As educators – to discover more about how we make meaning of good texts, so that our
students can learn similar strategies

As researchers/analysts – to discover more than what is on the surface of a text; to go

deeper into it.

THE ORIGINS AND DOMAIN OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

The scholars of Greece and Rome, who were the first students of language in the western
tradition distinguished grammar from rhetoric. The former was concerned with the rules of
language while the latter focused on how to do things with words, that is, how to achieve
effective communication in different contexts.

Zellig Harris coined the term discourse analysis. He was a sentence linguist who sought to
explain how sentences were connected within a text. He concluded that there were two
possible directions for discourse analysis:

1. Showing how formal, purely linguistic rules can account for how one sentence
succeeds another.
2. Correlating culture and language.
As a sentence linguist, Harris was interested in the former direction. Sentence linguistics
stipulates the following:

1. Knowledge of the world outside language, which we use to interpret it, should not be
part of language analysis.
2. Linguists should be able to make discoveries about the language itself and its rules,
independently of the circumstances of its use.
3. It confines itself to what happens within sentences.
4. It may make use of self-generated language samples, and the analysts own linguistic
competence as a native speaker, or may use the language of others and remove

3
 features e.g. interjections which may be considered irrelevant to the purposes of the
sentence linguist.
Traditionally, linguistics has considered the sentence as the basic unit of language structure,
and as noted, linguists do not always use data from ordinary language behaviour when
providing grammatical descriptions. Grammarians rely on a single sentence, or a set of single
sentences to explain particular features of language. Often, these sentences are self-generated.
Discourse analysts typically rely on analysis of written texts or tape recordings of persons
other than themselves. This type of linguistic material is sometimes described as
performance data (Brown & Yule, p. 20). It contains features that are not usually accounted
for in the grammar of language, e.g. slips of the tongue, hesitations etc. It is often taken for
granted that texts are authentic, i.e. they are part of an actual communicative event and not
invented for purposes of exemplification.

In addition, while the grammarian is committed to highlighting rules of language, the

discourse analyst is interested in highlighting regularities based on frequency of particular
features of language Thus, the discourse analyst attempts to uncover and describe certain
regularities in language data.

The discourse analyst analyses texts. This term refers to both spoken and written data. A text
is any stretch of language in use, whether spoken or written. It forms a complete unit of
language with its own internal and external relationships. It may be as short as one word, for
example “Fire!” shouted in a crowded cinema, or as long as the Bible. Thus, discourse
captures the idea of text in context. The analyst is interested in examining the function the
language performs e.g. Fire! Sounded as a warning, or Biblical passages intended as
prophecy, warning etc, rather than simply analyzing structures and establishing rules.

Discourse analysis is sometimes termed as text linguistics, and not all analysts make a
difference between the two terms. Where a distinction is made, the difference is often
indicative of a difference in the focus of analysis. Text linguistics views the text as a product,
in which case, there is no focus on how the text was produced or received and interpreted.
The term discourse analysis views the text as a process. It is evidence of a producer’s
(speaker/writer) attempt to communicate his or her message to a recipient (hearer/reader). It
is also interested in how the recipient comes to comprehend and interpret the producer’s
intended message. Thus, there is a focus on the text and the context in which it occurs. Cook

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(1989) defines text as a stretch of language interpreted formally without context, and
discourse as stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive.

Example:

B: John wrote the essay

C: An essay was written by John

Both are correct English sentences, but only A is an appropriate response to:

A: What did John do?

Thus, text B takes the form it does because it is preceded by C.

Formal links are not sufficient to account for our feeling that a stretch of language is
discourse. Both form and function e.g. thanking, warning, promising etc. are important in the
interpretation of discourse. In addition, in order to understand a text etc, we need to
understand the context surrounding the utterances/sentences.

The notion of context is central to the study of discourse. Originally, context meant the
accompanying wording that came before or after the text under study. In C19th, it was
extended to include non-linguistic aspects e.g. the moral context of the day, and modern
linguists also include the non-verbal environment in which a text occurs. While grammarians
try to produce an exhaustive but economical set of rules to account for language data, they do
not attempt to account for the mental processes involved in the language user’s production,
nor do they take into account the contexts in which the utterance occurs. These
considerations fall within the domain of discourse analysis.

People sometimes complain that some utterance attributed to them (by the Press, for example,
or in a court of law) was misinterpreted because it was 'taken out of context'. By this, they
may mean one (or a combination of) two things: (a) that the rest of what they said has been
ignored or (b) that the circumstances in which the utterance was made have been ignored. In
either case, the complainant is appealing to the indisputable view that the sense of an
utterance is not inherent in the words and grammar alone but is crucially affected by
contextual factors.

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Catford suggested the term co-text to specifically refer to the verbal environment surrounding
a particular text, thus distinguishing it from context in its wider perspective. Context in the
sense of a) is the co-text, while context in the sense of b) is the context of situation, a large
part of which has to do with the context of culture, a term which is sometimes used
synonymously with context of situation.

The context of situation is made up of all the phenomena which affect the discourse. In
face-to-face interaction, the context of situation includes the immediate and wider
environment in which the text actually occurs such as the classroom in the case of a
teaching discourse, the shop or market in a sales transaction, the workshop in the case
of a discussion about a gearbox replacement. The interactants also play a part in the
context of situation. The people who are discussing gearbox replacement, their ages,
nationalities, gender and especially their social roles on this occasion (for example,
mechanic and car-owner; apprentice mechanic and skilled mechanic; teacher and
student; two non-expert car-owners; friends or strangers) may all be significant. Every
immediate situation is located in a cultural context. Classroom discourse takes place
within a wider cultural context of, say, university education or secondary school
education. (Bloor, T. http://www.philseflsupport.com/textschema.htm)

Language is a product of society, and at the same time, it is the raw material through which
society communicates. Language in society performs both an interactional and a transactional
function. Language in use informs, controls and manipulates. As such, discourse analysts
must bear in mind the motives behind utterances as they engage in analysis.

De Beaugrande (1997) posits a set of criteria for textuality, and these form some of the
major concerns in a course on discourse analysis:

 cohesion: the relation between forms and patterns

 coherence: the way meanings are understood/ from outside a text
 intentionality: what text producers intend, mean to achieve
 informativity: the extent to which the text tells you what you don't already know
 situationality: the relation between the text-event and the situation in which it occurs
 intertextuality: the relation between this text and other texts

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DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND OTHER DSICIPLINES
Often, research cannot be said to belong neatly to one discipline. Discourse analysis has
benefitted from other disciplines such as philosophy, literary studies, sociolinguistics and
conversation analysis.

1. Analytical Philosophy
The Speech Act theory, which originated in philosophy and is associated with J. Austin and
Searle, has been popularized due to developments in linguistics, particularly in pragmatics.
H.P. Grice, who is credited with the Cooperative Principle, was also a philosopher whose
ideas found greater expression through discourse analysis.

2. Structural Linguistics
Structuralists often make use of large corpora of texts in order to study the distribution of
particular structures and describe their uses.

3. Sociolinguistics, register studies and stylistic variation

These fields recognize that language variation depends not only on the social position and
geographic origin of the interact ants (sociolinguistic concerns), but also on the activity one is
engaged in (sports commentary, sermons, teaching etc). These contribute to the creation of
context, which is the domain of discourse analysis.

4. Pragmatics
This is a sub-discipline of linguistics which focuses on the relationship between language use
and the language user in a situational context. It mainly focuses on choices in individual
utterances, taking into account areas of human belief, feelings, knowledge and intentions.
Discourse is concerned with patterns throughout the text.

5. Linguistic Anthropology
This includes approaches which contextualize language in socio-cultural terms.

6. Semiotics and Communication Studies

Semiotics is the study of signs. Ferdinand de Saussure argued that language is just one of the
many systems of signs. Semiotics studies all kinds of sign using behaviour. Semantics, which
is the study of meaning and discourse analysis provide specific insights into the sign using
behaviour that is language.

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 7. Conversation Analysis
This studies audience uptake and conversational talk.

Thus, discourse analysis informs and is informed by several other disciplines, and a lot of
“cross-fertilization takes place.

LECTURE 2:

HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Specific Objectives

At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the origin and domain of discourse analysis.

2. Explain the relationship between discourse analysis and other disciplines.

Early Influences
DA can trace its roots back to the study of language, public speech, and literature more than
2000 years ago. Major sources of influence were grammar (grammatica) and rhetoric
(rhetorica). The scholars of Greece and Rome, who were the first students of language in the
western tradition, distinguished grammar from rhetoric.

The study of grammar, which, historically, preceded and birthed linguistics, was concerned
with the rules of, and correct use of language, while the study of rhetoric, which is a
precursor to contemporary stylistics, focused on how to do things with words, that is, how to
achieve effective communication in different contexts, particularly in political and legal
contexts. It was defined by Aristotle as, “the art of discovering the best possible means of
persuasion in regard to any subject whatever.”

Rhetoric lost much of its importance in the curricula of schools and in academic research
with the emergence of historical and comparative linguistics at the beginning of the
nineteenth century and the birth of structural analysis of language at the beginning of the
twentieth century.

Apart from grammar and rhetoric, the first century AD also saw the rise of stylistics, with a
focus on the study of styles, which result from “the characteristic selection of options for
producing a text or set of texts.”

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Influence of Structural Linguistics
Much of DA has developed from the field of linguistics. As linguistic study developed,
investigation was generally limited to the sentence as the largest unit of meaning. This
approach tended to be structuralist, with a focus on the minimal units of meaning: phonemes,
morphemes, syntax, not on larger units of discourse. Structuralists often make use of large
corpora of texts in order to study the distribution of particular structures and describe their
uses.

Zellig Harris coined the term discourse analysis. He was a sentence linguist who sought to
explain how sentences were connected within a text. He concluded that there were two
possible directions for discourse analysis:

1. Showing how formal, purely linguistic rules can account for how one sentence
succeeds another.
2. Correlating culture and language.
As a sentence linguist, Harris was interested in the former direction. Sentence linguistics
stipulates the following:

1. Knowledge of the world outside language, which we use to interpret it, should not be
part of language analysis.
2. Linguists should be able to make discoveries about the language itself and its rules,
independently of the circumstances of its use.
3. It confines itself to what happens within sentences.
4. It may make use of self-generated language samples, and the analysts own linguistic
competence as a native speaker, or may use the language of others and remove
features e.g. interjections which may be considered irrelevant to the purposes of the
sentence linguist.
New developments in several fields of the humanities and sciences took place, and these
developments led to the emergence of discourse analysis, the origins of which are traced to
the mid-1960s. (van Dijk, 1985). There was growing recognition that language could be fully
understood only in the situation and circumstances of its use, and DA drew from various
fields of study in viewing language thus. For instance, anthropological studies, explored texts
as cultural artefacts, and studied language as a human activity, which gives the
communication meaning. Sociology, contributed by it analysis of conversation as a social
instrument used for organization and interaction, with particular focus on how people adapt

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language to certain situations. Philology (the study of the history of language, including the
historical study of literary texts), which contributed to discourse analysis in the study of the
evolution and organization of language sounds and forms

As such DA is recognised as a cross disciplinary field that has benefited from many other
fields, including anthropology, sociology, literary and rhetorical analysis, psycho-linguistics,
sociolinguistics, analytical philosophy, and many others

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND SOME OTHER

DISCIPLINES
1. Analytic/Linguistic Philosophy
This is an approach to philosophy that emphasizes the study of language and logical analysis
of concepts. The Speech Act theory, which originated in philosophy and is associated with J.
Austin and Searle, has been popularized due to developments in linguistics, particularly in
pragmatics. H.P. Grice, who is credited with the Cooperative Principle, was also a
philosopher whose ideas found greater expression through discourse analysis.

2. Sociolinguistics, register studies and stylistic variation

These fields recognize that language variation depends not only on the social position and
geographic origin of the interact ants (sociolinguistic concerns), but also on the activity one is
engaged in (sports commentary, sermons, teaching etc.). These contribute to the creation of
context, which is the domain of discourse analysis.

3. Pragmatics
This is a sub-discipline of linguistics which focuses on the relationship between language use
and the language user in a situational context. It mainly focuses on choices in individual
utterances, taking into account areas of human belief, feelings, knowledge and intentions.
Discourse is concerned with patterns throughout the text.

4. Linguistic Anthropology
This includes approaches which contextualise language in socio-cultural terms. Conversation
Analysis studies audience uptake and conversational talk.

5. Semiotics and Communication Studies

Semiotics is the study of signs. Ferdinand de Saussure argued that language is just one of the
many systems of signs. Semiotics studies all kinds of sign using behaviour. Semantics, which

10
is the study of meaning in language, and discourse analysis, provide specific insights into the
sign using behaviour that is language.

As we have seen, discourse analysis informs and is informed by several other disciplines, and
a lot of “cross-fertilization” takes place, leading to different approaches to the analysis of
discourse, which can be summarized as follows.

Approaches to Studying Discourse Focus of Research Research Question

Structural Conversation Sequences of talk Why say that at that moment?

analysis

Variationist Structural categories Why that form?

within texts

Functional Speech Acts Communicative acts How to do things with words?

Ethnography of Communication as How does discourse reflect

Communication culture?
cultural behaviour

Interactional Social and linguistic What are they doing?

Sociolinguistics
meanings created

during

communication

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 Pragmatics Meaning in What does the speaker mean?

interaction

Basic Tenets/Principles that Guide Discourse Analysts

Despite the different approaches that exist to the analysis of discourse, and the different
disciplines that may have informed them, there, there are some basic tenets that mark the
discipline of DA.

1. Grammarians rely on a single sentence, or a set of single sentences to explain

particular features of language. Often, these sentences are self-generated. Discourse
analysts typically rely on analysis of written texts or tape recordings of persons other
than themselves. This type of linguistic material is sometimes described as
performance data (Brown & Yule, p. 20). It contains features that are not usually
accounted for in the grammar of language, e.g. slips of the tongue, hesitations etc. It is
often taken for granted that texts are authentic, i.e. they are part of an actual
communicative event and not invented for purposes of exemplification.
2. While the grammarian is committed to highlighting rules of language, the discourse
analyst is interested in highlighting regularities based on frequency of particular
features of language Thus, the discourse analyst attempts to uncover and describe
certain regularities in language data.
3. The discourse analyst analyses texts, not isolated sentences or utterances – this applies
to both spoken and written data. A text is any stretch of language in use, whether
spoken or written. It forms a complete unit of language with its own internal and
external relationships. It may be as short as one word, for example “Fire!” shouted in
a crowded cinema, or as long as the Bible. Thus, discourse captures the idea of text in
context. The analyst is interested in examining the function the language performs
e.g. Fire! sounded as a warning, or Biblical passages intended as prophecy, warning
etc., rather than simply analysing structures and establishing rules.
4. Formal links are not sufficient to account for our feeling that a stretch of language is
discourse. Both form and function e.g. thanking, warning, promising etc. are
important in the interpretation of discourse. In addition, in order to understand a text
we need to understand the context surrounding the utterances/sentences. While
grammarians try to produce an exhaustive but economical set of rules to account for

12
 language data, they do not attempt to account for the mental processes involved in the
language user’s production, nor do they take into account the contexts in which the
utterance occurs. These considerations fall within the domain of discourse analysis.
5. The term context can be interpreted narrowly or broadly. Catford suggested the term
co-text to specifically refer to the verbal environment surrounding a particular text,
thus distinguishing it from context in its wider perspective. Context in the sense of a)
is the co-text, while context in the sense of b) is the context of situation, a large part
of which has to do with the context of culture, a term which is sometimes used
synonymously with context of situation. The context of situation is made up of all the
phenomena which affect the discourse. In face-to-face interaction, the context of
situation includes the immediate and wider environment in which the text actually
occurs such as the classroom in the case of a teaching discourse, the shop or market in
a sales transaction, the workshop in the case of a discussion about a gearbox
replacement. The interactants also play a part in the context of situation. The people
who are discussing gearbox replacement, their ages, nationalities, gender and
especially their social roles on this occasion (for example, mechanic and car-owner;
apprentice mechanic and skilled mechanic; teacher and student; two non-expert car-
owners; friends or strangers) may all be significant. Every immediate situation is
located in a cultural context. Classroom discourse takes place within a wider cultural
context of, say, university education or secondary school education. (Bloor, T.
http://www.philseflsupport.com/textschema.htm)
Note:
(a) DA/Text Linguistics

Discourse analysis is sometimes termed as text linguistics, and not all analysts make a
difference between the two terms. Where a distinction is made, the difference is often
indicative of a difference in the focus of analysis. Text linguistics views the text as a product,
in which case, there is no focus on how the text was produced or received and interpreted.
The term discourse analysis views the text as a process. It is evidence of a producer’s
(speaker/writer) attempt to communicate his or her message to a recipient (hearer/reader). It
is also interested in how the recipient comes to comprehend and interpret the producer’s
intended message. Thus, there is a focus on the text and the context in which it occurs. Cook
(1989) defines text as a stretch of language interpreted formally without context, and
discourse as stretches of language perceived to be meaningful, unified and purposive.

13
 Example:
B: John wrote the essay
C: The essay was written by John
Both are correct English sentences, but only B is an appropriate response to:
A: What did John do?

(b) De Beaugrande (1997) posits a set of criteria for textuality, and these form some
of the major concerns in a course on discourse analysis:

cohesion: the relation between forms and patterns

coherence: the way meanings are understood
intentionality: what text producers intend, mean to achieve
informativity: the extent to which the text tells you what you do not already know
situationality: the relation between the text-event and the situation in which it occurs
intertextuality: the relation between this text and other texts
(Bloor, T. http://www.philseflsupport.com/textschema.htm)

LECTURE 3:
SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE
Study the following texts (Brown & Yule, p.16). Text 1 And then, in the blowing
clouds, she saw a band of faint iridescence colouring in faint shadows a portion of the hill.
And forgetting, startled, she looked for the hovering colour and saw a rainbow forming itself.
In one place it gleamed fiercely, and, her heart anguished with hope, she sought the shadow
of iris where the bow should be. Steadily the colour gathered, mysteriously, from nowhere, it
took presence upon itself, there was a faint, vast rainbow. Text 2 normally after + very heavy
rain + or something like that + and + you’re driving along the road + and + far away + you
see + well + er + a series + of + stripes + + formed like a bow + an arch + -+- very very far
away + ah + seven colours but ++ I guess you hardly ever see seven it's just a + a series of +
colours which + they seem to be separate but if you try to look for the separate (kaz) - colours
they always scent + very hard + to separate + if you see what I mean
Questions
1. Suggest one appropriate title for both of them
2. Identify which extract represents spoken and which represents written language
3. Justify your response in no. 2 by identifying at least 5 features that informed your answer.

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From your responses, you have identified some of the features of spoken and written
language. These, and others can be more systematically classified as differences in manner of
production, form and function, as follows:
DIFFERENCES IN MANNER OF PRODUCTION
From the point of view of production, spoken and written language make different demands
on language producers.
1. A speaker may override the effects of the words he speaks by using paralinguistic features
e.g. facial expressions, postures, gestures etc. The writer has no such resources at his
disposal.

2. The speaker must monitor what he has said and determine whether it matches his
intentions while planning his next utterance. He must do this all of this while monitoring his
performance and the reception he is receiving from the hearer. The writer, however, may look
over what he/she has written, take time in selecting words, restructure sentences, paragraphs
etc.

3. The speaker is under pressure to continue talking during the allotted period. The writer is
free to pause and continue when he deems fit.
4. Everything the speaker says will be heard by the interlocutor and he will have to undertake
public repair if an unintended message is passed on.
The writer can cross out material and rewrite it in privacy.
5. The speaker can observe his interlocutor and modify his message to make it more
accessible and acceptable to the hearer. The writer has no access to immediate feedback.

6. The speaker exposes his feelings to the hearer, has to speak clearly and concisely and make
an immediate response to whichever way the interlocutor reacts. The writer faces no such
immediate demands.
These differences in manner of production often contribute significantly to the
differences in form exhibited by written language as compared to spoken language.
Major differences arise out of the fact that speech is essentially transitory while writing
is designed to be relatively permanent.

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DIFFERENCES IN FORM BETWEEN SPEECH AND WRITING

Brown and Yule outline the following differences in grammatical form between spoken and
written language.

Grammar

1. The syntax of spoken language is typically much less structured than that of written
language:

 Spoken language contains many incomplete sentences, often only sequences of

phrases.
 Spoken language contains little subordination.
 Spoken language contains many declarative forms as opposed to other sentence
types.

2. Spoken language has fewer rhetorical organizers such as first, second, in conclusion etc.
than written language. It is characterized by simple sentences or organized in chunks, mainly
related by words such as and, but, then and sometimes if.

3. Written language is generally structured in the subject-predicate form while spoken

language often has a topic-comment structure e.g. the cats + did you let them out? Or the
rabbits + did your feed them?

4. Informal speech is rarely characterized by passives. Active sentences with indeterminate

group agents are common e.g. Oh, everything they do in Edinburgh + they do it far too
slowly.

5. In spoken language, it is rare to find a Noun Phrase with more than two pre-modifying
adjectives. Written language, on the other hand, is heavily pre modified e.g. the large, plastic,
round container is on the shelf.

6. In spoken language, unlike in written language, speakers may rely on the immediate
environment to supply a referent e.g. (looking at the rain) “frightful, isn’t it?” Deictic
expressions like this one, over there or right now are common. Their interpretation is reliant
on the speech situation.
7. In spoken language, the speaker may replace or refine expressions as he goes along e.g.
this man + this chap she was going out with.

8. Spoken language has more pronouns and first person references than written language.

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LEXIS
 . Spoken language is characterized by greater use of rather generalized vocabulary
than written language e.g. lots of stuff, things like that etc.
 10. Spoken language is characterized by fillers e.g. ehm, well, you know. These may
be used subconsciously or consciously. Consciously, sometimes speakers use fillers to
prolong their turns, or to gain the attention of the audience.
 11. The lexis of spoken language is often less formal than that associated with written
language.
 12. Spoken language has shorter, less complex and less abstract words and phrases
than written discourse.
PROSODIC AND NON-FLUENCY FEATURES
 Prosodic features e.g. intonation, stress, loudness, pace, pause and vocal effects are
important to delivery of spoken messages. Written language relies on punctuation and
other features of orthography in an attempt to mirror such effects.
 Non-fluency features such as hesitance, slips of the tongue and simultaneous speech
form a clear distinguishing line between speech and writing. Brief overlaps may
occur in conversation, especially where speakers are competing for a turn, or have
misjudged the end of a turn Sometimes, interruptions are deliberate e.g. by hecklers.
(sometimes simultaneous speech is not regarded as interruption, but as collaboration
towards a common communicative goal). The more formal the encounter the less the
likelihood of encountering these features.
DIFFERENCES IN FUNCTION

Functionally, spoken language is mainly (but not exclusively) used for interaction while
written language is used for transaction. In spoken interaction, the audience is often known
and shred knowledge prevents problems arising out of vagueness. Points can be clarified,
questions asked and topics changed. Note Linguists such as Deborah Tannen and Douglas
Biber maintain that there is not necessarily a difference in the grammatical forms between
spoken and written language. The character of the categories of speech and writing are
increasingly being challenged as analysts investigate multi-media texts, e-mails, text
messages, chats and other Internet practices. Some written language is designed to be spoken
and some spoken language is designed to be read.

McCarthy views differences as existing on a continuum, e.g. academic writing has greater
grammatical complexity than casual conversation in that information is tightly packed
17
together – therefore these are opposite ends of the continuum. In between the two extremes,
one may have prepared academic lectures and personal letters, in that order. Similarly, on a
scale of detachment/personal involvement, public notices and published academic writing
would be on one extreme, and on the other casual conversations and personal letters. In
between these extremes, we could have academic lectures and interviews

LECTURE4
ORGANISATION OF INFORMATIONI
Specific Objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
1. Explain the meaning of informativity in discourse analysis

2. Discuss the following concepts: tone group, given and new information, markedness.
INFORMATION UNITS
Introduction
There are various ways in which one can organize words, phrases and clauses within
sentences, and various ways in which sentences can be organized into paragraphs. The nature
of these arrangements affects the meaning that is communicated.
The principal types of order variations in English depending upon a range of structural,
semantic, pragmatic, and textual factors, and there are a number of grammatical devices used
for reordering the information in the message, for example:
 Passivization: Poachers killed the elephant - The elephant was killed (by the
poachers)

 Thematic re-ordering: I haven’t read that book yet – That book, I haven’t read yet,

 Cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences: I love reading – It’s reading that I love; I didn’t like
the end of the story – What I didn’t like was the end of the story.
The option selected gives the discourse its informativity. Informativity concerns the extent
to which the contents of a text are already known or expected as compared to unknown or
unexpected. Since discourse is linear, the ordering of the information will influence the
receiver’s interpretation of the message, and ability to interpret it at all. Texts that are dense
with
unknown information are more difficult to interpret than those that are not. Equally, texts that
contain too much information that is already know may be uninteresting and unchallenging.

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Tone Group
In written language, the basic unit is the sentence; however, in spoken language, it is the tone
group. Spoken English is organized into units of information by means of intonation. The
tone group (also tone unit, intonation group, or sense group) is a group of words uttered
without pause, guided by the need to breathe, and carrying one idea. It is often a phrase or
clause, in which one of the syllables is stressed. This forms the tonic nucleus (specific
instance of stress), which provides the focus of the tone group. Such emphasis is usually on
the final open class items (e.g. nouns, lexical verbs and adjectives, as opposed to closed
classes – determiners, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns). This is the unmarked or regular
position.
Examples
The day before yesterday/we went to Kisumu.
He got on the bus/and went to Mombasa
Marked or contrastive focus can be achieved by placing stress at any grammatical point,
depending on the message one wishes to deliver.
Example
A: Are you working for Mr. Otieno
B: No, I am working with Mr. Otieno (emphasis on preposition)
The point of division of a sentence into tone groups can affect the meaning in some cases.
 Do you take sugar?
 I don't / no /
Meaning: I don't, no.
o / I don't no/
Meaning: I don't know.
 The prince said the princess had been unfaithful.
o / The prince said/ the princess had been unfaithful/
Meaning: The prince said (that) the princess had been unfaithful (the princess was unfaithful).

/ The prince / said the princess / had been unfaithful/

Meaning: "The prince," said the princess, "had been unfaithful." (the prince was unfaithful).
http://englishonline.tki.org.nz/English-Online/Exploring-language/Intonation/Tone-Groups

19
Given and New Information
Communicatively, the most important positions in a clause are the beginning and the end. As
indicated, there are various grammatical ways of bringing an element to initial position or
postponing information to the end of a clause, where it receives end focus.
According to the Prague School, a speaker tends to structure a sentence so that its level of
Communicative Dynamism (its informativeness, or the extent to which it is presenting new
information) increases from the beginning of the sentence to the end.
Example
Several summers ago there was a Scotty who went to the country for a visit. He decided that
all the farm dogs were cowards, because they were afraid of a certain animal that had a
white stripe down its back. (Thurber 1945)
The first sentence of this story introduces a number of entities, including a Scotty, the
country, and a visit. The first clause of the second sentence begins with the pronoun he,
representing the previously mentioned Scotty, and then introduces the farm dogs. After the
conjunction because, we get a new clause that begins with another pronoun, they, in reference
to these now-given farm dogs, after which a new entity, the animal with the white stripe
down its back, is introduced. We see here the clear workings of a principle of starting each
sentence (except the first, reasonably enough) with given information, then introducing new
information via its relationship to the given information.
(Betty J. Birner, Introduction to Pragmatics. Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)
http://grammar.about.com/od/fh/g/Given-Before-New-Principle.htm

Given information is information that is assumed by the addresser to be known/assumed/

inferable by the addresser at the time of the utterance because it is:
i. common/shared knowledge

ii. part of the extra linguistic context

iii. previously established in the discourse

Given information is usually:
i. placed early in a sentence
ii. spoken with little stress
iii. often reduced, abbreviated or ellipted
Often, given information is characterized by ellipsis e.g.
 (I am) sorry; (I will be) back soon.

20
  Ask Jane to bring me some envelopes if there are any (envelopes). or
 Deictics, words whose referent is determined by the context of the utterance e.g. this,
these, those, that.
New information is information that is assumed by the addresser NOT
i. to be known to/assumed by the addressee
ii. previously established in the discourse
New information is usually:
i. placed late in the sentence
ii. stressed
iii. expressed in more elaborate fashions
The general tendency is to proceed from the known to the unknown, which places given prior
to new information. This influences one’s choice of grammatical structure e.g.

Who wrote this essay?

Bi: Jane wrote the essay
Bii: The essay was written by Jane
The choice of Bii would conform to the Given-New ordering, thus making the passive the
preferred response; however, other factors such as what came earlier in the discourse, who
the interlocutors are etc. all influence the preferred sequencing.
When passivizing, the agent may be deleted. There are several reasons for such a choice
- the agent is unknown
- the agent has already been mentioned
- the agent is irrelevant or unimportant
- the implied agent is non-specific
- we want to be impersonal or avoid attributing responsibility
- to focus attention on the process/action not doer
At the spoken level, it is assumed that the focus signaled by the tonic nucleus indicates where
‘new’ information lies in the tone group. The other elements are ‘given’ in the text or context.
Example
John lives in a village.
John lives in a village/it is an ancient village.
Researchers working with actual spoken data have discovered variations in the number of
nuclei in tonal units of different speakers, suggesting that factors such as language
competence and age are influential.

21
In addition, speakers may not always mark new information prominently. This may be a
function of the context, and what they assume to be familiar to their interlocutor.
A: (identifying a man in the street) That is the doctor I was telling you about.
B: (with a friend working in the hospital) That is the doctor I was telling you about.

In the second statement, the speaker assumes that the idea of a doctor is given information,
since they are in a hospital. The tonic nucleus may, therefore, vary depending on what the
speaker assumes the receiver to already know. Thus, given and new can be psychological
concepts.

LECTURE 5
ORGANISATION OF INFORMATION II
Specific Objectives
At the end of the lecture, you should be able to:
1. Explain the concept of thematization.
2. Differentiate different types of theme.
3. Demonstrate how thematization can be achieved through various means.

THEMATIZATION
Introduction
When using language, we are not able to communicate everything that we wish to say/write
at once. We are restricted to the production of one word at a time, which we build up into
phrases, clauses and larger units in a linear manner. Because of the restrictions of such
linearity, we must organize the message in such a way that the movement from one element
to the next brings forth out objectives as message-senders, and meets the expectations of the
recipients. A well-chosen starting point, or theme, is therefore necessary. Thematization is
about the selection of the starting point of our utterances/sentences.
Thematization is a functional, rather than structural notion. Systemic Functional Grammar
was developed by Michael Halliday. Systemic refers to the view that language is a network
of systems for meaning-making and functional refers to the view that language is what it is
because of what it does. While functions may vary from culture to culture, all languages are
shaped and organized into 3 functions (metafunctions).

22
Ideational – all languages have resources to talk about experiences. The experiential
function allows us to make meaning of the world around us while the logical function allows
us to create logical-semantic relationships when using language e.g. if…then.
Interpersonal - Language users are able to express diverse social relations. Language acts
out interpersonal encounters.
Textual – this refers to the internal organization of the text itself, e.g. disfluencies,
coordination, cohesion.
The three metafunctions are used simultaneously in discourse; however, as Matthiessen
(1995) points out, the textual metafunction allows the ideational and interpersonal features of
a text to be understood by the speaker and listener.
Theme and Rheme
Theme is seen as a universal element; in every language and there are ways of identifying
what the clause is about. Theme, for Halliday, is the “point of departure; it is that with which
the clause is concerned” (Halliday, 1994:37). He defines theme as a function which has a
special status is assigned to one part of the clause. The choice of theme represents the angle
from which the speaker projects his/her message. It creates certain expectations in the
receiver.
In English, Theme is realised by what is placed in the initial position within the clause and
this initial position gives the Theme a ‘special status’ within the clause.
The theme is the first meaningful constituent in a clause. (Note that the special status given
to the initial position in English is not a universal trait since other languages have different
ways of marking Theme). The most common approach to identifying Theme in a clause is
based on Halliday (1994), who states that “Theme extends from the beginning of the clause
and up to (and including) the first element that has a function in transitivity” (Halliday, 1994,
p.53).The theme provides a context in which the rest of the clause is to be interpreted.
Though it is often the grammatical subject in English, it need not be – rather, it is the point of
departure of the message. The theme does not necessarily conform to any particular syntactic
category.
Rheme is all the rest of the clause. It tells us more about/it develops the theme. Since it
comes first, the theme is usually given information. Rheme is associated with new
information.

Theme Rheme
23
I can’t stand the noise
The noise, I can’t stand it
It’s the noise I can’t stand
What I can’t stand is the noise

TYPES OF THEMES
1. Topical
2. Textual
3. Interpersonal

Every clause has a topical theme. Because this is the most usual/expected/common type of
theme, it is an unmarked theme.
A topical theme is usually the subject of the clause; however, verbs, objects, complements or
adjunct adverbials can also serve as topical themes, though these are less common than
subjects.
There are also textual and interpersonal themes.

Topical Theme
These are some of the possible syntactic relationships within a clause:
SV Jane laughed
SVOd John kicked the ball
SVOiOd John sent Jane an invitation
SVCs Jane is a teacher
SVOdCo Jane appointed John Cabinet Secretary
There are some other optional elements which can be added to the clause structure:
Adjunct (A): an adjunct is a part of a sentence (phrase or clause) which is added to a
sentence, but is not necessarily required for meaning, although it amplifies it. They tell us
about time, manner, place or condition in answer to questions like when, where, how, why.
John kicked the ball under the table
Romeo addressed Juliet at the balcony
Disjunct (D): a comment by the speaker on the sentence.
Naturally, he didn’t lie.
Hopefully, we shall meet again.

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Conjunct (C): a conjunct is an element which serves to join together two utterances. They
primarily have a connective function.
He was rather unwell; therefore, he couldn’t come
This subject is not interesting. Still, I’d like to attend the class
Thematic fronting occurs when the theme is marked, i.e. an element that does not usually
act as a theme is caused to act in such a manner. It involves any construction in which a word
group that customarily follows the verb is placed at the beginning of a sentence. It is also
called front-focus or preposing.
Examples
A silly little girl she has been (subject complement)
That restaurant, I like (direct object)
Passed his exam, has John (Predicator)
At the moment I’m studying Latin (adverbial adjunct [time])
Different elements vary in the ease with which they can be fronted.
Adjuncts are easier to move than complements, e.g.
When she introduced him, why did you pretend you didn’t know him?
A complement is a noun phrase that follows a copula verb e.g.
An idiot he is
or a clause that acts as a subject, direct object of the verb or direct object of the preposition,
e.g.
On the train, I saw Nassir

Subject-verb inversion also involves re-ordering of elements in the sentence to produce a

particular effect. Depending on the construction, subject-verb inversion may be optional or
obligatory.
Example:
The scared girl ran into the darkness
SV
Into the darkness ran the scared girl
VS
Practice producing grammatical constructions using a similar switch on the following:
 John sat under a mango tree
 The dog ran across the valley
 The boy hopped across the river

25
Movements such as these give elements other than the subject the topic status, and thus,
special prominence.
Clefting
A cleft sentence is a complex sentence, i.e. it has a main and subordinate clause. Cleft
sentences bring particular sentence constituents into focus, and in an utterance, this could be
signalled through intonation. As such, cleft sentences give gives both thematic and focal
prominence to an element in a clause.
Many cleft sentences begin with It (empty/dummy pronoun) followed by a form of the verb
be. This is followed by the element on which the focus falls, usually involving a relative
clause (with or without ‘that’ or ‘which’). As such, cleft sentences can be divided into two
sections, each with its own verb. (It is from this quality that the name cleft is derived, i.e.
from to cleave, or divide). The initial clause functions as the theme of the sentence.
The general order is as follows:
It + form of ‘be’+ X + subordinate clause
X usually represents a noun phrase, but may also be a prepositional, adjectival or adverbial
phrase)
The subordinate clause optionally tends to begin with that, who and when
Examples
It was by road that he went
It was sorrowfully that we shut down the business
It was Jane who was the best dressed graduand
It was last night (that) John rescued the dog
Cleft constructions may be used in questions and exclamations as well
Was it for this that we suffered?
Who was it (who) interviewed you?
What a delicious dinner it was (that) you cooked!

Wh- clefts such as when, why, what, who, (wh-relative clause+be+the focused element) are
also commonly used in cleft sentences, but are less flexible than It-clefts. They are pseudo
clefts.
I really need a holiday
What I really need is a holiday
The lorry slammed into the stationery vehicle

26
What happened was that the lorry rammed into a stationary vehicle
Apart from It and Wh-clauses, other forms are also used in the construction of cleft
sentences, e.g. that, those, all, there:
That was a Toyota (that) I saw
Those are my friends (that) you are gossiping about
All she wanted for Christmas was her two front teeth
And then there is the house that he wanted to build
Topical themes may be preceded by a textual theme, an interpersonal theme, or both.
Textual theme
These include item such as: thus, therefore, moreover, hence, finally, in conclusion, for
example, for instance, however, nevertheless. Textual Theme also includes conjunctions and,
but, although, since, unless, because, until, while, when, whenever.
Interpersonal Theme
Interpersonal themes can express probability (e.g. perhaps), usuality (e.g. sometimes),
typicality (generally), obviousness (surely). It can also express opinion (to my mind),
admission (e.g. frankly), persuasion (e.g. believe me), entreaty (e.g. kindly), presumption
(e.g. no doubt), desirability (e.g. hopefully), or prediction (e.g. as expected) Halliday &
Matthiessen, 2004).
More examples of interpersonal themes:
A direct address term such as someone's name or name substitute: sweetie, mate, madam,
doctor; professor
A disjunct that expresses a personal comment on the proposition: to tell the truth, frankly,
fortunately, absurdly, ideally, preferably, and so on
A disjunct that expresses the degree of certainty about the proposition or its frequency:
maybe, perhaps, probably, certainly, clearly, obviously, in my opinion, to some extent, in a
way
Words like yes, no, hey, excuse me, sorry.

Summary
Textual Interpersonal Topical Rheme
Moreover probably they won’t visit today.
Because unfortunately she hasn’t arrived yet.
Oh could you wait a minute, please!

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As such, sentences may have single or multiple themes. Multiple themes may be defined as
themes that have at least one interpersonal or textual element preceding the topical theme.
The people at the garage behaved in a typical manner (topical theme only)
And no doubt the man on the stairs is her husband (textual + interpersonal + topical theme) .
the following elements can occur with regard to the range of constituents

Textual Interpersonal Experiential/Topical

Conjunction Disjunct adverbial Subject
Conjunct adverbial Finite (auxiliaries) Object/complement
Continuative Adjunct adverbial
Predicator (lexical verb)

Thematic Progression
Although theme and rheme are clause level phenomena, the way they are patterned is of
importance to text progression since the way they combine gives the text thematic
development. This creates a relationship between theme and cohesion in the study of texts.
Different types of texts illustrate different types of organization.
Examples:
The Constant Theme Pattern
In this pattern, the theme is repeated in each succeeding sentence, i.e. each sentence has
something to say about the theme.
The saw-scaled viper is found in dry sandy areas where there is little vegetation. Its length is
about two feet and it is sandy in colour with darker spots. It is aggressive and very poisonous.
It may be found in the full blaze of the sun or beneath hot stones and in crannies heated by
the sun. (Bloor & Bloor 1995: 90)
Although caffeine is the most widely studied chemical in coffee, it is surely not coffee's only
psychophysiologically significant substance. Caffeine, especially in coffee, but also in tea,
cola drinks, chocolate bars, and cocoa, probably is the widely used psychoactive compound
in the United States. Moreover, caffeine is also included in about 100 medications, such as
stimulants, cold preparations, appetite suppressants and mood-elevating agents.
The Linear/Zigzag/Chaining Theme Pattern
This occurs when the rheme of one clause is picked up in the theme of the next clause.
The stomach produces gastric juice, which contains dilute hydrochloric acid. The acid kills of
most the bacteria in the food. […] The partly digested food passes next into the duodenum,

28
the first part of the small intestine. This is a coiled tube about eight metres long, which is as
wide as a man’s thumb.
Recent research has, to an increasing extent, concentrated on the measurement of pain. Until
the last few decades, the qualitative measurement of pain has been difficult due to a lack of
suitable instruments. These instruments must, of course, be based on subjective reports of
patients concerning their painful experiences. Such reports had not been considered reliable
by many researchers until the pioneer work of James et al. (1979). Therefore, much very
good research in this field has received little attention.
Theme and Topic
Topic is to a stretch of discourse what theme is to an individual sentence. Thus, it is the point
of departure of a text, rather than a sentence and may refer to the main idea, perspective or
character in a stretch of discourse. Topics may or may not be obvious from the surface
structure of a text. It is common to find topics as repeated themes e.g. in children’s books,
obituaries and encyclopaedias; however, repetitiveness may bore the reader.
Example of obituary
Mr. Otieno Onyango, who was the former speaker of the Kenya National Assembly and was
instrumental in staging the 1964 All Africa Games dies on September 20. He was 92. Mr.
Otieno has served as Industry and Commerce Minister and in other cabinet posts. He was
speaker of the National Assembly from Feb 1967 to July 1969.
Texts normally reflect varied themes from sentence to sentence. While the topic may be
consistent, it is organized to reflect different perspectives from sentence to sentence. The
links between what is thematised in each sentence helps the analyst arrive at the topic of the
text. When these connections are overt, it is fairly simple to identify the topic.
Example
Late that afternoon, Mary received a telegram from Joseph. Without hesitating, she ran to the
Dean’s office to get permission to miss class. Then she hurried to pack her suitcase. After
waiting for twenty minutes, she found a taxi to take her to the airport.
This text is not just about the subject (Mary) but about what Mary did. The theme in each
sentence relates to what has gone before. There is a focus on the temporal connections
(time/space). However, the thematic connections may be obscure in a given text, thus making
the topic not easily discernible. This may not necessarily signal bad writing, but may be an
artistic device, deliberately chosen, perhaps for suspense, to reflect a chaotic situation or
mind of a character. Notice how one may not easily discern the topic of the text below

29
without the aid of a title.
Example
A Prisoner plans his Escape
Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought.
Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held, especially since the
charge against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held
him was strong, but he could break it.
A Wrestler in a Tight Corner
Rocky slowly got up from the mat, planning his escape. He hesitated a moment and thought.
Things were not going well. What bothered him most was being held, especially since the
charge against him had been weak. He considered his present situation. The lock that held
him was strong, but he could break it.

LECTURE 6
TYPES OF COHESIVE TIESI
REFERENCE, SUBSTITUTION AND ELLIPSIS
Introduction
There are five types of cohesive ties: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction, and lexical
cohesion. It is possible to say that cohesion can be “expressed partly through the grammar
and partly through the vocabulary” (Halliday & Hasan 1994, p.5). Therefore, the five types
can be grouped into grammatical and lexical cohesion, i.e. reference, substitution, and
ellipsis, fall under the category of grammatical cohesion, while conjunction combines
grammatical, as well as, lexical features, and lexical cohesion which is only realized by
vocabulary.
Summary of sub-categories (Halliday & Hasan)
Reference – personal, demonstrative, comparative
Lexical cohesion –reiteration, collocation
Substitution – nominal, verbal, clausal
Ellipsis – nominal, verbal, clausal
Conjunctions – additive, adversative, causal, temporal, continuatives

1. Reference
The term reference refers to specific items within a text/discourse which cannot be
30
“interpreted semantically in their own right. They make reference to some other item within
the text/discourse for their interpretation (Halliday & Hasan 199, p.31).
Personal reference keeps track of function through the speech situation using noun pronouns
e.g. he, him, she, her, etc. and possessive determiners e.g. mine, yours, his, hers etc.
Demonstrative reference keeps track of information through location using proximity
references e.g. this, these, that, those, here, there,
Comparative reference keeps track of identity and similarity through indirect references using
certain adjectives, adverbs, and comparatives where the reference item still relates to the
referent, but it is a relation of contrast e.g. same, equal, similar, different, better, more; so,
such, similarly, other, otherwise, etc.
(1) John goes fishing every other week. He is a very good fisherman. (personal reference)
In (1) the subject of the second sentence “he” refers back to the subject of the first sentence
“John”. If a reader were only given the sentence “He is a very good fisherman,” the reader
would not be able to figure out who “he” is. The personal pronoun “he” cannot be interpreted
semantically in its own right and information about this element of the sentence has to be
retrieved from somewhere else, i.e. from the sentence before. “He” makes reference to
“John” in the first sentence and thus forms a cohesive tie of reference that connects the two
sentences to each other. It is possible to say that “reference is a relation between meanings”,
but it is also possible to say that “reference is a relation on the semantic level” (Halliday &
Hasan 1994, p. 89). It is not the replacement of some linguistic element by [another item], but
rather a direction for interpreting an element in terms of its environment – and since the
environment includes the text (the linguistic environment), reference takes on a cohesive
function” (Halliday & Hasan 1994).
There are different types of reference, i.e. exophoric and endophoric.
Exophoric reference points to the situational context for the interpretation of a specific item.
It always refers to something that is not part of a given text.
Endophoric reference points to other items within a given text or discourse.
(2) Mike: Hey John, did you just see that? (demonstrative reference)
John: Yes, that was amazing.
Example (2) illustrates an instance of exophoric reference. In the given conversation Mike
sees something which he does not explicitly identify as a concrete object. He simply assumes
that his conversational partner John saw the same thing as he did and asks him about it. The
reader does not get to know what the two friends are talking about and is left in the dark.
“That” as reference item in the conversation points outside the text to something that was
31
witnessed by the two interlocutors and, consequently, information about it cannot be retrieved
from elsewhere in the text. A potential reader has to use his/her own imagination to create a
context, which makes exophoric reference “an essential element in all imaginative writing”
(Halliday & Hasan 1994, p. 18).
Below are examples of comparative reference.
(3) We accept that thought is a common property of the human race. But we cannot make the
same assumption about machines. (endophoric – interpret based on what is in the surrounding
text)
(4) A similar view is not acceptable. (exophoric – create your own view)
(5) I have accepted too many invitations already. Other invitations will have to be declined.
(endophoric - other refers to the accepted invitations through contrast by the invitations to be
declined)
Endophoric reference points to the textual environment of a given element can be either
anaphoric or cataphoric. Anaphoric reference is a form of presupposition and means that a
reference item points back to something that has gone before (Schubert 2008, p.33). Such an
instance of anaphoric reference can be found in (1) in which “he” refers back to “John” in the
preceding sentence. Cataphoric reference, as oppositional term to anaphoric reference,
works the other way around. Here, a usually abstract reference item points forward to a
specific element within the subsequent text for its interpretation. In (6) the reader has to look
at the whole sentence to make sense of the second word “it” which refers to the specific item
“watch” at the end.
(6) There it is, my much admired watch.

2. Substitution
A substitute is used in place of the repetition of a particular item. Example 7 shows this
cohesive relation in which “one” substitutes the word “car”.
(7) Jack’s car is very old and ugly. He should get a nicer one.
The difference between reference and substitution is that the substituted items are always
exchangeable by the items they stand for. With reference the presupposed items do not
necessarily replace the items which refer to them. The table below illustrates this. While in
(7) “one” could easily be replaced by “car” without changing the meaning of the sentence,
“it” in (6) could never be exchanged by “watch”. The same is true for (1) in which “he” is not
exchangeable by “John” without creating ambiguity. The reader cannot be sure anymore if

32
the “John” in the second sentence is the same person that occurs in the first sentence.
(1´) John goes fishing every other week. John is a very good fisherman.
(6´) *There watch is, my so much admired watch.
(7´) Jack’s car is very old and ugly. He should get a nicer car.
Consequently, “the substitute item has the same structural function as that for which it
substitutes” (Halliday & Hasan, 1994: 89), though there may be morphological differences.
There are also different types of substitution which are called nominal substitution
(replacement of a noun by “one, ones, same” verbal substitution (replacement of a verb by
“do”) and clausal substitution (replacement of a clause by “so, not”) (Halliday & Hasan
1994, p. 90f.).
Examples
(8) These dresses are old but there are new ones over there
(9) A: I’ll have two loaves, please
B: I’ll have the same (please).
(10) I bet you get married before I do.
(11) Everyone thinks he’s guilty. If so, no doubt he’ll resign/ If not, no doubt he won’t resign

3. Ellipsis
Ellipsis (pl. ellipses, Ancient Greek) as a type of cohesive relation is very similar to
substitution. While substitution referred to the replacement of one textual element by another,
ellipsis is simply characterized by the omission of an item. The process can, therefore, be
interpreted as “substitution by zero” (Halliday & Hasan 1994, p. 142). Example (12)
illustrates such a cohesive tie. In the given example the predicator “ate” is left out in the
second half of the sentence and is presupposed because it already occurred before. It would,
of course, also be possible to repeat the predicator again at the position where it has been left
out.
(12) Mary ate some bread, and Robert [blank] some yams.
It is possible to say that where there is ellipsis, there is presupposition (next lecture) since
something is taken to be understood, and can be omitted. As with substitution, there are also
three different types of ellipsis, i.e. nominal ellipsis, verbal ellipsis, and clausal ellipsis. A
nominal group that is ellipted presupposes one that is not. The headword of the previous
nominal group is therefore not express and some other element has to function as the head
(13, 14). In verbal ellipsis one or more words from the verbal group are left out (15, 16).
Clausal ellipsis involves the omission of a part of the clause or all of it. For example, the
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subject- pronoun element is frequently omitted specially in spoken texts. Such ellipsis is often
associated with questions and responses in dialogues. It is similar to the verbal ellipsis except
that clausal ellipsis is external to the verb itself, affecting other elements in the structure of
the clause. (17).
(13) Do you want to hear another song? I know twelve more [songs].
(14) A: Which do you prefer: the red dress or the blue dress?
B: The red [dress] is made of better material.
(15) Sue brought roses and Jackie [brought] lilies.
(16) A: Have you been studying?
B: Yes I have [been studying]
(17) A: When did John arrive?
B: [John arrived] yesterday.

LECTURE 7

TYPES OF COHESIVE TIES II

CONJUNCTION & LEXICAL COHESION
4. Conjunction
Conjunctions usually structure a text/discourse in a precise way and bring the presented
elements into a logical order. They are words and phrases that explicitly draw attention to the
type of relationship which exists between linguistic elements.
Halliday and Hasan determined four main types of conjunction: additive, adversative, causal,
and temporal. They added that there may be other categorizations of conjunction, and later
supplemented with a fifth category, continuatives.
 additive (e.g. and, in addition, besides, in other words, that is, alternatively)

 adversative (e.g. though, however, but, instead, nevertheless, as a matter of fact)

 causal (e.g. so, then, hence, because, it follows, to this end, as a result)

 temporal (e.g. then, next, finally, meanwhile, in conclusion, up to now, in short)

 continuatives (e.g. now, of course, well, anyway, surely, after all).

Yu (1990:20-21) interprets Halliday and Hasan‟s four classes of conjunctions as follows:

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Additives: The connectives that link units of semantic similarity. The additives introduce
discourse units that repeat and emphasize the key points or add relevant new information to
the prior expression. i.e. Additives show there is something more to be said. (18)
Adversative: sThe connectives that bring in the expressions that are contrary to expectation.
The expressions indicate a contrary result or opinion to the content mentioned previously. In
this sense, the adversatives signal the beginning of a different viewpoint.
i.e. Adversatives show a relation that is contrary to one‟s expectation. (19)
Causals: The connectives are used to introduce result, reason or purpose. The clauses
connected are related to each other either in the cause-and-effect relation or in the conditional
relation. i.e. Causals show result, reason or purpose.
Temporals: The connectives that express the time order of events. In order to manifest the
temporal relations of successive and simultaneous events, this category includes the
preceding, sequential, and simultaneous connectives. i.e. Temporals show relations of time.
(21)
Continuatives do not fit in these categories and form a “miscellaneous” category used to
capture items that have a cohesive force within texts. (22, 23)
(18) We may not be able to take our vacation as planned. The area is under six feet of water.
(And) we just don‟t have enough money.
(19) We can take this apartment, or we can take the other one. (But) we have to take
something soon!
(20) I wanted to get to Kisumu quickly. (So) I took a flight.
(21) (First) Agnes packed her suitcase. (Then) she got some money from the Bank. (Finally)
she took the bus to Mombasa.
(22) Are you ready? (Now), when I say jump, close your eyes and jump!
(23) You needn‟t apologize. (After all), nobody could have known that would happen
NB: This categorization is not problem-free. E.gs. 18-19 have been used in comparison with
other examples by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman (1999) to show how the labels may be
problematic to learners. Paltridge (2006) notes that not all authors see conjunction in this
way. Kopple (1985) talks of text connectives; Crismore (1983), of textual markers and
Hyland (2005), frame markers.

Lexical cohesion John caught a snake underneath a bucket.

Repetition The snake is going to suffocate if it
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 stays there very long.
Synonym The serpent is going to suffocate if he
does not let it go.
Hyperonym (superordinate) The reptile is going to suffocate if he
does not let it go.
General word The poor thing is going to suffocate if
he does not let it go.

Reiteration has to do with the use of general nouns to create a cohesive effect by replacing
one element by another in the ongoing text/discourse. It can be achieved through repetition,
synonymy, hyponymy and use of general words. (24)
Repetition involves repeating the lexical item. Synonymy refers to the lexical relationship of
similarity in meaning – it is often maintained that there are no true or absolute synonyms.
Hyponymy is a lexical relationship of inclusion or class membership which shows the
relationship between specific (hyponyms – from Greek, hypo, meaning under or subordinate
and hyperonyms/hypernyms or superordinates). General lexical items involve use of
generalized vocabulary.
A second subcategory of lexical cohesion is collocation. Collocations are lexical “items that
regularly co-occur and by doing so create cohesion within a given text/discourse,” e.g.
maiden voyage. Compare: strong tea / powerful tea; a strong car / a powerful car; a strong
computer / a powerful computer. Which words collocate better?
There is cohesion between any pair of lexical items that have a recognizable lexico-semantic
(word-meaning) relationship, and there are many terminologies that help capture these
relationships, some of which are rather subtle. They includes use of synonyms, hyperonyms
(superordinates) antonyms (e.g. black-white, full-empty), converses (e.g. order-obey), pairs
of words drawn from the same ordered series (e.g. Monday-Wednesday), pairs drawn from
unordered lexical sets (e.g. blue-yellow, attic-cellar), meronymy or part-whole relationships
(e.g. aeroplane plane-wing, trousers-pocket), part to part relationships (e.g. nose-ear), and use
of co-hyponyms of the same more general class (e.g. stool/couch/cupboard-furniture). Note
that meronymy refers to part-whole relationships in linguistics; however, these are often
realized figuratively in literary language as metonymy, where the „part‟ is very closely
related to the whole, and associated with it to the extent that it is used to refer to the whole
e.g. to go under the knife (surgery); lend a hand (help); lend me your ears (attention)

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Cohesion can always be found between words that tend to occur in the same lexical
environment and are in some way associated with each other. “Any two lexical items having
similar patterns of collocation – that is, tending to appear in similar contexts – will generate a
cohesive force if they occur in adjacent sentences.” (Halliday & Hasan 1994, p. 284 -285)
‘Cohesive Ties’ compiled from web sources:
http://fr46.uni-saarland.de/uploads/media/Cohesion_in_ Englishpdf.pdf
http://www.uniroma2.it/didattica/ling_ing1_linfo/.../Textual_cohesion.doc
http://www.glottopedia.de/index.php/Cohesion
http://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/bitstream/140.119/33418/6/95101306.pdf

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