What is a text?

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of speech.

According to De Beaugrande and Dressler, a

text will be defined as a communicative

occurrence which meets seven standards of

textuality.

Text-centered notions:• Cohesion• CoherenceUser-centered notions:• Intentionality• Acceptability• Informativity• Situationality• Intertextuality

Text-centered notions: cohesion

• Cohesion concerns the way in which the components of the surface text, i.e. the actual words we hear or see, are mutually connected within a sequence.

• Cohesion rests upon grammatical forms and conventions

Text-centered notions: coherence

Coherence concerns the ways in which the meanings within a text (concepts, relations among them and their relations to the external world) are established and developed. Some of the major relations of coherence are logical sequences: cause-consequence (and so), condition-consequence (if), instrument-achievement (by), contrast (however), compatibility (and), etc.

Cohesion and coherence are text-centered notions, designating operations directed at the text materials.

User-centered notions

• Intentionality: the producer’s attitude aims at producing a set of occurrences which should constitute a cohesive and coherent text.

• Acceptability: it implies the receiver’s attitude that the set of occurrences should constitute a cohesive and coherent text.

Grice’s conversational maxims– Maxims of quantity

–Make your contribution as informative as required. – Do not make your contribution more informative than is

required. – Maxims of quality

– Do not say what you believe to be false. – Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.

– Maxim of relation – Be relevant.

– Maxims of manner – Avoid obscurity of expression. – Avoid ambiguity. – Be brief. – Be orderly.

Maxim of quantity

A: Where is the post office?B: Down the road, about 50 metres past the second left.

vs

B: Not far.

Maxim of relevance

A: How are you doing in maths?B: Not too well, actually

VS

B: Sunday was a fine day to go to the beach!

Maxim of manner

A: What did you think of that movie?B: I liked the storyline, but the ending was a real shock!

VS

B: It was interestingly done, sir.

Informativity concerns the extent to which the

occurrences of the presented text are

expected vs unexpected or known vs

unknown/certain.

In language: the degree of informativity is inversely proportional to contextual probability:

• The sea is water • The sea is water only in the sense that water is

the dominant substance present. Actually, it is a solution of gases and salts in addition to vast numbers of living organisms ...

Situationality concerns the factors which

make a text relevant to a situation of

occurrence connected with coherence and

acceptability.

Deictics, for instance, can be decoded only on

the basis of situationality.

Intertextuality concerns the factors which make the utilization of one text dependent upon knowledge of one or more previously encountered texts:If you are on a diet, your question may be:To eat or not to eatIf you are ready to any compromise, you can borrow Henry IV’s statement Paris is worth a mass.

Channel

• Oral texts • Written texts

Intent of the Communicator

Various types of texts (procedural, expository, persuasive, narrative, descriptive)

Intent of the communicator

• Genre of texts:– Narrative– Procedural– Expository (Informative) – Persuasive (Hortatory)– Descriptive

When are they used?

• procedural text: gives instructions on how to do something.

• expository text: is used to explain something• hortatory text (persuasive): is used to encourage or

to get someone to do something. As a matter of fact, it is argumentation

• descriptive text: lists the characteristics of something.

• narrative text: account of events (novel, newspaper article, biography)

TEXT FORMS

• Text forms evolve and change• Authentic text forms are often mixed• According to modern studies, there may be

even more text types. Nonetheless, practical suggestions tend to classify texts in 3 main types:

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 1

• scientific texts• technical texts• legal, normative, regulative texts

(treatises,essays, technical textbooks and essays; laws and decrees; regulations, administrative acts)

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 2

• expository and didactic texts• popularising informative texts (e.g. textbooks

on social, historical,political topics, popularising texts of various topics,newspaper and magazine articles)

Text Types (Sabatini)Group 3

• literary texts, both poetry and fiction.

A text is a sequence of paragraphs that represents an extended unit of speech.