5.5 Discourse Flashcards
Discourse (not in the book: a good definition is language beyond single sentences)
The internal structure of a text, speech or conversation creates a higher level of meaning that (all of it) is referred to as ‘discourse’.
***internal rules and choices and ways to write
there are internal rules that link sentences and paragraphs together in order to form a text. However, there are many possible ways to write, and the process of writing involves making certain choices in order to convey the message in the most effective and appropriate way. Writers need to base their choices on factors such as the medium used, the purpose of the text and its intended audience.
**Are there discourse rules for spoken language as well?
–Use of the term ‘text’ in linguistics to refer to a piece of speech
spoken language is also organised according to certain discourse rules
–Linguists often use the term ‘text’ to refer to a piece of speech that has cohesion and coherence.
A text is considered to be cohesive when the elements within it are linked together. For example:
She opened the door and went out. It was raining, so she decided to take
the bus. When it finally arrived she was already late. In this example, the text is also coherent, or in other words, it makes sense.
can a text be cohesive but no coherent and vice versa?
In theory, a text could be cohesive without being coherent. For example:
She opened the door. Doors are blue. Blue rhymes with glue.
As you can see, the elements in the last example are indeed linked together, but the text makes no sense at all (unless it describes some kind of dream).
Every day we produce conversations that have no cohesion and yet are
perfectly coherent. For example:
– There’s someone at the door.
– I’m on the phone.
– OK, I’ll get it
Discourse
‘a unit of text used by linguists for the analysis of linguistic
phenomena that range over more than one sentence’ (Collins English
Dictionary, 2009).
Cohesion
a text, a conversation or a speech is cohesive when the elements within it are linked together
Coherence
a text, a conversation or a speech is coherent when the sum of its elements makes sense.
***Rules in conversation in seemingly unstructured conversations
Even in seemingly unstructured conversations, such as instances of small talk, speakers follow certain rules to ensure that the conversation progresses smoothly in a logical manner. Adjacency pairs is an example
What are ‘adjacency pairs’?
–give some examples
One very common feature of conversation is the presence of ‘adjacency pairs’. These occur when a speaker says something and the interlocutor responds with a typical and predictable answer to what was just said. For example, a greeting is normally answered with another greeting, a question with an answer and so on.
—Here are some examples of adjacency pairs (adapted from Bloomer et al.,
2005, p. 58).
greeting → greeting
check → clarification
question →answer
apology → acceptance
compliment → thanks
opinion → agreement
accusation → denial
offer → acceptance
assertion → acknowledgement
request → acceptance
instruction → compliance
Do adjacency pairs vary from culture to culture
Expected responses may vary between cultures and can be a source of misunderstandings in intercultural exchanges. Let us look, for example, at Spanish greetings. When you askaSpanish speaker, ‘How are you?’, they may simply reply, ‘Aquí’ (‘Here’). One might assume that they misunderstood the question for ‘Where are you?’, but in fact it is a way to say that they are hanging on there, without volunteering too much information about their actual, current feelings. If a Spaniard says ‘adiós’ (‘goodbye’) as they walk past you, it does not imply that one of you is leaving, it is just a way of acknowledging you while also signalling very clearly that they do not intend to engage in further conversation. The expected response is ‘hasta luego’ (‘see you later’), even when you both
know perfectly well that you will not be meeting later on. Context is very
important, for example, knowing that in English, ‘good night’ signals leave taking, rather than a greeting, as its Spanish equivalent buenas noches would. Another example is the expected response to
compliments, which depends
very much on the culture of the speakers involved. In German you would be expected to downplay the compliment rather than saying, ‘Thank you’, as you would in English.
***What’s the ‘cooperative principle’?
‘Logic and conversation’ Paul Grice
In a much cited paper from 1975, entitled ‘Logic and conversation’, the
linguistic philosopher Paul Grice asserted that when you take part in a conversation you are expected to ensure that each of your contributions is
‘such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged’ (Grice, 1975, p. 45). He refers to this as the ‘cooperative principle’ and proposes four basic maxims (rules) to enforce this principle: quantity, quality, relation and manner.
Which are Girece’s conversational maxims
Grice’s conversational maxims:
—Quantity
. ‘Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the
current purposes of the exchange).’
. ‘Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.’
—Quality
. ‘Do not say what you believe to be false.’
. ‘Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.’
—Relation
. ‘Be relevant.’
—Manner
. ‘Avoid obscurity of expression.’
. ‘Avoid ambiguity.’
. ‘Be brief (avoid unnecessary prolixity).’
. ‘Be orderly.’
(Adapted from Grice, 1975, pp. 45–46)
What was Grice ‘quantity’ maxim
-‘Make your contribution as informative as is required (for the
current purposes of the exchange).’
-‘Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.’
What was Grice ‘quality’ maxim
- ‘Do not say what you believe to be false.’
- ‘Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.’
What was Grice ‘relation’ maxim
- ‘Be relevant’
