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1. TEXT AND DISCOURSE
Keywords
Text written text or oral text. There are some criteria that make a series of linguistic signs a text Utterance the actual production of the text, the product of the act of enunciation. Utterances occur in a pragmatic situation Enunciation an activity. The enunciation produces utterances. We can say that utterance and enunciation belong to the level of linguistic analysis that is called “pragmatics”, because we need a context to have them Discourse
Levels of linguistic analysis (not discrete)
Phonetics analysis of the sounds produced Phonology how the sounds produced are meaningful and significant in the context of a certain language Morphology elements that characterise nouns and verbs Syntax order of words and the structure of sentences Semantics the meaning and the organization of the lexis Textuality beyond the level of the sentence, it considers more sentences linked together Pragmatics it considers text as well as context. It focuses on actual language used. It is the most recent branch of linguistic analysis, however some elements can be found in disciplines that are much older than linguist itself (e.g. rhetoric)
Context and pragmatics
Language and language use Morris syntax (level of the form), semantics (level of content), pragmatics as part of semiotics (level of action) Language is action Pragmatics relation between language and the world:
- How the world influences language and the transmission of meanings, how the world is codified into language
- How language influences the world, there are certain actions that cannot be performed but through language (e.g. thanking, promising)
Criteria for textuality
What makes an instance of language a text:
- Cohesion referred to the text itself, to its structure. It refers mainly to the syntactical elements and to the fact that they are elements that link the different parts of the text together
- Coherence referred to the text itself, to its structure. It has more a semantic implication, a text is coherent because it develops a certain line of thought
- Intentionality referred to the participants of the communication. It is focused on the text’s producer
- Acceptability referred to the participants of the communication. It is focused on the receiver. Intentionality and acceptability are complementary and emphasise the fact that a text implies a transmission from a sender to a receiver
- Informativity it focuses on the fact that a text contains some information
- Situationality more on the pragmatic side. The text is produced in a certain situation
- Intertextuality more on the pragmatic side. A text establishes a relationship with other texts: in a text we can quote another text. A text belongs to a category of texts (de Beaugrande and Dressler, 1981)
Text and communication
The message comes out from the information source and there is someone who transmits the message, including it through the signal, the signal passes through a channel and can be modified by noise. Then the signal is received by a receiver who decodes the signal and, in this way, can find again the original message that is sent to destination. This reminds us of physical communication (e.g. noise).
Jakobson’s model: six elements for six functions of language
Jakobson looks at the problem from a more linguistic perspective.
- Sender emotive function
- Receiver conative function
- Context referential function
- Channel phatic function
- Code metalingual function (with language you can speak of language)
- Message poetic function
Hymes: the SPEAKING model
This model gives more emphasis to the social-linguist aspects. Elements that have to be considered when describing communication: Setting (context) Participants Ends (goals of the communication, pragmatic element) Act Sequences (pragmatic aspect) Key (specific access to a certain text) Instruments (both the code and the channel) Norms (linguistic and social norms) Genres
Halliday’s sociosemiotics
Language is a code, but it is used in a social context. The three metafunctions of language, what language is used for:
- Ideational content of the message, language structures contents and answers the need for communication
- Interpersonal relationship between the participants to the communicative act, language is used to establish relationships and also identities
- Textual structure of the test
Halliday’s concept of register
Multimodal texts are crucial in contemporary communication, more codes interact. A good communicative multimodal text plays with codes and sends back from one to the other. Multimodality is a characteristic of modern communication. Codes Their interaction Textuality Genre printed advertisement (written language + visual element). Some elements correspond to the ideal structure of advertisements (the visual is in the middle, the pack shot is on the bottom right), but for example the trademark and the payoff are on the top and there is practically no headline, the body copy is very short. Genre gives rules but these a reinterpreted
The “grammar” of images
There are some basic that determine the syntax of a printed page: The movement to left to right , is the movement form given to new (e.g. you introduce the topic and then you talk about the topic) Real elements are in the bottom , while the ideal is on the top , this is a sort of symbolic organization of a page The focus was initially on grammar, we can go beyond that and see that also other elements can enter the interplay of different resources that make discourse. The visual element that attracts us the most is the white part of the eyes of the child, the man is looking after the child (also mentioned in the body copy). The eyes have an unusual position, in fact. what attracts us the most are unexpected elements.
A cognitive metaphor: time is a line
Metaphors are rooted in our basic experience of reality. Time is a more abstract concept when compared to space, we can represent space quite easily, it is more difficult to represent time and so it is usually represented linguistically as if it was space. The future is in front of us, the past is behind us (time is a line: cognitive metaphor, which is usually written in capital letters). So, father and son are both looking to the future. If the future is in front of us, the future is the next situation, in the text all of this is recalled. The message says that we have to look at the future and to care for what happens next, there is a positive
message but there is also a sort of identification of the child with the watch (you look after the child and the watch, you cannot own the child and the watch, this leads to see the child as a metaphor of the watch: the watch is as precious as the child). There is a debate whether cognitive metaphors are a universal language or if they depend on each culture (e.g. time as a circle and not as a line). Most of these researches have been Eurocentric. The payoff (“begin your own tradition”) is the core message: we can begin a tradition in two ways: through a child, but also buying something in order to accumulate wealth. This is what reinforces this kind of interaction. Buying a so expensive watch is like becoming immortal, and this underlines that buying a very expensive watch is not an egoistic action, on the contrary you are generous because you do it for the child (it wants to disrupt a stereotype). This is a good example of how the aim of communication is enriched and how the different codes are put together.
Discourse features
From a textual point of view, the crucial elements of discourse are: As a text organization, time orientation As a pragmatic instance context, interaction , deixis, action Specific discursive features discourse community (a group of people that share certain discursive rules), interdiscourse (more or less always referring to another discourse), positioning (in the interdiscourse dimension), discourse as a constitutive element of context and an instrument to create reality (e.g. terrorists vs martyrs)
Discourse analysis: a multidisciplinary approach
Discourse as practice Analysis of texts belonging to different domains Production of texts Investigation of social domains and analysis of texts produced in that area Aim: go beyond the “surface” of a text
2. VICTORY SPEECH, 5 NOV 2008
US Presidential Election Night
Two genres:
- Victory speech climax of the rhetoric effort exerted during a campaign. It has a celebratory role
- Concession speech losing candidate, formally yields to the winner (e.g. Bush vs Al Gore case)
Winner
Thanking (family, staff members, voters, special mentions) Celebration of the victory (emphasis its significance in terms of values and projects, open up new attracting perspectives for the future) Image reinforcing (reaffirm the image of the President Elected and the validity of his programme, reinforce the support of the voters, build further consensus) Epideictic genre (ancient rhetoric) the audience as spectators judge the rhetorical ability of the speaker and the effectiveness of his/her speech Communion-seeking activity type (pragmadialectics) aims to strengthen interpersonal relationships between the members of a community
November 5th,
Barak Obama: Grant Park, Chicago John McCain: Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix
Obama: structure of the speech
3. RETHORIC ARGUMENTATION
Rhetoric does not refer only to style, good words, metaphors, use of figures of speech, lateral speaking, but it also refers to argument. So, it belongs to the rational sphere, it is not only about emotions. We have to distinguish between the argumentative reasoning and the demonstrative reasoning: demonstration is based on premises that are accepted as true, it is obligatory to reach a conclusion; argumentation, on the contrary, is not based on absolutely true premises. Premises in argumentation are probable, there is not absolute truth, but this does not mean that there is no rationality. Truth does not coincide with rationality, there is good reasoning and bad reasoning. In Ancient Greece, rhetoric was a combination of argumentation and emotional aspects, they both coexisted. The base of rhetoric is persuasion, it is often defined as the art of persuading through discourse, as a real technique and a skill to learn.
Parts of rhetoric
The parts of rhetoric have to be thought of as the sequence of steps in the construction of a speech.
- Inventio finding and selecting the arguments, the evidence. You could use for this purpose material evidence, facts but also truly argumentative elements based on loci (beliefs that are shared and that belong to the common convictions of a group)
- Dispositio organizing and ordering arguments. Scheme of a speech: exordium (beginning, incipit), narratio (narrative part), confirmatio (argumentative part), in the argumentative part it is often included the confutatio (possible counterarguments), digressio (relaxation of the speech) and peroratio (final climax of the speech)
- Elocutio putting thoughts into words. It is the actual wording, that implies using figures of speech, a certain style and choice of words. The negative criticism to rhetoric has been often based on the fact that rhetoric implies that you mask reality behind words, but this is not the essence of rhetoric. Rhetoric is an instrument, it can be used positively or negatively
- Actio final part, the performance. It is important in oral texts, it implies the use of memory, of body language, of modulation of the voice
Genres in Aristoteles
The definition of the genres was based on the audience , this makes clear that genres are a pragmatic phenomenon, they depend on the situation. The audience can be:
- Judges : Of past events (judiciary genre) Of future events (deliberative genre)
- Spectators (epideictic genre) they judge the quality of the speech itself
Genres
- Judiciary argumentation and speeches in the court: accuse or defence, the values involved are fair vs unfair. The typical means of proof is deduction, it starts from a general statement and then it applies it to the present situation (enthymeme)
- Deliberative advise on political question (useful vs dangerous). It is more based on inductive reasoning (from bottom to top, it starts with an example and it extend it to the present situation, it generalizes an example).
- Epideictic praise or blame (noble vs mean), the speaker is to be admired by the audience. It is based on amplificatio , the use of expressions that make you feel part of the situation, it works on emotions and make the speech pleasant
Means of persuasion
Logos rational part of rhetoric. Often identified with dialectics, it corresponds to the text itself and to the argumentative part of rhetoric Ethos emotional sphere. Focus on the speaker, and on how he appears in the speech (character). A speaker must present himself as agreeable and reliable, it has to stimulate positive judgments Pathos emotional sphere. Focus on the audience, it concerns the possibility of arising emotions in the audience Cicero: Docere arguing Delectare entertaining. In the Ancient world, rhetoric was an important educational aspect, while during the period in which rhetoric was considered negatively, the fact that the speaker had to entertain (and that he could give rise to manipulation), led to the fact that some aspects were not considered enough. While in the Ancient view, rhetoric was considered as a whole: persuading and entertaining coexisted (both reason and emotions). In Aristotle this is very clear Movere moving
Structure
Exordium the audience must be attracted, the speaker has to obtain attention, interest, good disposition. In this part, ethical elements are crucial Narration important because it is easier to be followed, decoded and memorised than argumentation. It is important to reinforce the attention of the audience and to give a message that can be immediately captured. Narrative must be short ( brevitas ) and clear ( perspicuitas ) Order of arguments in the argument, the arguments are singled out. In the Homeric order (strong, weak, strong) the idea is that strong arguments have to be put in the beginning and in the end (it comes last and so it remains in the memory of the audience), if there are weaker arguments, they must be put in the middle. A single argumentation should be presented, then confuted (anticipating possible criticisms) and then re-presented
Style
Each section is connected to a style that is also connected to the different means of proof: Humble informative, referential and dialectic part of the speech (logos) Medium entertaining function of the speech, linked to the ethical means of proof (ethos) High arouses emotions, generally occurs in the final part of the speech (pathos) Style and reasoning/argumentation cannot be separated, even if they have different elaborations and means of proof. Ethos Pre-discursive (outside discourse) what the speaker says is correct because I know something about him from outside the discourse In discourse how the speaker constructs his own image within the speech, in order to obtain elements of reliability, which make the audience more willing to accepts his arguments
Strategic manoeuvring the rhetoric point of view is reintroduced in pragmadialectic. The speaker uses rhetoric means of proof to obtain the aim of persuasion
Shakespeare, Julius Cesar, Antony’s Speech
Very famous example of literary rhetoric. The study of rhetorical argumentation in fiction has a sort of a value added, so far that if the writer chooses certain expressions and certain constructions deliberately, this is the mirror of something that actually exists and that is exploited for communicating that explicitly. This happens in theatre plays, but more recently in cinema movies and in fictions. It looks like an epideictic speech (“I come to bury Caesar”), but this is not the only component, with this speech he wants to obtain disapproval for Brutus, despite the recurring element taken for granted: Brutus is an honorable man. But in the end, he is dismantling this concept, he destroys Brutus’s honorability step by step. Antony is opposing to the pre-conviction that Brutus is an honorable man, with facts that he knows and that all people know. He is trying got persuade the audience that Brutus is not honorable, which implies that he should be condemned for killing Cesar. The speech is apparently epideictic, but it is also a form of deliberative and judiciary speech. So, there are the three different genres together, even if Antony masks this with a very low profile. This is an example of how argumentation can be indirect. Another key word is “ambition”, he does not say that Cesar was not ambitious, he gives instances of Cesar behaviors and he appeals to a doxa (shared opinion). This is a very clever way to obtain the approval and the attention of the audience: he starts with a soft introduction of his private problems , he then focuses of ambition and destroys step by step the idea that Cesar was ambitious, then he comes to a relevant conclusion: Brutus is not honorable and so he has to be condemned, the course of Rome has to change. He is very manipulative and very clever at the same time.
4. TEXT TYPES
When we talk about text types we talk about a very general and abstract classification, with a sort of cognitive background (the idea is that text types are in a very limited number). Text types are not linked to the rules and the historical character of a single genre.
Bühler’s Organon-Model
Pragmatic component and value. Three elements: Sender Message itself Receiver Language performs three different functions: Giving expression to what the speaker feels symptom of a certain feeling and behavior Representation of a certain concept, a certain reality symbol What it provokes on the receiver the message is a signal to be decoded by the receiver This is usually represented as a triangle and it is all based on pragmatic principles. This model has been recognized as a starting point for many researches of linguistic thought and reflections on the functioning of language.
Jakobson’s communication model
Six components for six functions: Addresser emotive Addressee conative Context referential Message poetic Channel phatic Code metalingual Actual speech instances rarely display one single function: normally, in usual use of the language, there are more functions represented; there might be one predominant function, but it is usually combined with
other functions. At the same time, there are utterances that are typical of certain functions (imperatives are the forms that are typical of the conative function). This model is very common but often criticized for its simplicity.
Text types
Not to be confused with genres. Limited number of textual possibilities Abstract, universal they do not refer to actual situations and to actual texts, they refer to a sort of universal form of classification that has a cognitive component. Not linked to a certain cultural, time and space situation A cognitive component
Werlich
Best known and more functional classification:
- Descriptive requires a space orientation (natural or artificial elements, true or fictitious elements). It is difficult to find passages that are almost purely descriptive
- Narrative the dominant dimension is time. Events (not objects) are presented in a time sequence. It does not matter if events actually took place
- Instructive instruction stimulate a certain behavior of the receiver (e.g. recipes, travel guides, legislations as a genre). Imperative is one of the forms of instructions. Also a future tense can be used (quite common in travel guides). Different forms (imperative, modals, indicative) and different genres
- Expository exposition of facts, simply saying what a certain thing is and how it works. It shows a certain state of affairs
- Argumentative while an expository text is thought to be accepted by the receivers, the augmentative text implies that the addressees may not agree, reasons are needed in order to convince them. Judgments are, as a genre, typically argumentative (analogic reasoning) In an actual text, more text types can co-occur.
Susan Anthony: the speech
Mainly argumentative text, self-defense speech. She is explaining why she should be given the right to vote (argumentative type). Reference to the constitution (preliminary element, common value). She exploits this passage through the concept of “we the people”. The final part is authentically argumentative: citizens are persons, women are persons, so women are citizens (very consequential). She goes back to the fundamental law of the US, the federal constitution which is the highest level (first element). Exploiting the concept of people, she is evoking all the fundamental values of the American constitution (right to vote, democracy, republic). There must be also a hierarchy of values.
Spoken vs written (and CMC)
In recent times, in this area, things have changed dramatically. The traditional opposition between spoken and written texts has been deeply influenced by the development of computer mediative communication. A few decades ago, it was quite normal in linguistic and social linguistic to talk about how language varies according to the medium used. Research was allowed on the distinguishing features of written and spoken text. A spoken situation implies that there is the physical presence of the addressee and a dialogic situation, where the two interlocutors can tune their communication considering the reaction of the other. The spoken text is less autonomous from context, while traditional written texts are to be produced in such a way that they can be potentially understood and read by anyone and in any context (not synchronous), so they have to be quite autonomous from the context, very clear and well organized because the addressee cannot ask questions. Moreover, spoken texts, also linguistically speaking, have some features that are different from those of written texts, namely lexical density (percentage of lexical words compared to grammar words). These were the results of research when spoken and written were well distinct from one
Genre and intertextuality reference to texts that belong to the same genre Genre as “social action“ (pragmatics) genre is a means of the process of acting through language Genre and genre change (the horizon) genre changes: it is not a cognitive principle but a historical phenomenon
Genre as a historical phenomenon
Beyond diachrony opposed to synchrony diachrony and synchrony are two different ways of looking at the same phenomenon, while history is the actual change across time, which includes however also diachrony and synchrony. When we look at genres in this historical dimension, we have to consider their characters in a certain moment and how these characters change when we move across time Intrageneric variation and intergeneric gaps within a genre there is variation but there are intergeneric gaps that keep each genre separate from the others Evolution of genres Institutionalised genres: a minimum of intrageneric differences the more a genre is institutionalised, the more it is compact (the intrageneric difference are more limited) Maximization of intrageneric difference minimization of intergeneric gap. In less institutionalised contexts, texts belonging to another genre tend to be similar to the texts belonging to that genre Hybrids (?) the divide between genres may become blurred and so a shift from one to the other becomes possible. Actually, genres change and when the change becomes very marked, then a genre evolves into another genre. Hybridization may be only a phase of transition. Genres change because social context and social needs change, and because also the technical possibilities change The role of persuasion (a reason for change?) persuasion is always present in texts and to be effective it has to be kept covert because people are not willing to be persuaded. If in a genre persuasion gradually becomes explicit, then that genre has to change
Clinton’s Inaugural Speech
Introduction (preamble) the speaker introduces the key elements of his speech. This is the part where the speaker has to capture the attention of the audience and has to create a common ground with the audience through objects of agreement. Clinton is able to introduce a lot of elements that can be shared with the audience. An important aspect of inaugural speech is that the President is speaking to all Americans, the emphasis is on the ceremonial aspect, and to obtain the adhesion of the audience he exploits common values. This part also contains another move, that is a sort of compulsory step in such a situation: the thanking and salute to his predecessor (Bush). Clinton won the elections when Bush was at his first term (it is almost an exception: Presidents normally succeed in winning two terms). Then there is the mention of the change in the international scenario (cold war that finished) Core it comes when he starts talking about the present. He uses the expression “renewal”, this is a message of the speech (also criticism for his predecessor). The turning point on which the speech hinges is the change from a “drift” to a “change”. He uses the expression “to renew America” more times. When he starts talking about the future, he comes to the core of his message, he organizes the speech in sections that can be more easily followed: general and personal commitment; political commitment in Washington; international arena Final part he comes back to the idea of celebration. The change has already started because people have voted for him. Change has to go on and there is again the idea of renewal. The final appeal usually contains a religious quotation There is the exploitation of the mentioning of seasons. The contrast is based on the actual context of the speech (depth of winter): despite it is winter, it is actually spring (renewal of the world).
Joe Biden, Victory Speech November 7th, Wilmington, Delaware
Thanking family, vice-president, volunteers and campaign team. Obama was particularly warm in mentioning his adversary McCain, while Biden does not mention Trump. Obama also put a strong
emphasis on thanking the voters, which is not the case here (the emphasis is on the coalition). Biden mentions Trump, but in an indirect way (“For all those of you who voted president Trump, I understand the disappointment tonight”: a move to recreate the idea of a united America). He mentions the fact that Kamala is the first black woman to be elected in the US (Obama never said this even if he was the first black President, the racial problem was embodied by Obama himself) Image of the arc of history (like in Obama’s discourse) Biden lists the members of the coalition “The broadest and most diverse coalition in history. Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, moderates, conservatives, young, old, urban, suburban, rural, gay, straight, transgender, white, Latino, Asian, Native American” (also Obama did this) Possessive pronoun “ our ” the personal pronoun marks an action. In this speech there is no clear reference to the actions to be performed (the actual program); he is talking more about values and general principles. The only action he talks about is how to defeat COVID-19 (the first enemy). While Obama put on stage what was going to happen with his presidency. In Biden’s discourse, the fact that the first-person plural comes out with the possessive form (with nouns and not with verbs) marks the fact that he is talking about common values rather than common actions. While he talks in the first person to emphasize his position as future president and how he wants to bring all together in order to become a “we” Biden uses the verb “ heal ” because of the virus, of the divisions, of the damages of the previous administration President for all constant in victory speeches (“I’m a proud Democrat. But I will govern as an American president”). Also Obama said this but Biden is more explicit Anaphora in the final part to mark the progression of the speech (both Biden and Obama). Obama used “let us”, which implied common actions towards a common objective. The anaphora in Biden’s speech is “ahead” (but not very market, the strength of the anaphora is not perceived because of a weak delivery). “Ahead” does not mark the action, it simply marks the aim Religious theme he mentions a hymn and the Bible
6. PRAGMATICS
Speech acts
Language is not simply a means to describe the world, but it is a way of performing actions. When we speak, we act. Constative vs performative forms (Austin) the principle of truth condition cannot be applied to a wide range of utterances that have something in common: the fact that when pronouncing those words, an action is performed (e.g. thanking, promising). The distinction between constative and performative is not a clear-cut divide because when you say “this bag is grey” you are actually making a statement (action of claiming) Speaking as performing :
- Locution actions through which you convey a meaning, a statement, an assertion
- Illocution refers to the intention of the speaker
- Perlocution refers to the effect the speaker wants to obtain on the addressee Felicity conditions (vs truth conditions) performative do not have truth conditions, but they have felicity conditions (the role and the capacity of the speaker is crucial to determine the felicity condition of a performative, it has to do with the actual possibility of performing correctly that action) The same sentence can have different indenting meanings in different contexts and according to the situation
Illocutionary acts
Searle made a classification of illocutionary acts and singled out five different classes:
Relevance is judged on the basis of expectations of the interlocutor We cannot give an absolute and objective value to relevance because it is linked to the context of the exchange The ambiguities that can occur in a conversation are solved because of the activity of interpretation of the participants on the basis of the “cognitive environment” Cognitive environment as a background to any process of interpretation (which is enlarged as a consequence of the process of interpretation) Explicature (filling in missing information, adjusting information to expectations of the addressee) Only relevant information is filled in: degrees of relevance (based on cognitive effects and processing effort ). The principle is that you try to obtain the maximum of cognitive effect, with the minimum of processing effort (the more you obtain with the least effort, the more relevant is the explicature)
Politeness
The concept of linguistic politeness stems from the concept of “face”. Goffman thought that we all have a positive and a negative face The positive face concerns our need to be appreciated; the negative face concerns the need not to be disturbed When we disturb a person, we perform an act that threatens his/her face ( face threatening acts , FTAs) In order to reduce the threatening power of an act we do “ face work ” (crucial in conversation but also in monologic speeches because if you preserve the face of the other you also obtain important effects from the point of view of argumentation, persuasion, possibility of understating and developing the communicative exchange) The weight of the threat that is embedded depends on various factors: on the rate of imposition, on the distance between the interlocutors (degree of closeness) and on the power that the speaker can have over the other Leech has also given maxims for politeness. Example: tact (minimize cost to the other, maximize benefit to the other). The other side of this maxim is the one of modesty (maximise the cost to the self, minimize the benefit to the self) Face flattering acts (FFAs): the opposite of FTAs. They are facts that, for example, emphasize the benefits to the other (acts of appreciation) Impoliteness
Implicit meaning: presuppositions
Linguistic presuppositions are a type of implicit meaning that is particularly useful in discourse and can be exploited with persuasive aims and to avoid debate on certain parts of information. When we say something, we state something but we presuppose a lot What is asserted is different from what is presupposed, which is not affected by denial (or questioning) Example: The king of France is bald (negation: the king of France is not bald; question: is the king of France bald?). But you cannot deny that the King of France does exists ( existential presupposition ) John’s hat is green, the name of John’s brother is Tom… This presupposes that John has a hat and that he has a brother
Types and triggers
We use lots of existential presuppositions, but we also use other types of presuppositions which are triggered by specific indicators: Existential presuppositions are typically triggered by the definite article Factive presupposition are triggered by that-clauses (example: I approve that John goes to university abroad , this implies that John goes to university abroad) Change of state (stop, start…)
Iterative (re-, again) Structural (cleft sentence: it is John who…, wh-question)
Concession (and presupposition)
When you concede something, you agree with the opposition of your addressee for a moment, and then you deny part of it or you go beyond that. Though prices rose, consumption remained stable (the implied rule is that when prices rise, consumption diminishes) Though he is a Scot, he is generous ( implied stereotype ) Though he is an engineer, he loves music ( “construed” implicature ) Compare: That restaurant is good but expensive (the fact that the restaurant is expensive is more important) That restaurant is expensive but good (the emphasis is on the positive aspect) From a purely semantic point of view, the restaurant is both good and expensive. But pragmatically the two sentences are profoundly different because “but” is concessive, which means that you temporally agree with the first part of the sentence, and then come to the conclusion that is expressed in the second part.
Inferences
Conversational implicatures the fact that you understand the meaning of sentences through the conversation Conventional implicatures they stem from shared rules of communication. Example: “his sister” is not “a woman” because woman is meant with the implicature that there is possibly a love affair Connotations example: the father died in the accident, and the surgeon exclaims: I cannot operate, that’s my son! You have to think that the surgeon is a woman and so the mother of the son. This association is not immediate because we have spoken of father and son and because it is rare to find surgeon women (prejudice linked to the role of women) Necessary vs possible inference Inferencing in the reading process
Split concepts: true vs pseudo
My party will struggle for true democracy; our government won’t be a pseudo -democracy. True justice, true freedom (or pseudo- ). An example from French legislation on procreation (two versions):
- Medically assisted procreation
- Medical assistance to procreation (more recent) The words are the same but the concept of procreation is presented differently: in the second case there is one single concept of procreation and you offer medical assistance to that; while the first case implies that there can be another procreation that is not medically assisted (vs natural procreation: dissociation). The way words are linked together can change their value.
Dissociation
Polarization of values A concept is split Different values are given to the two parts The positive part is the one of the speaker The negative part is attributed to others (“them”) This is a way of expressing evaluation
Kennedy: Ich bin ein Berliner (June 26th, 1963), West Berlin
The way of speaking in public has definitely changed a lot
Act of producing an utterance (result of enunciation) in discourse Discourse “must be understood in it widest sense: every utterance assuming a speaker and a hearer, and in the speaker, the intention of influencing the other in some way”. Benveniste singled out the fact that there is a speaker and a hearer and that there is a persuasive and argumentative component Enunciation as a process vs utterance as an object Enunciation in discourse
- The speaker “appropriates” the language, and introduces his/her presence in it (through personal pronouns)
- In this process, “the other” is constructed and placed before the speaker (with different degrees of strength)
Grammar cues of enunciation
Connections: utterance-enunciation Deixis (shifters / embrayeurs) Anaphora Cataphora
Anaphora (and cataphora)
Referring backwards (or forward) at something that has already been referred to in the discourse Pronouns, demonstratives, nouns Anaphoric incapsulators (used with an ideological value): the tragedy, the carnage, the improvement, the development, the growth. This is functional for conveying a certain point of view
Three deictic dimensions
Each discourse has an origin, that is “I, here and now”
- Person : Pronouns Possessives Demonstratives
- Time : Adverbs/expressions Tenses
- Place They all can be shifted. In discourse there is only “I” and “you”, the third person is anaphorical.
Attitudes of the enunciator
The speaker can express his attitude through: Epistemic adverbs (perhaps, surely) expressing the degree of conviction Adverbs to qualify enunciation (surely, in my opinion, definitively) Adverbs to qualify the utterance (unlikely, unluckily) Modality (modal verbs, tenses, modal adverbs) Hedges mitigate or reinforce a certain point of view
Embrayage e débrayage
- Embrayage relationship between the speaker and the audience (stronger emotional reaction)
- Débrayage no relationship between the speaker and the audience. Impersonal forms, detachment and referential expressions that give to the speech a more objective form but render it less empathic This difference can be very well seen in advertisements.
Polyphony / Dialogism
- Origin in narrative texts there are different voices and points of view (author, characters): polyphony
- In a text you “feel” the presence of other voices: dialogism. You do not use reported speech, you report different points of view in covered forms. Among the forms of dialogism: Irony Negation Concession Presupposition
Types of dialogism
Constitutive dialogism is always present in texts. Doxa, lexicon, discourse memory
Interdiscursive towards former utterances that belong to the common ground, to things that have already been said (as X said…) Interlocutive addressed towards the interlocutor (you should know that…, I am sure you agree with…). The distinction between interdiscursive and interlocutrice dialogism can be blurred Intralocutive (autodialogism) towards one’s own utterance (I mean…, maybe…)
Interdiscursive dialogism: reported speech
Direct RS Indirect RS Quotation Free indirect speech
Concession as interlocutive dialogism
Though his position is weak, he has no rivals He may be…, but he / nevertheless he He may even win the elections, as he has no rivals, but his position is weak
8. CONSTRUCTION, SPREAD AND (RE)USE OF A METAPHORE:
THE IRON CURTAIN
Metaphors are maybe the most exploited trope in discourse. The position of the figures of speech has been controversial for long because they have been considered as mere means to embellish speech. But actually research has shown that the use of tropes is also functional to argumentation or to make concepts clearer, so they do not limit their function to pure aesthetic embellishment. Metaphors in particular, have been the object of wide research in this specific perspective. Metaphors are by no means simple ways to make a speech or a written speech more enjoyable, they have other functions. Widely exploited Functional to ideological representations Different interpretations In political communication : Critical Metaphor Analysis (CMA) the interpretation of metaphors has been discussed in particular in political communication. The so called “Critical Metaphor Analysis” has emerged as a specific methodology of research mainly focused on political discourse, which echoes critical discourse analysis (the idea of analysis of discourse as a way of pursuing ideological purposes). The focus is essentially on metaphors
Critical Metaphor Analysis
Aim disclose ideology behind language Metaphors play a prominent role
