Discourse Analysis and grammar

 

Discourse analysis and grammar

study familiar terms like :clause , pronoun, adverbial and conjunction and attempt to
relate them to a less familiar set of terms : theme, rheme , reference and anaphoric , in order to make link between grammar and discourse.
Spoken and written discourses

display grammatical conations between individual clauses and utterances.
These grammatical links can be classified under three broad types :
— Reference or co- reference
— Ellipsis/ substitution
— Conjunction
Reference

The term reference is traditionally used in semantics to define the relationship between a word and what it points to in the real world, but in Halliday and Hasan’s (1976) model it simply refers to the relationship between two linguistic expressions.
Reference as an act by which a speaker (or writer) uses language to enable a listener (or reader) to identify something.
Reference Types

Exophoric (Situational)

Endophoric (Textual

Exophoric Reference (Looking outward- outside the text)
The referent is not in the immediate context but is assumed by the speaker/writer to be part of a shared world, in terms of knowledge and experience.
— E.g.,
— For he's a jolly good fellow and so say all of us.
As outsiders, we don’t know who the he is, but, most likely, the people involved in the celebration are aware of the he that is being referred to, and therefore, can find texture in the sentences.
References to elements in the text are called Endophoric references.
Endophoric referencing can be divided
into two areas:
— Anaphoric
— Cataphoric
Anaphoric ( Backward Reference)

Refers to any reference that “points backwards” to previously mentioned information in text. Usually items such as he/she or them ,it, this , can be decoded without major difficulty.
— e.g.,
— Tom likes ice cream but Bill can’t eat it.
— The teacher asked Ahmad to read so he read.
Cataphoric

Refers to any reference that “points forward” to information that will be presented later in the text.
For example:
— When I met her, Mary looked ill.
— Here is the news. The Prime Minister, Imran Khan has visited areas affected by rain.

Cohesive Reference
Functionally speaking, there are three main types of cohesive references:
— Personal
— Demonstrative
— Comparative
Personal Reference

Personal reference keeps track of function through the speech situation using noun, pronouns like “he, him, she, her”, etc. and possessive determiners like “mine, yours, his, hers”, etc.
E.g.,
— The prime minister has resigned. He announced his decision this morning.
Demonstrative

Demonstrative reference keeps track of information through location using proximity references like “this, these, that, those, here, there, then, and the”.
E.g.,
— I always buy a lot of books when I am in England. There are many lovely bookshops there.
Comparative

Comparative reference keeps track of identity and similarity through indirect references using adjectives like “same, equal, similar, different, else, better, more”, etc.
Adverbs like “so, such, similarly, otherwise, so, more”, etc.
— E.g.,
— A similar view is not acceptable.
— We did the same.
— So they said.
Substitution and Ellipsis

Whereas referencing functions to link semantic meanings within text, substitution and ellipsis differ in that they operate as a linguistic link at the lexico-grammatical level.
Substitution and ellipsis are used when “a speaker or writer wishes to avoid the repetition of a lexical item and draw on one of the grammatical resources of the
language to replace the item”.
Substitution:
Substitution is the replacement of a word or phrase with a "filler" word (such as one, so, or do) to avoid repetition.
There are three general ways of substituting in a sentence:

Substitution	Ø  Nomina   One /ones
	Ø  Verbal Do/so
	Ø  Clausal So / not

Nominal Substitution

In nominal substitution , the most typical substitution words are: “one and ones” .
— e.g.,

Let's go and see the bears. The polar ones are over on that rock.
—This car is mine, but that one is yours.
Verbal substitution

In verbal substitution, the most common substitute is the verb “do” which is sometimes used in conjunction with “so” as in “do so”.
— e.g.,

Did Mary take that letter? She might have done.
— Do/do not and auxiliaries.
She can drive the car, but I cannot.
She wrote the homework , but I did not
Clausal Substitution

In clausal substitution, an entire clause is substituted by "So, not"
— E.g., I believe so.
— Everyone thinks he’s guilty. If so, no doubt he’ll resign.
— We should recognise him when we see him. Yes, but supposing not: what do we do?
Ellipsis

Ellipsis (zero substitution) is the omission of elements normally required by the grammar which the speaker/writer assumes are obvious from the context and therefore need not be raised.
— E.g., Do you want to hear another song? I know twelve more [songs]
— Sue brought roses and Jackie [brought] lilies.
— I ran 5 miles on the first day and 8 [miles] on the second
Types of Ellipsis
nominal
verbal
clausal
Nominal Ellipsis

Ellipsis within the nominal group or the common noun that may be omitted and the function of head taken on by one of other elements.
· E.g.,
· Nelly liked the green tiles; I preferred the blue.
Verbal Ellipsis

An elliptical verbal group presupposes one or more words from a previous verbal
group. Technically, it is defined as a verbal group whose structure does not fully express its systematic feature. Example:
— a) Have you been swimming? – Yes, I have.
— b) What have you been doing? – Swimming

Clausal Ellipsis
A Clause in English, considered as the expression of the various speech functions, such as statement, question, response and so on, has a two-part structure consisting of modal element plus propositional element. For example:
What were they doing?- Holding hands

The plane has landed.—Has it?
Has the plane landed?—Yes, it has.
Halliday and Hasan also say that the principle of clausal ellipsis is general to all types of questions (1976: 211).

Conjunctions
Conjunction acts as a cohesive tie between clauses or sections of text in such a way as to demonstrate a meaningful pattern between them.
Conjunctions are not a way of simply joining sentences. Their role in the text is wider than that, because they provide the listener/reader with information for the interpretation of the utterance; that is why some linguists prefer to describe them as discourse markers.
Hallday ( 1985) offers a scheme for the classification of conjunctive relations and includes over forty conjunctive items.
Here is a simplified list based on Halliday’s category headings:

Elaboration: In other words, Rather

Extension: and, but, alternatively

Enhancement: In that case, consequently

 

Sub types of Conjunctions

 

Additive: Moreover, further, besides, in addition

Causal: as a result of, due to, therefore

Adversative: although, but, even though, in contrast

Temporal: then, subsequently