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Name the 8 types of linguistic phenomena which can be affected by discourse-related considerations, as noted in the first chapter of HDA. Illustrate each type of phenomena.
- 1. Word order
- - In Czech, new information is typically presented near the end of the clause, while old information is presented near the beginning.
- - In Kifuliiru, whatever comes at the end of the sentence is in focus position.
- - In Hungarian, whatever comes directly before the verb is in focus position.
- 2. Functions of different forms of the verb
- In French, the imparfait is used near the beginning of a narrative, where "time, place, and circumstances are sketched, and maybe a participant or two is introduced" (3); but the passé composé or passé simple is used "[w]hen the action line of the story begins" (3).
- 3. Participant reference in discourse
- - In English, once a participant is introduced, it is subsequently referred to by pronouns. Typically the participant is re-introduced at paragraph boundaries.
- - In Spanish, pronouns are used less, because participants can be identified by verbal suffixes.
- 4. Definitivization and deictics
- - In English, the indefinite article a is typically used with the first mention of a participant or prop in a narrative, but the definite article the is used with subsequent mentionings.
- - "Other sorts of items come in for concern as well, such as proper nouns, possessive pronouns, and deictics.... These are part of a broader concern, participant/thematic reference in discourse, and are therefore discussed no further here...." (6)
- 5. Temporal and locational expressions; adverbial clauses
- - In English, sentences often sport pre-posed temporal or locational clauses which function to link the preceding sentence to the following sentence. (backreference, tail-head linkage)
- 6. Sequence signals and conjunctions
- - The use of conjunctions can be affected by discourse issues
- - In English, "but can express either contrast or frustrated expectancy, while on the other hand is more limited to contrast" (9).
- 7. Mystery particles
- - In Guajiro, "[t]he auxiliary calacá proved to be a prominent eventline marker. It occurs with the verbs that mark successive storyline events in a paragraph but not with sentences that are merely paraphrases or explanation of such an event" (9).
- - In Guajiro, "[a] further auxiliary taa relates not to prominence on the mainline but to the topicality of the subject of the verb" (10).
- 8. The length of syntactic units
- - In English, unusual sentence length―whether unusual lengthiness or unusual brevity―can indicate the peak of a narrative.
- - In Aguaruna, different discourse types are indicated by different sentence lengths. "In narrative discourse, the chains that occur are so long that the sentence tends to be coterminous with the paragraph in the realization of episodes.... In procedural discourse, the chains are somewhat shorter.... In expository (typically descriptive) discourse, clause chaining is replaced by coordination.... In hortatory discourse, there is likewise no chaining..." (13).
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Explain the difference between cohesion and coherence.
- "Cohesion is the explicit linkage found in a text or part of it, while coherence has to do with lexical associations and is more implicit" (HDA 23).
- "cohesion. the unifying parts of a discourse on surface structure; agreement between constituents, use of conjunctions; information in the lowest band in narrative in adverbial/participial/nominal clauses in back-referential function" (HDA 213).
- "coherence. the logical and semantic connection between lexical elements; a text is understandable if it is coherent. Languages have various ways to tie together lexical items of different semantic domains or explain culturally unexpected information" (HDA 213).
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What parameters are given in HDA for distinguishing various types of discourses (from an etic viewpoint)?
- +/- contingent temporal succession
- +/- agent orientation
- +/- projection
- +/- tension
-
What discourse type is characterized by [+ contingent temporal succession] and [+ agent orientation]?
Narrative
-
What discourse type is characterized by [+ contingent temporal succession] and [- agent orientation]?
Procedural
-
What discourse type is characterized by [- contingent temporal succession] and [+ agent orientation]?
Behavioral
-
What discourse type is characterized by [- contingent temporal succession] and [- agent orientation]?
Expository
-
What does skewing accomplish?
- Skewing can present a notional category that is less appealing to listeners in a surface form that is more appealing. Ex. An expository discourse in the surface form of a narrative.
- Skewing can disguise the intent of the speaker by using an unexpected surface form.
- Skewing make the discourse move vivid.
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Name the author(s), full title, and publication year of HDA.
Longacre and Hwang, Holistic Discourse Analysis, 2012.
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Describe the charting method used in class, and state whose work it is based on.
- Contains four main columns, divided into subcolumns:
- 1. introducer (sentence-medial, sentence-final)
- 2. preposed dependent clause (S, V, O)
- 3. independent clause (S, V, O)
- 4. postposed dependent clause (S, V, O)5. Notes (recommended but not counted as one of the "main columns")
- This charting method was originally proposed in Longacre and Levinsohn's 1978 article entitled "Field Analysis of Discourse."
-
Describe the advantages of the charting method used in class.
- a) The most important characteristic of this method of charting is its preservation of the linear order of text material.
- b) The sentence (not the clause) is treated as the basic unit.
- c) The grammatical constituents are largely kept together (such as a whole noun phrase even including a relative clause, and an adverbial clause with its subordinating conjunction).
- d) Any unusual word order stands out.
- e) Independent clauses are clearly separated from pre‑ and postposed dependent clauses.
- f) Introducers are grouped together in the first column where they stand out in their function as sequence signals and boundary markers for paragraphs and episodes.
- g) The text in its entirety is recoverable from the chart, so we may work directly with the chart in analyzing the text.
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Name the surface-level macrosegmentation slots of a narrative.
- 1. title
- 2. aperture
- 3. stage
- 4. prepeak episodes
- 5. peak episode
- 6. postpeak episodes
- 7. closure
- 8. finis
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Name the notional-level macrosegmentation slots of a narrative.
- 1. exposition
- 2. inciting moment
- 3. developing conflict
- 4. climax
- 5. denoument
- 6. final suspense
- 7. conclusion
-
Concerning the macrosegmentation of a narrative discourse: Which notional-level slots typically correspond to which surface-level slots?
- Exposition--Stage
- Inciting Moment--Prepeak episode
- Developing Conflict--Prepeak episode
- Climax--Prepeak, or Peak
- Denouement--Peak, Peak', Postpeak
- Final Suspense--Postpeak
- Conclusion--Closure
-
What is peak?
- The peak "is an episode-like unit corresponding to the notional climax or denouement, which is set aside as a zone of turbulence in the flow of the discourse by unusual surface features. There are positive features that often occur at this zone such as rhetorical underlining by repetition and heightened vividness by person and/or tense shift..., but the key concept is a break from the norm, that is, there is a shift and change from the expected and normal features" (HDA 53-54).
- "peak. an episode-like unit in a narrative set apart by special surface structure features and corresponding to climax or denouement in the notional structure; zone of turbulence grammatically; in non-narrative, surface marking is usually at the culminating exhortation, or argument, or the most adequate explanation" (HDA 220).
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[insert card about discourse features in ancient Hebrew]
[insert card about discourse features in ancient Hebrew]
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Name some typical peak marking features.
- increased number of words--paraphrase, repitition, parallelism, tautology, etc. ("rhetorical underlining")
- variation in length of constituents
- concentration of participants (crowded stage)
- shift in tense/aspect shift in ratio of nouns to verbs
- shift in person/number
- shift from Narr → Pseudo-Dial → Dialogue → Dramaonomatopoeia, ideophones, 4-letter wordsshift in frequency of connectives, such as conjunctionsshift in vantage point*shift in orientation**
- *Often, even third-person narratives lead the listener to view the story from the point of view of one of the story's characters. Glimpses into this character's perspective and thoughts are scattered through the account. This is called vantage point. Often, a change in perspective from the vantage point of one character to that of another marks a peak.
- **Change of orientation has to do with how notional concepts are encoded in the surface structure. Usually, agents, patients, and instruments are encoded respectively as subjects, objects, and obliques. But sometimes an instrument may be encoded as a subject, or an agent as object, or a patient as subject—such change often marks a peak.
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Name the author(s), full title, and publication year of TGOD.
Longacre, The Grammar of Discourse, 1996.
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Describe the salience scheme for English, as it is laid out in HDA.
- Band 1. Storyline: verbs with simple past tense
- Band 2. Background activities: past progressive -ing verbs
- Band 3. Flashbacks: had verbs
- Band 4. Setting (expository/descriptive): be clauses; active verbs with inanimate subjects
- Band 5. Irrealis: negatives and modals
- Band 6. Evaluation or author comments/intrusions
- Band 7. Cohesion: adverbial clauses / participial clauses / noun phrases in back-referential function
-
Describe promotion and demotion, as these concepts relate to Longacre's salience scheme for English.
Punctiliar adverbs [such as suddenly] can promote an element from Band 2-5 to Band 1, the storyline. Actions can be demoted by putting them in subordinate clauses especially preposed adverbial clauses and relative clauses.
-
Describe the iconicity principle, and state who suggested it. (This has to do with participant reference.)
- Givón 1983
- "The more disruptive, surprising, discontinuous or hard to process a topic is, the more coding material must be assigned to it" (HDA 81, quoting Givón).
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Describe the hierarchy or episode model, and state who suggested it. (This has to do with participant reference.)
- Hinds and Hinds 1979, Fox 1987, Tomlin 1987
- more coding material appears near structural boundaries
-
This author defines the three activation states (Active, Accessible, and Inactive).
Chafe 1987
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Identify each of the "three variable factors" in Longacre's theory of participant reference, and state the year in which he first published these ideas.
- Longacre 1995
- 1. Participant-reference resources
- 2. Ranking
- 3. Discourse operations
-
Describe the first of the "three variable factors" in Longacre's theory of participant reference.
- Participant reference resources
- 1. Nouns, including proper names, accompanied by qualifiers ranging from (in)definite articles, adjectives, and relative clauses, within the NP or going beyond to separate sentences
- 2. Nouns without qualifiers (except as a required element, e.g., the definite article in English)
- 3. Surrogate nouns, such as terms of kinship, social role, and occupation
- 4. Pronouns and deictics
- 5. Bound elements (affixes and clitics, e.g., verb agreements for subject and object, possessor affixes on nouns, and switch reference markers on verbs)
- 6. Zero or null reference
-
Describe the second of the "three variable factors" in Longacre's theory of participant reference.
"Participants may display different patterns of reference depending on their ranking in the story, from major (central and non-central) and minor (restricted or limited role) to props (human or non-human)" (HDA 83).
-
Describe the third of the "three variable factors" in Longacre's theory of participant reference.
- Discourse operationsF First mention within a story
- I Integration into the story as central
- T Tracking routinely
- R Restaging or reinstatement
- B Boundary marking episode or sub-episode
- C Confrontation and/or role change
- L Locally contrastive/thematic status
- E Evaluation or comment by the narrator
- A Addressee in dialogue
- X Exit
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[perhaps insert a card about how Longacre's theory of participant reference can be applied specifically to English]
[perhaps insert a card about how Longacre's theory of participant reference can be applied specifically to English]
-
Describe the typical components of a sentence in a co-ranking language.
- nucleus - "the most characteristic part and independent of the margin" (HDA 94)
- margin - "peripheral, less central role, supportive; it does not determine the construction type" (HDA 219)
- "Both the nucleus and margin may be internally complex with more than one clause (as in He was sick for a while but he recovered quickly after the doctor made a correct diagnosis and prescribed appropriate medicine.)" (HDA 94).
- bases - "functional subparts of the nucleus...[whose verbs are] fully inflected for tense, aspect, and modality" (HDA 94)
-
Describe the typical components of a sentence in a chaining language. Differentiate between head-final and head-initial structures, and mention switch-reference systems.
- Several clauses are included in a chain, but only one clause has a fully-inflected verb. The verbs in the other clauses are assumed to have the same TAM features as that verb.
- head-final - the fully-inflected verb comes in the last clause of the chain; this system is more common
- head-initial - the fully-inflected verb comes in the first clause of the chain; this system is less common
- switch-reference system - "an affix of the verb indicates whether the following (or final) clause has the same or different subject as its own" (HDA 94).
-
Describe five clause combining devices, and state who proposed them.
- "We present the following clause combining devices as on a continuum of increasing integration between clauses and describe how they function in discourse (Hwang 2006)" (HDA 95).
- 1. Juxtaposition (clauses intonationally joined but with no conjunctions)
- 2. Coordination (conjoined by conjunctions like and, but, or, so)
- 3. Chaining (functionally coordinate but syntactically dependent in inflections like tense)
- 4. Subordination (adverbial clauses with conjunctions like when, if, before, etc.)
- 5. Embedding (relative clauses and complement clauses)
-
As a clause-combining device, how is juxtaposition used in English?
- Sometimes indicates paraphrase ("He is courageous; he is not afraid" [HDA 99])
- Sometimes involves deletion of conjunction (deletion of and - "We were not afraid; we did not want revenge" [HDA 99])
- Certain specific sentence types call for this strategy ("such as those expressing proportions...The longer we prayed, the calmer the children became..." [HDA 99])
-
As a clause-combining device, how is coordination used in English?
- "Coordinated clauses in a sentence are the main workhorse of narrative, reporting eventline information in temporal sequence" (HDA 99)."
- Coordinated clauses may be in temporal or logical sequence, or may be a simple listing of propositions" (HDA 100).
-
As a clause-combining device, how is chaining used in English?
- Unusual in English
- Subject is assumed to be the same as that of the main clause unless otherwise marked
- The functions that participial clauses indicate seem to be similar to those that adverbial clauses indicate, but while adverbial clauses explicitly indicate the function, participial clauses do not.
- (HDA 101 )
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As a clause-combining device, how are adverbial clauses used in English?
- "Preposed clauses serve thematic, orienting, and cohesive functions marking the boundary at the discourse level, as well as a back-referencing function within the paragraph, closely tying sentences together" (HDA 101).
- "Postposed clauses serve a semantic function, similar to coordination, but giving a greater integration with the main clause at the sentence level" (HDA 101).
- "[P]ostposed clauses sometimes have an unusual function of dramatically marking unexpected and surprising foreground information, which tightly integrate with the preceding main clause" (HDA 102).
-
As a clause-combining device, how are relative clauses used in English?
- Restrictive relative clauses do not count as cases of clause combining (but rather as clause embedding)
- Nonrestrictive relative clauses may count as cases of clause combining if they provide additional information
- "Those [nonrestrictive relative clauses] in S29 [of the Hans story] report temporally sequential events to that in the main clause, which is possible in languages with postnominal relativization. Slowly he walked along the aisle and up the steps to the choir, [where he handed the plate to the priest, [who blessed the gifts and then reverently placed them on the altar]]" (HDA 102).
- "Hwang (1990b, 1994, and 1996) discusses distinct discourse functions of relative clauses in postnominal and prenominal (Korean) systems, for example, the introduction of participants and props in postnominal systems, and abstract themes or teaching in prenominal systems. Cohesive functions and marking minor or displaced events are found to be common in both types" (HDA 103).
-
Name one problem related to the translation of relative clauses from English to Korean.
- In English, relative clauses are often used to introduce participants at the beginning of a narrative:
- There was a mother pig who had three little pigs.However, because of information flow considerations, this sentence would be translated into Korean as two coordinated clauses:
- There lived a mother pig and three little pigs.This is because the relative clause comes before the noun in Korean.
- Hwang 1990
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Describe the cross-linguistic word-order patterns that were observed by Greenberg, and state when he first published his observations.
- Greenberg 1966
- VSO: prepositions, N+genitive, N+adjective
- SVO: prepositions, N+genitive, N+adjective
- SOV: postpositions, genitive+N, adjective+N
- SOV: postpositions, genitive+N, N+adjective
-
As a clause-combining device, how are complement clauses used in English?
- Often do not count as cases of clause combining (but rather as clause embedding)
- But direct and indirect quotations do count as cases of clause combining. "Rather than the quote being embedded as a complement clause, it is best to see them as having two main parts (see Longacre 1996:86-89 and 2007:388 for discussions)" (HDA 103).
-
Describe the clause-combining patterns of Migabac (a chaining language), and state who published the Migabac data.
- McEvoy 2008
- "The Cassowary Story"
- Medial verbs bear a portmanteau suffix indicating, relative to the following clause, 1) same/different subject, and 2) temporal overlap/succession. Different-subject suffixes also indicate person and number for the current clause.
- Most sentences contain four or fewer clauses
- At peak, sentences contain seven to ten clauses
-
Arrange the four major discourse types (Narrative, Procedural, Hortatory, Expository) in order from the most frequently used type to the least frequently used type. (Think cross-linguistically.)
- "[T]here seems to be a scale of frequency of use among extended monologue discourse types:
- Narrative > Hortatory > Expository > Procedural" (HDA 153)
-
Describe the schema for a procedural discourse.
- 1. Problem/Need
- 2. Preparatory procedures
- 3. The main efficient procedures
- 4. Concluding (often utilization) procedures [could have peak-like features here]
- (HDA 154)
-
Describe the typical features of an English procedural text.
- (1) Tense/aspect/mode: imperative or customary present tense verbs are on the mainline of procedure, sometimes with modals, such as, should, must, can;
- (2) voice: passives may be frequent, often with unspecified agent;
- (3) person: second, or it may also be third, but generally person-less as in imperative for the non-specific agent;
- (4) objects occur in patient roles, and tools in instrument roles;
- (5) verbs are of the activity-action type; and
- (6) adverbial clauses are common, especially the conditional if for hypotheticality of conjecture about the future, the temporal when, before, until related to plus contingent temporal succession, and the purpose (in order) to, so that, signaling the goal or target orientation.
- (HDA 167)
-
State the purpose and describe the schema for a hortatory discourse.
- Purpose: Influencing Conduct
- Schema:
- Authority or Credibility of the text producer--may be explicit or implicit
- Indication of a Problem or Situation--may be explicit or implicit
- One or more Command elements (may be direct or mitigated)--must exist, is minimal
- Motivation (promises or threats)--usually necessary to achieve compliance
-
State the purpose and describe the schema for a persuasive discourse.
- Purpose: Influencing Opinions and Beliefs
- Schema:
- Presentation of a Problem or Question
- Proposed Solution or Answer
- Supporting Argumentation (experimentation, logic, authority) (might include appeal to authority of the text producer)
- Appeal to give credence or to adopt certain values--minimal or basic
-
State the purpose and describe the schema for an expository discourse.
- Purpose: Explain and Defend
- Schema:
- Problem or Situation
- Solution or Answer
- Supporting Argumentation
- Evaluation of Solutions (could have several solutions and discards on basis of an evaluation)
-
Ergativity (sort of the seminal work, the industry standard on the topic).
Dixon 1994
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