TEMA 33: DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

TEMA 33: DESCRIPTIVE TEXTS

1. INTRODUCTION

   • Purpose: Describe people, animals, items and places
     • Based on: people, animals and objects rather than abstract ideas
       • Narrative (Action) Descriptive ( Image)
   • English Curriculum
     • LOMCE 8/2014
   • RELEVANT AUTHORS
     • Beaugrande, Dressler, Halliday and Hasan Notion of text. Brook and Warren Modern Rethoric and Traugott and Pratt Linguistics for literature Students

2. TEXT, CONTEXT AND TEXT TYPOLOGY

   • TEXT
     • DEFINITION
       • - Language that is funtional  - Funtional = language is doing some job in some situation  - Nature of text: not only words or sentences, but meanings  - Semantic unit - Outstanding characteristic: UNITY
     • SEVEN STANDARDS OF TEXTUALITY
       • TEXT-CENTRED
         • COHESION: components of the surface are mutually connected
         • COHERENCE: components of the textual world relevant and accesible
       • USER-CENTRED
         • Intentionality: producer attitude
           • Acceptability: receiver's attitude
             • Informativity: occurrences expected or not....
               • Situationality: factors relevant to the situation
                 • Intertextuality: Text dependent upon other
   • CONTEXT
     • Situation gives the participants a great deal of information about the meanings that are being exchanged and the meanings that are likely to be exchanged
       • Text = process and product of social meaning in a particular context
         • External factors affects choices
           • TYPES
             • CONTEXT OF SITUATION
               • FIELD: what is happening?
               • TENOR: Who is taking part?
               • MODE: What part of the language is playing?
             • CONTEXT OF CULTURE
               • Broader background, not immediate sights, the whole cultural history
   • TEXT TYPOLOGY
     • Classification follows different criteria
     • Trimble (1985)
       • PURPOSE
         • Discourse is intended to inform, express an attitude, persuade and create debate
       • MODE
         • Narrative, descriptive, expository, argumentative and instrumental modes

3. Descriptive texts

   • Definition
     • hands
       • Intended to offer a description of sth or sb in terms of communicative functions
       • the fact of describing people, animals, objects, events and facts
     • narration + description = similars
     • descriptions can enrich texts
       • wide range of details
       • just select a minimum of them
     • Brooks and Warren
       • a type of discourse concerned with the representation of people, animals, objects, atmosphere, actions and feelings. Hence. the purpose of descriptive texts is to create a mental image in the readers' mind by answering the question what is it like?
     • Daily life
     • Genres = Narrative
       • Poetry only include whole descriptive texts
   • Types of descriptions
     • Three types depending on the reader's sense and on the speaker's intention
       • Objective descriptions
         • to be found in instructive, technical and scientific texts
           • main aim: inform or instruct
         • generalized information on facts, qualities and characteristics
           • to get accurate, systematic and almost photographic description
         • less common than subjective
           • our perception of the world cannot be impartial
             • related expository texts
         • Non-technical texts
           • following a logic order, being enumerative and containing many technical vocabulary items
             • official letters, school essays...
       • subjective descriptions
         • writer's feelings and opinions about a item to be described
           • Based on the writer/speaker power of observation and wealth of impressions = vividness
             • Vividness = full of life, strength and freshness
               • Reader feel all the sensual impressions and vital energy
         • Main Aim
           • provoke emotions about the object to be described
         • Three main features
           • An appeal to senses
             • lively effects through visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile and taste means
           • The selection of words
             • adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs
           • A balanced use of figurative language devices
             • personification, hyperbole, dehumanization, images and metaphors
       • other descriptions
         • Characters
           • static: inanimate objects
           • dinamic : actions
         • people's description
           • Prosopography: physical appearance
           • etopeia: moral or psychological
           • portrait: physical and psychological
           • caricature: exaggeration

4. Features

   • Literary devices
     • word choice for different purposes
   • Morphosyntactic
     • Adjectives
       • Condensed/Expanded
       • Form
         • Attribute position
         • -ing
       • shape, color, size, number
   • Vividness
     • Nouns
       • Abstract/ Concrete
         • A: Abundant: picturing and interpreting capacity
         • C: Less abundant: Heighten
     • Verbs
       • sth nature of the person/item to be describe: non-perfective verbs
     • Adverbs
       • Economy fusing quality with actions
   • Cohesive Markers
   • Stylistics
     • of deviation
       • Create a language deviated from the norms of literary convention
         • stylistic effect : law predictability
         • can show deviation
           • Respect to the text
           • in relation to the language as a system
         • ex: using legal terms in a description of a hose
     • of expressivity
       • Denotative: intelectual and general/ scientific language
       • Connotative: affective and individual/ aesthetic appreciation
         • of the language: euphoric and dysophoric
         • of the parole: occasional features, ex: beady
         • Cultural
     • of choice
       • linguistic devices used by the author
         • process of reification
         • thematic preferences
         • semic loads
         • articulator of experience
         • representation of experience
         • literary device of reieration
           • Phonological
           • syntactic
           • semantic