Linguistica Inglese 1, Schemi e mappe concettuali di Linguistica Inglese

Scarica Linguistica Inglese 1 e più Schemi e mappe concettuali in PDF di Linguistica Inglese solo su Docsity! Unit 1 LINGUISTICS “The scientific study of language or of particular languages” FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR  It’s a specific area of systemic functional linguistics  Focused on: o Contextual meaning, language in use o Grammatical structures  It’s functional and descriptive ↓ ↓ focus on the function played description of the functions played by languages by languages // every time we speak we use more than one function “Functional Grammar (FG) is a descriptive grammar based on empirical research, not a proscriptive (provide rules) one which tells you what you can and cannot say, including rules for correcting what are often referred to as grammatical errors. A functional grammar, in other words, is not a grammar of etiquette or linguistic table manners” Different approaches to the study of language FORMAL (form) FUNCTIONAL Primary concern Structure Meanings (functions) Unit of analysis Sentence Whole text (form) Language concern Syntax (comb. of words) Semantics (study of meanings) Language A set of rules A resource for meaning making Text → not determined by its length // it must have a meaning (cohesive, coherent) Basic Tenets in FG Culture > Situation > Semantics (System of meanings) Lexico-grammar (System of wordings) Phonology/Graphology (System of sounds/symbols) CONTEXT Focus on the context (the meanings we convey are linked to both the cultural /traditions, cultural identities/ and the situational context) CONTEXT OF SITUATION Three variables: 1) Field: What is going on?  Social activity  Subject matter (topic) Choice of a specific language, can influence the structure and the grammar we decide to use 2) Tenor: Who is taking part? Interlocutors can have different:  Social roles (it takes a long time to change)  Discourse roles (it can change easily) ex. Speaker, receiver, listener, addresses Choice of peer-to-peer/distance (formal/informal), more or less direct, declarative clauses (give info), interrogatives/assertions (ask info) 3) Mode: What is the role of language?  Channel (of communication) → phonic, graphic, mixture ↳ less control on the language  Medium  Monologue/Dialogue? Spontaneous or not? (prepared/semi-prepared) Gestures, non verbal communication, facial expressions STRATIFICATION Meaning → Wording → Letters/Sounds 1) Context of situation  Field  Tenor  Mode 2) Semantics  Ideational  Interpersonal  Textual 3) Lexico-grammar  Transitivity, Clauses in combination (includes Taxis and Logico semantic relations)  Mood, Modality, appraisal  Structural cohesion (Theme/Rheme), non-structural cohesion Different kinds of Systematic Functional Analysis 1) ((Field : Ideational : Transitivity : ”What is going on?”)) Clause as Representation (of experience) Ex: Harry’s scar | was almost blinding | him | with pain Actor Process: Material Goal Circumstance 2) ((Tenor : Interpersonal : Mood : “Who is taking part?”)) Clause as Exchange Ex: Harry’s scar | was almost blinding | him | with pain Subject Conflation, Modal Adjunct Complement Circumstantial Adjunct 3) ((Mode : Textual : Structural Cohesion : “What is the role of language?” Clause as Message Unit 2 Going in through the form:  Identifying phrases and clause  The rank scale  Nominal Group Analysis  Instead of using the term ‘Sentence’ we will be using ‘Clause’ in our analysis ↓ ↓ It’s a unit of writing, beginning with a capital It’s a unit of grammatical analysis. Some clauses letter and ending with full stop are also sentences and one sentence can be made up of more than one clause. STRUCTURAL LABELS: THE RANK SCALE ( Constituency) In language big units are made o smaller constituents. The Rank Scale classify the constituents Non structural cohesion THE TRANSITIVITY SYSTEM Field - Ideational meaning – Transitivity, Clauses in combination Transitivity includes “a set of resources for referring to entities in the world and the ways in which those entities act on or relate to each other” The Transitivity system includes: 1) a Process → The action involved ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing Realized by VG: verbs are used to represent activities 2) typically, one or more Participants in the process → entities involved ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing typically realized by NG 3) often, one or more Circumstances, which provide additional information about the event ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing They can be realized by PP (ex. in winter), AG (ex. later), NG ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing They’re optional/ not strictly necessary SIX PROCESS CATEGORIES Each with its own Participants roles:  Material  Mental  Relational  Verbal  Behavioural  Existential MATERIAL PROCESSES Material Processes are physical Processes of doing/ creating/ changing/ happening. The main Participants are:  the Actor → the Doer of the Process (active) animate or inanimate  often, but not necessarily, a Goal → an entity that undergoes the Process (passive) NB: conjunctions have no function in transitivity. NG VG PP Ex: “the sun | rose | on the same tidy front gardens Actor Material Process Circumstance Conjunction NG VG NG and | (the sun) | lit up | the brass number four | on the Dudley’s front door” no function Actor Material Process Goal Circumstance MENTAL PROCESS Mental Processes express thought, feelings, desires, perceptions… they typically have only animate Participants as Doers. They can also project other clauses. The main Participants are:  the Senser → the human or human-like Participant who thinks, feels, wants, sees, hears,…  often, but not necessarily, a Phenomenon → the entity that is sensed Ex: “(He) | tried to remember | the dream [[he had been having]] Senser Mental Process Phenomenon RELATIONAL PROCESSES Relational Processes express states of being and having. This process is usually used to describe. They can be either attributive (assign a generic quality to an entity) or identifying (assign an identity to an entity). The Participants are: ↱ generic  in an Attributive Process → the Carrier and the Attribute.  in an Identifying Process → the Identified (value) and the Identifier (token). something that ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing distinguishes you from all the others generic quality Ex: “but | Dudley Dursley | was no longer | a baby” Carrier Relational Process Attribute identity Ex: “Dudley Dursley | was | Harry’s only cousin” Identified Relational Process Identifier generic quality Ex: “He | had | a funny feeling” Carrier Relational Process Attribute Ex: “London | is | the place for you” Identifier Relational Process Identified NB: you can change the order of the Participants (reversible) in an identifying relational Process but NOT in an attributive Process. VERBAL PROCESSES Verbal Processes express what is said. They can project other clauses. The main Participants are:  the Sayer → the human or human-like entity that carries out the Process.  the Receiver → the addressee, to whom the saying is addressed; it often appears in PP Ex: “Simon tells Craig his story” -> the receiver (Craig) is a NG Ex: “You cannot talk to a strangers” -> the receiver (to a stranger) is a PP NB: Verbal Processes can project other clauses. The process and the participant of those clauses are analysed separately. Ex: “《get up! 》 | she | screeched” Projected clause Sayer Verbal Process Material Process Ex: “《Are you up yet? 》 | she | demanded” Projected clause Sayer Verbal Process Relational Process BEHAVIORAL PROCESSES Behavioral Processes are in-between material and mental processes. They indicate psychological and physiological activity (ex: cry, cough, smile, grumble). They typically have only one participant: the Behaver → the doer of the action Ex: “Harry | groaned” Behaver Behavioral Processes EXISTENCIAL PROCESSES Existential processes express existence and typically take the form “there” + verb to be. There is only one Participant: the Existent → the entity that is said to exist. NB: “There” has NO function in transitivity. Ex: “There | had been | a flying motorcycle | in it” Existential Process Existent Circumstance To summarise:  Transitivity describe our experience of the world: ideational experiential meaning  It falls within Field / What is going on? / Clause as representation  It is analysed in terms of Processer, Participants and Circumstances  The order in which Participants occur does not change their experiential role Unit 4 CLAUSE IN COMBINATION Field – Ideational (logical) meaning – Clause as representation Ideational meta-function just like transitivity, but this time with logical meaning. There are different ways of looking at clauses in combination (2 subsystems):  Taxis  Logico-semantic relations TAXIS → it refers to the dependency status of the clauses in a clause complex Two options:  Hypotaxis (subordinate) → used to refer to a relationship in which one clause is dependent on another clause (main clause); we CANNOT omit the subject  Parataxis (coordinate) → used when two independent clause are joined; it’s possible to omit the subject (ex: “He pointed his arrow, but saw nothing”) The difference between the two mainly depends on the kind of connector used to link the clauses. NB: embedded clauses do not form clause complex (can’t apply taxis on them); they function as constituents in other clauses. LOGICO-SEMANTIC RELATIONS → relationship between clauses (equal/unequal, also embedded) The clause can be divided into two main ‘parts’:  MOOD BLOCK o Subject ↴ _ In structural/formal grammar → it’s the doer of the action _ In functional grammar → the doer of the action is the Actor / Senser / Sayer / Behaver… (Experimental / Transitivity), the subject (also called Grammatical Subject) is the element having number/personal agreement with the verb. It is an interpersonal function (we need the subject to negotiate the meaning with the speaker). Subject: “It’s the entity that the speaker wants to make responsible for the validity of the clause” in other words “the entity by reference to which the clause can be affirmed or denied” How to identify the subject? → you can “prove” it by adding a tag question to the clause (e.g. you play tennis, don’t you? ‘you’ is the subject) o Finite → is the part of the VG that expresses: - tense (past, present..) - polarity (positive or negative validity) - modality (just sometimes) The remainder of the VG (the lexical part of the verb that remains) is called Predicator Ex: “The work [ahead of us] | will be | hard” Subject (with an embedded PP) VG Complement ‘will’ = Finite. ‘be’ = Predicator NB: Sometimes the Finite is conflated with the Predicator, i.e. the two functions are “fused” into the same word. Ex: “I | promise | you | this” ‘promise’ is conflated Subject Fi + Pre Complement This typically happens in simple present (except third person, where the morpheme –s is the Finite) and simple past tense with irregular verb form (otherwise –ed works as the Finite) How to identify the finite? → you can “prove” it by adding a tag question (e.g. “the work ahead of us will be hard, won’t it?) The Mood Block is the core of the clause as exchange. SUBJECT AND FINITE COMBINE TO MAKE THE MOOD OF THE CLAUSE and their order/presence is the grammatical marker of the Mood Type (declarative, interrogative, exclamative, imperative) interpersonally signaling the kind of exchange that is taking place. o Modal Adjuncts → take the form of: - Adverbial Groups - Multi-word expressions (such as ‘unfortunately’, ‘always’, ‘frankly’, ‘to be honest’, ‘never’, ‘maybe’, … They either express the speaker’s comment on the clause as a whole (unfortunately, frankly, to be honest) or express temporal or modal meanings proper (always, never, maybe)  RESIDUE → the part of the clause that is left after the mood block has been identified. Within the Residue we may find the functions: o Predicator → the VG minus the Finite Ex: “The work ahead of us will be hard” o Complement → It’s a NG that has the potential to be the Subject but it is nor or, more generically, every NG not functioning as Subject in the clause. Ex: “I promise you this” ‘this’ is a NG having the potential to be the Subject, but that was not chosen as the Subject. The Subject is ‘I’ Ex: “ the work ahead of us will be hard” ‘hard’ is a NG that is not functioning as Subject: having an adjective as its Head/Thing, this would not be possible. o Circumstantial Adjuncts → corresponding to the circumstances of transitivity, this function is taken on by the element that provide circumstantial information. It’s typically realized by an AG or a PP (like circumstantial in transitivity) Ex: “We | have | learned | a lot | in the last two weeks!” Subject Finite Predicator Complement Circumstantial Adjust INDICATIVE MOOD  Indicative Declarative Mood → Subject followed by Finite Typically used to give information. Ex: “I | will | keep | the faith | [[that you have placed in me.]]” Subject Finite Predicator Complement embedded PP  Indicative Interrogative Mood → Finite followed by the Subject Typically used to demand information, though sometimes they may actually function as rhetorical questions in context. Ex: “Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?” Finite Subject Predicator  Indicative Exclamative Mood → Subject followed by Finite, but clause introduced by an exclamative wh-word. Typically used to introduce exclamations, thus giving special ‘emphasis’ to an assertion. Ex: “What a total mess this “election” has been!” IMPERATIVE MOOD - NO Mood Block. The Subject is NOT expressed: it is by definition ‘you’. - Tense is NOT expressed: it can only be ‘now’. - There can be NO confliction between Finite and Predicator. - Typically used to give commands. Due to their exhortative or persuasive function, they are typically used in slogans. Ex: “Keep | the faith!” Predicator STRUCTURAL COHESION Mode – Textual meaning – Clause as Message What is the meaning of ‘cohesion’?  Structural Cohesion: (at the level of the clause) o Theme → the concern of the message: what the speaker/writer chooses as the starting point for their message o Rheme → the remainder of the clause: what is being said about the theme  Non-structural Cohesion: (beyond the boundaries of the clause) o Reference o Substitution o Ellipsis o Conjunction o Lexical relations Unit 6 THEME and RHEME in Declarative Clauses  Theme → always comes at the beginning of the clause. ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing It extends up to the first element in the clause that has some function in transitivity: Participant, Process or Circumstance. ↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing also called Topical Theme (TT) cannot contain more than one of these transitivity elements↳ specify the sub-class of the Thing  Rheme → the part of the clause that is left once we have identified the TT. The Theme can be:  unmarked (standard, straightforward, default choice) → conflation of Doer + Subject + TT “Theme and Subject are the same (conflated). Subject is the ‘normal’ theme choice in declarative clauses: it is the constituent that is chosen as theme unless there are good reasons for choosing something else. It is therefore to be unmarked theme choice” Ex: “ J.K. Rowling | wrote | the first HP book | in 1997” Transitivity: Actor Material Process Goal Circumstance Mood: Subject Finite + Predicator Complement Circumstantial Adjunct Theme/Rheme: TT Rheme  marked (non-standard, noticeable, less typical) → “The TT is marked when it does not correspond to the subject. Other cases of marked TT are those in which the TT in conflated with the complement instead of the Subject” Ex: “In 1997 | J.K. Rowling | wrote | the first HP book” Transitivity: Circumstance Actor Material Process Goal Mood: Circumstantial Adjunct Subject Finite + Predicator Complement Theme/Rheme: TT Rheme THEME in Non-Declarative Clauses  Interrogative clauses : o Polar (yes/no) interrogatives → the full (or multiple) theme includes the Finite (in Mood) plus the following Participant (in Transitivity) [Thematic Theme + TT] make explicit the external relationship between one clause (or clause complex) and another. The effect di cohesion is coherence, or a coherent text. Non-structural cohesion give a sense of continuity, of unity, to a text.  Reference: o Endophoria Reference → points inwards. Typically realized by personal pronouns and demonstratives.  Anaphoric Reference → points to the preceding text Ex: “Kukul walked through the forest. As he came to a thicket, he heard the faint rustling of leaves.”  Cataphoric Reference → points to the following text Ex: “Kukul had not gone far when… sss it came. An arrow pierced his chest.” o Exophoric Reference → points outwards.  Homophoric Reference → points to only one possible referent in the shared context of culture. Ex: “ The White House , the Prince Minister, the Heart…”  Deixis → points to the context of situation, here and now. Ex: ”What’s this? [Speaker pointing at a packet on the table]” Summary:  Ellipsis and Substitution → continuity is established by leaving out, or implying, some information: a clause or a part of a clause can be omitted or submitted. Ex of Ellipsis: “In pain, Kukul pulled out the arrow and headed for the river to wash his wound.” → Ellipsis of the Subject /Actor ‘he’ in ‘ and headed for the river’ Ex of Substitution: “So the course has finished, hasn’t it? Yes, I think so.” →Substitution: ‘so’ stands for ‘(that) the course has finished’  Intersentential conjunction → conjunction only works as a non-structural cohesive device (realising textual meanings) when it is used intersententially, i.e. between sentences, separated by a full stop. Ex: [1] the report is incomplete. [2] For example, it does not include sales in France. [1] and [2] are both two separate clauses and separated sentences. ‘For example’ is a n-s co. Reference (to the context) Exophoric Deixis (to Context of Situation, here and now) HOmophoric (to wider Contex of Culture) (to the text) Endophoric Anaphoric (to preceding text) Cataphoric (to the following text) d. Ex of a intrasentential conjunction: [1] If you want a more substantial stuffing, [2] add a little mashed potato. [1] , [2] are two clauses forming a single clause complex, and one single sentence. ‘If’ no a co.d.  Lexical relations → continuity is established by the choice of lexical words, through: o Repetition → the same words are repeated o Lexical scatter → what is repeated is the ‘root’, but in different word forms. Ex: survive, survivor o Synonymy/Antonymy → words having similar meaning (synonymy) or opposite meaning (antonymy) o Hyponymy → words that are related to the same general ‘class’ Ex: salmon, tuna, sea bream, which are ‘types of’ fish o Meronymy → words that are parts of the same ‘whole’ Ex: branch, leaf, trunk, which are ‘parts of’ a tree o Collocation → words that often tend to appear together. Ex: ‘pinch of’ and ‘salt’, ‘black’ and ‘white’.