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DISCOURSE TYPES, GENRE SCHEMATA, AND RHETORICAL RELATIONS. Andrej A. Kibrik Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences [email protected]. Genres and discourse types. Discourse studies: typology of discourse specimens is the least developed area (cf. e.g. van Dijk ed. 1997) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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DISCOURSE TYPES, GENRE SCHEMATA,
AND RHETORICAL RELATIONS
Andrej A. Kibrik Institute of Linguistics,
Russian Academy of Sciences
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Genres and discourse typesDiscourse studies: typology of
discourse specimens is the least developed area (cf. e.g. van Dijk ed. 1997)
However, the issue is important: in any empirical discipline a classification of specimens is among central tasks
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General problemIn modern discourse studies, there is
no satisfactory classification of genres or discourse types
All available classifications are purely enumerative
Enumerative inventories cannot be demonstrated to be exhaustive and internally coherent
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A classification of animals in ‘a Chinese Encyclopedia’cited in Borges’ Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge
1.those that belong to the Emperor,
2.embalmed ones, 3.suckling pigs, 4.those that are trained, 5.mermaids, 6.fabulous ones, 7.stray dogs, 8.those included in the
present classification, 9.those that tremble as
if they were mad,
10.innumerable ones, 11.those drawn with a
very fine camelhair brush,
12.others, 13.those that have just
broken a flower vase,
14.those that from a long way off look like flies
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General goalMove towards a non-enumerative,
but rather a calculus-type classification of discourse genres
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Specific problemDiscourse genres are defined as non-
linguistic phenomenaSwales (1990):
genres are attributes of discourse communities
genres serve typical communicative intentions salient in such communities
It is not clear whether genres can be attributed any linguistic properties
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Specific goalsAddress the question: are discourse
genres linguistically identifiable?If yes, attempt to provide a linguistic
definition of at least one genre
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ATTEMPTS OF LINGUISTIC GENRE DEFINITIONLinguistic definition 1: Genre schemata
TOO GENERALLinguistic definition 2: Morphosyntactic
and lexical features TOO DETAILED
An alternative linguistic definition: Configurations of rhetorical structures
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Linguistic definition 1: Genre schemataThe story schema (Chafe 1994)
Orientation Complication Climax Denouement Coda
Additional elements in Labov 1972 Abstract Evaluation
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Definition 1 (another example)The Native English business letter
schema (Kong 1998) Source of reference Making the request Background of the company Justification for the request Stating the conditions Other related requests Cordial conclusion
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Definition 1 is problematic
Too large-scale approach: It is unclear how one can make any predictions of the linguistic form of a genre specimen
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Linguistic definition 2: Morphosyntactic and lexical featuresBiber 1989
481 texts in corpus 67 morphosyntactic and lexical features 5 dimensions: groups of covarying features 8 clusters of texts in the 5-dimensional space 8 text types with tentative labels, such as
“intimate interpersonal interaction” limited correlation to established genres Example: 62% texts of the genre of personal
telephone conversation belong to the text type “intimate interpersonal interaction”
The conclusion is that genres are linguistically irrelevant
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Linguistic definition 2 fails, as demonstrated by BiberToo small-scale approach: Individual
morphosyntactic and lexical features are incommensurable with discourse genres as wholes
But why do discourses of the same type fail to have consistent characteristics?
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A possible clue: types of passagesNarrativeDescriptiveExpository (explanatory)Instructive and hortatoryPersuasive (argumentative)
(see e.g. Longacre 1992)
this list is enumerative, too, but at least the number of categories is more embraceable
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Selected features of discourse passages
Modal verbsPersuasiveImperativesInstructive???ExpositoryStative predicatesDescriptivePast tense, perfectivesNarrative
Characteristic morphosyntactic and lexical phenomena
Type of passage
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Reasons for Biber’s resultsMorphosyntactically and lexically
identifiable discourse units are passages rather than discourses as wholes
Genres are not internally homogeneous in terms of passage types; they consist of more than one passage type
Therefore, discourses as wholes cannot be expected to be consistent in terms of morphosyntactic and lexical features
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A set of working hypothesesSo, the question is: what could be a
viable linguistic definition of discourse genres? Or at least of passage types?
Prerequisite: Genres can be defined in terms of genre schemata
Genres schemata can be defined as combinations of passage types
Passage types can be defined in terms of rhetorical relations
Therefore, genres can also be ultimately defined in rhetorical terms
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A CASE STUDYTHE NIGHT DREAM STORIES PROJECTOriginal goal: search for differences in
discourse structure in the night dream stories of children with and without neurotic disorders
69 stories from neurotic children60 stories from neurologically intact childrenAbout 3000 discourse units in corpusThe corpus has been:
transcribed RST-diagrammed
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Rhetorical structure theory (RST)Originally formulated by Mann and Thompson 1988A unified view of discourse structure, irrespective
of the size of discourse segmentsA nomenclature of rhetorical relations between
discourse segmentsEach discourse segment serves the realization of
the overall communicative intention of the speakerWe added a number of rhetorical relations to the
canonical set in order to account for narrative discourse data (Kibrik, Podlesskaya, Kal’kova, and Litvinenko 2002)
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Generalized schema of a night dream story
Begin(Headline)SettingNARRATIVE CHAIN(Evaluation)(Summary)End
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Two major types of passages in storiesThe great majority of texts in corpus
are predominantly narrative (= are stories) 129 texts altogether 6 non-narrative texts
Narrative chain: Narrative type of passage
Setting: Descriptive type of passage
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Typical normal story: Z11 1. My s klassom ..(1.8) poshli ..(1.1) vot ..(0.5) kuda-to.
My classmates and I went somewhere.2. ..(0.3) Zashli v dom,
Entered a house,3. ..(1.2) i tam ..(0.2) byli stupen'ki ..(1.8) i voda.
and there were steps and water there.4. ..(1.0) My stali na bol'shoj plot,
We went onto a big raft5. ..(0.6) i pereexali na druguju storonu.
and crossed to the other side.6. ..(1.5) Potom ..(1.4) my vyshli iz dveri.
Then we exited the door.7. ..(0.8) Tam byla dver' ...(1.0) takaja zheltaja.
There was a door there, a yellow one.8. ..(0.5) My otkryli ee,
We opened it,...
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RST-diagram of text Z11
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RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF NARRATIVE PASSAGESUppermost relations:
Sequence Consequence (Emotional reaction) (Discord)
All these relations are variants of the basic narrative relation
We can therefore define the narrative passage as a passage that has one of narrative relations in its uppermost node
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Typical neurotic story: N081. Ja byla doma ..(0.3) s mamoj, ..(1.1) s bratom,
I was at home with my mom, with my brother,2. ..(0.4) nu tam ..(0.3) kot mne eshche snilsja moj.
well I dreamt about my cat too.3. ...(2.8 m) Dolgoe tam vremja snilos',
For a long time I dreamt4. kak my prosto doma tam,
how we were just at home5. delami zanimaemsja.
doing various chores.6. ..(1.) Potom ..(0.2) chego-to ..(0.2) trevogu ja pochuvstvovala,
Then for some reason I felt anxiety,7. vygljanula v okno,
looked out of the window,8. u nashego pod'ezda pozharnaja mashina stoit.
next to our entrance there was a fire engine.
...
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RST-diagram of text N08
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Frequency of the uppermost narrative relations
Relations n %%Sequence 91 71Consequence 29 22Emotional reaction 3 2NONE (non-narrative text)
6 5
TOTAL 129 100
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Relations appearing above narrative relations:
Begin Headline Setting (Evaluation) (Summary) End Out-relations
All these relations are “genre-organizational” for the genry of story
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Frequency of the highest level non-narrative relations
Relations above narrative
Number
NONE 20Begin 9End 69Headline 10Summary 1Setting 55Out-relations 13
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Rhetorical relations-based definition of the genre of storyStory is a discourse that has one of
narrative relations in its highest node in the rhetorical graph, with the exclusion of genre-organizational relations Begin, End, Headline, Summary, Setting, and Evaluation
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A generalized rhetorical diagram of a story
STORY
Begin End
Headline Summary
Setting Evaluation
Sequence/Consequence/…. …
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RHETORICAL STRUCTURE OF DESCRIPTIVE PASSAGES IN STORIES (SETTINGS)
Frequency of settings in stories
Z N Total %%
Setting 25 38 63 49
No Setting
35 31 66 51
Total 60 69 129 100
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Most typical relations appearing at the uppermost node of descriptive passages
JointElaborationBackground
At a certain degree of granularity, these three relations can be taken as varieties of one and the same
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Relations that can potentially appear above the typical descriptive relationsSource-out is the only relation that
appears in this position in corpus more than once
Five other relations appear once each, most of them of organizational (e.g. Summary) or realizational (e.g. Split) kind
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Frequency of settings by structural typeUppermost relation n n, including
similar %%
TRIVIAL CASE 14 14 22Joint 13 16 25Source-out > Joint 3Elaboration 15 22 35Source-out > Elaboration 4Background 4 6 10Source-out > Background 2Other 5 5 8
TOTAL 63 100
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Generalizations on the rhetorical structure of descriptive passagesThere is a significant portion (22%) of
trivial descriptive passages that do not contain any rhetorical relation
Whenever descriptive passages are not trivial, they can be reliably defined as having one of the relations Joint, Elaboration, and Background in their uppermost node
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Questions remaining for future research Are descriptive passages as well rhetorically
definable as narrative passages? Are basic descriptive relations used exclusively in
descriptive passages? Can it be the case that types of passages are
rhetorically definable only when they figure as “major” (Longacre) types of passages in particular discourse genres? If that is the case, rhetorical definitions may be more suitable
for genres than passage types. How can one define trivial passages? Perhaps
inherent aspect of predicates? Can all discourse material be attributed to a certain
type of passage?
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CONCLUSIONS At least some passage types can be identified in
terms of rhetorical relations Since genre schemata can be defined as
configurations of passage types, genres can also be ultimately defined in terms of rhetorical relations
A rhetorical relations-based definition appears adequate for the narrative type of passage, and for the discourse genre of story
For descriptive passages in stories, a rhetorical definition is useful when such passages are not trivial
The question of whether a rhetorical definition can be universally used to define discourse passages and genres requires further study