Holistic Discourse Analysis, Second Edition

by Robert E. Longacre; Shin Ja J. Hwang

Publisher:

Summer Institute of Linguistics

, 2012

Overview

The central idea of this volume is the insistence that the structure of a part of a text must be explained in light of the structure of the whole. This needs to be repeated anew to every generation of linguistics students as a warning against analytic nearsightedness-the fixation on parts of a text without regard to the whole. Holistic Discourse Analysis is not a plea to abandon the analysis of lower levels of grammar, but to enrich the study of them by putting them in broader perspective.

The book addresses discourse analysis and its purpose, text typology, and constituent-based charting with an analysis of a story in terms of peak and profile. It discusses functions of different verb types and their tense/aspect/modality, of noun phrases, and of clause combining in discourse. It includes a chapter with a layman’s introduction to discourse analysis, and another with ways to represent combinations of sentences in a paragraph. The last three chapters deal with nonnarrative discourses: procedural, hortatory, and expository.

This Second Edition has significantly improved the usability of the volume by employing color-coding in illustrative texts so the reader can more easily visualize multiple levels of prominence in these texts. This book offers itself both as a classroom text and a field manual for discourse analysis. It can also serve as an introduction to the more theoretically oriented volume, Longacre’s The Grammar of Discourse (1996).

Key Features

• Argues that the structure of a part of a text must be explained in light of the structure of the whole.
• Addresses discourse analysis and its purpose, text typology, and constituent-based charting.
• Includes a chapter with a layman’s introduction to discourse analysis.

Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations and symbols
• Chapter 1: Why Discourse Analysis?
• 1.1 Word order
• 1.2 Functions of different forms of the verb
• 1.3 Participant reference in discourse
• 1.4 Definitivization and deictics
• 1.5 Temporal and locational expressions; adverbial clauses
• 1.6 Sequence signals and conjunctions
• 1.7 Mystery particles
• 1.8 The length of syntactic units
• 1.9 Conclusion
• 1.10 Exercises
• Chapter 2: A Layman’s Introduction to Discourse Analysis
• 2.1 What different forms of verbs contribute to a story
• 2.2 What nouns and pronouns do within a story
• 2.3 How verbs and referents interplay in the structure of this paragraph
• 2.4 Internal relations in the text: Cohesion and coherence
• 2.5 Marking a great moment within a story
• 2.6 What part does each sentence play in the plan of the whole?
• 2.7 The resultant constraints on interpretation
• 2.8 Exercise
• Appendix 2A. Paragraph analysis: Tree diagram
• Appendix 2B. Paragraph analysis: Indentation diagram
• Chapter 3: Text Typology
• 3.1 An etic scheme of discourse types
• 3.2 An emic scheme of discourse types in Aguacatec (Mayan)
• 3.3 Sample texts from English
• 3.4 Exercises
• Chapter 4: Approaching a Narrative: Constituent Charting and Macrosegmentation
• 4.1 Constituent charting of a text
• 4.2 Macrosegmentation of a text
• 4.3 Comparative charting as a translation check
• 4.4 Conclusion
• 4.5 Exercises
• Appendix 4. Constituent chart of “Hans”
• Chapter 5: How the Listener/Reader Follows a Story
• 5.1 Salience scheme for English
• 5.2 Salience scheme in chaining languages
• 5.3 Conclusion
• 5.4 Exercises
• Chapter 6: Participant Reference: Discourse Operations and Ranking
• 6.1 Three variable factors
• 6.2 “Hans”
• 6.3 The Three Little Pigs
• 6.4 Summary for English participant reference
• 6.5 Conclusion
• 6.6 Exercises
• Chapter 7: Clause Combining in Discourse
• 7.1 Co-ranking and chaining structures
• 7.2 Clause combining devices
• 7.3 Distribution and functions of clause combining devices in English
• 7.4 Distribution and functions of clause combining devices in chaining structures
• 7.5 Conclusions
• 7.6 Exercises
• Appendix 7A. Notional structure combinations of propositions
• Appendix 7B. English sentence types by nuclei
• Appendix 7C. English sentence margins
• Chapter 8: Drafting Trees for Discourses and Paragraphs
• 8.1 Representations of extensive sections including whole discourses
• 8.2 Representations of paragraph structures
• 8.3 Concluding remarks
• 8.4 Exercise
• Appendix 8A. Paragraph types
• Appendix 8B. Dialogue and similar paragraph types
• Chapter 9: Procedural Discourse
• 9.1 Segmentation of English procedural discourse
• 9.2 Characteristics of a Korean recipe
• 9.3 Toward a characterization of procedural discourse
• 9.4 Conclusions
• 9.5 Exercises
• Chapter 10: Hortatory Discourse
• 10.1 The hortatory template
• 10.2 Text organization
• 10.3 Peak
• 10.4 Mainline and supportive information
• 10.5 Sample text analyses
• 10.6 Conclusions
• 10.7 Exercises
• Appendix 10. Paragraph structure of “The Working Person”
• Chapter 11: Expository Discourse
• 11.1 Analysis of Psalm 23 in tree structure
• 11.2 Analysis according to the structure of information
• 11.3 Conclusion
• 11.4 Exercises
• Appendix 11A. Ephesians 1:3–14 (NIV)
• Appendix 11B. Alzheimer disease text
• Glossary
• References
• Language Index
• Index

Product Details

• Title: Holistic Discourse Analysis, Second Edition
• Authors: Robert E. Longacre, Shin Ja J. Hwang
• Publisher: Summer Institute of Linguistics
• Print Publication Date: 2012
• Pages: 263
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• ISBNs: 9781556713293, 1556713290
• Resource ID: LLS:HLSTCDSCRSSCDTN
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-11-04T16:11:59Z