Text: Composition,
Semantics and
Communicative
Purpose
a linguistic sign
Text Definitions
a complete speech act characterized by completeness
(logical and semantic), written form, abstract model, delimitation into the title and SPUs, cohesion, and communicative intention [Galperin];
a continual succession of sentences centering on a common information purpose and characterized by semantic (topical) unity and semantic-syntactic cohesion [Bloch];
a social phenomenon, a basic unit of speech characterized by the topical, structural and communicative unity [Moskalskaya].
Text: Composition
Superstructure is the composition of the text (title, introduction, resume, the main episode, conclusion, etc.)
[Van Dijk].
Fig. 1. Superstructure of a scientific article reporting on experimental research
Text: Semantics
Macrostructure is a sequence of macro- propositions which are derived from propositions of the original text according to certain rules (macro- rules) -- integration, deletion, construction [Van Dijk].
E.g., John went to Paris yesterday. He took a cab to the station. He bought tickets. He took the train to Paris. → John went to Paris yesterday (macro-
proposition).
Text: Communicative
Purpose
Primary division is based on the communicative
direction of the component sentences:
monologue sequence |
dialogue sequence |
(one direction) |
(two directions) |
cumuleme |
occurseme |
(topical element) |
(exchange-topical element) |
The communicative unity is exposed in the communicative succession b/w text constituents (rheme → theme):
E.g., She saw a boy. The boy was young.
