DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Office: Petre Ramneantu 2, Room 204 Phone: 0256.40.40.14

Daniel DEJICA, PhD Office Hours: Monday 14.00 – 18.00 Email: daniel.dejica@upt.ro

TEXTUAL PROPERTIES OF DISCOURSE: STRUCTURE

(MICRO- AND MACRO-STRUCTURES, AND SUPERSTRUCTURES)

1. Micro-structure A set of related

propositions

Describes the local Represents the (see more at

semantic structure meaning of a text in Sentences,
of discourse all its details Utterances and
Propositions)

Mitchell covers only foreign events.

Four sentences Only foreign events are covered by Mitchell.
One propositional meaning
If only Mitchell covered foreign events!
Mitchell covers only foreign events?

The old man manages a large farm.

One sentence The man manages a farm.
Three propositions The man is old.
The farm is large.

Contains only the essential points of a text

2. Macro-structure

Is NOT the Represents a hierarchical

sum of the organization of the respective
A specific semantic
propositions in meaning through the reduction
representation, itself a
the micro- and categorization of the semantic
proposition, but one
structure information of sequences of
which is entailed by the
sentences or of whole discourses.
sequence of propositions
in the text-base.

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 Many teenagers say that they feel they were overwhelmed by pressure and responsibilities (S1).
They are juggling part-time jobs and hours of homework every night (S2); sometimes they’re so
exhausted that they’re asleep in early morning classes (S3). Half have lived through their parents’
divorce (S4). Sixty three percent are in households where both parents work outside the home (S5),
and many look after younger siblings in the afternoon (S6). Still others are home by themselves after
school (S7). That unwelcome solitude can extend well into the evening (S8); mealtime for this
generation too often begins with a forlorn touch of the microwave (S9).

MACROSTRUCTURE:
a. Many teenagers are having trouble.
b. Many teenagers are troubled by pressure, responsibilities, and loneliness.

Derived by performing a A certain amount of info is deleted and Relation between the macro-
number of operations parts of it are integrated into propositions structure and the micro-structure
on the micro-structure. at a higher level of generality. is one of included-including.

The operations are based

on a no. of rules called
macro-rules

Macro-rule 1: Macro-rule 2: GENERALIZATION—a Macro-rule 3:

DELETION—each sequence of propositions can be CONSTRUCTION—a
proposition which is not substituted by a more general sequence of
a condition for the proposition, which is entailed by propositions can be
interpretation of other each of the proposition in the replaced by a
proposition in the sequence. (This operation is not proposition which is
sequence, will be mere deletion; it involves a entailed by the joint set
deleted; applicable to generalization from objects, actions of propositions of the
accidental facts and or properties of a class to the sequence. (The info is
properties, and to superordinate of that class.) not deleted, but
normal constitutive combined and
elements of actions, When I arrived at the party, Tom and Liz integrated into higher-
events, or objects. were dancing. Two blondes and two level forms of
Jamaican-looking guys were playing some representation.)
I approached the iron gate in party game. Three girls were chortling at a
the wall. It was then that I joke while eating cake.
observed a poster which was
fixed on the other side of the Macrostructure:
gate. The guests were having a great time.

GENERAL RULE:
No proposition which is a presupposition for a following proposition may be deleted.

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Task 1. Using the above macro-ruless try to establish the macro-structures in the following
texts:

According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the
smokeless tobaccos are as addictive and carcinogenic as the tobacco in cigarettes, cigars and
pipes. Smokeless tobaccos are chewing tobacco and snuff. Their nicotine and carcinogens are
efficiently absorbed through the mucous membrane lining of the nose and cheek. As a result,
in the period from 1970 to 1986, as the number of young people who chew tobacco
quadrupled and the number who use snuff rose 15 times, the incidence of oral cancers among
young people also rose dramatically.
(Carol Ann Rinzler, Dictionary of Medical Folklore)

Chocolate candy contains sugar, plus the naturally occurring stimulants caffeine (a central
nervous system stimulant also found in coffee, tea and mate) and theobromine (a muscle
stimulant peculiar to the cocoa bean). Together, the sugar and the stimulants can give you
an emotional as well as a physical lift. Chocolate also contains fat which is digested more
slowly than sugar and continues to provide energy over a period of several hours. That’s why
chocolate is a better source of energy in emergency situations than plain sugar candies or
coffee, with or without sugar.
(Carol Ann Rinzler, Dictionary of Medical Folklore)

There are wrestlers, and then there is Alexander Karelin. The first Greco-Roman wrestler to
win three Olympic gold medals, the Russian heavyweight is best known for the Karelin Lift
— unless you count the story about him carrying his refrigerator to his eighth-floor
apartment. The Karelin Lift? He lifts his opponent off the ground and throws him over his
head. It has helped Karelin win seven straight world championships, and he is expected to
seek his fourth consecutive Olympic gold in Sydney.
(Sydney 2000, Olympic News Service)

3. Superstructures

Schemas which consist of conventional categories

often hierarchically organized, each category fulfilling
3.1. Definition a specific function in discourse.

3.2. Types of superstructures

- narrative
- argumentative
- professional genres

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 Type Category

Narrative superstructures

Setting – characters are introduced, the place and the time of the story are described

Complication – a situation or a deal of character complicating the main thread of a plot

Resolution 1. part of a story in which the plot is explained or made clear;

2. act of analysing a complex notion into its constituents

Evaluation – act of determining the significance or value of something esp. by careful

appraisal and study

Coda – concluding part

Argumentative superstructures

Proposition 1. something to be demonstrated or to be solved;

2. situation or project to be dealt with

Background 1. conditions that form the setting within which something is experienced;
2. information essential to the understanding of a problem or situation

Arguments 1. a reason or reasons offered for or against something;

2. debate, dispute, discussion in which there is disagreement

Refutation 1. act of proving wrong by arguments or evidence;

2. cat of denying the truth or accuracy of smth.

Conclusion 1. act of concluding, a final summing up, a result, outcome;

2. the last division of discourse, often containing a summary of what went
before

Professional Genres

Introduction – a preliminary category usually made up of material / info considered

essential to the understanding of the text

Method – regular procedure or way of investigating

Result – something that results as a consequence, outcome or conclusion

Discussion – act in which the pros and cons or various aspects of a subject are considered

Conclusion 1. act of concluding, a final summing up, a result, outcome;

2. the last division of discourse, often containing a summary of what went
before
…
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 Task 3. Read the following article, examine its given superstructure, and identify the categories
of the superstructure in the text:

DISPATCHES
By Bruce van Voorst, in Bonn
Headline
THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

WATCHING THE ORDEAL OF WOLFGANG VOGEL IN A BERLIN COURTROOM

last week, it was strange to recall that in times past the shadowy lawyer was something of a
Background popular hero in both East and West Germany. Until the Berlin Wall collapsed in 1989, Vogel
was a legendary spy trader who managed the deals by which the two Germanys recovered
their captured agents. Vogel also used his influence with East Germany’s rulers to help
250,000 ordinary citizens leave the G.D.R. for the West. A trusted intimate of the East's
chief Erich Honecker and West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, Vogel shuttled freely in
History
the divided city, completing trades for more than 150 spies--notably downed U.S. U-2 pilot
Gary Powers for Russian spy Rudolf Abel in 1962, and a group of East bloc spies for the
1986 exit from Russia of Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky. Says Dick Horn, former U.S.
ambassador to the G.D.R: "Vogel was enormously helpful to us over the decades. I don’t
Context
know what we’d have done without him."
"I helped my clients get out," Vogel said during his 14-month trial for illegally prof-
iting from his brokerage, "but I'm no saint." White haired, 70 years of age, he stood with his
three lawyers last week, tight lipped and emotionless. Judge Heinz Holzinger pronounced
Verbal him guilty on 10 counts of blackmail, perjury and falsifying documents, then set him free
reactions
with a suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment.
The ambivalence of the proceedings, a guilty verdict and no real punishment, reflects
with exactitude the moral confusion that surrounds Wolfgang Vogel and his cold war role.
As well, the case exemplifies the contemporary German dilemma over how the justice system
Main Event should treat persons who committed crimes under the former G.D.R. regime: Six senior
G.D.R. leaders are on trial in Berlin; the aging, sick defendants contend that their alleged
wrongdoings were legal under G.D.R. law. Even under G.D.R. law, extortion and
………. falsification of documents, for which Vogel was convicted, were illegal. He assisted an
astounding 33,755 political prisoners and 215,019 others in leaving East Germany. In
thousands of cases, the West Germans simply paid the communist regime cash--$2.3 billion
over 30 years--to permit East Germans to depart. Those who went were forced to leave behind
Verbal everything, often selling their homes and property at fire-sale prices. The court found that
reactions Vogel became a millionaire in part by profiting from those sales.
Vogel's conviction will hardly still the debate over his actions. Craig Whitney, a New
York Times correspondent who wrote the biography Spy Trader, observes that Vowel "is not
an evil man, but he did some unforgivable things to a few of his clients." Many of Vogel's
countrymen are more forgiving: "Sure he was trafficking in human beings," says Klaus
Bolling, a West German official of that era. "It was an important function without which the
cold war would have been colder."

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Task 4. Read the following article and establish its superstructure.

The Hydrogen Bomb

The Hydrogen Bomb, also known as H-bomb or thermonuclear bomb is a nuclear weapon in which a
thermonuclear fusion reaction takes place among heavy isotopes of hydrogen (either deuterium or tritium) to
produce an explosion. A hydrogen bomb produces an extremely large explosion, equivalent to millions of
tons of TNT.
In the fusion reaction in a hydrogen bomb, two atoms of deuterium or tritium collide to produce a
helium atom and extra neutrons. The resulting energy is proportional to the difference in mass between the
original atoms and the products of the collision. To ignite this fusion reaction, an environment of
tremendous heat is needed, comparable in temperature to heat generated by the Sun. This condition is created
by using a nuclear fission bomb as a trigger. The thermonuclear explosion resulting from the fusion creates
great heat, enormous shock waves, high winds, and deadly radiation in the form of gamma rays and neutrons
that destroys living matter and contaminates soil and water.
The hydrogen bomb came in part out of the creation of the atomic bomb. In 1939 physicists in the
United States and in Europe realized that a powerful explosive weapon could be created through the splitting,
or fission, of uranium atoms. In 1942 the U.S. government established the top secret Manhattan Project,
which created the first atomic bomb. The first fission atomic bomb was exploded as a test in 1945. Near the
end of World War II, on August 6, 1945, the United States dropped one fission bomb, called “Little Boy,” on
the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later it dropped a second, called “Fat Man,” on the city of
Nagasaki. The bombs were extremely destructive, killing more than 100,000 people.
Several scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project imagined an even more powerful weapon
triggered by a fission reaction but fueled by the fusion of hydrogen. The United States detonated the first
hydrogen bomb in a test on Enewetak Atoll, in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean, on November 1, 1952.
Its explosive force was about 500 times greater than the Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs. The Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) detonated its first hydrogen bomb on August 12, 1953. Today, most nuclear
weapons are fusion thermonuclear devices.
The United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, and Pakistan are the only
nations at present that admit to possessing nuclear weapons. South Africa admitted to having built and then
dismantling a number of bombs. Several other nations, including Israel, are thought to have them or to have
the capability to assemble them quickly.
Military strategists classify nuclear weapons as either tactical or strategic weapons. Tactical nuclear
weapons are intended for use in a limited area of conflict and are designed to halt an enemy advance with
crippling force. Tactical bombs can be delivered from aircraft, submarines, or weapons on the ground.
Strategic nuclear weapons, on the other hand, are designed for all-out battles of one nation against another
across continents. They can be delivered to their targets by long-range bomber aircraft or in missiles fired
from fixed or mobile launchers on land or from submarines.
The development of atomic and hydrogen bombs has had so great an impact on the world that
historians draw a sharp distinction between the atomic age, or nuclear age, and all previous periods. The
aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki quickly made it apparent that humans had succeeded in harnessing
enough energy from nature itself to destroy the planet and all its inhabitants. Beginning in the early 1960s,
several nations negotiated limitations on testing, producing, distributing, and deploying nuclear weapons
and fissile materials. In addition, over 180 nations have signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty of 1968,
pledging not to acquire nuclear weapons or distribute nuclear weapons technology.