FEATURES OF THE DISCOURSE MODES

Types of Types of Types of

DISCOURSE SITUATION ENTITY PROGRESSION RHETORICAL & LINGUISTIC work
MODE (Temporality) introduced Changes in location
(temporal-spatial-metaphoric)
TEMPORAL -Events and [TEMPORAL] -Time-bound events
states Tx progresses with bounded -Explicit temporal adverbials
NARRATIVE Related to each other -Related to each events interpreted in sequence -Conventional use of past tense usu. unchanging
in time other in time &/or time adverbials -Temporal advancement based on aspectual information &
-Situations are related to each explicit time adverbials
other -Widely used in newspaper articles
-Semantic progression -States and on-going Events are background
TEMPORAL -Mainly Events & [TEMPORAL] -Concerned with events & states-
States and also -Tx progresses back & forth -Deitic advancement (adverbials such as here, now, last
Related to speech General Statives Tx progresses as time advances week)
REPORT time -Oriented towards -There are changes in temporal -present tense for situations that hold; past tense for
Account for situations speech time and spatial location preceding situations
from the reporter’s (anchor) -Relation to Speech Time -Frequent changes in tense
standpoint determines temporal -Favourite mode with the news
advancement (main difference
from Narrative mode)
TEMPORAL -States & ongoing [SPATIAL] -Focus on specifics: objects, people, mental states (main
Events No significant changes or difference with Information mode)
Time is static or -Atelic events advancement -Locative phrases
DESCRIPTION suspended (unfinished Tx progresses spatially through -Durative time adverbials
actions- scenes -Anaphoric reference conveyed by tense
imperfective) -When there’s a change in time there’s also a change in
scene
-Entities that are dynamic or located at another time are part
of the background
ATEMPORAL -General Statives [METAPHORICAL] -Generalizing Statives are foregrounded; Propositions are
-Not dynamic predominate Tx progresses by metaphorical backgrounded
-Progression is neither -Generics and location - when metaphorical -Primary Referent is semantically central to the situation
INFORMATION temporal nor spatial generalising location changes in the primary -Primary referent is usu. the grammatical object of transitive
-There is a connection sentences (main referent verbs and the subject of intransitive verbs
with space through difference with -In an Event the primary Referent is what moves or changes
 metaphorical motion Description -Tx progresses when the referent -In a State a property is ascribed to the Primary Referent
within a metaphorical Mode, which changes -Primacy is determined by the event structure and does not
space focuses on -How tx domains are organised change with changes in word order or syntax
specifics) can affect tx progression. -Presents information as uncontroversial
Organising principles can be -Often have a supporting role in manuals, newspaper and
causal relations, chronology, magazine articles, arguments
geography
ATEMPORAL General Statives [METAPHORICAL] -An argument passage brings sth to the reader’s attention (a
-Not dynamic and Abstract Tx progresses through claim, a comment, an argument) and supports it
-Progression is neither entities metaphorical motion -They appear in all sorts of linguistic forms and structures
ARGUMENT temporal nor spatial -Concerned with states of affairs, facts, propositions
-There is a connection -Predictions are foregrounded
with space through -Events are backgrounded
metaphorical motion -Could be closer to the commentary pole or the argument
within a metaphorical pole depending on the author’s presence
space -Implicit subjectivity of the predicates (likely, impossible)