Teacher: Luis Gianera

Language IV

A Critical Analysis of the Lexical and Grammatical Choices

in a chapter taken from THE PHOTOGRAPH, by Penelope Lively

“A strength of the systemic view of text is that it sees texts as sets of options. A text A)
selects particular options from the systems of options - the potential – available. On B
one level, these are selections amongst available language forms, from the lexical and
grammatical potentials: one word rather than another, or one grammatical
construction rather than another…. But these formal choices constitute choices of
meaning, the selection of options from within the meaning potential – how to represent
a particular event or state of affairs, how to relate to whoever the text is directed at,
what identities to project.”
(from Media Discourse, by Fairclough, 1992:18)

elow you will find a chapter from THE PHOTOGRAPH, by

Penelope Lively (Penguin Books, 2003). Read the text carefully
and answer the questions that follow.

Oliver and Sandra

“So, what was up with your friend?” enquires Sandra.
“Oh, nothing really,” says Oliver.
“Come on – I know a man in a tizz when I see one.”
They are in bed. There is no escape route. “He always was a bit
like that.”
“First that Glyn,” says Sandra thoughtfully: “Then this Nick
Hammond. Your former partner, right? And Glyn was married to
Nick’s wife’s sister? Her that died?”
No possible escape. Oliver agrees that this is so.
“And suddenly they’re all needing to see you. Has something
come out of the woodwork?”
Fleetingly, Oliver considers telling Sandra about the whole business.
Well, you see, the trouble is that Glyn found a photo taken by me which
indicated that at one point Nick had an affair with Glyn´s wife Kath. He
knows immediately that he will not. Bald facts are a travesty, a distortion.
That is what happened, but it is also misleading, confusing. Left out is
what Nick was like, and what Glyn was like, and above all who Kath
was, and how she was. Without the ballast of personalities, of how
things were back then, such an account is threadbare, it invites a knee-

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 Teacher: Luis Gianera
Language IV

jerk reaction. He knows just the sort of comment that Sandra would
make.
She is waiting. This is evidently to be one of those rare occasions
on which Sandra decides to pay close attention to Oliver’s past. He
knows those indications of terry-like purpose.
“It’s just a question of clarification,” he says. “People need to get
straight about some dates – that sort of thing.”
“A publishing matter?” says Sandra. “To do with the business?”
Her tone is deceptively bland.
Oliver is no liar. He is fluttering now. “Well, in a sense; I suppose…
Not absolutely specifically. Sort of indirectly.”
There is a telling silence.
“I see,” says Sandra. Then: “That Glyn - striking-looking man. Laid
on the charm, too. An academic, you said?”
“That’s right.” Oliver contrives a suggestive yawn. “I’m wiped out,
love. I think, I’ll…
“The wife,” says Sandra. “The one who died. Kath - is that right? I
don’t have much impression of her, except that she was very attractive.
You knew her well, I suppose?”
Oliver is now in full flight. He lays a calming, propitiatory hand on
Sandra’s thigh, turns away from her with an exaggerated sigh of
weariness, and hopes for the best. After a moment, Sandra too rolls
over, and is silent.
It is a long while before Oliver sleeps. They all come crowding in –
Nick, Glyn, Elaine. And Kath above all. He sees and hears Kath fresh
and clear, “Hi, Oliver!” she says, breezing into his office back in the old
days. “Where is everyone?” She sits on the window-seat in Elaine’s
kitchen, plaiting Polly’s hair. She is beside Nick in the group at the
Roman villa that day; he raises his camera. And when eventually he
drifts on the interface between consciousness and sleep, she is still
there, but now she has become very young – a girl-Kath that he never
knew – and she is talking about love. He cannot follow what it is that she
is saying.

( from THE PHOTOGRAPH, by Penelope Lively. Viking.

Penguin Books,2003)

1. What seems to be the source of the problem?

2. What attitude do Sandra and Oliver adopt?

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 Teacher: Luis Gianera
Language IV

B) Lexical choices:
1- Look at the following lexical items in the text. Which ones look more
informal?

▪ So, what’s up with your friend?”

▪ “I know a man in a tizz when I see one.”

▪ Such an account is threadbare, it invites a knee-jerk reaction.

▪ “People need to get straight about some dates.”

▪ “…striking-looking man, laid on the charm, too.”

▪ Oliver contrives a suggestive yawn.

▪ “I´m wiped out, love.”

▪ “Hi, Oliver!” she says breezing into the office…

Read the following quotations on metaphors. How far do you agree?

“Traditionally, metaphors and

metonymies have been regarded as
figures of speech, i.e. as more or less
ornamental devices used in rhetorical
style. However, expressions like the foot
of the mountain or talks between
Washington and Moscow indicate that
the two phenomena also play an
important part in everyday language.
Moreover, philosophers and cognitive
linguists have shown that metaphors
and metonymies are powerful cognitive
tools for our conceptualization of
abstract categories.”
(from An Introduction to Cognitive
Linguistics, by F. Ungerer and H.
Schmid, 1997:114)
“Primarily on the basis of
linguistic evidence, we have
found that most of our ordinary
conceptual system is
metaphorical in nature. And we
have found a way to begin to
identify in detail just what the
metaphors are that structure
how we perceive, how we think,
and what we do.”
(from Metaphors We Live By,
by G. Lakoff and M. Johnson,
1980:4)

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Language IV

“It would not surprise many people to learn that much of what is said in
everyday conversation has metaphorical roots. Ask people about some aspect
of their lives, and metaphors will inevitably burst forth, sometimes dominating
the narrative.”
(from The Poetics of the Mind, by R.W. Gibbs, Jr., 1994:120)

2- The words no (possible) escape/waiting/fluttering/ in full flight are

linguistic expressions in the text which reflect the conceptual metaphor
at work. The conversation between Sandra and Oliver is conceptualized
in terms of a chase/hunt.
What function does this metaphor have in the text? Is it mainly
ornamental?

3- In the text there are clear examples of how Oliver tries to soften or
lessen the impact of his utterances through the use of mitigating
vocabulary: lexical hedging. Find instances of how he tries to mitigate
what he is saying. The first one has been underlined for you as an
example.

C) Grammatical choices:

▪ What modes (declarative/interrogative/imperative) are used?

What effect does this choice have on the reader? How does
that make one character more dominant than the other?

D) Putting it all together.

Can you find any connection between the lexical and grammatical
choices in this text?

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 Teacher: Luis Gianera
Language IV

E) Food for thought:

1. This is the beginning of an article in a Scottish newspaper which
portrays violence in terms of a disease:

As the cancer spreads

As the riots of rampaging youths spread from the south, even the
most optimistic have fears for the future, afraid worse is yet to
come. How far can the trouble spread? If it comes to Scotland,
where will it strike?.(Fairclough, 1992:120)

Concentrate on the ideological power of metaphors. What does this

metaphor suggest?

2. Read the article Menem Calls for Presidential Debate and decide
which conceptual metaphor is at work:

▪ POLITICS IS A ___________________

Menem Calls for Presidential Debate

The two camps, Menem´s seems to be the most worried. His thin margin
puts Menem in an uphill battle for the second round, most observers
agree.

Presidential candidates in their strategy for a campaign

the May 18th run-off spent most both camps are describing as
of their day yesterday outlying “short but intense.” And Carlos

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 Teacher: Luis Gianera
Language IV

Menem was the first to throw never seen a presidential debate

out a punch. His spokesman before.
said last night he has But Menem is also introducing
challenged his rival Nestor a few changes in his campaign
Kirchner to a public debate on team. Eduardo Bauzá, who served
the day before the campaign as Menem´s presidential chief-of-
closes on May 16th. staff during his 1989-1999
Menem and Kirchner, the presidency, stepped aside on
two Peronists who respectively Monday night in order to clear the
came first and second on way for “new faces” to join.
Sunday´s vote, are flexing their (…)
muscles for the electoral
showdown, the first presidential Buenos Aires Herald, Wednesday
run-off in the history of Argentina. April 30th 2003 (Herald Staff with
Of the two camps, Menem news agencies)
seems to be the most worried.
The 72-year-old ex-president has
made no public comments since
he appeared before the cameras
minutes before 11 p.m. on
Sunday night to tell the nation
that the second round would be
nothing but “a formality” and that
his victory was a sure thing.
His optimism then relied on a
forecast that he would end up
stretching his lead to 8-10
percentage points, something that
came far from materializing. The
final count left Menem just over two
points ahead of Kirchner.
The thin margin puts Menem in
a uphill battle for the second round
most observers agree, as he is
widely despised by some 60 % of
Argentines who keep on telling
pollsters they would never vote for
him.
His willingness to debate now
that the odds seem against him is
one flank in efforts to turn public
opinion around. Argentines have

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 Teacher: Luis Gianera
Language IV