Discourse and Pragmatics
Week 3
What is a text?
Is this a text?
Haircut
 Tofu
 Sally
 Ticket

Is this a text?
Is this a text?
Is this a text?
Is this a text?
Texture
Relationships between
elements within a text
(cohesion)
 Relationship between
patterns and readers’
expectations (coherence)
 Relationship between texts
and other texts
(intertextuality)

Cohesion

The way elements in a text (words,
pictures, phrases and clauses) are ‘stuck
together’
Cohesive Devices

Grammatical Cohesion
◦
◦
◦
◦

Logical connectors
Reference
Substitution
Ellipsis
Lexical Cohesion
◦ Repetition
◦ Lexical Chains
Logical connectors
Additive
 Contrastive
 Cause and effect
 Sequence
 Example text: My Experience with
Culture Shock

Logical Connectors

Gaga is a natural brunette, however she
bleached her hair blonde, because she
was often mistaken for Amy Winehouse.
She often refers to her fans as her 'little
monsters' and got a tattoo with that
inscription as a tribute. Gaga's treatment
of her fans as "Little Monsters" has
inspired additional criticism, due to the
highly commercial nature of her music
and image.
Logical (?) Connectors

I see a stable, prosperous, compassionate and
democratic society. Stable, because continued prosperity
of Hong Kong and of this entire region demands it and
because the vast majority of Hong Kong people will insist
upon it. Prosperous, because continued social and
economic development of China including Hong Kong is
an irreversible historical trend. Hong Kong will become a
compassionate society because both the ideals of
Chinese social philosophy and the practical
considerations of social harmony in Hong Kong require
it. Lastly, Hong Kong will become a democratic society in
its own way at its own pace, as the Basic Law provides.
Being pragmatic people, Hong Kongers will find a way to
bridge the political tradition of its past and its new
system of government.
Reference

Pronouns
Faye Wong is undoubtedly one of the most
talented Chinese singers in this day and
age. With the release of her latest
Chinese album "Exasperation", she has
boldly tested new forms of music. Even
though the album was not promoted
extensively, it hit sales records in
Singapore with a sell-out first day release
of 23,000 copies of the album.
Types of Reference
Anaphoric: the use of a word or phrase which
refers back to another word or phrase
 Cataphoric: the use of a word or phrase which
refers forward to another word or phrase
 Exophoric: the use of a word or phrase which
points outside of the text

What kind of Reference is this?

Nobody seemed to know where they
came from, but there they were in the
Forest: Kanga and Baby Roo.
What kind of reference is this?
For those die hard Faye Wong fans
who would just love to get in touch
with the queen of cantopop herself,
you could try the email address below.
However it's not known if she ever
reads it, since she's usually in Beijing
or some other secluded part of the
world to escape the press.
 faye@zero.com.hk

Task

Work with a small group and identify the
form of reference in the following text:
.Within five minutes, or ten minutes, no more than that,
three of the others had called her on the telephone
to ask her if she had heard something had happened
out there.
“Jane, this is Alice. Listen I just got a call from Betty, and
she said that she had heard something’s happened out
there. Have you heard anything?”
Substitution and Ellipsis
There are some new tennis balls in the bag.
These ones have lost their bounce
 A: Annie says you drink too much
B: So do you!
 A: Is it going to rain?
B: I think so
 A: I like the green hat
B: I prefer the blue…...
 A: My kids play an awful amount of sport. They’re both
….. incredibly energetic.

Substitution and Ellipsis

oh oh oh Ahn jae
WooK!!! My all
time fav korean
actor~~~~~~~
Ever so handsome
and his voice....
oH!! Should I say
more... I loved his
performance i oh!
must win boon
soon young~~~
really cool series!
Lexical cohesion



Repetition of words or words from the same lexical
field
Timotei is both mild to your hair and to your scalp-so
mild you can wash your hair as often as you like. Timotei
cleans your hair gently, leaving it soft and shiny, with a
fresh smell of summer meadows.
This Schedule and Policy shall be read together as one
contract and any word or expression to which a specific
meaning has been attached in any part of the said
Schedule or Policy shall bear such specific meaning
wherever the word or expression may appear.
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/732-ahn-jae-wook/
Asian Fanatics Forum







ANH JAE WOOK is the best! i love him in WIsh Upon a Star! he can really
sing! grt actor too! hehe i like the song Friends i think.. thats wat its called!
hes grt! really kute too!
He looked best with the hair in Wish upon a star
Yeah, I like his hair in "wish upon a star" as well, makes him handsome and
mysterious. And when he sings in the movie, makes him even greater....
I reckon the best i have seem him in would be "the star in my heart".. His
whole hairdo with the hair extentions and stuff were really popular after
he aired them in the drama.. been years and years since i have seen that..
should go and borrow it again
oh oh oh Ahn jae WooK!!! My all time fav korean actor~~~~~~~ Ever so
handsome and his voice.... oH!! Should I say more... I loved his performance
i oh! must win boon soon young~~~ really cool series!
So far I have only seen him in one series. He was very funny in it. I forgot
the name of the series. But it is about him marrying an older woman.
he looks really cool...a bit old though...
I wish upon a star was the first korean movie I've seen, and got addicted to
it.
His acting, his singing...wow...And his hair looks great in this movie
http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/732-ahn-jae-wook/
Asian Fanatics Forum







ANH JAE WOOK is the best! i love him in WIsh Upon a Star! he can really
sing! grt actor too! hehe i like the song Friends i think.. thats wat its called!
hes grt! really kute too!
He looked best with the hair in Wish upon a star
Yeah, I like his hair in "wish upon a star" as well, makes him handsome and
mysterious. And when he sings in the movie, makes him even greater....
I reckon the best i have seem him in would be "the star in my heart".. His
whole hairdo with the hair extentions and stuff were really popular after
he aired them in the drama.. been years and years since i have seen that..
should go and borrow it again
oh oh oh Ahn jae WooK!!! My all time fav korean actor~~~~~~~ Ever so
handsome and his voice.... oH!! Should I say more... I loved his performance
i oh! must win boon soon young~~~ really cool series!
So far I have only seen him in one series. He was very funny in it. I forgot
the name of the series. But it is about him marrying an older woman.
he looks really cool...a bit old though...
I wish upon a star was the first korean movie I've seen, and got addicted to
it.
His acting, his singing...wow...And his hair looks great in this movie
So what?
Different kinds of cohesive devices can
have different effects
 Repetition

◦ advertisements, legal documents

Reference
◦ pointing forward can create suspense

Connecting Words
◦ can make a text seem ‘logical’ (even when it is
not!)
But...
Parts of a text being ‘stuck together’
or ‘organized’ are not the only thing
that makes a text a text
 The other way we make sense of
texts is called ‘Coherence’
 Has to do with the meaningful
relationships between the parts of a
text and our expectations about
them

A
C
B
D
Lo Fu Ji






How do you know the prostitute is a
prostitute?
How do you know the doctor is a doctor?
What do they do in the ‘love hotel’? How do
you know?
Why is Lo Fu Ji getting an injection?
How do you know the proper order?
Is it supposed to be funny? Why?
Lo Fu Ji
Story about an STD (sexually transmitted
disease)
 Where did the woman get the disease?
 Why isn’t she getting an injection?
 Are stories about people getting diseases
funny?

We base our understanding on...
Expectations about certain types of
people
 Expectations about certain types of
places
 Expectations about certain types of
stories
 Expectations about certain types of
genres (e.g.. comic strip)

Expectations
Tasty or
Tasteless?
Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress
Lady Gaga's meat dress voted most iconic outfit
Pop diva Lady Gaga's meat dress which raised
eyebrows at the recent MTV Video Music Awards has
topped the list of the most iconic outfits of 2010.
 The eccentric 'Poker Face' hitmaker, who is known
for her outrageous fashion sense created ripples with
her meaty outfit which has sweeped a poll by website
MyCelebrityFashion.com.
 "What's everyone's big problem with my meat dress?
Haven't they seen me wear leather? Next time, I'll
wear a tofu dress and the soy milk police will come
after me," said the 24-year-old singer who lashed at
her critics for the controversy created by her meat
ensemble.


PETA Blog

Last night, Lady Gaga tried once again to shock the world, this time
by wearing a "meat dress" during her acceptance of the Video of
the Year award at MTV's Video Music Awards. Lately, Lady Gaga has
been having a hard time keeping her act "over the top." Wearing a
dress made out of cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to bring
comment, but someone should whisper in her ear that there are
more people who are upset by butchery than who are impressed
by it—and that means a lot of young people will not be buying her
records if she keeps this stuff up. On the other hand, maybe it was
fake and she'll talk about that later. If not, what's next: the family cat
made into a hat? Meat is the decomposing flesh of a tormented
animal who didn't want to die, and after a few hours under the TV
lights, it would smell like the rotting flesh it is and likely be crawling
in maggots—not too attractive, really. The stunt is bringing lots of
people to PETA.org to download a copy of our vegetarian/vegan
starter kit, so I guess we should be glad.
Organization of Information
Thematic Development

Theme: the left-most constituent of the sentence; a formal category
which refers to the initial element in a clause; usually a noun phrase in
declarative sentences.
 the starting point of the utterance, to which the writer/ speaker
wishes to give prominence.

Rheme: everything else that follows the theme in the sentence.
 consisting of what the writer/ speaker states about, or in regard
to , the starting point of the utterance.
Theme and Rheme
The theme is the jumping off idea.
It usually contains given information,
often linked to previous clauses or sentences.
The rheme (or comment) usually contains new
or newsworthy information. Ideas at the end
of a clause are usually more prominent.
Identify the Themes and Rhemes

The brain is our most precious organ. It is the
one above all which allows us to be human, The
brain contains 10 million nerve cells, making
thousands of billions of connections with each
other. It is the most powerful data processor we
know, but at the same time it is incredibly
delicate. As soft as a ripe avocado, the brain has
to be encased in the tough bones of the skull,
and floats in its own waterbed of fluid. An adult
brain weighs over 3lb and fills the skull.
Identify the Themes and Rhemes

The brain is our most precious organ. It is the one above
all which allows us to be human. The brain contains 10
million nerve cells, making thousands of billions of
connections with each other. It is the most powerful data
processor we know, but at the same time it is incredibly
delicate. As soft as a ripe avocado, the brain has to be
encased in the tough bones of the skull, and floats in its
own waterbed of fluid. An adult brain weighs over 3lb
and fills the skull.
Information Structure

Britain’s privatized electricity industry will face a
bill for cleaning up acid pollution from it’s
power stations that is more than double that so
far admitted. The cost of meeting an EEC
directive to combat acid rain, approved by
ministers in June, will approach three billion
pounds according to a recent study on
strategies to reduce acid pollution. The study
forms part of a broad review of technologies to
combat acid rain.
Information Structure

Britain’s privatized electricity industry will face a
bill for cleaning up acid pollution from it’s
power stations that is more than double that so
far admitted. The cost of meeting an EEC
directive to combat acid rain, approved by
ministers in June, will approach three billion
pounds according to a recent study on
strategies to reduce acid pollution. The study
forms part of a broad review of technologies to
combat acid rain.
Information Structure

Gaga has identified fashion as a major
influence.She considers Donatella Versace
her muse.Gaga has her own creative
production team called the Haus of Gaga,
which she handles personally. The team
creates many of her clothes, stage props,
and hairdos.Her love of fashion came
from her mother, who she stated was
"always very well kept and beautiful."
Intertextuality
All texts are linked in some way to other
texts
 All texts are ‘poly-vocal’ or ‘heteroglossic’
 The mixing of voices is strategic

Intertextuality
Intertextuality
Intertextuality
Pieta