PRINCIPLES OF TEXT
CONSTRUCTION
• De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981)
define the Text as a “communicative
occurrence which meets seven standard
of textuality. If any of these standards is
not considered to have been satisfied, the
text will not be communicative”.
• Such constitutive principles are: Cohesion,
Coherence, Intentionality, Acceptability,
Informativity, Situationality, Intertextuality.
•
A Text has to meet also three regulative
principles: Efficiency, Effectiveness,
Appropriateness.
CONSTITUTIVE PRINCIPLES
1. COHESION
It is determined by grammatical
dependencies among the textual
components which cannot be rearranged
without causing ambiguities. e.g.
children play slow at makes sens e
only in the following order and in the
following arrangement:
slow
children
at play
(slow is an imperative to drivers and not an
adjective to children)
2. COHERENCE
It concerns the ways in which concepts and
relations underlying the text are accessible
and relevant, i.e., to be activated in the
mind with consistency, through relations of
causality, such as:
a. cause-effect: Jack fell down the scaffold
and broke his head. (falling down is the
cause for the breaking of Jack’s head)
b. enablement: The woman put the pursue
in her bag. The thief stole the woman’s
bag. (the woman’s action of putting the
pursue in her bag made it possible, but not
obligatory, the thief’s action)
c. Reason-consequence: Jack shall have
but three euros a day because he can’t
work any faster. (The low pay is the
consequence of a reason in response to
an event)
d./e. plan/purpose: The woman opened her
pursue to give Jack some money. ( A
planned event – giving Jack some moneybecomes possible via a previous event –
opening her pursue)
f. time: When she opened her pursue, it was
empty. (events are arranged in time)
Coherence is not a mere feature of texts, but
the result of cognitive processes.
3. INTENTIONALITY
It concerns the Sender’s evaluation that the
text is ohesive and coherent.
4. ACCEPTABILITY
It concerns the Receiver’s evaluation that
the text is cohesive and coherent and is
relevant for him/her.
5. INFORMATIVITY
It assumes that the text is new to the
Receiver.
6. SITUATIONALITY
It makes a text relevant to a situation. Te
right interpretation is influenced by the
situation where the text is presented.
7. INTERTEXTUALITY
It makes the text dependent on knowledge
of other texts (e.g., legal texts referring to
previous laws).
REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES
The three regulative principles that control
communication are:
Efficiency: Text used to communicate with a
minimum expenditure of effort by the
participants.
Effectiveness: Text creating favourable
conditions for attaining the Sender’s goal.
Appropriateness: Suitability of the Text to
the communicative situation in which it is
used.