Download Unit 2, Ways of Speaking Part 2

Language & Meaning
Unit 2.
Ways of Speaking – exploring
linguistic variability (Part 2)
1. Linguistic indicators of Mode (the nature
of the communication)
Following the work from the previous unit, we now turn to the issue of the Mode of a
text and its linguistic indicators. Recall that under Mode we are interested in the
nature of the text as a communicative event or action, in how it is produced and
transmitted, in how it is organised internally as an unfolding sequence of meanings,
and in how it relates to the context in which it is created or to the information it
presents.
1.a Interactivity
The aspect of a text’s Mode which perhaps has the most obvious influence on the
style of language is that of its interactivity. Here we are concerned with the following
types of questions. Was it constructed through a process of interaction between
multiple interlocutors or non-interactively by one writer or speaker in isolation? If it
was constructed interactively, what was the nature of this interaction? For example,
were those involved in immediate face-to-face contact as in the case of typical
conversations, or was the contact oral/aural as in the case of a telephone call?
In many cases, whether or not the text is interactive or non-interactive will be
obvious. Clearly, interactive texts involve turn taking, questions and answers,
interruptions, overlaps, hesitators, and indicators of sympathetic support (e.g. ‘right’,
‘OK’, ‘yep’, ‘really’). Non-interactive texts do not.
This variation is very simply demonstrated by reference to the three texts with which
we were primarily concerned in the last set of notes. Text 4 (the one with the couple
discussing their health problems) included all manner of interactive elements – for
example, the sequence of question and answer as speakers exchanged turns;
interruptions and overlaps as the exchange of turns was negotiated; supportive
feedback insertions on the part of Speaker 1 as he/she encouraged the interviewees to
continue their accounts. Predictably, the two written texts were entirely without such
indicators of interactivity.
However, it needs to be noted that the situation is by no means always this
straightforward. Consider by way of a very brief example the following extract from
an article in a popular computing magazine. It is written and hence, presumably, noninteractive.
COMPUTERS get blamed for a lot of things. Whether it's a stock market
crash, our children getting fatter or the decline in the state of the Top 40, you
can bet it's all the fault of the PC. Sure, we all know computes are bad for us,
but just how much damage can they do to this delicate wetware of flesh,
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 1
bones and organs we all call home?
[PC Basics, December 1998: p.30]
We notice here a number of what appear to be more interactive elements. For
example, the writer’s apparent direct addressing of his audience (‘you can bet…’), his
use of a question (‘just how much damage can they do…?’) and what appears to be a
response to some contribution from another speaker/writer (‘Sure, we all know…’)
We’ll be considering what’s going on here communicatively in later units. For now
it’s enough to note that the interactive versus non-interactive divide may not be as
clear-cut as the earlier discussion may have suggested. And there are further questions
arising from differences in the type of interactivity. For example, might we expect,
and do we observe, systematic differences in face-to-face versus telephone
conversations? And what about the new types of interactive texts made possible by
technological innovation such as those which occur in written form in online chat
rooms or bulletin boards? To what degree are these similar to, or different from,
spoken interactions?
4. b Spontaneity
A second key aspect of Mode is that of spontaneity. Here we are concerned with
whether the text was produced ‘on-the-spot’, so to speak, spontaneously and without
the opportunity for pre editing or correction (as is typically the case in casual
conversation) or whether it was produced non-spontaneously by means of a process
by which is was possible to edit and correct the text (as is the case with much written
language)?
Some indicators of spontaneity will be relatively obvious – for example, pauses, midutterance corrections or reformulations, repetitions, abrupt topic changes. Other
indicators will be less obvious. For example, research has discovered that there is a
close correlation between the spontaneity/non-spontaneity of a text’s production and
the density with which the text packages its information. High densities of
information are associated with non-spontaneous production, with what is sometimes
termed ‘off-line’ production. Lower densities of information are associated with
spontaneous, ‘on the fly’, production, with what is sometimes termed ‘online’ or
‘real-time’ production.
Differences in informational densities are possible because texts are made up of both
‘informational’ and ‘non-informational’ words. Informational words are lexical items
which refer directly to aspects of the experiential world, to entities (people, places,
things, etc), to actions or happenings, or to the qualities of entities of
actions/happenings. These informational items are sometimes also called ‘lexical’
items or ‘content’ items. In terms of the traditional parts of speech (word classes), we
can say that these informational/lexical words include nouns, verbs, adjectives and
some adverbs. In contrast, non-informational terms don’t directly refer to aspects of
the experiential world. Rather they are ‘grammatical’ words whose function is to link
together these informational/lexical words to form sentences. That is to say, they act
to join other words together into phrases, to set up links between words within a text,
or to indicate relationships between other words.
To illustrate these non-informational/grammatical items, consider the following
sentence.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 2
Fred and Mary quickly arranged to meet by the Town Hall because the
station was unexpectedly flooded. They did not realise the huge problems
this would bring.
It is a fairly straightforward process to identify the informational/lexical words here –
those words which directly designate entities, actions or qualities. Thus words which
designate entities are:
Fred, Mary, Town Hall, station, problems.
Words which designate actions, happenings, or states of affairs are:
arranged, meet, flooded, realise, bring.
Words which designate qualities are:
quickly, unexpectedly, huge.
This leaves us with the following non-informational/grammatical items (indicated in
bold/underlining)
Fred and Mary quickly arranged to meet by the Town Hall because the
station was unexpectedly flooded. They did not realise the huge problems
this would bring
Some explanation might be required here.
The term ‘and’ obviously doesn’t refer to any aspect of material reality – there is no
‘and’ which can be pointed to or observed in the external word. Its function is purely
a grammatical one – to link together ‘Fred’ and ‘Mary’ as those who were jointly
involved in this ‘arranging to meet’.
To term ‘to’ in ‘arranged to meet’ is also ‘grammatical’. It functions simply to link
‘arranged’ with ‘meet’.
The term ‘by’ is ‘grammatical’ in that it acts to indicate the relationship which obtains
between Fred and Mary’s ‘meeting’ and ‘the Town Hall’. It indicates that the
relationship is one of co-location.
The term ‘the’ also doesn’t refer to any aspect of the material world. It functions
grammatically to indicate that the item so designated (‘the Town Hall’, ‘the station’)
is known or can be specifically identified. It indicates that we know which Town Hall
or which station is being referred to. In this it contrasts with ‘a’ (as in ‘a station’)
which acts to indicate that the item so designated is not known or can not be
specifically identified.
There are no ‘becauses’ in the material world. It is a ‘grammatical’ item which acts to
indicate the relationships between Fred and Marry arranging to meet by the Town
Hall and the station being flooded. ‘Because’ indicates that the relationship between
these two utterances is one of causality. Thus ‘because’ indicates a logical
relationship.
‘Was’ is possibly the most problematic of these grammatical items. It indicates the
location in time when this flooding occurred. Specifically it indicates past time (or
tense.) Now ‘pastness’ may seem to be an aspect of the material world. But this is
only an illusion. This notion of relative time is a construct of human consciousness
as that consciousness operates through language. Accordingly, lexical items which
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 3
only indicate the relative timing of an action (was, is, are, were, will, have, had, has)
are classified as non-informational or ‘grammatical’.
The term ‘they’ may also strike you as problematic. But notice that ‘they’ of itself is
incapable of referring directly to entities in the material world. It is only via its
linkage with the informational items ‘Fred’ and ‘Mary’ that it is able to refer.
Accordingly we see pronouns such a ‘they’ as grammatical/non-informational in that
they always refer to some other word (or words) and not directly to the material
world.
Words classes (parts of speech)
It is extremely useful, then, to be able to identify and to distinguish between these
informational/lexical and non-informational/grammatical word classes (or parts of
speech) should we want to investigate the informational loading of a text or the
likelihood that it was spontaneously produced. More specifically, such a knowledge
will be useful if, for example, we want to investigate such issues as the differences
between speech and writing, whether email is more like speech or more like writing,
why some writing manages to sound quite ‘spontaneous’ and conversational, why
some lectures are almost impossible to follow, and the degree to which the language
of television drama and soap opera does actually imitate real casual conversation. It is
very useful, then to be able to reliably identify the informational/lexical word classes
of noun, verb, adjective and adverb, and the non-informational/grammatical word
classes of article, pronoun, preposition, auxiliary, and conjunction.
Now, it’s possibly that you are already familiar with this material and can confidently
classify words according to their class. If so, then you may want to jump forward to
Activity 5 (page 16 below) where you will have the opportunity to apply this
knowledge to an informational loading/lexical density analysis of three of the extracts
we worked with in the previous chapter. However, before you do this, you probably
ought to have a go at the pre-test which is provided just below. It will give you a
chance to test your level of knowledge.
Pre-test – perhaps you already know this stuff?
This test is intended for those who feel that they are familiar with the material, or
suspect they know most of it, at least. The test will check your knowledge. If you find
that that you answer all questions correctly then you probably can afford to miss the
material which comes immediately after, or at least skim read it. Do note, however,
that there is no expectation that you should be familiar with this material - in fact, I
am assuming that this material will be new or largely new to most, or at least many of
you. So if this is largely or entirely new, then there’s probably not a great deal of use
in even attempting the test – you should go directly to the first ‘word class’ section
immediately below.
Pre-test for following sections
Identify the ‘word class’ or ‘part of speech’ of the underlined words in the following
sentences. That is, you should classify them as one of the following: noun, pronoun,
adjective, article, preposition, verb, auxiliary, adverb or conjunction. At the same,
classify each word as either an informational/lexical item or a noninformational/grammatical item/
For example, if you were provided with ,
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 4
The sound of his footsteps resonated down the empty corridor.
as a question, your answer would supply the ‘word class’ of ‘sound’, ‘down’, ‘empty’
and ‘corridor’. Specifically:
sound = noun; informational/lexical
down = preposition; non-informational/grammatical
empty = adjective; informational/lexical
corridor = noun; informational/lexical
1. The extreme rigidity of the hull is probably what saved their boat from breaking up.
2. His leaving the company in a hurry came as a welcome surprise
3. The government’s intervention in the tender process means that the contract will
have to be completely renegotiated.
4. I do like his cooking but his pomposity gets my goat.
See Appendix to check your answers
Word classes section
Nouns
We will begin, then, with looking at nouns. Many of you will be familiar with the
definition by which this word class is said to consist of those words which name
things, people and places, that is to say concrete entities.. This is accurate to a certain
extent. All words which name places, people and things are nouns – thus, woman,
dog, cliff, city, apple, clouds, water, wheat, oxygen, monster, corner, circle,
hypotenuse, slope, and so on. We might consider such words as ‘prototypical’
examples of the noun category in that they reference concrete entities. The
grammatical situation, however, is rather more complicated. As it turns out, while all
words which reference people, places and things are nouns, not all nouns reference
people, places and things. There are some nouns which reference rather different
types of phenomena – for example courage, destruction, amazement, decision,
marriage, democracy, difference, disaster, necessity, speech, truth, evil, skill, speed,
cause, purpose, statement, reason, means. These are nouns which are classed as
‘abstract’ on the basis that they don’t reference concrete people, places or things. So
why are such classed as nouns? It’s all to do with the positions such words can occupy
in relation to other words in the sentence, and only indirectly to do with what they
reference.
Let me demonstrate this point. The defining property of nouns is, in fact, their unique
ability to combine with the words the, a(n) or some to form a meaningful chunk or
unit in the sentence. Thus we say the man, the city, the decision, the destruction, the
reason, the stupidity, the cause, the difference, the necessity, and so on, regardless of
whether or not the word is referring to a thing, person or place (that is to say,
regardless of whether the ‘entity’ is concrete or abstract.) Notice that, in fact, we have
here nouns which reference not only things and places but also actions/happenings
(the destruction), qualities (the stupidity) and logical relations (the reason). So while
the phenomena being referenced here are diverse (things, places, people, actions,
happenings, qualities, logical relations), all these words are classified as nouns on the
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 5
basis of the position the word can occupy – namely that of combining with, and
coming after, the or a(n) in a sentence. The diagnostic, then, for identifying a noun is
not a semantic or functional one – we don’t ask what the word means. Rather, we
apply ‘formal’ or ‘structural’ criteria and ask what slots within the sentence the word
currently occupies or is capable of occupying.
There is just the one instance where this definition may appear to break down – the
case of so-called ‘proper’ nouns such as Adelaide, John, British Telecom, Microsoft
Word. These are probably reasonably easy to recognise as nouns on semantic
(meaning) grounds – words that fall into the category of ‘proper noun’ all act to name
‘individuals’, that is to say, individual places, people, institutions/companies, products
etc, and remember that we said that all words which name such individual entities are
nouns. (It helps, of course, that they all take capital letters in English.) But still, it’s
slightly problematic for our definition in that terms such as Adelaide and John don’t
seem to combine with ‘the’ or ‘a’, etc. We say, for example, ‘I went to see John’, not
‘I went to see the John’. Never fear, however, a solution is in sight. It is possible,
under the right conditions, to combine such ‘proper nouns’ with ‘the’ or ‘a’. Thus –
‘It’s no longer the Adelaide that I knew and loved as a child’ and ‘This is exactly the
British Telecom which we have all learnt to hate.’
By way of illustration, all the nouns in the following paragraph have been underlined.
It doesn’t matter if you are typing up huge documents in a wordprocessor or
trying to get to the next level on Quake II; if you use a mouse, joypad or
keyboard for long periods, it can cause damage to your wrists, lower arms,
and indeed the rest of your body.
Nouns, obviously, are informational or content words. They contribute to the
informational load of the text. The higher the frequency of nouns, the greater the
informational load being carried by the text and thus the greater its ‘lexical density’.
Activity 1.
Identify the nouns and proper nouns in the following. (check against answer key in
Appendix)
1.
"WHEN I was growing up with my mum and dad at home," says Steffi, "I
used to hear the rows. My dad and mum are married and we lived with her
son and daughter by another chap not married to her.
"They're older than me and living with partners now. They have a baby each
and more on the way. My half-brother's girlfriend doesn't work because she
didn't like him spending so much time away from her. So he had to give up
his job to stay at home with her.
2.
The cockroach is probably the most obnoxious insect known to man. Several
species of cockroaches have managed to acquire a relationship with man,
rivalled perhaps only by lice and flees. These insects are known vectors of
certain rickettsial organisms and other diseases (plague and murine typhus)
but like the bed-bug, cockroaches may only be accidental carriers of
pathogens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable body of evidence to
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 6
incriminate cockroaches as potential carriers of disease whose importance in
this area is becoming more fully recognised.
See the appendix for answers.
Articles, demonstrative pronouns and possessive
pronouns
Articles
The little words – i.e. the, a(n) – which combine with nouns in this way are known as
‘articles’, with the known as the ‘definite article’ and a(n) as the ‘indefinite article’.
They always occur in combination with the noun (preceding it) and act to indicate
whether the entity being referred to by the noun is assumed to be known or
identifiable or whether, alternatively it is assumed to be unknown or not yet
identified. Thus if I say,
I brought the teacher an apple.
I am assuming that those I am addressing don’t know which apple I am referring to
and could not identify it.
If, however, I say,
Have you cleaned the car.?
I am assuming my interlocutor knows exactly which car I am referring to and
certainly can identify it.
Demonstrative pronouns.
There are two other types of words which are similar to articles in that they also
combine with nouns to provide information about the identifiability of the noun.
Consider by way of example,
This essay is perfect while that essay has some serious problems.
Here we have two essays which are assumed to be identifiable by reference to
proximity to the speaker – ‘this essay’ is the one nearest the speaker, while ‘that
essay’ is the one which is further away. These words are known as ‘demonstrative
pronouns’.
Possessive pronouns
And finally there are what is known as possessive pronouns. For example,
My apple; their problem.
These again are words which combine with nouns. They indicate that the entity in
question is assumed to be identifiable via possession. Thus the apple I am talking
about is the one ‘I’ own or hold or have control of, and the problem I am talking
about is the one that ‘they’ have or which is their immediate concern. Such words are
called pronouns because ultimately they ‘stand-in’ for or replace (the meaning of
‘pro’) an actual noun. For example,
Peter’s apple (my apple); the team’s problem. (their problem)
These three types of words (articles, demonstrative pronouns, possessive pronouns)
are known together as ‘determiners’ in that they act to ‘determine’ the noun.
Determiners are non-informational or grammatical, since they, don’t of themselves,
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 7
refer to aspects of the experiential world. It is only in combination with a noun (an
informational element) that they can carry a meaning. These determiners do not carry
any informational load of their own.
Pronouns
We’ve just mentioned one sub-type of pronoun – the ‘demonstrative’ variety. We’ll
now turn to looking at this word class more generally. Pronouns are words which act
to stand in for nouns, though this is not an exhaustive definition – some pronouns
stand in for other types of words or word combinations. Consider the following
extract,
But cockroaches are just the thing – you just get them anywhere
Yeah but when you tread on them, they crunch
Here the words ‘them’ and ‘they’ act to stand in for, or to link back to, the noun
‘cockroaches’. Accordingly they are examples of pronouns.
Pronouns in English include, I, me, you, yourself, he, him, himself, she, hers, we, us,
they, them, it, that, this, those, these, my, our, their, there, ours, someone, everybody,
no one, anybody, something, who, which, what, whom, why.
The term ‘pronoun’ is, in a sense, a misnomer since, as just indicated, in many
instances, words classified as ‘pronouns’ don’t stand in for nouns but stand in for
different word classes or for rather larger units of language. Thus pronouns often
stand in for whole clauses - that is to say, entire statements or propositions. Consider
the following,
I just screamed and jumped on the chair and as I did that my books went
flying everywhere.
Here the word, ‘that’ is a pronoun which stands in for the whole proposition, ‘I just
screamed and jumped on the chair.’
Pronouns can also stand in for phrases. For example,
Have you been to Europe? / No, I’ve never been there
Here the pronoun, ‘there’ references or stands in for the phrase, ‘to Europe’.
In other instances, words which we classify as pronouns don’t really stand in for
anything at all, but rather work more as grammatical slot fillers. They provide a word
for a grammatical slot but don’t carry any referential meaning. Thus the ‘it’ in ‘it was
raining’ doesn’t stand in for, or link to any identifiable word or string of words – noun
or otherwise.
Since pronouns of themselves can’t reference phenomena in the experiential world,
they are classed as non-informational/grammatical. They don’t add to the information
load because they refer to entities or other meanings which must already have been
mentioned in the current text or in previous texts.
Activity 2
Identify the determiners (articles, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns) and
pronouns in the following
I had skin cancer. I'd been digging in the garden and and I don't know
whether I scratched myself with a 'cos I was doing my I don't whether a s+ a
thorn caught me on the nose and then I'd been digging
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 8
Cats and all sorts had been digging about, I hate cats, and it wouldn't heal up
and it was going on and I was getting cream cream on my nose - it never ha+
healed up you see. So I went to the doctor's and they looked at it down the
infirmary. Then they had to have those all these specialists round you you
know and I thought, Why the heck am I seeing other people.
Answers available in the Appendix.
Adjectives
The adjective is another word class which works in combination with the noun. They
are words which refer to the qualities and characteristics associated with nouns. That
is to say, they act to describe or classify nouns. Adjectives can either precede the
nouns they describe (the beautiful, golden trumpet) or be linked back to a noun by
means of a verb such as ‘to be’ (the trumpet is beautiful).
Adjectives have been indicated by means of underlining in the following extract.
It doesn’t matter if you are typing up huge documents in a wordprocessor or
trying to get to the next level on Quake II; if you use a mouse, joypad or
keyboard for long periods, it can cause damage to your wrists, lower arms,
and indeed the rest of your body.
Adjectives, of course, are informational/lexical and carry informational load. They
add to the lexical density of the text.
Numerators
Quite closely related to adjectives are words which don’t indicate the qualities of
nouns but rather indicate their number. For example,
Non-specific: a few apples, some apples, several apples, many apples, most
apples
Specific: one apple, ten apples, the third train
Non-specific numerators are classed as non-informational/grammatical (since they
reflect the speaker’s perspective and not some objective aspect of the external
domain), while specific numerators are treated as informational/lexical (though there
is some debate about this)
Activity 3
Identify adjectives and numerators in the following
The cockroach is an obnoxious insect. Several species have acquired a close
relationships with man which is rivalled perhaps only by lice and flees.
These insects are important vectors of rickettsial organisms and similar
diseases (plague and murine typhus) but like the bed-bug, cockroaches may
be accidental carriers of pathogens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable
body of evidence to incriminate cockroaches as potential carriers of disease.
Answers available in the Appendix
Verbs
Verbs act to indicate what action, happening, or state of affairs is occurring. They also
act to describe nouns by attributing qualities or identities to them.
Happenings can involve,
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 9
physical actions: they crushed the cockroach / the cockroach climbed the
wall / the cockroach exploded / many cockroaches live in my house
processes to do with human cognition and emotions: I hate cockroaches /
Cockroaches terrify me. / I felt something on my leg / I don’t believe in giant
cockroaches
processes to do with the communication of information: he told a story about
cockroaches / he says he hates cockroaches
As well, verbs act to attribute qualities and identities to nouns:
attributing: The cockroach was huge. / Those cockroaches sound dangerous.
identifying: That cockroach is my pet / The Australian bush cockroach is the
ugliest of all.
Additionally, verbs may act to indicate possession or constitution:
Fred has/owns six cockroaches / Cockroaches have six legs.
Obviously verbs will be classed as informational/lexical since they point to actions,
happenings or states of affairs in the experiential domain. They contribute to the
lexical density of the text.
(verbal) Auxiliaries
Verbs are frequently associated with additional words which act to indicate whether
the action or state of affairs occurred in the past, present or future. For example,
He was crushing the cockroach / he has been crushing cockroaches / he is
crushing the cockroach, / he will crush the cockroach / he will be crushing
the cockroaches / he will have been crushing the cockroaches
These ‘helper’ words are termed verbal auxiliaries or often just auxiliaries. The list of
(verbal) auxiliaries in English is as follows:
am, is, are, was, were, will, been, being, be, have, has, had, having
Modal auxiliaries
There is another set of ‘helper’ words which operated in conjunction with verbs.
These act to supply a range of meanings by which, for example, the speaker makes a
judgement about,
the probability/likelihood of the event: there may be a cockroach on your leg
/ the cockroach must have eaten all the cake, there’s no other explanation
whether some action is permitted or obligatory: you can kill that cockroach if
you like / you must kill that cockroach at once.
These words are termed modal auxiliaries (or sometimes modal verbs). They include
may, might, can, will, could, must, should, ought to, have to
Auxiliaries are classed as non-informational/grammatical items because they can
carry no meaning on their own behalf. They necessarily operated in conjunction with
verbs to indicate, not some aspect of the external, experiential domain but rather
something about the speaker – namely when the event occurred relative to the speaker
or the speaker’s view of the likelihood of the event having occurred, or their view of
whether or not the event should occur.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 10
Activity 4
Identify the verbs and auxiliaries (both types) in the following
text 1
I had skin cancer. I'd been digging in the garden and and I don't know
whether I scratched myself with a 'cos I was doing my I don't whether a s+ a
thorn caught me on the nose and then I'd been digging
Cats and all sorts had been digging about, I hate cats, and it wouldn't heal up
and it was going on and I was getting cream cream on my nose - it never ha+
healed up you see. So I went to the doctor's and they looked at it down the
infirmary. Then they had to have those all these specialists round you you
know and I thought, Why the heck am I seeing other people.
text 2
The cockroach is an obnoxious insect. Several species have acquired a close
relationships with man which is rivalled perhaps only by lice and flees.
These insects are important vectors of rickettsial organisms and similar
diseases (plague and murine typhus) but like the bed-bug, cockroaches may
be accidental carriers of pathogens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable
body of evidence to incriminate cockroaches as potential carriers of disease.
See appendix for answers
Prepositions
Prepositions act to indicate relationships between words. They most typically act to
indicate how different parts of the clause are related in space or time. Typical
prepositions of time and location are, in, on, into, towards, to, at, near, across, from,
above, under, down, within, outside, beside, after, before, for (six minutes), until,
during, throughout, since. Prepositions may be made up of single words (as just
exemplified) or by multiple words – thus, ahead of, next to, along with , across from,
out from, out of, close to, near to, adjacent to, subsequent to, in front of , on account
of, because of etc. Apart from relationships of time and space, prepositions indicate a
range of relationships including,
 accompaniment: with, along with, as well as, without
 causality: because of, due to, on account of
 means: by means of, with (an axe), he travelled by (boat)
 counter expectation/contrariness (indicating that the event/action/state of affairs
was in some way unexpected, unpredicted or contrary to usual/expected practice):
He went into he cave in spite of / despite his mother’s warning.
 exceptionality: except for, apart from, besides
comparison: He flew like an eagle; He is faster than me
The prepositions of acts to indicate possession and association: the book of the
teacher, the leader of the pack, the decision of the committee, the destruction of the
city
Prepositions obviously have a grammatical/non-informational rather than a referential
role in that the act to establish relationships between other words and groupings of
words, and hence don’t refer directly to the experiential world. They are therefore
classified as non-informational/grammatical
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 11
Conjunctions/connectives
Conjunctions and connectives are somewhat similar to prepositions in that they too
act to establish relationships between other meanings. Conjunctions act to link words,
phrases, clauses or sentences together in logical relationships. This relationship may
be one of accompaniment.
Mary and Ren Hua; I laughed and Mary kept playing; a milkshake or a dry
Martini
or timing
I laughed when Mary kept playing; I laughed until Mary stopped playing.
or causality
I laughed because Mary kept playing.
or condition
I will laugh if Mary keeps playing; I will laugh unless Mary stops playing.
or opposition/counter expectation
I laughed although Mary had stopped playing.
and so on.
Conjunctions in English include
and, but, or, so, yet, when, while, now that, until, after, before, since,
although, though, even though, unless, whereas, while as, so if, because, in
case (that), in order that, in order to.
Connectives are closely related to conjunctions and indicate a similar set of logical
relationships. These are words which act to indicate relationships between sentences,
rather than between words, phrases, or clauses within sentences. For example,
I worked really hard. Therefore I expected to do well.
Here the connective therefore indicates a causal relation between sentence 1 and
sentence 2.
Other connectives include,
consequently, as a consequence, thus, however, then, afterwards, meanwhile,
nevertheless, moreover, accordingly, moreover
Conjunctions and connectives are classed as grammatical/non-informational
Adverbs
Finally we come to ‘adverbs’. This is a problematic category because, in the
traditional accounts of English grammar, it acts as something of a grab bag for all the
words which couldn’t be fitted into any of the other word-class categories. Thus,
Crystal (Rediscover Grammar with David Crystal, Longman: 166) states, ‘the adverb
is the most heterogeneous of all the word classes in English grammar. It contains
words which perform a wide variety of functions within the sentence’. Accordingly,
if it’s going to be useful for our purpose of distinguishing the informational/lexical
from the non-informational/grammatical, we need to break it down into a smaller set
of word classes.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 12
Connectives
Actually, we have already encountered one word type which is traditionally included
in the ‘adverb’ grab bag – namely the connectives just discussed. In traditional
grammar, words such as therefore, moreover, however, thus, then etc would be
classed as adverbs. We will prefer to place them in their own category – that of
‘connective’, as already indicated. Obviously this is a word-class which is noninformational.
Adverbs of manner, time and place
There is one type of adverb which is easy enough to identify. Its function, perhaps
predictably given the name ‘adverb’, is to modify or describe verbs in some way. For
example,
The cake cooled slowly (the adverb slowly indicating the manner,
specifically speed, of the cooling.)
He abruptly left the scene of the crime.
She skilfully eased the stone from the fruit.
She pushed vigorously through the undergrowth.
More specifically, these adverbs indicate the ‘manner’ of the action of the verb, or
‘how’ it took place, and almost always end in –ly. Closely related are adverbs which
supply information about where or when the verbal process occurred. For example,
She went abroad. (where/location)
She left yesterday; She left early (when/temporal)
Obviously adverbs of manner, time and place are all informational/lexical in that they
refer to aspects of the experiential world. The contribute to the lexical density of the
text.
Intensifiers
And then there are words which have traditionally be classed as ‘adverbs’ but which
act, not to modify verbs, but rather adjectives and other adverbs. More specifically,
they act to indicate different degrees of intensity for those adjectives or adverbs. For
example,
a very hot day (intensifying the adjective hot)
he was slightly upset (down-scaling the adjective upset)
The cockroach climbed the wall very quickly. (intensifying the manner
adverb quickly)
We will use the term ‘intensifier’ (rather than adverb) to designate such items. They
constitute a relatively small set – i.e.
a bit, slightly, somewhat, quite, rather, very, really, extremely
They are classed as non-informational/grammatical because the distinction between
being ‘somewhat’ hot and ‘rather’ hot is not a matter of experiential-world
conditions. The distinction is a purely linguistic one and depends entirely on the
speaker. What is ‘rather’ hot for one speaker will be ‘really’ hot for another.
Subjective or interpersonal pronouns
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 13
Finally, there are words which are quite similar to these intensifiers in that they act to
indicate, not some aspect or quality of the experiential, but rather to present the
speaker’s subjective view or judgement on the proposition which is being expressed.
These judgements can, for example, be concerned with,
the probability/likelihood of the process under consideration: Maybe/
possibly/ probably/ certainly she put the cockroaches under her father’s bed.
the degree of presumption involved in the utterance: Evidently / Presumably
/ Obviously / Clearly / Of course the cockroaches ate the cake.
the usuality of the process: Usually / sometimes / always / often /occasionally
the cat eats cockroaches.
the degree of obligation or necessity: Necessarily she poisoned all the
cockroaches.
These are termed ‘interpersonal adverbs’ and seem to hover on the boundary between
the informational and the non-informational. Usually they are classed as noninformational/grammatical on the grounds that they relate to the speaker (his/her
assessment) and not to some aspect of the experiential world.
Summary: the informational/lexical versus the noninformational/grammatical
To summarise, the lexical/informational word classes are as follows:
nouns (woman, dog, Adelaide, happiness, amazement, discovery, decision,
manoeuvre, democracy, marriage, etc)
verbs (to leap, to arrive, to know, to love, to decide, to say, to indicate, to be, to have
etc)
adjectives (hot, large, unhappy, intelligent, woollen, scientific, courageous, etc)
specific numerators (three, third)
adverbs of manner (quickly, abruptly, vigorously, intelligently, corruptly, happily,
etc)
adverbs of time (tomorrow, early, etc)
adverbs of place (abroad, away, up, down, etc)
The grammatical/non-informational word classes are:
articles (the, a(n), some)
demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those)
possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, its, our, their)
pronouns (I, me, myself, you, yours, yourself, yourselves, he, him, himself she, her,
herself, it, itself, we, us, ours, ourselves, they, them, themselves, theirs, no one,
somebody, someone, something, everyone, everybody, nobody, anyone, anybody,
who, whoever, whosoever, why, which, whom, what, whatever, whatsoever,
when, whenever, that, this, these, etc)
conjunctions (and, but, or, so, when, while, until, before, although, because, unless, if,
in order to, yet, etc)
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 14
connectives (therefore, thus, consequently, meanwhile, however, then, etc)
prepositions (to, on, with, without, among, before, after, above, of, around, on
account of, because of, etc)
intensifiers (slightly, somewhat, rather, quite, really, very, extremely, etc)
non-specific numerators (some, several, many, most etc)
interpersonal adverbs (maybe, perhaps, probably, possibly, certainly, definitely,
clearly, obviously, evidently, necessarily, etc)
auxiliaries (am, is, was, were, will, have, has, had, may, might, can, could, ought,
must, should, have to, etc)
There is one other important grounds for distinguishing between informational/lexical
and non-informational/grammatical items which needs to be mentioned. Here we are
concerned with whether or not it is generally possible for speakers of the language to
come up with or invent new words in a given word-class category. We discover that
new word invention is possible for the informational/lexical items (nouns, verbs,
adjective, some adverbs) but not for the non-informational/grammatical items. Thus
new informational items are constantly being added to the English vocabulary – i.e.
lazer, scuba, internet, ADSL, VoIP,, arbitrage, to interface, to text - with dictionaries
having to be updated every few years to keep up with the new coinages. Related to
this is the fact that these informational word classes have a very large, potentially
limitless memberships. Thus there are hundreds of thousands of nouns and verbs in
English, millions if you include scientific terminology. Accordingly the
informational/lexical word classes have been given the label ‘open’. In contrast, the
non-informational/grammatical word classes have small, essentially fixed or stable
memberships. Accordingly, you are very unlikely to find yourself coming across a
new auxiliary, pronoun, preposition or conjunction since it’s virtually impossible for
individual speakers to come up with new non-informational words and have these
items enter the general vocabulary. Accordingly, these grammatical word-classes are
categorised as ‘closed’. Actually, over time, changes in the memberships of these
classes do occur. For example, in English we have lost the pronouns thou and thee
and there does seem to be some pressure to come up with a new second-person plural
pronoun in the form of yous. Similarly, English originally had no articles (i.e. no the
or a), making do with just the demonstrative pronouns this and these. However, such
development occur extremely slowly and essentially imperceptibly, and are not in the
control of individual speakers. Hence the label ‘closed’.
Text analysis applications – exploring ‘spontaneity’
and informational load through lexical density
analyses
Equipped with the knowledge, it becomes possible to compare and contrast text by
means of what is known as a ‘lexical density’ analysis. Here we are concerned with
calculating what proportion of a text’s total words is made up of informational/lexical
items. Obviously, the greater the proportion of informational/lexical items, the higher
the lexical density. Consider by way of just a very brief illustration the two following
extracts.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 15
1. I was just wondering if there was a possibility of you helping me with this.
2. Your prompt assistance will greatly assist the expeditious advancement of
the government’s objectives.
Usually, of course, we don’t conduct lexical density analyses on individual sentences.
The findings only become meaningful when they relate to whole texts or at least to
extended sections of text. However, just for the purpose of demonstration we will
compare the lexical densities of the two sentences. To do this we firstly determine the
total number of words for each text. Thus,
1. I was just wondering if there was a possibility of you helping me with this.
Total for all words (lexical and grammatical) = 15
2. Your prompt assistance will greatly assist the expeditious advancement of
the government’s objectives. Total for all words = 13
We then identify instances of informational/lexical items and then count them.
1. I was just wondering if there was a possibility of you helping me with
this. Informational = 3 out of 15
2. Your prompt assistance will greatly assist the expeditious
advancement of the government’s objectives. Informational = 8 out of 3
We then calculate the percentage for informational items – i.e.
extract 1 - 3 informational items out of a total of 15 words = a lexical
density of 20 percent [number of informational items multiplied by 100
divided by total number of words; 3 X 100 divided-by 15 = 20]
extract 2 – 8 informational items out of a total of 13 words = a lexical density
of 61.53 percent [ 8 X 100 / 13 = 61.53]
Obviously there is a significant difference in lexical density and informational load
between these two sentences.
Activity 5
Answers to be submitted via email as this week’s short text analysis exercise – i.e. no
later than two days before your seminar, email to [email protected], [email protected] or
[email protected], depending on the seminar session you are in. Please include in the
subject line your name, your seminar group and the week – e.g. Bloggs,Jane Tues 2,
wk 2. (Please also CC to [email protected])
5A.
Ok, we’re now going to investigate spontaneity and informational load in our three
primary texts. Before we do that, however, here is a short exercise to check you
knowledge of the parts of speech (word classes). Provide the word class of the
underlined words in the following extract (i.e. whether noun, verb, adjective, adverb,
auxiliary, determiner, numerator, preposition, pronoun, conjunction, connective,
intensifier). The words are presented firstly in context and then a table is provided
below for the answers.
SALES1 of turnips2 are rocketing3 in4 China5 because6 the7 veg8 is said9 to
cure10 SARS11.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 16
They12 are13 used in herbal14 remedies15 sold16 to treat severe17 acute18
respiratory19 syndrome20.
Wholesale21 prices of turnips in China's capital Beijing have22 risen23 very24
rapidly25 in a26 week amid27 fears28 over29 the deadly30 flu-like31 virus32.
The global33 death34 toll35 from SARS rose36 to 15337 yesterday38.
Answers (please supply the word class type after each word.)
word
word class / part of
speech
1. sales
2. turnips
3. rocketing
4. in
5. China
6. because
7. the
8. veg
9. said
10. cure
11. SARS
12 . They
13. are
14. herbal
15. remedies
16. sold
17. severe
18. acute
19. respiratory
20. syndrome
21. Wholesale
22. have
23. risen
24. very
25. rapidly
26. a
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 17
27. amid
28. fears
29. over
30. deadly
31. flu-like
32. virus
33. global
34. death
35. toll
36. rose
37. 153
38. yesterday
5B
Now turning to the issue of lexical density as was demonstrated a little earlier. For
this exercise you are being asked to calculate the lexical density for the first 120
words (or there abouts) of the three extracts. The purpose is to determine which has
the highest and which the lowest density of information.
So just as a reminder. With respect to the extracts supplied below...
1. Calculate the total number of all words (should be around about 120)
2. Identify and then count all lexical/informational items - i.e. all nouns, verbs
(excluding auxiliaries), adjectives, specific numerators, adverbs of manner, time and
place.
3. Calculate your count as a percentage of all total words – i.e. number of lexical items
multiplied by 100, divided by total number of all words .
1.
I had skin cancer. I'd been digging in the garden and and I don't know
whether I scratched myself with a 'cos I was doing my I don't whether a a
thorn caught me on the nose and then I'd been digging
Cats and all sorts had been digging about, I hate cats, and it wouldn't heal up
and it was going on and I was getting cream cream on my nose - it never
healed up you see. So I went to the doctor's and they looked at it down the
infirmary. Then they had to have those all these specialists round you you
know and I thought, Why the heck am I seeing other people.
2.
SALES of turnips are rocketing in China because the veg is said to cure
SARS.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 18
They are used in herbal remedies sold to treat severe acute respiratory
syndrome.
Wholesale prices of turnips in China's capital Beijing have shot up THIRTY
PER CENT in a week amid fears over the deadly flu-like virus. Carrots,
garlic and ginger are also included in the potions and shops have been selling
out.
The global death toll from SARS rose to 153 yesterday. Nine were reported
in Hong Kong -the most in one day there so far. They included a woman
aged 34, who died while giving birth.
The condition of the baby was not known.
China has been hit hardest by SARS, with 64 deaths.
3.
The sex hormone estrogen is important for many physiologic processes.
Prolonged stimulation of breast ductal epithelium by estrogen, however, can
contribute to the development and progression of breast cancer, and
treatments designed to block estrogen's effects are important options in the
clinic. Tamoxifen and other similar drugs are effective in breast cancer
prevention and treatment by inhibiting the proliferative effects of estrogen
that are mediated through the estrogen receptor (ER). However, these drugs
also have many estrogenic effects depending on the tissue and gene, and they
are more appropriately called selective estrogen receptor modulators
(SERMs). SERMs bind ER, alter receptor conformation, and facilitate
binding of coregulatory proteins that activate or repress transcriptional
activation of estrogen target genes.
Once you have completed the analysis, consider and answer the following questions.:
1. Are there clear differences in terms of lexical density between some or all of the
texts.
2. Are the differences what you might have predicted. How do you findings related to
the spontaneity/non-spontaneity of the texts under consideration?
3. You should have found that there was at least some difference between the lexical
density of the two written texts (texts 2 & 3)? How might this difference be accounted
for (since they are apparently non-spontaneous)?
[Include these answers in your email to your tutor.]
Conclusion
In this and the previous unit we have investigated a framework by which it is possible
to systematically relate the style of a text to the social context in which that text
operates. By this means we identify and compare what are termed different ‘registers’
of language. Specifically we have explored how social roles and relationships
(Tenor), subject matter (Field) and the nature of the text as a communicative event
(Mode) influence particular aspects of grammar and vocabulary. In particular we saw
the following connections:
The Field of a text will be reflected in the types of entities (nouns) and
actions/happenings (verbs) it depicts. Under the SFL approach the words and
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 19
structures which indicate or reflect the text’s Field are termed ‘experiential’ items or
meanings. This term (‘experiential’) is used because it is by such items that the
speaker/writer provides a particular record or representation of the experiential
world.
The Tenor of a text relates to the personal identities, social roles and interpersonal
relationships of those involved in the communication. It can also be seen as a matter
of whether these participants are equal or equal in terms of their power, social status,
expertise or authority, and of whether they are socially close or socially distant.
Equality/inequality in terms of social hierarchies is indicated in multi-party (dialogic)
texts by whether or not the interlocutors are able to make similar meanings or to do
similar things with their language. The more powerful will typically be able to do
more with their language and will have a greater repertoire of meanings to choose
from. In single-party (monologic texts) writers can construct themselves as more or
less powerful by choosing formulations which present them as more or less assertive,
more or less dogmatic, more or less certain, more or less in control, more or less
entitled to advise or to direct the actions of others, more or less entitled to pass
judgements, and so on. Social closeness/distance is reflected in the use of
casual/colloquial forms, by the use of contractions and reduced forms and by the use
of familiar/friendly terms of address, and so on. Under SFL, the words and other
formulations which indicate the Tenor of the text are termed ‘interpersonal’ items or
meanings because tenor is a matter of the ‘personal’ involvement of speakers/writers
in the texts they are producing and the ‘interpersonal’ relationships which influence
how the text is constructed.
The Mode of the text is reflected in those linguistic features which relate to its nature
as a communicative event. These features include those relating to whether the text
was interactively or non-interactively constructed and whether it was spontaneously
or non-spontaneously produced. Those words, structures and other linguistic features
which reflect its Mode are termed ‘textual’ items or meanings because they are
related to the overall construction of the ‘text’ as a complete, unfolding
communicative action or event.
The material in this set of notes has, of course, only provided an introduction to this
topic of how language use reflects and is determined by its context of use. We have
demonstrated the general principles at work but have by no means presented a full
account of all the ways in which Tenor, Field and Mode determine linguistic style.
The account which was begun here will be extended and deepened in following units
as we consider additional lexical and grammatical indicators of a text’s register.
Appendix
Answers to pre-test
1. The extreme rigidity of the hull is probably what saved their boat from breaking up.
The: article; non-informational/grammatical
extreme: adjective; informational/lexical
rigidity: noun; informational/lexical
of: preposition; non-informational/grammatical
is: verb - but can be treated as an auxiliary for these purpose and hence as noninformational/grammatical
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 20
probably: adverb
saved: verb; informational/lexical
their: pronoun; non-informational/grammatical
from: preposition; non-informational/grammatical
breaking up: verb; informational/lexical
2. His leaving the company in a hurry came as a welcome surprise
His: pronoun; non-informational/grammatical
leaving: verb; informational/lexical
company: noun; informational/lexical
in: preposition; non-informational/grammatical
a: article; non-informational/grammatical
hurry: noun; informational/lexical
as: conjunction; non-informational/grammatical
welcome: adjective; informational/lexical
surprise: noun; informational/lexical
3. The government’s intervention in the tender process means that the contract will
have to be completely renegotiated.
government’s: noun (used possessively and adjectively) ; informational/lexical
intervention: noun; informational/lexical
tender: noun (used adjectively) ; informational/lexical
process: noun; informational/lexical
means: verb; informational/lexical
that: conjunction; non-informational/grammatical
will: auxiliary; non-informational/grammatical
have: auxiliary; non-informational/grammatical
completely: adverb; informational/lexical
renegotiated: verb; informational/lexical
4. I do like his cooking but his pomposity gets my goat.
I: pronoun; non-informational/grammatical
do: auxiliary; non-informational/grammatical
like: verb; informational/lexical
his: pronoun (used possessively and adjectively) ; non-informational/grammatical
cooking: noun; informational/lexical
but: conjunction; non-informational/grammatical
pomposity: noun; informational/lexical
gets: verb; informational/lexical
goat: noun; informational/lexical
Answer key for activity 1
(nouns and proper nouns underlined)
1.
"WHEN I was growing up with my mum and dad at home," says Steffi, "I
used to hear the rows. My dad and mum are married and we lived with her
son and daughter by another chap not married to her.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 21
"They're older than me and living with partners now. They have a baby each
and more on the way. My half-brother's girlfriend doesn't work because she
didn't like him spending so much time away from her. So he had to give up
his job to stay at home with her.
2.
The cockroach is probably the most obnoxious insect known to man. Several
species of cockroaches have managed to acquire a relationship with man,
rivalled perhaps only by lice and flees. These insects are known vectors of
certain rickettsial organisms and other diseases (plague and murine typhus)
but like the bed-bug, cockroaches may only be accidental carriers of
pathogens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable body of evidence to
incriminate cockroaches as potential carriers of disease whose importance in
this area is becoming more fully recognised.
Key to activity 2
Identify the determiners (articles, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns) and
the pronouns in the following.
Articles underlined, possessive pronouns in double underline, demonstrative
pronouns in italics and other pronouns in bold
I had skin cancer. I'd been digging in the garden and and I don't know
whether I scratched myself with a 'cos I was doing my I don't whether a s+ a
thorn caught me on the nose and then I'd been digging
Cats and all sorts had been digging about, I hate cats, and it wouldn't heal up
and it was going on and I was getting cream cream on my nose - it never ha+
healed up you see. So I went to the doctor's and they looked at it down the
infirmary. Then they had to have those all these specialists round you you
know and I thought, Why the heck am I seeing other people.
Key to activity 3
Identify adjectives and numerators in the following. See underlining
The cockroach is an obnoxious insect. Several species have acquired a close
relationships with man which is rivalled perhaps only by lice and flees.
These insects are important vectors of rickettsial organisms and similar
diseases (plague and murine typhus) but like the bed-bug, cockroaches may
be accidental carriers of pathogens. Nevertheless, there is a considerable
body of evidence to incriminate cockroaches as potential carriers of disease.
Key to activity 4
Identify the verbs and auxiliaries (both types) in the following. Auxiliaries double
underlined, verbs in bold undeline
text 1
I had (see below for why this a verb and not an auxiliary) skin cancer. I'd
been digging in the garden and and I don't know whether I scratched myself
with a 'cos I was doing my I don't whether a s+ a thorn caught me on the
nose and then I'd been digging
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 22
Cats and all sorts had been digging about, I hate cats, and it wouldn't heal
up and it was going on and I was getting cream cream on my nose - it never
ha+ healed up you see. So I went to the doctor's and they looked at it down
the infirmary. Then they had to have those all these specialists round you you
know and I thought, Why the heck am I seeing other people.
text 2
The cockroach is (see below) an obnoxious insect. Several species have
acquired a close relationships with man which is rivalled perhaps only by
lice and flees. These insects are important vectors of rickettsial organisms
and similar diseases (plague and murine typhus) but like the bed-bug,
cockroaches may be (see below) accidental carriers of pathogens.
Nevertheless, there is a considerable body of evidence to incriminate
cockroaches as potential carriers of disease.
You may perhaps have been perplexed as to why ‘had’ in ‘I had skin cancer’ and ‘is’
in ‘The cockroach is an obnoxious insect’ were analysed as verbs and not auxiliaries.
It’s basically because these word forms can perform both functions. When these items
occur in isolation, without any other verbal elements, then they do the complete
verbal job, so to speak. For example.
He has cancer; I have several good friend.
He is the leader; They were late.
In all such cases, the item can’t be performing an ‘auxiliary’ function because there’s
no other verbal element for it to be auxiliary to. Accordingly, in such cases the item
represents the ‘main verb’ of the clause – an instance of either ‘to have’ or ‘to be’, not
an auxiliary element.
© P.R.R. White. Language & Meaning Unit 2 (Ways of Speaking 2) p. 23