DISCOURSE STRUCTURE

Communication is successful if the discourse elements are structured, i.e. carefully ordered and mutually related. Discourse has a semantic or meaning structure, thematic structure, pragmatic structure and rhetorical structure. The semantic structure is describable in terms of propositions, macro-structures and superstructures A. PROPOSITIONS
1. a. Mitchell covers only foreign events. b. Only foreign events are covered by Mitchell. c. If only Mitchell covered foreign even d. Mitchell covers only foreign events?

DEFINITION: Proposition denotes the context-independent meaning of a declarative sentence. A proposition may be defined as the meaning of a simple declarative sentence.// the minimal unit of meaning. Properties: Propositions denote the ideational content and do not include the illocutionary force or the meaning of syntactic forms. I. O clause may contain more than one proposition.
Example The old man manages a large farm. The man manages. The man is old. The farm is large. II. A proposition has a predicate as its nucleus and one or more arguments, which relate to the nucleus. Example a. John loves his mother. b. Love (John [subject], mother [object]) III. In sentences, some of the propositions are arguments of other propositions and that they are embedded

in those other propositions.

Example Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome, took the women of the Sabine by force. a. Took (Romulus, women, by force) b. Found (Romulus, Rome) c. Legendary (Romulus) d. Sabine (women)

Use of propositional analysis: 1. Obscure passages may be made clear by identifying the propositions of sentences. 2. It helps distinguish sense from illocutionary force. 3. B. MACRO-STRUCTURES Discourse is also characterized by semantic structures on a higher level of organization that propositions, which are called macro-structures. The macro-structure contains only the essential points of a text. It is a semantic representation entailed by the sequence of propositions in the text base.
Many teens say they feel overwhelmed by pressure and responsibilities (S1). They are juggling part-time jobs and hours of homework every night (S2); sometimes theyre so exhausted that theyre asleep in early morning classes (S3). Half have lived through their parents divorce (S4). Sixty three percent are in households where both parents work outside the home (S5), and many look after younger siblings in the afternoon (S6). Still others are home by themselves after school (S7). That unwelcome solitude can extend well into the evening (S8); mealtime for this generation too often begins with a forlorn touch of the microwave (S9). (Newsweek, May 10, 1999: 50)

The macrostructure of the paragraph may be expressed as:

A. Many teenagers are having troubles. B. Many teenagers are troubled by pressure, responsibilities, and loneliness.

Both sentences express the macro-structure of the paragraph, but at two levels. A expresses the macrostructure at a more general level than B, i.e. A entails B.

A text can be reduced to its essential points in successive steps. A hierarchical macro-structure results, each being at higher level than the lower one. In a book the top level of the macro-structure may be expressed by the title of the book, with the next level corresponding to the table of contents. The chapters would each have a macro-structure at the next level. Each chapter would then be broken down into sections and paragraphs, eventually arriving at the text-base, the micro-structure, the basis from which it evolves. The macro-structure of a text or of a sequence of sentences is derived by performing a number of operations on the micro-structure. During these operations a certain amount of information is deleted and parts of it are integrated into propositions at a higher level of generality. Such operations are positive since the relation between the macro-structure and the micro-structure is one of included including. The operations are based on a number of rules called macro-rules. They are recurrent, generating macrostructures at several levels of generality by being applied to sequences of sentences and to whole texts. MACRO-RULE 1 called deletion states that each proposition which is not a condition for the interpretation of other propositions in the sequence, will be deleted. Such propositions have an attributive predicate which refers to an accidental property/fact, i.e. it does not hold at all possible times. The deletion rule is applicable not only to accidental facts and properties but also to normal constitutive elements of actions, events or objects. Example: I approached the iron gate in the wall. It was then that I observed a poster which was fixed on the other
side of the gate.

MACRO-RULE 2 called generalization, stipulates that a sequence of propositions can be substituted by a more general proposition, which is entailed by each of the propositions of the subsequence . This operation is not mere deletion. It involves a generalization from objects, actions or properties of a class to the superordinate of that class. The information which is left out is essential. Once deleted, it is irrecoverable.

Example: When I arrived at the party, Tom and Liz were dancing. Two blondes and two Jamaican-looking guys
were playing some party game. Three girls were chortling at a joke while eating cake.

Macrostructure: The guests were having a great time. MACRO-RULE 3 called construction stipulates that a sequence of propositions can be replaced by a proposition that is entailed by the joint set of propositions of the sequence . With this rule the information is not deleted but combined and integrated into higher-level forms of representation. It also deals with essential information, but this type of information denotes essential components, causes, consequences, etc. of facts, which constitute a frame. Therefore, in such cases the deleted information is also recoverable through inference as in the second operation controlled by the rule of deletion. In the paragraph from Newsweek sentences (2) and (4) combined and integrated according to the teenage frame may be substituted by the sentence: Many teens are overwhelmed by pressure. The macro-rules have two features. They are recursive, which means that they can be applied not only to the text-base but also to macro-structures until the topmost macro-structure is obtained. The other feature is that they are limited in their explanatory power. The existence of macro-structures is proved by : the awareness of language users that the order and unity of a discourse is due to some higherlevel units of semantic organization. Faced with less interpretable utterances and with passages difficult to comprehend, they usually react reproachfully with sentences like: What are you trying to say? or Youre all mixed up!; the topical sentences which express the macro-structures explicitly; the use of connectors. An example is still others introducing sentence (7): Still others are home by themselves after school; macro-structures are signaled by some non-verbal components of discourse: graphic, in written discourse and phonic in spoken discourse.