Discourse Analysis & Vocabulary

Vocabulary should be taught in context

Context - the situation in which discourse is
produced
The intended meaning of words becomes clear
only within the larger pieces of discourse.
Eg: Let us draw the picture clearly here. The
context of a discourse involves the speaker,
hearer, topic, setting (place & time), event
(genre-sermon), purpose (intent) and the
channel (the form of contact-writing, speech), to
mention a few.

 Vocabulary can be literal or figurative

Example: He got the axe. May mean:
1) A man went to get a tool to chop wood or
2) A man got fired from his job
The correct interpretation depends on the co-text
- the actual text surrounding the lexical item
Example- Giving and accepting bribery is a sick
thing to do.
What is the meaning of sick in this context?
Eg: John is pretty crazy, and sometimes does
strange things. Yesterday, he went to the
restaurant for dinner. He sat down, examined
the menu, ordered a steak, got up and left.

Lexical Cohesion
According to Halliday & Hassan (1976), the relations
between vocabulary items in texts are 2 , namely
reiteration and collocation.
Reiteration- restating an item in a later part of the
discourse by direct repetition either partial or actual
words. This is a conscious attempt by writers/speakers
to achieve a certain purpose.
Collocation- words that frequently go together or regular
co-occurrence of items
Examples are strong coffee, black coffee, green tea, wall
paper, roundabout

 Collocations
When we think of a flower, we also think
of the stem, the petal, the leaf, or the vase.
When we think of the grocery store, we
also think of all the produce, canned
goods, and other items there.

http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/vocabulary/collocation2.s
html

Which word collocates with all the words given?

1. fried, poached, fresh, raw, frozen, grilled,
smoked _________________
2. summer, warm, winter, tatty, shabby, trendy,
second-hand _____________
3. dangerous, desperate, common, born, hardened,
master _______________
4. massive, huge, crowded, packed, outdoor,
indoor, sports _______________
Answers. 1 = fish, 2 = coat, 3 = criminal, 4 = stadium

 The purpose of cohesion is to emphasize & focus on

certain aspects by using synonyms, repetitions,
superordinate, hyponyms or antonyms.
Synonyms - similar words
Repetitions - of exact words
Hyponyms - a subset of the word
( eg. rose is the hyponymy of flower)
Antonyms- opposite words
Superordinate- very general words
(eg. There are many animals in the zoo. They include
tigers, zebras, monkeys, etc)
(eg. Shell win a trophy. The prize wont mean as much
to her though.)

What is cohesion?
Halliday & Hassan
A text has texture. The texture is provided
by the cohesive relationship within a text.
Cohesive relationship within a text are set
up where the interpretation of some
element in the discourse is dependent on
that of another (Brown & Yule, 1983).

 Lexical relations are stable semantic relationship that

exist between words.
For example, rose & flower are related by hyponymy.
(rose is the hyponymy of flower).
Another example MC. P. 66 (3.3)
Eggplant & aubergine are related by synonymy.
More on hyponymy
Another example MC. P. 65 (3.1) (3.4)
The meeting commenced at..
[commence & begin co-refer to the same entity in the
real world]
Example of irony or humor MC. P. 65 (3.2)
Activity 1.

Lexis in Talks
Speakers are also found to reiterate
vocabulary and
to employ relexicalisation
(to take up one anothers vocabulary selections in one form or

another from turn to turn and develop and expand topics in doing

).
Example MC p. 69 (3.6)
so

Textual aspects of lexical competence

Sometimes the conventions & lexical relations are adjusted for
particular purposes of the text.
Good example - 2 antonyms : MC . 72 (3.7)
Discourse specific lexical relations (the choice of vocabulary is
specific in certain occasion or context) is also called instantial
relations.
The task of the teacher is to raise awareness that typical
vocabulary relations are often readjusted in individual texts for
the purpose of : Creating creative lexical usage
Stylistics features in texts
Devices of evaluation or irony

Vocabulary & the organizing of texts

Discourse organizing words have a broader
textual function to signal to the reader what
larger textual patterns are being realized.
A distinction between grammar words & lexical
words in Language.
Grammar words= function words=empty
words=closed set.
Lexical words= content words=full words= open
set.
Teacher needs to teach predictive skills.

Signaling larger textual patterns

Pattern 1- problem solution pattern

Pattern 2- solution then the pattern
Good suggestion for teachers MC p. 81
Vocabulary items tend to cluster around certain elements
of text patterns.

Good exercises p. 79 (3.13) (3.14)

Signaling words are often used by writers to indicate
problem and solution. (p. 79)

Register & signaling vocabulary

Register is closely tied to lexical selection
Informal words will not be found in formal
academic journals.
Lexical choice (within the identified clusters) will
depend on: The context (textbook, magazine, news report, etc).
Give examples.
The authors assumptions about the audience
(cultured, educated, etc)
Whether the style is to be read as written or
spoken, and so on

Modality
Generally modality belongs to the closed class
words.
However, some words serve similar meanings to
the modal verbs.
Examples- verbs such as appear, assume, doubt,
guess, look as if, suggest, think,
Adverbs such as actually, certainly, inevitably,
obviously, possibly.
These words represent the stance and attitude of
senders of the messages.
Such as- assertion, tentativeness, commitment,
detachment, other interpersonal meaning.