Text & communication
Communication
How do we communicate?
Different communication models
1. Transmission model
- Communication = linear, one-way
process
- Intentional message
- Receiver= target end point
2. Transactional model
- human communication is
complex
- Communicators: generate social
realities in social, relational and
cultural contexts
- No sender/receiver -> both are
communicators
- Two-way process
Miscommunicati on
Where can it go wrong?
Practical consideration
o is listener able to hear you?
o Distractions, noise, face masks, ….
Interpersonal, cognitive, psychological considerations:
o Subjectivity, own interpretations, connotation of words
o Relationship to the other person
o Number of communicators in conversation
, Text
Nothing IS a text, but anything can BECOME a tekst in certain situation
Text is both product & process: meaning is determined by sender & receiver
7 standards of textuality
1. Cohesion
Ties across sentences that joint hem together
o Conjunctions, personal pronouns
o Eg. There is a syllabus for the English course. It can be found on BB
2. Coherence
Logical connections between text elements
o It was raining. Charles closed his umbrella. -> opened
3. Intentionality
Sender-oriented
Producer of the text brings words together to achieve specific goal
4. Acceptability
Receiver-oriented
Does the text match the expectations of receiver in certain context?
5. Informativity
Are the text elements expected-unexpected, known-unknown?
o Eg. You cannot find answer in websites FAQ, class teaches nothing new, …
6. Situationality
Is the text relevant to a certain situation?
o Eg. Talking in a noisy place, teacher only playing video’s in class, …
7. Intertextuality
Dependence of a text on an earlier text
o Assumes certain knowledge of reader
o Parodies, critical reviews, reports, …
, Cohesion
Not user-centred but text-centred notion, resource for writers & readers
Cohesion <-> coherence
o Text can be cohesive but still be incoherent (not making any sense)
o Cohesion = objective <-> coherense = subjective (how one interprets)
Lexical cohesion
Meaningful relations between sentence elements -> text unity
1. Repetition (recurrence)
Repetition: same morphological word <-> partial repetition: inflected form
2. Sense relations
a. Synonymy
o Use of words with a similar meaning
o Can differ stylistically: can have different register !
o Near-synonym <-> perfect synonym
b. Antonymy
o Expression of opposite meaning
o Old-new, …
c. Hyphonymy
o Hierarchy between words: sense of 1 word is included in the other
o General vs specific: fruit – oranges, animal – cat, …
d. Meronymy
o Denotes a part or member of something
o Car > tire, hand > finger, …
3. Paraphrase
Lexical item is expressed twice, but in a different way (using more words)
a. Expansion
o Second occurence = more detailed, explanation of first one
o Some students disrupt the lessons. They talk, eat, play with their phone, …
b. Condensation
o First occurence = more detailed, second one is more general
Communication
How do we communicate?
Different communication models
1. Transmission model
- Communication = linear, one-way
process
- Intentional message
- Receiver= target end point
2. Transactional model
- human communication is
complex
- Communicators: generate social
realities in social, relational and
cultural contexts
- No sender/receiver -> both are
communicators
- Two-way process
Miscommunicati on
Where can it go wrong?
Practical consideration
o is listener able to hear you?
o Distractions, noise, face masks, ….
Interpersonal, cognitive, psychological considerations:
o Subjectivity, own interpretations, connotation of words
o Relationship to the other person
o Number of communicators in conversation
, Text
Nothing IS a text, but anything can BECOME a tekst in certain situation
Text is both product & process: meaning is determined by sender & receiver
7 standards of textuality
1. Cohesion
Ties across sentences that joint hem together
o Conjunctions, personal pronouns
o Eg. There is a syllabus for the English course. It can be found on BB
2. Coherence
Logical connections between text elements
o It was raining. Charles closed his umbrella. -> opened
3. Intentionality
Sender-oriented
Producer of the text brings words together to achieve specific goal
4. Acceptability
Receiver-oriented
Does the text match the expectations of receiver in certain context?
5. Informativity
Are the text elements expected-unexpected, known-unknown?
o Eg. You cannot find answer in websites FAQ, class teaches nothing new, …
6. Situationality
Is the text relevant to a certain situation?
o Eg. Talking in a noisy place, teacher only playing video’s in class, …
7. Intertextuality
Dependence of a text on an earlier text
o Assumes certain knowledge of reader
o Parodies, critical reviews, reports, …
, Cohesion
Not user-centred but text-centred notion, resource for writers & readers
Cohesion <-> coherence
o Text can be cohesive but still be incoherent (not making any sense)
o Cohesion = objective <-> coherense = subjective (how one interprets)
Lexical cohesion
Meaningful relations between sentence elements -> text unity
1. Repetition (recurrence)
Repetition: same morphological word <-> partial repetition: inflected form
2. Sense relations
a. Synonymy
o Use of words with a similar meaning
o Can differ stylistically: can have different register !
o Near-synonym <-> perfect synonym
b. Antonymy
o Expression of opposite meaning
o Old-new, …
c. Hyphonymy
o Hierarchy between words: sense of 1 word is included in the other
o General vs specific: fruit – oranges, animal – cat, …
d. Meronymy
o Denotes a part or member of something
o Car > tire, hand > finger, …
3. Paraphrase
Lexical item is expressed twice, but in a different way (using more words)
a. Expansion
o Second occurence = more detailed, explanation of first one
o Some students disrupt the lessons. They talk, eat, play with their phone, …
b. Condensation
o First occurence = more detailed, second one is more general
