New Foundations

for a Science

of Text and Discourse

Freedom of Access to Knowledge and Society

through Discourse

Robert De Beaugrande

University of Vienna

1997

Retrospective note 2004

My most ambitious work, certainly, and deeply concerned with 'foundations for science' as the context for a 'science of language', which, apart from phonetics, is in my view, still in the process of emerging -- a 'proto-science', so to speak. Humans are of course linguistic, cognitive, and social beings (though plenty of 'linguistics' ignores the fact). But our status also as physical, chemical, and biological beings is neither trivial nor metaphorical, especially in respect to such vital issues as the emergence and evolution of organization and complexity that make life possible, and with it, language.

Technical note 2004

This e-version was made from the final page proofs (done by yours truly on a laptop with only those tiny fonts -- displayed in real size -- evidently encouraged by optometrists and manufacturers of magnifying glasses). So I changed the format into reader-friendly webpages with Arial Font. If you want to print out, you can Select All, Copy, and then Paste into WORD and redo the format more economically.

This was the last work shepherded through in complete freedom by Ablex founder Walter Johnson, then in his 80s, but “with the spirit o' five-and- twenty in him still”, as Sam Veller would attest. He had promised to do a special flyer, but sadly passed away; his gormless son and grandson, who took over without the foggiest notion of how to deal with book authors, didn’t know (or care) that it was mainly I who wrote the first serious science monographs in the now classic Roy Freedle series, essentially told me to fuck off. …And soon, Ablex dematerialised, literally Johnsoned into the ground.

I’d much rather be read than paid anyway.

Acknowledgements

I wish to express my profound appreciation to my colleagues and students at lectures, seminars, and workshops in universities, institutes, and academies of science in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Finland, France, the (then) two Germanys, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Malaysia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Ukraine, and the United States.

I have gained inspiration from reading, and all too rarely, discussing with, the following persons

Contents

The Format of the Text and the Sources of Examples.

Acknowledgements..

Foreword.

I Getting Started

I.A. Science at the crossroads

I.B. Demonstrating our agenda: Consumerism versus ecologism

I.C. Text as an event

Commentaries to Ch. I

II Toward a Science of Text and Discourse

II.A. Paradigms for the study of language

II.B. Textuality in grammar, rhetoric, and logic

II.C. Textuality in philology

II.D. Textuality in modern linguistics

II.E. Moving toward text and discourse

II.F. A brief history of ‘text linguistics’

II.G. Structuralism and post-structuralism

II.H. Back to the future

Commentaries to Ch. II

III Designing Models of Cognition and Communication in Society

III.A. Moving from ‘classical’ to ‘post-classical’

III.B. Prospects for evolution in the design of models and domains

III.C. Evolution into code

III.D. Evolution in language and discourse

III.E. Communication among the sciences

III.F. Criteria for designing models

III.G. Modeling linearity

III.H. Modeling resource constraints

III.I. An interactive model for text and discourse processing

Commentaries to Ch. III

IV Functionality and Textuality

IV.A. Form, meaning, function, and textuality

IV.B. Toward a functional, cognitive, and social lexicogrammar

IV.B.1 Designing a scheme of Processes and Aspects

IV.B.2 Enriching the scheme .

IV.B.3 From Clause to Phrase

IV.B.4 The design of the lexicogrammar reconsidered

IV.B.5 The lexicogrammar in the economy of discourse

IV.C. The economy of maintaining and compacting

IV.D. The economy of joining

IV.E. The prosodic level: Intonation and punctuation

IV.F. The ‘discourse level’

Commentaries to Ch. IV

V Intermediary Control Systems between Virtual and Actual

V.A. Style and stylistics

V.B. Text types and discourse domains

V.C. Discourse for special purposes: ‘LSP’ and terminology

Commentaries to Ch.V

VI Interlingual Discourse in Theory and Practice

VI.A. Indirect evidence: Comparing and contrasting languages

VI.B. Direct evidence: Interference, borrowing, and code-switching

VI.C. Pidgins and creoles

VI.D. Translation

Commentaries to Ch. VI

VII Discourse in Socialization and Education

VII.A. Modeling socialization and education

VII.B. Modernization and multiculturalism

VII.C. Education in ‘crisis’

VII.D. ‘Modernizing’ education: The evolution of design

VII.E. Educational research

VII.F. Doing, knowing, saying: Setting new priorities

VII.G. The old and the new design for schooling

VII.H. Language learning and language acquisition

VII.I. Discourse in the classroom

VII.J. Literacy and reading in ‘native language’ education

VII.K. Literacy and writing in ‘native language’ education

VII.K.1 Basic writing

VII.K.2 ‘Grammar’ in the classroom

VII.K.3 Composition

VII.K.4 Literature in the schools

VII.L. ‘Non-native language’ education

Commentaries to Ch. VII

VIII Discourse and the ‘Whole Human Being’

VIII.A. The prospects for ‘wholeness’

VIII.B. Discourse and culture in ‘modern’ diversity

VIII.C. Discourse and ideology

VIII.D. Discourse and gender ..

VIII.E. Discourse and emotion

Commentaries to Ch. VIII

References

The Format of the Text and the Sources of Examples

I have tried to make the text more user-friendly than my previous volumes in this Ablex series by using the Commentaries for citing References and for cross-referring among paragraphs to major themes. Central or programmatic terms are introduced in bold type and elsewhere enclosed in pairs of the symbol ‘°’; they are fully listed by page numbers in the Index. The terms for the functional lexicogrammar expounded in Ch. IV are capitalized for easy recognition, e.g., the ‘Subject’ and ‘Object’ of a ‘Sentence’ versus the perceiving ‘subject’ and perceived ‘object’ in the discourse of science, philosophy, or phenomenology. Punctuation follows European standards with final marks outside the quotes unless they are part of the quote; and to avoid unduly numerous breaks in the prosody, the placement of a comma after ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’ is determined by the length of the example or paraphrase and does not appear for short instances, especially inside parentheses.

The sample-texts for this volume, unless otherwise indicated in the main text or the Commentaries, came from the following sources: The Portable Medieval Reader (Ross & McLaughlin [eds.]): [8] (303, 307), [10] (306), [119] (167), [120] (325), [121] (91), [122] (158), [123] (312, 319), [129] (179), [457] (418); Keeping Faith (Jimmy Carter): [9] (344-47), [163-66] (333ff); Bank of English computer corpus at Birmingham University (as of July 1994): [18-28, 75, 76, 180, 189, 281, 283, 284]; Collins COBUILD English Language Dictionary (Sinclair et al. 1987): [132-33] (1328); my students in Florida: [36, 38, 41-45, 48, 495-97, 510, 513, 515, 552]; my students in Singapore: [201, 231]; my students in Vienna [39, 40, 45, 553]; Seven Pillars of Wisdom (T.E. Lawrence): [50] (231), [168] (664); Pump House Gang (Tom Wolfe): [54] (17), [92] (144ff); Introduction to Poetry (X.J. Kennedy [ed.]): [52] (239), [647, 647a-c] (232); Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Martin Gardner [ed.]): [55-56] (153f), [57] (241), [58] (207), [78] (120), [84] (31), [86-87] (30), [93] (297), [94] (322), [95] (150), [96] (228), [98] (259), [99] (101), [104] (331), [105] (304), [109] (256), [111] (303), [112] (86), [113] (147), [114] (85), [115] (289), [116] (290), [117] (277), [126] (279), [127] (241), [131] (189), [134] (151), [175] (283), [176] (73), [177] (55), [189] (64), [191] (256), [195] (208ff), [206] (32f), [208] (70), [209] (147f), [237] (262), [258] (67), [259] (99), [261] (115f), [262] (105), [285] (278), [286] (151), [287] (145), [324] (103), [325] (93), [326] (95), [327] (289), [328] (62), [335] (209f), [336] (27), [364] (60), [385] (212), [386] (228), [387] (101f), [391] (236), [394] (147), [396] (104), [397] (248), [400] (102), [402] (296), [403] (109), [405] (47), [410] (77), [411] (288), [412] (317), [424-27] (60ff), [428] (151), [429] (323f), [430] (161), [438] (219), [439] (90), [444] (282), [446] (32), [449] (84), [456] (146), [459] (145), [460] (151), [461] (177), [463] (103), [464] (90), [465] (289), [507] (166); Esquire for August 1984: [70], [158], [297], [301-05], and [476] (55ff) (Richard Yates); [273], [296-98], and [422] (70, 72, 74) (E.L. Doctorow); [299-300] (82) (Robert Stone); (57); Sometimes a Great Notion (Ken Kesey): [71] (117), [72] (4), [80] (315), [83] (316), [85] (231), [90] (123), [91] (61), [108] (222), [130] (109). [168] (118), [260] (366), [266] (89), [274] (395), [306] (310), [331] (209), [416] (156), [420a] (248). [434] (245), [435] (248), [453] (113), [477] (228), [479] (157), [480] (345), [484] (302ff), [485] (344), [487] (396); My Fair Lady (Rogers and Hammerstein), [73]; Short Essays: [77] (132), [455] and [544] (243f), [486](90), [543] (153), [551]; Cross Creek (Marjorie Kinnon Rawlins): [79] (74), [345] (89), [365] (147), [516-517] (102), [518] (87); Webster’s Random House Dictionary (1991): [81] (1208), [82] (1259); Yeomen of the Guard (Gilbert & Sullivan): [88]; Winnie the Pooh (A.A. Milne): [100]; Music for Chameleons (Truman Capote): [102] and [440] (23); [106] (17), [135] (183f), [136a] (173), [137] (183), [139] (18), [141] (44), [142] (48), [148] (181), [151] (49), [152] (201), [153] (32), [173] (45), [202-03] (25), [218] (44), [225] (190), [226] (151f), [227-28] (28f), [229] (22), [230] (160), [267] (30f), [268] (241), [307] (81), [319] (17), [329] (20), [367] (155); [383] (231), [393] (28), [404] (14), [451] (192), [475] (232), [478] (243), [483] (189), [545] (225f), [547] (14), [550] (81); Psychology Today for April 1984: [107] (74), [572-73], and for June 1983: [270] (20); Go! (John Clellan Holmes): [182] (121f); First Loves (Philip Jayretnam) [200] (7), [509] (185); Recent Songs (Leonard Cohen): [205]; Tony Curtis Tan (Wan King Cheong): [217]; Gainesville Sun: [232]; Idylls of the King (Tennyson): [249];Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain): [269] (7f); The Beats (ed. Honan Park): [322]; Comprehensive Grammar of English (Quirk et al. 1985): [329] (367), [330] (428), [356] (90), [361] (649), [407] (318), [418] (1466), 447? 448? 449? [748-49] (1121f); Grammar of Contemporary English (Quirk et al. 1972): [408] (19), [530-32] (621f) Cairo University and the Making of Modern Egypt (D. Reid 1990): [504] (37), [549] (35, quoting Taha Husayn), [564] (19); [512] Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Hunter S. Thompson): [513]; Pirx the Pilot (Stans½aw Lem): [522-29] (10ff), [535-36] (14ff), [537-39] (34), [538] (46), [539] (46), [546] (68), [548] (88); Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos (Dennis Overbye): [534] (402); The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Wolfe): [540-541] (98f); Language and Public Policy (Rank ed.): [554] (28).

Acknowledgements

Foreword

For a long time, I have sensed a pressing need to work out the ‘foundations’ of the transdisciplinary science of text and discourse that has been crystallizing over the years since I completed the volume Text, Discourse, and Process in early 1979. What then still looked like a surveyable frontier is now a densely populated research terrain represented in a thicket of new articles, books, journals, and conference proceedings. I am of course deeply gratified by this enormous investment of scientific and humanistic talent in a new field. But urgent questions persist. In what sense is it a field? Why and how has the field taken shape and attracted so many redoubtable participants? Where is it going? What might be its foundational concepts, terms, and principles? What is its ‘ecological validity’ — its human relevance and social usefulness in a ‘modernized’ world where people and events are increasingly interconnected and steadily fewer people understand how?

My own undertaking in this new volume has been twofold. First, I have tried to assemble previous or current trends in the respective disciplines and the insights they have projected. Second, I have tried to propose an integrative framework of consistent terms and principles for organizing these trends and for designing models that can interface theory with practice, engage with data and issues, and suggest agendas for further research. As in my previous volumes, I have sought to navigate between specific and general, between concrete and abstract, between reporting and synthesizing; but the scope has widened, and the stakes are higher this time around. Indeed, the progress of this transdisciplinary science has been forcefully driven by a rising sensitivity to the institutions of our societies and their responsibilities, especially in science and education. The small and sparse issues have been exhausted; the large and rich ones will demand our best efforts at the threshold of an explosive new century.

RdB

Universidade Federal do Pará

Belêm, Brazil

January 1996