LINGUIST List 14.630

Tue Mar 4 2003

Books: Ling Theories/Discourse Analysis: Smith

Editor for this issue: Dina Kapetangianni <dinalinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. jreid, Modes of Discourse: Smith

			
Title: Modes of Discourse
Subtitle: The Local Structure of Texts
Series Title: Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 103
			
Publication Year: 2003
			
Publisher: Cambridge University Press 
 http://www.cup.org		 
			
Book URL: http://us.cambridge.org/linguistics
			
 
Author: Carolota S. Smith, University of Texas, Austin, TX 
				

Hardback: ISBN: 0521781698, Pages: 334, Price: $70.00
			
Abstract:

In studying discourse, the problem for the linguist is to find a
fruitful level of analysis. Carlota Smith offers a new approach with
this study of discourse passages, units of several sentences or
more. She introduces the key idea of the "Discourse Mode", identifying
five modes: Narrative, Description, Report, Information,
Argument. Smith analyzes the properties that distinguish each mode,
focusing on grammatical rather than lexical information. The book also
examines presentational matters: topic and focus; variation in
syntactic structure; and subjectivity, or point of view.

Introduction; 
PART I. Discourse Structure: 1. Introduction to the
Discourse Modes; 2. Discourse Modes; 3. Text Representation and
Understanding;

PART II. Linguistic Analysis of the Discourse Modes: 4. Aspectual
Information: the Entities Introduced in Discourse; 5. Temporal and
Spatial Progression; 6. Referring Expressions in Discourse;

PART III. Surface Presentational Factors: Introduction to PART III;
7. Subjectivity in Texts; 8. The Contribution of Surface Presentation;
9. Non-Canonical Structures and Presentation;

PART IV. Discourse Modes and Their Context: 10. Information in Text
Passages; 11. Discourse Structure and Discourse Modes; 
Appendix A: The Texts; 
Appendix B: Glossary

Lingfield(s): Linguistic Theories, Discourse Analysis
			 
Written In: English (Language Code: ENG)