Modes of Discourse: The Local Structure of Texts (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics, Series Number 103)

Smith, Carlota S.

ISBN 10: 0521781698 / ISBN 13: 9780521781695

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2003

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Modes of Discourse: The Local Structure of ...

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Publication Date: 2003

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Acceptable

About this title

Synopsis:

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. These are realized at the level of the passage, and cut across genre lines. Smith shows that the modes, intuitively recognizable as distinct, have linguistic correlates that differentiate them. She analyzes the properties that distinguish each mode, focusing on grammatical rather than lexical information. The book also examines linguistically based features that appear in passages of all five modes: topic and focus, variation in syntactic structure, and subjectivity, or point of view. Operating at the interface of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, the book will appeal to researchers and graduate students in linguistics, stylistics and rhetoric.

Book Description:

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. She introduces the key idea of the 'Discourse Mode', identifying five modes and analyzing the properties that distinguish each mode.