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

Smith, Carlota S.

ISBN 10: 0521120624 / ISBN 13: 9780521120623

Published by Cambridge University Press, 2009

In. Seller Inventory # ria9780521120623_new

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.

About the Author: Carlota S. Smith is Centennial Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas. She is the author of The Parameter of Aspect (second edition, 1997). Her current research is at the interface of syntax, semantics and pragmatics, especially in texts.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Modes of Discourse: The Local Structure of ...
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication Date: 2009
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New