UNIT 31

TEXT AND CONTEXT:

TYPES OF TEXT:
CRITERIA FOR TEXTUAL CLASSIFICATION.
REGISTER.

In this unit we are going to look at the areas of text and context. This will include
an examination of the various ways that exist for the classification of texts,
and finally we will look at register, paying attention to both the closed and the
open classes.
Before we start, let us quickly look at what we mean by text. Basically, text can be
taken to mean a stretch of language that can form the process of communication.
This can be made either through a linear pattern of sound waves, otherwise
known as speech, or a linear sequence of marks on paper, writing. This
communication must make coherent sense in the context of its use. The linguistic
form is important, but it is not itself sufficient to give a stretch of language the
status of a text. For example, a road sign reading:
No Overtaking
is an adequate text though comprising only a short noun phrase. It is understood
as a statement, paraphraseable as something like: it is dangerous to overtake
here. By contrast, the same sign placed out of context, for example, away from a
road, is not an adequate text because although we can recognise the structure
and understand the words, the phrase can communicate nothing to us as we pass
by and is therefore meaningless. This is the key to understanding the text. In
order for the communication to work, it has to be placed in context. This will form
the basis for this unit.
We will begin by looking at text and context in greater detail.
2. TEXT AND CONTEXT
As we showed in the introduction, text isnt simply about a system of codes and
messages placed in sentences, its about meanings. However, for these meanings
to have any value, they need to be received by someone who understands them.
in order for the communication to be successful, the message that is received by
the addressee has to be identical to that which is sent by the addresser. However,
this in itself is no guarantee for success. The sender should also take care over
how he sends the message. It should, in the words of Grice, be:
TRUE, BRIEF, RELEVANT AND CLEAR.
Not only that, but, as we said before, the text has to be received within its correct
context if it is to be understood properly. The communication is only conceptually
successful if it is conceptually relevant.
The Context of a text takes into account the intention of the meaning and how
that intention is to be interpreted by someone. This is deeply affected by the
environment in which the message is delivered, as well as the previous or
assumed knowledge of the receiver. In many conversations, both the listener and
the speaker may share the same knowledge about the subject. Look at the
following example:

Mary and John are getting married.

Really? I thought that they had broken up.
Here, the first speaker is providing the listener with some new information about
mutual friends. In this case, within the context, it is assumed that the listener is
aware of the identities of both John and Mary. However, her own view of the
context is different as she believed that they were no longer a couple. This can be
taken to be examples of what is known as explicit and implicit context.
The explicit context refers to the expression itself (oral or written), and to the
verbal and non verbal elements (the latter being concerned with mime,
gestures etc.).
The implicit context is related to the ideas, conventions and knowledge that is
shared by the participants in the conversation. To understand this better, imagine
that the speaker had said Mary and John are getting married to someone who had
never heard of either Mary or John. The lack of implicit context would have made
the explicit context meaningless and the communication would have failed.