Text Analysis
This course investigates
proposed universals of text structure in languages of the world. Characteristic
structural units contribute to the meaning of text at different levels:
individual words, choices in syntactic forms, and indicators of larger text-level
units (paragraphs, rhetorical moves, story incidents) as they are used in
different genres of text. The focus of this course will be on monologue texts,
and in particular on written narratives.
Textbook
The
textbook for this course is:
Longacre, Robert E. 1996. The Grammar of
Discourse, 2nd edition. NY: Plenum.
Additional readings from other
sources will be consulted in the course of study from time to time.
Course
Assumptions, Goals, and Organization
As a means of our investigation
we will read a major portion of the textbook and a number of other works. As
indicated in the prerequisites for this course, it is expected that students
have a solid foundation in syntax. Each student will select a text to analyze
throughout the semester. The text may be representative of any discourse genre
(although narrative is recommended), and may be in any language in which the
student is competent (a practical criterion may be that the student can provide
an appropriate English gloss for the words in the text, perhaps with some help
from a dictionary). As the semester progresses, each student will analyze the
text in question for each topic assigned and share their findings in a brief
oral report and short (2-3 pages) written report. Finally, each student will
write a term paper (suggested length: 12-15 pages) analyzing in depth one topic
that is of particular interest with regard to the text. Grading will be
determined as follows:
| Attendance, oral presentations, and class participation | 10% |
| Written reports (4 reports, 2-3 pages each) [15% each] | 60% |
| Term paper (12-15 pages) | 30% |