A Sample Analysis of Written Discourse
—through the analysis of larger patterns and cohesive ties
For discourse analysis, we usually analyze two main categories of discourse, the spoken discourse and written discourse. When we analyze a piece of spoken discourse, we will exam the identify of the speaker, the purpose of the utterance, the perlocutionary effect of the utterance, and the context of the utterance. Elements like intonation, tone, and genre of the utterance also are included in the analysis. We can get a close look by the speaking mode presented by Dell Hymes's SPEAKING model. The SPEAKING model is a method to analyze a piece of utterance, in which we, through the analysis of Setting and Scene, Participants, Ends (Purposes,
etc. The solution gives response to the problem. The Evaluation evaluates the response to the problem.
These three patterns are fully exploited by writers to achieve effective essays. Frequently, these three form are combined, making variations of these forms. The identification of the organizing pattern of the text can facilitate the interpretation of text. With certain knowledge of the patterns, the ESL learners can well construct their own writing in second language. The analysis of the text patterns not only shows the macro-structure of the organization of the texts, but also elaborates the transition or progression of the topic of written discourse.
To make a text coherent, macro-structure is only one crucial factor, lexical relationships is another important element in the organization of the text. According to Halliday and Hasan, a text is "a unit of language in use". What distinguishes a text from a non-text is its "texture." The texture is provided by the cohesive relations that exist between certain linguistic features that are present in the passage and can be identified as contributing to its total unity. In other words, the texture of a text is formed by the cohesive ties that it contains. The cohesive relationship which can be formally established within a text, providing cohesive “ties” which bind a text together, is classified by Halliday&Hasan into five main types: reference, substitution, ellipsis, conjunction and lexical relationships.
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