Dialogue in and between Different Cultures - International ...

Contrastive Analysis of English and Polish Military Texts 89
− Sample 2 - corresponding passages of STANAG 2830, titled Material
Handling Aids;
− Sample 3 - chapter 4 “Medical and veterinary support” of the logistics manual
Tactical rear (1973);
− Sample 4 - chapter 8 “Medical support” of Land Forces Logistic Doctrine
(ALP-9);
− Sample 5 - chapter 3 of Land Forces Logistic Doctrine discussing logistics
planning;
− Sample 6 - chapter 2 “General characteristics of logistic support planning” of
the Polish manual Brigade and division logistic support command in defense
and attack (1996).
To conduct a contrastive analysis of Polish and NATO logistics texts, I decided to
apply some elements of de Beaugrande and Dressler’s (1997, after Duszak
1998:122) interactive model of text and discourse processing. Such a discourse
research model underlies the practice which generates communicative phenomena
rather than its end-products only. What is important, it introduces possible
strategies rather than strict rules. That approach also gives primary significance to
the interactive character of human patterns of behaviour in society. Last but not
least, this textual research methodology stresses the importance of context for the
production of social languages which are characteristic of some social groups, or
conventionalized, recurrent situations. Its processing domains are enumerated
below with a short description.
Goal-planning – that stage is most pragmatic of all; this is a stage of problem
solving, expressing intentions, seeking solutions, analyzing extra linguistic
context, roles of discourse participants, and selecting text strategies.
Topicalizing – de Beaugrande and Dressler’s (1997) topicalization and
concept-elaboration levels of discourse analysis draw researchers’ attention to the
ways in which information is organized. They point to the techniques which
writers use to organize their message. In my opinion, topicalizing corresponds to
what Trimble (1985) labels Level C of rhetorical analysis where a researcher
looks for the specific rhetorical functions in the total discourse. Those functions
are usually revealed in the introductory section of a given piece of writing. In
other words, a rhetorical function is defined as a name for what the discourse unit
under examination tries to achieve. During such an oriented analysis, researchers
should look for descriptions, definitions, classifications, and instructions; in
addition, they should examine visual-verbal relationships.
Concept-elaborating – the idea of concept-elaboration refers to Trimble’s
Level D where specific rhetorical techniques are discussed. Rhetorical techniques
are elements that bind together the information in a given piece of text. Generally,
at this level two subsections can be discriminated. These are orders or natural
patterns which are frameworks determined by the nature of the material which
they present, e.g. time order, space order, cause and result order. On the other
hand, there are logical patterns which are patterns deliberately chosen by writers