Примењена лингвистика у част Ранку Бугарском - Језик у

JEZIK U UPOTREBI / LANGUAGE IN USE
Chomsky relied on competence (i.e. the knowledge of language rules and ideally
constructed sentences) while neglecting performance (i.e. actual language use).
This hindered proper analysis of meaning, since clauses and sentences get their
full meaning in a given context, be it physical or textual. This is where discourse
analysis and pragmatics jump in.
Let us consider the following sentence:
You are going out.
If seen strictly from the formalistic approach, we can say that this sentence
is a statement or a declarative sentence and that is how TG grammar would probably
treat it. However, if put in a certain context, this sentence can be interpreted
as (a) statement, (b) command, or (c) question, with the proper intonation. This
actually shows the distinction between form and function, which is crucial in
discourse. The sentence above is a statement according to form, but it can have
three different functions. In such a manner, discourse analysis and pragmatics
overcome the narrow approach of TG grammar and deal with the meaning, taking
context into account. Here we discuss the sentence level, but from the discourse
point of view, the example above proves that discourse covers the levels below as
well. If we add that intonation is important in defining the meaning, we can see
that discourse analysis goes all the way down the language structure hierarchy.
At the clause level, we can also speak about discourse. The example below
will provide an illustration (Coulthard, 1985: 5):
Buyer: Have you a bed to sell?
Seller: I’ve got one but it’s rather expensive.
Buyer: Let me have a look at it then.
Seller: Certainly.
This short conversation (exchange) consists of four statements (moves) at
the discourse level, or four sentences at the grammar level. The first one is a question
and it overlaps with the clause. The second sentence has two clauses, the
first one has the meaning of confirmation (I’ve got one), the other (but it’s rather
expensive) is a comment or an explanation referring to the product. Thus, the second
sentence consists of two acts, speaking from the discourse point of view. The
third sentence here is a clause again, but in terms of discourse it carries the meaning
of asking for permission, rather then a command, which might be concluded
if it is taken out from the context. The fourth one contains only an adverb aimed
at confirming or giving permission. This shows that we cannot define discourse
without looking at smaller units that make it up.
173