Renkema. J.,&C. Schubert (2018). Introduction to discourse studies.
Chapter 4 – Discourse Classification
4.2 Typologies of discourse
Discourse has many different functions (variety), and therefore many different forms as well. There
are three main discourse types, given as three functions of language in the Organon model (Bühler).
Organon model (accentuated Function Type
aspect)
Symbol Information Informative discourse
Symptom Expression Narrative discourse
Signal Persuasion Argumentative discourse
Table 1. The Organon model as a starting point
However, there are some objections for this model.
o It is too simple to serve as a basic scheme for covering all the varieties of discourse.
o The functions seldom occur in their pure forms.
o Many more functions are possible.
Roman Jakobson distinguished six functions than can also occur in combination*.
Function Meaning
1.Referential (context) The reference to something in the world, like the
symbol aspect.
2.Emotive/expressive (addresser) The attitude of the addresser, like the symptom aspect.
3.Conative (addressee) The orientation towards the addressee, like the signal
aspect.
4.Poetic (message) Language used in focus on the message itself, with
poetry as its purest form.
5.Phatic communion (channel/contact) Languages used for checking the channel or making
contact.
6.Metalingual/glossing (code (the actual Language focused on the code itself.
text))
Table 2. Functions according to Jakobson
* A message is sent from the addresser to the addressee, which refers to something in the world (context), and
is transported using a code via a channel, which consists of a physical (contact) and
psychological (channel) connection.
One issue of discourse classification is the difference between discourse types and genres. The
named classifications constitute a limited number of categories that are highly generalized and
abstract (types), whereas genres form an open-ended list and are concrete and specific. One
discourse type can manifest itself in a variety of genres*.
* The narrative discourse has genres like the short story, fairy tale, biography, etc.
People have certain intuitions regarding discourse types and genres (suitability of a genre, change in
characteristics of discourse). A system of discourse classification has been made within which
discourse characteristics can be related to discourse types and genres.
1
,Werlich distinguishes five basic or ideal forms, related to specific sentence structures from
abstract grammatical forms to discourse types.
Basic form Subjective (writer’s perception) Objective (reader’s perception)
1.Descriptive Impressionistic description Technical description
2.Narrative Report News story
3.Expository Essay Definition, summary, explication,
text interpretation
4.Argumentative Comment Scientific argumentation
5.Instructive Instructions Directions, rules, regulations and
statutes
Table 3. Werlich's discourse typology (1982)
In Werlich’s opinion, the passive voice is a characteristic of objective presentation and the active
voice of subjective discourse types.
However, a point of discussion here is the statue of the five basic forms: the existence of innate
categorization possibilities is difficult to prove.
Biber relates the co-occurrence of linguistic features to communicative functions from lexical and
grammatical features to communicative functions. He distinguishes five dimensions, of which he
distinguished eight text prototypes.
Dimension Genres
1.Involved vs. informational production Interactive and affective vs. informative.
2.Narrative vs. non-narrative concerns Narrative vs. non-narrative.
3.Elaborated vs. situation-dependent reference Highly explicit context-independent vs. other
discourse types.
4.Overt expression of persuasion Persuasive.
5.Abstract vs. non-abstract Abstract and formal (passive voice).
Table 4. The five dimensions of Biber (1989)
However, these approaches have not been fully developed into a typology of all possible discourse
types.
4.3 Written language and spoken interaction
The term discourse is used for all forms of oral and written communication. Two factors explain the
difference between oral and written discourse (Wallace Chafe, 1982).
1. Writing takes longer than speaking.
Integration (use of e.g. subordinate conjunctions) in writing vs. fragmentation in
speaking.
2. Writers do not have contact with readers.
Detachment from the reading public vs. involvement in spoken interaction.
Furthermore, the difference can be described in terms of situation: spoken interaction is part of a
shared situation (verbal and non-verbal + quick reaction) in contrast to written discourse.
A, often overlooked, similarity between written and oral discourse is that both can anticipate
probable reactions (writing accordingly vs. processing an addressee’s reaction). The meaning of
words is not abstract, like described in dictionaries, but determined by the particular situation
(context) (Mikhail Bakhtin).
2
, Discourse should be viewed as inherently dialogic: written utterances are responses to other
utterances and it can be “multivoiced” (polyphony), e.g. a novel with quotations from different
persons.
4.4 Genre theory and analysis
The difficulties in describing discourse types led to another approach to genres, with focus on
discourse use in specific situations (Mikhail Bakhtin). Knowledge about the genre that needs to be
used in a particular situation is important and the use of genres depends on language users’
experience in interaction (genres as forms of social action): sociocultural context are constantly
changing, so genres adapt and change too genres are often highly specific and particular, in
contrast to discourse types.
“A genre is a class of communicative events with shared recognizable communicative purposes. These
purposes give rise to exploitable constraints concerning content and form.” – Swales (1990)
There are restrictions on content and form, given the shared purposes: the purpose dictates the
content, structure and style of the discourse*. However, these constraints are exploitable**, but the
constraints have to be learned before they can be exploited.
* E.g. positive vs. rejection letter after job interview.
** E.g. adding personal statements about the career opportunities of the rejected applicant.
4.5 Multimodality
The above mentioned functions, such as information, persuasion, etc., seldom occur in a pure form
and the channels which are used are also mixed, such as TV program that mixes news with
entertainment multimodality.
Just as with text, pictures are illustrated according to the given-new principle: given information is
presented first and new information later. Visual and verbal elements may be so closely intertwined
that the boundary between those becomes blurred*.
* For instance in visual poetry, in which the words are arranged on the age so as to form an image or ‘I love
(displayed as an heart) NY’ on T-shirts.
In discourse studies some analysis schemes have been presented for research into illustrated
discourse GeM model, in which GeM stands for genre and multimodality, to provide data on
different genres using combinations of text, layout, graphics, pictures and diagrams. Multimodal
documents are analysed on five levels of structure that define the possibilities for electronic or paper
documents.
Structure Definition
1.Content structure The raw data out of which the document is constructed.
2.Rhetorical structure The way the content is “argued”, the audience-focused relations
between content elements.
3.Layout structure The nature, appearance and positions of communicative elements
on paper.
4.Navigation structure The ways the intended mode(s) of consumption of the document
is/are supported.
5.Linguistic structure The structure of the language used to realize the layout elements.
Table 5. The GeM Model
This model can thus be used for analysing both textual and visual meaning.
3
Chapter 4 – Discourse Classification
4.2 Typologies of discourse
Discourse has many different functions (variety), and therefore many different forms as well. There
are three main discourse types, given as three functions of language in the Organon model (Bühler).
Organon model (accentuated Function Type
aspect)
Symbol Information Informative discourse
Symptom Expression Narrative discourse
Signal Persuasion Argumentative discourse
Table 1. The Organon model as a starting point
However, there are some objections for this model.
o It is too simple to serve as a basic scheme for covering all the varieties of discourse.
o The functions seldom occur in their pure forms.
o Many more functions are possible.
Roman Jakobson distinguished six functions than can also occur in combination*.
Function Meaning
1.Referential (context) The reference to something in the world, like the
symbol aspect.
2.Emotive/expressive (addresser) The attitude of the addresser, like the symptom aspect.
3.Conative (addressee) The orientation towards the addressee, like the signal
aspect.
4.Poetic (message) Language used in focus on the message itself, with
poetry as its purest form.
5.Phatic communion (channel/contact) Languages used for checking the channel or making
contact.
6.Metalingual/glossing (code (the actual Language focused on the code itself.
text))
Table 2. Functions according to Jakobson
* A message is sent from the addresser to the addressee, which refers to something in the world (context), and
is transported using a code via a channel, which consists of a physical (contact) and
psychological (channel) connection.
One issue of discourse classification is the difference between discourse types and genres. The
named classifications constitute a limited number of categories that are highly generalized and
abstract (types), whereas genres form an open-ended list and are concrete and specific. One
discourse type can manifest itself in a variety of genres*.
* The narrative discourse has genres like the short story, fairy tale, biography, etc.
People have certain intuitions regarding discourse types and genres (suitability of a genre, change in
characteristics of discourse). A system of discourse classification has been made within which
discourse characteristics can be related to discourse types and genres.
1
,Werlich distinguishes five basic or ideal forms, related to specific sentence structures from
abstract grammatical forms to discourse types.
Basic form Subjective (writer’s perception) Objective (reader’s perception)
1.Descriptive Impressionistic description Technical description
2.Narrative Report News story
3.Expository Essay Definition, summary, explication,
text interpretation
4.Argumentative Comment Scientific argumentation
5.Instructive Instructions Directions, rules, regulations and
statutes
Table 3. Werlich's discourse typology (1982)
In Werlich’s opinion, the passive voice is a characteristic of objective presentation and the active
voice of subjective discourse types.
However, a point of discussion here is the statue of the five basic forms: the existence of innate
categorization possibilities is difficult to prove.
Biber relates the co-occurrence of linguistic features to communicative functions from lexical and
grammatical features to communicative functions. He distinguishes five dimensions, of which he
distinguished eight text prototypes.
Dimension Genres
1.Involved vs. informational production Interactive and affective vs. informative.
2.Narrative vs. non-narrative concerns Narrative vs. non-narrative.
3.Elaborated vs. situation-dependent reference Highly explicit context-independent vs. other
discourse types.
4.Overt expression of persuasion Persuasive.
5.Abstract vs. non-abstract Abstract and formal (passive voice).
Table 4. The five dimensions of Biber (1989)
However, these approaches have not been fully developed into a typology of all possible discourse
types.
4.3 Written language and spoken interaction
The term discourse is used for all forms of oral and written communication. Two factors explain the
difference between oral and written discourse (Wallace Chafe, 1982).
1. Writing takes longer than speaking.
Integration (use of e.g. subordinate conjunctions) in writing vs. fragmentation in
speaking.
2. Writers do not have contact with readers.
Detachment from the reading public vs. involvement in spoken interaction.
Furthermore, the difference can be described in terms of situation: spoken interaction is part of a
shared situation (verbal and non-verbal + quick reaction) in contrast to written discourse.
A, often overlooked, similarity between written and oral discourse is that both can anticipate
probable reactions (writing accordingly vs. processing an addressee’s reaction). The meaning of
words is not abstract, like described in dictionaries, but determined by the particular situation
(context) (Mikhail Bakhtin).
2
, Discourse should be viewed as inherently dialogic: written utterances are responses to other
utterances and it can be “multivoiced” (polyphony), e.g. a novel with quotations from different
persons.
4.4 Genre theory and analysis
The difficulties in describing discourse types led to another approach to genres, with focus on
discourse use in specific situations (Mikhail Bakhtin). Knowledge about the genre that needs to be
used in a particular situation is important and the use of genres depends on language users’
experience in interaction (genres as forms of social action): sociocultural context are constantly
changing, so genres adapt and change too genres are often highly specific and particular, in
contrast to discourse types.
“A genre is a class of communicative events with shared recognizable communicative purposes. These
purposes give rise to exploitable constraints concerning content and form.” – Swales (1990)
There are restrictions on content and form, given the shared purposes: the purpose dictates the
content, structure and style of the discourse*. However, these constraints are exploitable**, but the
constraints have to be learned before they can be exploited.
* E.g. positive vs. rejection letter after job interview.
** E.g. adding personal statements about the career opportunities of the rejected applicant.
4.5 Multimodality
The above mentioned functions, such as information, persuasion, etc., seldom occur in a pure form
and the channels which are used are also mixed, such as TV program that mixes news with
entertainment multimodality.
Just as with text, pictures are illustrated according to the given-new principle: given information is
presented first and new information later. Visual and verbal elements may be so closely intertwined
that the boundary between those becomes blurred*.
* For instance in visual poetry, in which the words are arranged on the age so as to form an image or ‘I love
(displayed as an heart) NY’ on T-shirts.
In discourse studies some analysis schemes have been presented for research into illustrated
discourse GeM model, in which GeM stands for genre and multimodality, to provide data on
different genres using combinations of text, layout, graphics, pictures and diagrams. Multimodal
documents are analysed on five levels of structure that define the possibilities for electronic or paper
documents.
Structure Definition
1.Content structure The raw data out of which the document is constructed.
2.Rhetorical structure The way the content is “argued”, the audience-focused relations
between content elements.
3.Layout structure The nature, appearance and positions of communicative elements
on paper.
4.Navigation structure The ways the intended mode(s) of consumption of the document
is/are supported.
5.Linguistic structure The structure of the language used to realize the layout elements.
Table 5. The GeM Model
This model can thus be used for analysing both textual and visual meaning.
3
