Discourse Analysis in D. Lodge's Thinks

University of Mannheim

Discourse Analysis in D. Lodge′s Thinks

by

 Jochen Breunig

Table of Contents

Introduction

I. Matter of Analysis

Beginning of David Lodge′s Novel Thinks

II. Textuality

a.) Definition of "Text
b.) Seven Criteria of Textuality

III. Reference

a.) Deixis
b.) Pronouns
c.) Connotation & Denotation

IV. Text Structure & Syntax

a.) Thematic Progression
b.) Syntactic Peculiarities

V. Text Type

Definition of the Text Type

Concluding Remarks

Bibliography

Introduction

Text linguistic science, respectively discourse analysis, is a rather young linguistic discipline, which was mainly established in the 1960s and 70s. It mainly emerged from three linguistic movements: rhetoric, stylistics and structural analysis of narratives.

Discourse analysis tries to figure out specific schemes which are relevant to define a chain of words as a text. As there have always been different definitions of what a text is it is absolutely necessary in this paper which definition is actually used. However, it has to be said that there is still no one and only valid definition of what a text is.
Thus, the beginning of the paper deals with several theoretical subjects and explains the term "text" that is relevant for the following analysis. Besides, it describes which criteria have to be fulfilled in order to achieve textuality.

In the course of the analysis the paper applies the introduced text theory to an excerpt of David Lodge′s novel Thinks… which was published in 2001. The excerpt′s textuality is examined by illustrating how far the seven criteria of textuality are fulfilled. This novel was chosen because it combines many different ways of telling. The analyzed extract, for example, is a stream of consciousness and contains many peculiarities. Therefore, it is very interesting to figure out if the passage can be defined as a text without problems.

Furthermore, this paper analyzes the relevant peculiarities in the text′s structure and in its syntax. In the course of this analysis, again, several necessary theoretical aspects are explained. Furthermore, the text type is named.

As there are no peculiarities in the text′s sound structure and as sign theory does not play a role these two points are not taken into consideration. At the end some concluding remarks sum up the text analysis′s most important results.

I. Matter of Analysis

Beginning of David Lodge′s Novel Thinks…

The analyzed text passage is an extract of David Lodge′s last novel Thinks… , which was published by Secker and Warburg in 2001. The novel contains several different narrative perspectives. The passage which is to be analyzed is an interior monologue, a so-called stream of consciousness in the first-person point of view:

One, two, three, testing, testing … recorder working OK… Olympus Pearlcorder, bought it at Heathrow in the dutyfree on my way to … where? Can’ t remember, doesn’ t matter … The object of the exercise being to record as accurately as possible the thoughts that are passing through my head at this moment in time, which is, let’ s see … 10.13 a.m. on Sunday the 23rd of Febru – San Diego! I bought it on my way to that conference in … Isabel Hotchkiss. Of course, San Diego, ‘Vision and the Brain’ . Late eighties. Isabel Hotchkiss. I tested the range of the condenser mike … yes … Where was I? But that’ s the point, I’m not anywhere, I haven’ t made a decision to think about anything specific, the object of the exercise being simply to record the random thoughts, if anything can be random, the random thoughts passing through a man’ s head, all right, my head, at a randomly chosen time and place … […]

Looking at the text superficially it becomes clear that there are some peculiarities. For example, there are many jumps from one idea to the other which is emphasized by using three dots behind each other (… ).

Without reading the text more aware the recipient will not be able to understand the sentences’ meaning. Thus, the reader is forced to exert his mind in order to arrange the words. Hence, the physical appearance of the words can influence the recipient in his judgment. Obviously, there are several characteristics which turn a chain of sentences into a text. Consequently, there are both interior and exterior aspects that are of importance for achieving textuality.

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