Text Properties and Linguistic Elements
Text Properties
Adaptation: Adaptation refers to ownership, selection, and linguistic properties most appropriate to the communication situation. It’s how well the text fits the specific context.
Consistency: Consistency is the property that allows a text to be interpreted as a single unit of information, where all elements relate to each other to create a global meaning. For a text to be consistent, it must also be appropriate for the situation and have cohesive elements.
Cohesion: Cohesion is the property by which the units of a text are related to each other. This relationship is established between sentences and the extralinguistic situation. There are two main types of cohesion:
- Reference: One element refers to another, replacing it through grammatical processes.
- Connection: Two ideas are related through discourse markers or connectors.
Text Types
In addition to an overall structure, texts also tend to have a predetermined structure. This is the typical structure that a particular text presents. Textual types identify different kinds of texts because they follow pre-organized schemes, which in turn comprise different kinds of texts, called speech genres or textual genres. Text types help both the sender and receiver in the production and comprehension of the text because they adhere to a prior scheme that both parties are familiar with. Every text must have a global theme or idea and an overall structure of content to be understood. It must necessarily adapt to a particular type.
Statements
A statement is the smallest unit of communication with complete meaning. It is independent because it is delimited by two pauses and has its own intonation. Statements can be either sentences or non-sentential utterances. A sentence is a type of statement that will be discussed in the next section. Non-sentential statements have meaning and intonation but lack a verb phrase.
Degrees of Adjectives
Positive: Expresses the quality of the adjective without comparison. Comparative: Compares the quality with other beings. This can be done in three ways:
- Equality: Your gift is *just as* nice.
- Superiority: Your father is *more* generous than mine.
- Inferiority: The engine has *less* horsepower than our own.
Superlative: Expresses the quality of the adjective to the maximum degree.
- Absolute: Uses words like “very,” “extremely,” or suffixes like “-issimo/a,” “-errimo/a,” or prefixes like “super-,” “extra-,” “super-duper…”
- Relative: Uses constructions like “(the) most + adjective + of” or “(the) least + adjective + of.”
Classes of Adjectives
Specifying Adjectives: These adjectives differentiate; they express a quality of the object designated by the noun to distinguish it from others.
Explanatory Adjectives: These adjectives merely highlight a known quality.
Classes of Determinants
Definite articles: the, (el, la, los, las in Spanish). Indefinite articles: a, an, some, (un, una, unos, unas in Spanish). Demonstratives: this, that, these, those, (este, ese, aquel… in Spanish). Possessives: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their, (mi, tu, su, nuestro… in Spanish). Indefinites: a lot, so, no, little, much, indeed, another, well, (mucho, tanto, ningún, poco… in Spanish). Numerals: one/1, two/2, three/3, four/4, first/1st, second/2nd, (uno, dos, tres, primero, segundo… in Spanish). Interrogative and exclamatory: what, which, how many, (qué, cuál/es, cuánto/a/s in Spanish).
Planned Oral Communication
Although spontaneous oral texts like conversations exist, society increasingly demands competence in all areas of oral communication. Planned oral texts are becoming increasingly important, especially in professional fields. Planned oral texts require advance preparation. They can be singular, involving a single person (e.g., a lecture), or involve multiple people (e.g., a debate or discussion).
Planned Singular Oral Forms of Communication
In their various forms, singular oral texts are communicative acts in which a person presents, through spoken language and in an orderly manner, ideas or knowledge about a topic to inform or convince recipients. Different forms of singular oral texts include lectures, speeches, presentations, sermons, meetings, chats, and reports.