Academic literature on the topic 'Grammar and text'

Resumo: Esta dissertação trata da inter-relação entre o estudo da gramática e o estudo do texto como entidade comunicativa. Nossa experiência com o ensino de análise de texto no terceiro grau tem demonstrado que o estudo do texto baseado na gramática tradicional não se integra com as abordagens funcionais de compreensão de texto, ou seja, o estudo da gramática nos moldes tradicionais não engendra a habilidade de compreensão e produção de texto. Acredita-se que este tipo de incongruência leva o aluno a pensar que o estudo da gramática é um aspecto distinto do da língua, não integrada ao texto como unidade de comunicação. Considerando este contexto, decidimos revisar a Lingüística Sistêmica. A preferência por esta teoria deve-se ao fato de que ela é uma teoria de língua em uso, como tal aborda o texto como unidade básica de comunicação e descreve o componente lingüístico à luz do que acontece no texto. A revisão da Lingüística Sistêmica, visa à realização de três objetivos: i) verificar como a Lingüística Sistêmica descreve o componente lingüístico como um todo, isto é, quais são os níveis do componente lingüístico; ii) verificar de forma mais detalhada como a Lingüística Sistêmica descreve o componente gramatical; iii) à luz da Lingüística Sistêmica, ressaltar os 'porquês' da incompatibilidade entre o estudo da gramática e as abordagens funcionais de compreensão de texto, e explicar as vantagens de se usar uma gramática funcional como base para compreensão de texto. Esses três objetivos determinam a organização do trabalho que será sub-dividido em três partes: i) revisão da descrição do componente lingüístico como um todo; ii) revisão do componente gramatical e aplicação da gramática à análise de três textos; iii) com base na descrição sistêmica da língua, abordagem sobre os aspectos lingüísticos que explicam os 'porquês' da incompatibilidade entre o estudo da gramática e as abordagens funcionais de texto, e explicação das características lingüísticas que fazem a gramática funcional tornar-se base eficiente para a análise de texto. Através da compreensão da Lingüística Sistêmica foi possível perceber e explicitar porque o estudo da gramática pode muitas vezes ser incompatível com as abordagens funcionais de texto. O fator principal é que a teoria de língua que subjaz na gramática tradicional é, muitas vezes, incompatível com as teorias de língua que subjazem nas abordagens funcionais de texto. Em termos gerais, a conclusão a que se chega é que a incompatibilidade entre a gramática tradicional e as abordagens funcionais de texto é conseqüência da incompatibilidade entre uma perspectiva especificamente sintagmática da gramática tradicional e a característica paradigmática do texto. Como se explica na última parte do trabalho, a perspectiva paradigmática orienta a configuração do sistema lingüístico como um todo, assim sendo, as abordagens que trabalham nos diferentes níveis lingüísticos e com diferentes unidades hierárquicas devem também seguir esta perspectiva, é a dimensão paradigmática que leva a descrição de um texto ao nível de seu conteúdo.

In real-life classification problems, prior information about the problem and expert knowledge about the domain are often used to obtain reliable and consistent solutions. This is especially true in fields where the data is ambiguous, such as text, in which the same words can be used in seemingly similar texts but have a different meaning. Many of the proposed approaches rely on the bag-of-words representation, which loses the information about the structure of the text. In this thesis, a literature review of related works in text classification is provided which includes an overview of text classification methods. In addition, detailed review of related works of two text classification domains; search engines and question answering systems. The core contribution is divided into three main parts. The first contribution is the Customizable Grammar Framework for user-intent text classification (CGF) which employs a formal grammar approach and exploits domain-related information in a new way to represent text as a series of syntactic categories forming syntactic patterns. In addition, the proposed framework has been applied to different domains which resulted in the second and third contribution. The second contribution is the Grammar-Based Framework for Query Classification (GQC) which helped in the improvement of query identification and classification. The third contribution is the Grammar-Based Framework for Question Categorization and Classification (GQCC) which helped in the enhancement of question identification and classification. In addition, using different machine learning algorithms the overall results show that the proposed approach outperforms previous ones in terms of classification performance for query and question classifications. Finally, comparison of the classification performance with the state-of-the-art approaches has been conducted, results validate that the proposed approach improves the classification accuracy and the identification of the different types of queries and questions.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2000.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The study investigates text properties of the consumer-advice magazine article in Xhosa within the framework of the genre-based approach to literacy and writing. The view of writing as component of the communication competence component in Grabe and Kaplan's (1996) theory of writing is assumed. It is argued that the analysis of (non-fictional) genres is a core ability in terms of the specifications of Curriculum 2005 for outcomes-based language teaching for writing skills. The term genre as it is used within genre theory refers to a (non-fictional) text which has an identifiable social (or cultural) purpose, an identifiable form (including beginning, middle and end) and specific constrains on the possible deviations allowed in its form. This study will examine seven BONA magazine articles to establish what identifiable generic properties can be attributed to these genretexts. The cognitive move structure of these magazine articles on consumer advice will be analysed to determine whether a typical move structure occurs for this genre. The text-linguistic properties of the various magazine articles will be investigated invoking Grabe and Kaplan's model of text-structure. In particular, properties like pronominal reference conjunctive devices, which contribute to text coherence and cohesion will be considered as well as lexical choices as a reflection of communicative purpose. Finally, the study will briefly address the issue of the significance of the genre-text knowledge underlying writing skills as the relevant kind of knowledge to be developed in terms of the specifications of outcomes-based language teaching in Curriculum 2005. The kind of analytic skills exemplified in the examination of the Xhosa magazine articles are therefore necessitated for accomplishing the outcomes for writing. The nationale for developing such analytic abilities with respect to writing skills is to empower learners to be competent writers in their future career lives.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die teks-struktuur eienskappe van die verbruikers-advies tydskrifartikel in Xhosa binne die raamwerk van die genre-gebaseerde benadering tot geletterdheid en skryfvaardigheid. Die beskouing van skryfvaardigheid as 'n komponent van die kommunikasievaardigheid komponent in Grabe en Kaplan (1996) se teorie van skryfvaardigheid word aanvaar. Daar word geargumenteer dat die analise van nie-fiksie (of nie-literêre) genres 'n kemvermoë is in terme van die spesifikasies van Kurrikulum 2005 vir uitkoms-gebaseerde taalonderrig van skryfvaardigheid. Die terme genre, soos dit gebruik word in genre-teorie verwys na 'n (nie-fiksie) teks met 'n identifiseerbare sosiale, kommunikatiewe of kulturele doelstelling, 'n identifiseerbare vorm (insluitende 'n begin, middel en einde) en spesifieke beperkings rakende die toelaatbare afwykings in vorm. Die studie sal sewe BONA tydskrifartikels ondersoek om te bepaal watter identifiseerbare eienskappe toegeskryf kan word aan hierdié genre-tekste. Die kognitiewe skuif-struktuur van hierdie tydskrifartikels oor verbruikersadvies salontleed word om te bepaal watter tipiese skuif-struktuur voorkom vir hierdie genre. Die teks-linguistiese eienskappe van die verskillende tydskrifartikels salondersoek word deur die model van Grabe en Kaplan te gebruik. In die besonder, eienskappe soos voornaamwoordelike verwysing, voegwoord-meganismes wat bydra tot tekskoherensie en kohesie salondersoek word, asook leksikale (woord) keuses as 'n refleksie van die skrywer se kommunikatiewe doelstelling. Laastens, sal die studie kortliks vraagstukke ondersoek rakende die belang van die genreteks kennis wat onderliggend is aan skryfvaardigheid as die relevante soort kennis wat ontwikkel moet word in terme van die spesifikasies van uitkoms-gebaseerde taalonderrig in Kurrikulum 2005. Die soort analitiese vaardighede wat na vore kom in die ondersoek van die Xhosa tydskrifartikels word genoodsaak ten einde die uitkomste vir skryfvaardigheid te bereik. Die motivering vir die ontwikkeling van sodanige analitiese vermoëns ten opsigte van skryfvaardigheid is om leerders te bemagtig om 'n goeie skryfvaardigheid te hê in hulle toekomstige beroepe.<br>ISICATSHULWA ISIXHOSA: Esi sifundo sinika sikwabonisa ngokupheleleyo ukuba nabani na obhalayo rnakacacelwe ukuba ubhalela isizwe, ngoko ke rnakabe neenjonge. Makaqiqe akucingisise oko akukhethele ukutyebisela uluntu ngako. Ibonisiwe imigaqo elandelwa ziingcali zaphesheya nezimvo zazo ngobhalo lwesicatshulwa kwaneengxaki abathe bahlangana nazo. Esi sicatshulwa sigxininise kwirnigaqo ernayi landelwe yikharikyularn equlunqwe yalungiselelwa izikolo. Kwikharikyulam kuboniswa ukuba xa kufundiswa ukubhala urnfundi obhalayo, utitshala obhalayo, isikolo, izixhobo zokufundisa kwaneendlela zokufundisa zibaluleke ngokufanayo nangokulinganayo. Kaloku olu hlobo lwesilabhasi lujolise kwiziqhamo. Indlela zokubhala zinikiwe kubekwa umnwe kwindlela apho urnbhali abhalela ukuxela into ethile phofu ezarna ukuqweqwedisela iingqondo zabantu kurnba othile. Iintlobo zokubhaliweyo nazo ziphononongiwe kwaze kwaqononondiswa kuleyo urnntu abhalela ukugqithisa ulwazi ngento ethile. Okubalulekileyo kokokuba lowo ubhalayornakakhethe okunorndla yaye kube serngangathweni. Izicatshulwa ezichongiweyo apha kwesi sifundo zihlonyulwe kwirnagazini yesiXhosa iBona. Zonke zichazwe gabalala phaya kwisahluko sesine, izizicatshulwa ezingeso labathengi. Kweli liso labathengi kucetyiswa kufundiswa abathengi ngeendlela zokuqoqosha ngernpurnelelo njengoko arnaxabiso enyuka umhla nezolo. Incwadi ebhalwe nguGrabe noKaplan isibonisa indlela erna ilandelwe xa ufundisa umntwana ukubhala. Bagxininise kwiiphararnitha: ngubani obhala ntoni, ebhalela bani, enayiphi injongo, ngoba, nini, phi, njani. Ezi phararnitha zisetyenzisiwe ukuphengulula nokuhlalutya ezi ziqwengana zikhethwe kwirnagazini iBona. Esi sifundo sigxininisa kwicala losetyenziso - lwirni kulo rnzekelo. Esi sifundo siphinde saxoxa nzulu ngonxulumano olukhoyo phakathi kwezi ziqwengana zichongwe kwiBona ezingeso labathengi kunye neziqhamo ezisixhenxe ezidweliswe zacaciswa kuxwebhu lwe-OBE (Outcome-based Education) olulungiselelwe izikolo. Olu xwebhu lwe-OBE luzama lusikhanyisela ukuba umntwana xa ebhala isicatshulwa makazicwangcise ngokukuko izimvo zakhe. Ingaba uyakuqonda ekuva na oko kuqulathwe koko akubhalileyo. Umzekelo esiwunikwe ngokaBathia we 'moves' ezisixhenxe athi zinokuchongwa kokubhaliwe yo, nawo usetyenzisiwe ukuxovula isicatshulwa ngasinye. Kolo xovulo kufumaniseke ukuba zintandathu kuphela i'moves' ezichongeka nezifumaneka kwezi zicatshulwa zeBona.

This study brings together two approaches to linguistic variation, Hallidayan systemic-functional grammar and Labovian variation theory, and in doing so brings together a functional interpretation of language and its empirical investigation in its social context. The study reports on an empirical investigation of the concept of text. The investigation proceeds on the basis of a corpus of texts gathered in sociolinguistic interviews with fifty adult speakers of Australian English in Sydney. The total corpus accounted for in terms of text type or genre numbers 420 texts of varying length, 125 of which, produced in response to four narrative questions, are investigated in greater detail in respect both of the types of text they constitute as well as of some of their linguistic realisations. These largely narrative-type texts, which represent between two and three hours of spoken English and total approximately 53000 words, are presented in a second volume analysed in terms of their textual or generic structure as well as their realisation at the level of the clause complex. The study explores in some detail models of register and genre developed within systemic-functional linguistics, adopting a genre model developed by J.R. Martin and others working within his model which foregrounds the notion that all aspects of the system(s) involved are related to one another probabilistically. In order to investigate the concept of text in actual discourse under conditions which permit us to become sufficiently confident of our understanding of it to proceed to generalisations about text and its contextual conditioning in spoken discourse, we turn to Labovian methods of sociolinguistic inquiry, i.e. to quantitative methods or methods of quantifying linguistic choice. The study takes the sociolinguistic interview as pioneered by Labov in his study of phonological variation in New York City and develops it for the purpose of investigating textual variation. The question of methodology constitutes a substantial part of the study, contributing in the process to a much greater understanding of the very phenomenon of text in discourse, for example by addressing itself to the question of the feasibility of operationalising a concept of text in the context of spoken discourse. The narrative-type texts investigated in further detail were found to range on a continuum from most experientially-oriented texts such as procedure and recount at one end to the classic narrative of personal experience and anecdote to the increasingly interpersonally-oriented exemplum and observation, both of which become interpretative of the real world in contrast to the straightforwardly representational slant taken on the same experience by the more experientially-oriented texts. The explanation for the generic variation along this continuum must be sought in a system of generic choice which is essentially cultural. A quantitative analysis of clausal theme and clause complex-type relations was carried out, the latter by means of log-linear analysis, in order to investigate their correlation with generic structure. While it was possible to relate the choice of theme to the particular stages of generic structures, clause complex-type relations are chosen too infrequently to be related to stages and were thus related to genres as a whole. We find that while by and large the choice of theme correlates well with different generic stages, it only discriminates between different genres, i.e. generic structures in toto, for those genres which are maximally different. Similarly, investigating the two choices in the principal systems involved in the organisation of the clause complex, i.e. the choice of taxis (parataxis vs. hypotaxis) and the (grammatically independent) choice of logico-semantic relations (expansion vs. projection), we find that both those choices discriminate better between types more distant on a narrative continuum. The log-linear analysis of clause complex-type relations also permitted the investigation of the social characteristics of speakers. We found that the choice of logico-semantic relations correlates with genre and question, while the choice of taxis correlates with a speaker's sex and his membership of some social group (in addition to genre). Parataxis is favoured by men and by members of the group lowest in the social hierarchy. Age on the other hand is not significant in the choice of taxis at all. In other words, since social factors are clearly shown to be significant in the making of abstract grammatical choices where they cannot be explained in terms of the functional organisation of text, we conclude that social factors must be made part of a model of text in order to fully account for its contextual conditioning. The study demonstrates that an understanding of the linguistic properties of discourse requires empirical study and, conversely, that it is possible to study discourse empirically without relaxing the standards of scientific inquiry.