Modes of Discourse: The Local Structure of Texts (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics) by Carlota S. Smith (Repost)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (June 16, 2003) | ISBN: 0521781698 | Pages: 334 | PDF | 1.47 MB
In studying discourse, the problem for the linguist is to find a fruitful level of analysis. Carlota Smith offers a new approach with this study of discourse passages, units of several sentences or more. She introduces the key idea of the 'Discourse Mode', identifying five modes: Narrative, Description, Report, Information, Argument. Smith analyzes the properties that distinguish each mode, focusing on grammatical rather than lexical information. The book also examines presentational matters: topic and focus, variation in syntactic structure, and subjectivity, or point of view.