Biblical Hebrew Forum

[yochanan bitan <ButhFam AT compuserve.com>]

RE:     Copy of: Re: parsing, taxonomy vs. process (was:Expository
discourse "profile")

From:   yochanan bitan
TO:     "Paul Zellmer", INTERNET:zellmer AT digitelone.com
DATE:   13/10/99 11:24

a good point but possibly misunderstood by many on the list:

"Once I understand a text, I am not
interested in parsing it any longer (just 'busy work' then)."

'parsing' in this context does NOT refer to naming the kinds of prefixes
and suffixes on words.
'parsing' seems to refer to naming the chunks of text, naming the
paragraphs. a taxonomy of paragraphs. 

such analysis is not a part of real language communication, we certainly
arn't doing it or conscious of it here in English. so i agree with bryan
and paul. though all would agree that secondary analysis and reflection is
necessary for any 'close' reading of a text.
and this should lead to grammatical/syntactical/discourse 'analysis' that
is closer to wat we do in real communication. 
close reading must be VERY sensitive to what the author could have said but
didn't, which entails a VERY high level of language competence. [So high,
in fact, that a reader/hearer is not conscious of the parsing of nuts and
bolts of words. "but (conj-adv) that (sub.nom.) is (3 s pres.) a different
discussion (pred. nom). language users function at a much higher level.]

a 'process' model of discourse is more helpful/useful than a taxonomy and i
think that is what bryan is doing with his discourse types. (they may also
be modulated down towards the language system.) language is linearized and
streams past an audience, there are macro- and micro- signals and switches
along the way that help in processing. the whole is done against a
background of assumed or known information (a.k.a. 'relevance theory').

as a sample on the question of 'taxonomy' versus 'process', you might want
to look at what happens to the verbless clause in Andersen versus Buth '99
(in eisenbraun's volume on verbless clause). one ends up a simple tool that
can be almost instantly manipulated while processing a text. the other ends
up as very cumbersome lists.

braxot
randall buth