If that’s OK with you.
In the example above we find a pattern typical of spoken language. The example is one clause complex of ten clauses with quite complex logical relations among them. The content information is spread out over those ten clauses. Notice also that the further into the clause complex we go to the
Lexical Density
If the above example were presented in a very written form it might look something like:
Due to the importance (of win (in Saturday’s football game (as a prerequisite (for a final appearance)))) the necessity of my training attendance diminishes my child minding capacity tonight.
However the lack of an attendance requirement on Wednesday allows my availability consequent upon your approval.
This example contains more or less the same information but it is in two clauses rather than ten. What has changed is the way the information is distributed, the number of content words per clause has risen dramatically, or, the lexical dense has risen. Lexical density then is a measure of the amount of the content information in a clause (or in a text).lexical density is calculated by deviding the number of content words in a clause complex by the number of clauses in the complex.
In the two examples discussed above, the lexical density of the spoken example is 2 (20 content words divided by 10). In the second example the lexical density is 16 in the first sentence (16 content words, one clause) and 8 in the second sentence. This give an average lexical density of 12 (24 content words divided by 2 clauses). Lexical density in itself is a reasonable measure of the readability of a text but it is only a guide. What is probably more important in written text is the grammatical changes which push the lexical density up.
The key difference in the grammar of the two examples in the amount of grammatical metaphor. Let’s explore some of the main differences between the two examples.
Participants: In the first example the major participants are the speaker, the kids and the football game. The main people involved in the interaction are realised as Paticipants through nominal groups
information that was spread out in the spoken example. Let’s look now at where some of the information from the first example is realised in the second, concentrating on nominal groups and TRANSITIVITY.
For example:
1 the necessity of my training appearance D Thing Qualifier
D Epithet Thing
One nominal group functioning as Actor in the clause because I must go to football training
Clause
One nominal group functioning as Range I can’t mind the kids today
Act. Proc. Mat. Range C.time
I (Actor) my (Possessive Deictic) can’t (modal verb) capacity (Thing)
mind (Material Process) minding (Classifier) the kids (Range) child (Classifier)
the lack of an attendance requirement D Thing Qualifier
D Epithet Thing
I (Carrier) absent
don’t (modal verb) lack (Thing)
have (Relational Process) attendance (Epithet)
training(Attribute) absent but assumed by attendance requirement 3 your approval
D Thing
if that ‘s OK with you
Carr. P.Rel. Att. Circumstance
that (Carrier) anaphoric to previous text absent
‘s (Relational Process) absent OK (Attribute) approval (Thing)
You (Circumstantial) Possessive Deictic
As we can see, information which was realised at clause rank in the first example is now realised at group rank in the second example. Through grammatical metaphor we find information which may cover a number of clause in a spoken text condensed into one nominal group in a very written text.
This condensing of information leads to a loss of explicit grammatical support. For example, what has happened to the conjunctions in the fist example? Where are the logical connections between pieces of information now realised?
Exercise 7.1
Below is an original written text followed by a ‘spoken’ reworking of the text. Calculate the lexical density of each text and try to observe what has happened to the text shifting from written to spoken language. The texts are repeated from Chapter 1. Content words are shown in bold.
Written (original)
All phone bills must be paid by the date shown or service will be discontinued.
Spoken
This is yer phone bill
and you hafta go to the post office to pay it – uh by next Monday that’s what this box tells ya – or they’ll cut yer phone off.
Exercise 7.2
(Adapted from Halliday 1989),
Only the written version is shown. See how many plausible spoken versions you can make. Consider how many possible unpackings (or readings) of the text are possible.
The growth of attachment between a mother and infant signals the first step in thje development of the child’s capacity for discrimination amongst people.
Exercise 7.3
Below is the spoken ‘Are governments necessary’ text from Chapter 5.
Rewrite the text in a more written form. Do not go overboard with nominalisation for its own sake, but use what you know about written language to try to get the text to work better.
I think
governments are necessary because if there weren’t any there wouldn’t be any law
and people would be killing each other.
They help keep the system in order for certain things.
If there wasn’t any federal government
there wouldn’t be anyone to fix up problems in the country.
It’s the same with the state governments.
If the state governments didn’t exist
there wouldn’t be anyone to look after the schools, vandalism and fighting would occur every day.
The local government is important to look after rubbish
because otherwise everyone would have diseases.
CHAPTER 8
COHESION
We have now completed a whirlwind tour of English grammar. In this chapter and the next, we will be extending our grammatical insights into the realm of discourse semantics. So our focus shifts to include meaning making at both clause and text levels. In this chapter, therefore, we will be discussing cohesion and in the final chapters, genre will be the topic of discussion.
Cohesion refers to the resources within language that provide continuity in a text, over and above that provided by clause structure and clause complexes.
Hence, cohesive relations are non-structural relations which work to help a text hang together. We shall be looking at three of these kinds of relationship in this chapter: reference, lexical cohesion and conjunction.