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CONTENTS
PREFACE...............................................................................................................................................................4
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS & SYMBOLS.................................................................................................5
CONTENTS..........................................................................................................................................................7
CHAPTER 1: THE PRAGUE SCHOOL OF LINGUISTICS.........................................................................10
1.1 THE PRAGUE SCHOOL.............................................................................................................................10
1.2 THE TEACHING .......................................................................................................................................10
1.3 MAIN REPRESENTATIVES........................................................................................................................12
1.4 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2: JAN FIRBAS AND THE GENESIS OF FSP............................................................................14
2.1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................14
2.2 JAN FIRBAS .............................................................................................................................................14
2.3 TEXT LINGUISTICS ..................................................................................................................................15
2.4 FSP.........................................................................................................................................................16
2.4.1 The genesis of the theory................................................................................................................16
2.4.2 The origin of the term ‘FSP’ ..........................................................................................................16
2.4.3 The core of the theory.....................................................................................................................17
2.5 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................18
2.6 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................18
CHAPTER 3: COMMUNICATIVE DYNAMISM....................................................................................19
3.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................19
3.2 DEGREES OF CD .....................................................................................................................................19
3.3 SENTENCE PERSPECTIVE.........................................................................................................................20
3.4 POTENTIALITY ........................................................................................................................................20
3.5 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................21
3.6 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................22
CHAPTER 4: FSP FACTORS: LINEAR MODIFICATION..........................................................................23
4.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................23
4.2 LINEARITY PRINCIPLE.............................................................................................................................23
4.3 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................24
4.4 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................25
CHAPTER 5: FSP FACTORS: CONTEXT................................................................................................26
5.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................26
5.2 TYPES OF CONTEXT ................................................................................................................................26
5.3 CONTEXT IN FSP.....................................................................................................................................26
5.3.1 The Immediately Relevant Context.................................................................................................26
5.3.2 Retrievability..................................................................................................................................27
5.3.3 Retrievability Span.........................................................................................................................28
5.4 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................28
5.5 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................29
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CHAPTER 6: FSP FACTORS: SEMANTICS...........................................................................................30
6.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................30
6.2 THE DYNAMIC SEMANTIC SCALES..........................................................................................................31
6.2.1 The Presentation Scale...................................................................................................................31
6.2.2 The Quality Scale...........................................................................................................................31
6.2.3 The Combined Scale.......................................................................................................................32
6.2.4 The Extended Presentation Scale...................................................................................................32
6.3 THE ACTUAL LINEAR VS. INTERPRETATIVE ARRANGEMENT ..................................................................33
6.4 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................33
6.5 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................34
CHAPTER 7: FSP FACTORS: INTONATION ...............................................................................................35
7.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................35
7.2 PROSODIC PROMINENCE .........................................................................................................................35
7.2.1 Perfect correspondence..................................................................................................................35
7.2.2 Selective non-reevaluating intensification .....................................................................................35
7.2.3 Re-evaluating intensification..........................................................................................................36
7.3 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................36
7.4 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................37
CHAPTER 8: THE HIERARCHY OF COMMUNICATIVE UNITS............................................................38
8.1 THE INTERPLAY OF FSP FACTORS ..........................................................................................................38
8.2 THE HIERARCHY OF COMMUNICATIVE UNITS.........................................................................................38
8.2.1 Thematic units................................................................................................................................38
8.2.2 Transitional units ...........................................................................................................................39
8.2.3 Rhematic units................................................................................................................................40
8.2.4 The communicative units and the dynamic semantic scales...........................................................40
8.3 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................41
8.4 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................41
CHAPTER 9: FSP ANALYSIS & CHARTS ..............................................................................................42
9.1 GENERAL REMARKS ...............................................................................................................................42
9.2 THE LAYOUT OF THE CHARTS.................................................................................................................42
9.3 FSP CHART OF ANALYSIS: EXAMPLE .....................................................................................................43
9.4 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................44
9.5 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER 10: THE DYNAMIC-SEMANTIC TRACKS & SEMANTIC HOMOGENEITY.....................45
10.1 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS......................................................................................................................45
10.2 DYNAMIC SEMANTIC TRACKS ................................................................................................................45
10.3 SEMANTIC HOMOGENEITY.......................................................................................................................47
10.4 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................47
10.5 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................49
CHAPTER 11: FSP OF A DISTRIBUTIONAL MACROFIELD...................................................................50
11.1 FSP ON DIFFERENT LEVELS....................................................................................................................50
11.2 FSP ANALYSIS OF A MACROFIELD..........................................................................................................50
11.2.1 Co-referential strings.....................................................................................................................52
11.2.2 Dynamic semantic tracks ...............................................................................................................52
11.2.3 Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations within FSP.....................................................................53
11.3 SUMMARY...............................................................................................................................................54
11.4 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................55
11.5 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................56
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CHAPTER 12: PRACTICAL USE OF FSP................................................................................................57
12.1 PRODUCTION OF WELL-FORMED TEXTS..................................................................................................57
12.2 STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON FSP ........................................................................................58
12.3 INTERPRETATIVE FUNCTION OF FSP.......................................................................................................59
12.4 DYNAMIC TRANSLATIONS REFLECTING FSP ..........................................................................................61
12.5 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................62
12.6 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................63
CHAPTER 13: FRANTIŠEK DANEŠ AND THEMATIC PROGRESSION.................................................64
13.1 THE ORGANISATION OF TEXT .................................................................................................................64
13.2 THEMATIC PROGRESSION........................................................................................................................64
13.3 TASKS.....................................................................................................................................................65
13.4 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................66
CHAPTER 14: FIRBAS’ FSP VS. GREENBAUM, QUIRK AND LEECH’S APPROACH........................67
14.1 DIFFERENCES IN TERMINOLOGY .............................................................................................................67
14.2 DIFFERENCES IN THE CONCEPT ...............................................................................................................67
14.3 FURTHER READING .................................................................................................................................68
POSTSCRIPT ....................................................................................................................................................69
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................................70
SAMPLE 1: THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST (LUKE 2:1-20) .....................................................................................71
SAMPLE 2: THE COMING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (ACTS 2: 1-4; 4:31-35)................................................................75
SAMPLE 3: THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN (LUKE 10:30-35) .............................................................78
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................81
TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPH SOURCES: ........................................................................................................85
KEY TO TASKS ................................................................................................................................................86