Self-Instruction Materials on Non-Narrative Discourse Analysis

Who is this for? This course is designed particularly for those who expect to be involved in the translation of hortatory and expository texts from one language to another, whether as a Mother Tongue speaker, Other Tongue speaker or expatriate translator, consultant or advisor. It will also be very relevant for anyone engaged in the study of non-narrative texts in a language spoken anywhere in the world. Normally, the prerequisite will be the completion of the Narrative Discourse Analysis course, with associated field experience or an equivalent. It will also be expected that the student will have available a selection of non-narrative texts in the language of study that he or she is familiar with and can gloss into English, French or Spanish. What is it about? Many problems in translation arise because of mismatches between the way the features are handled in the source and receptor languages. Relevant factors include whether or not the language places the verb at the end of the sentence and whether or not the subject commonly follows the verb, as well as characteristics peculiar to particular groups of languages or areas of the world. Such potential mismatches are a major topic of discussion in the eight chapters of this course. The course begins with an explanation of how to prepare and chart a non-narrative text for analysis. Subsequent chapters consider, amongst other things, types of information found in non-narrative texts, typical differences between instruction and persuasion, connectives and the ordering of propositions, variations in the order of constituents, devices used to give prominence to constituents, backgrounding and highlighting devices in non-narrative, and boundary features. Each topic is illustrated from texts in languages representative of the different types mentioned above. Who teaches the course? The course tutor is Dr Stephen H. Levinsohn who, as a senior linguistic consultant with SIL International, can call on many years of experience in this field both from his own research and his leading of â Discourse for Translationâ workshops around the world. Dr. Levinsohn is the author, amongst other works, of the textbook entitled 'Discourse Features of New Testament Greek'.