Unit 33 : Descriptive Texts. Structure and Characteristics.

1. Index
2. Introduction
· Definition of Descriptive Texts
3. Text and Context
4. Structure of Descriptive Texts
5. Characteristics of Descriptive Texts
6. Types of Descriptive Texts
7. Conclusion
8. Bibliography and Web Characteristics

2. Introduction.
– Abstract:
· Description is more than the amassing of details: it is bringing something to life by carefully choosing and arranging words and phrases to
produce the desired effect. Nevertheless, the most appropriate and effective techniques for presenting description are a matter of ongoing
discussion among writers and linguists.
· A descriptive text is usually defined as a type of discourse concerned with the representation of people, animals, objects, atmospheres,
landscapes, actions and feelings by means of words. The purpose of a descriptive text is to create a mental image in the addressee's mind by
answering the question “What is it like?” in order to describe something or someone.
· Descriptive texts are closely related to the category of narrative since both of them appeal to the addressee's imagination through his
senses. Yet, the key difference is for descriptive texts to focus on image and for narrative texts to focus on actions. Descriptions can enrich
the text by offering a wide range of details (parts, qualities, properties) or just select a minimum of them (face description, not whole
body).
– Relation to Curriculum: S/L + R/W + Lang. Awareness
– Legislation: Unit 4

3. Text and Context.

The word text is used in linguistics to refer to any passage of language, spoken or written, of whatever length, which forms a unified whole
as a semantic unit. It may be anything from a single proverb to a whole play, from a momentary cry to help to an all-day discussion on a committee
(language that is doing some job in some context). The nature of a text is not only made of words and sentences but also made of meaning. Of course,
the meanings have to be coded in words and structures, just as these, in turn, have to be expressed again in some sound or written symbols.
Any piece of text, long or short, spoken or written, carries with it indications of its context and they let the participants make predictions
about what the text is about; in the same way that any text should be given a context to fully understand it. Thanks to anthropologist Malinowski we
can differentiate two dimensions of context:
a) Context of situation: immediate environment of a text (it helps to make predictions about the things the other is going to say).
b) Context of culture: cultural history behind the participants.
So in order to fully understand a text it is necessary to be aware of the nonverbal signs surrounding it and the culture in which the text is
performed and what the participants know about it. The last component that makes a text being called so is the structure of discourse or
superstructure; that is, the characteristics the text has to be called a narration, a description, an argument…. We will focus now on those ones that
classify texts into descriptions.

· Definition of Descriptive Texts.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary
“To describe is to represent or give an account of things or people in words, as well as to represent by a figure, model, or picture that to be
represented.”
A descriptive text is typically a detailed presentation of a scene, a person, a place, a process or even emotions. They are usually aimed at
precision and clarity. The choice of words employed by the author can therefore be expected to be exact and neutral, unemotional and sometimes
technical. The way of description is extremely variable: it may vary from a comprehensive listing of all the items at a specific location to a brief surface
comment, or even the choice of a number of small details which can characterise a specific item by themselves.
Descriptive texts hardly appear as dominant texts in themselves but as fragments subordinated to other types of texts such as narrations
(novels, short stories), dictionaries, tourist guides, textbooks, a conversation, an advertisement… Even so, it is useful to distinguish them as a separate
type of text because descriptive sequences are easily recognised by readers/hearers who intuitively isolate them in any type of text and this proves
operative in language teaching.

4. Structure of Descriptive Texts.

The structure of descriptive texts follows some principles of order regarding the way details are grouped so as to present a descriptive
sequence. This sequence is divided into four main steps: item observation and therefore, selection of the most relevant aspects, order of events, and
expressive devices.

a) Observation:
· Types: depending on the communicative purpose and main features of the observer:
– Fixed observer: from a fixed position, stating the items in a systematic way.
– Moving observer: reporting details as they come, not following an order.
– Impressionistic observer: giving a generalized impression.
b) Selection:
· Types: depending on the communicative purpose and main features of the receiver.
– Objective: for instance, technical and scientific texts.
– Subjective: for instance, non-technical texts.
(discussed below)
c) Order of description: related to the way details are grouped:
· Types: among others...
– From head to toe
– From physical to psychological description
– outward vs. inwards direction
– From general to specific
d) Expressive devices: linguistic devices used to enrich the description.
· Types: Among others...
– Quantity and quality adjectives
– Dynamic and static verbs
– Common and concrete nouns
– Time and place adverbs
(discussed below)

J.M. Adam's approach to the descriptive sequence, in which he distinguishes four fundamental elements or operations, is the most
comprehensive one. It includes:
a) Anchorage: It orients the addressee on the relationship between the propositions dealing with a specific issue, and not with some another. This
element is the starting point of description, and is usually its title or topic (also called 'theme').
· Special cases:
– Anchorage with affectation: when the order of the descriptionis altered.
– Reformulation: when the descriptive sequences have two or more terms to refer to the described object.
b) Aspectualisation: It consists of describing the object by means of its fragmentation into its basic constituents, by enumerating the parts or its
properties.
c) Relating: It consists of relating the object with the outer world and with objects that belong to it. It is carried out by means of a situational frame
and association through comparisons and metaphors.
d) Thematisation: It ensures the progression of the description, because any element may become the new theme and generate new descriptive
propositions.

PROPERTIES : shape, colour, size...

ASPECTUALISATION Part 1
PARTS
Part 2 > THEMATISATION : Ancorage 2 (repeat process)
ANCHORAGE
(theme – title)
SITUATION: temporal, spatial...

RELATING metaphor

ASSOCIATION
comparison

Adam, J.M. (1985): Types de Sequences Textuelles Élémentaires. Nathan, Paris.

5. Characteristics of Descriptive Texts

· Morphosyntactic features:
– Adjectives: they bear the burden in description. They are an essential part of the writer’s main devices to evoke an image in the
reader mind. Adjectives usually denote details on shape, colour, size, number among other features. They can be either condensed
(or specific) or expanded (or general). Adjectives usually perform in attributive position after their noun heads (i.e. ‘The silence, low
and faint and whispering’; James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist) and also appear as –ing forms (i.e. The breeding of an English
gentleman).
– Nouns: concrete or abstract. The former being abundant because of their great picturing and interpreting capacity, the latter being
less abundant and whose function is to heighten the vividness of the texts.
– Verbs, which may imply something about the nature of the person or item to be described (i.e. shouted, whispered, screamed). They
are usually non-perfective verbs (present and past tense). 'Be, seem, look like' and other state verbs of appearance are the most
frequent, though. These verbs introduce the properties of the object and they are also used when relating the object to others.
However, the verb 'have' appears especially in enumeration of parts.
– Adverbs, which enable the writer/speaker to get an effect with great economy but fusing the quality of a thing with its action (i.e. ‘Mr
Chadban moves softly and cumbrously (slowly), not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright’; Charles Dickens).
– Specific syntactic structures, such as subordinate clauses (relative, both defining and non-defining), prepositional and adverbial
clauses.
· Cohesion and Coherence
· Definitions: The Cambridge Dictionary of Linguistics
a) COHESION:
The property of texts whereby grammatical and lexical features tie clauses and sentences together so as to parallel an underlying
coherence of content. Typical devices are the use of conjunctions (e.g. however, moreover, besides, then), pronouns, and non-finite clauses (e.g.
Having finished the book, she returned it to the library). Reference and lexical cohesion are the most frequent cohesive devices in descriptive texts.

Reference is the relation of identity which exists between grammatical units in or outside the text.
Exophoric: outside the text
Grammatical
Reference Anaphora: back-reference
Cohesion Endophoric: inside the text
Cataphora: forward-reference

Lexical cohesion is achieved because there is a selection of items that are related in some way to those that have appeared before.
According to Halliday & Hasan there are two major categories: reiteration and collocation.
The repetition of a lexical item or the occurrence of a synonym of some kind in the context of reference; that is,
Reiteration
Lexical for various words there is the same reference (Ex. “He heard a noise; it was the sound of trotting horses”)
Cohesion The habitual co-occurrence of individual lexical items. Here cohesion is achieved through the association of
Collocation lexical items that regularly cooccur. For example, if we are facing a text about the Antarctica, we will expect to
find a certain set of words related to the field (“cold”, “freeze”, “ice”, “snow”…).

b) COHERENCE: The property that makes individual sentences or clauses cohere into a text that makes sense, as opposed to a sequence of
random sentences. For a text to count as coherent, the writer and reader, or speaker and hearer, must have similar world-views and experience of the
world and obey the same cultural conventions when presenting ideas and propositions and narrating events.
As for coherence, the model of discourse progression os achieved by means of succesive subthematisations. The dominant model of
thematic progression in descriptive sequences is lineal progression.
Taken from topic 29

6. Types of Descriptive Texts.

a) Objective description (also called technical and considered a form of exposition rather than description)
· To be found in instructive, technical and scientific texts, and to a lesser degree in official letters, school essays, a guidebook, a history
chapter, advertisement...
· Its main aim is to inform or instruct about the thing to be described.
· It provides generalized information on facts, qualities and characteristics about the object under consideration so as to get a systematic,
accurate and almost photographic description. This type of texts are just straight facts and do not give the reader any ideas about the feelings or
opinions of the author.
b) Subjective description (also called suggestive or persuasive)
· To be found in literary texts.
· Its main aim is to provoke emotions about the object rather than reflecting on the item to achieve affective values.
· Based on the addresser's power of observation and wealth of impressions, while hinting at the addresser's feelings and opinions about the
item to be described.

c) Special types:
· Characters:
– Prosopography, which describes the physical appearance of a person (Ex. A Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce),
– Etopeia, which includes a moral or phychological description of a fictional or real character (Ex. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad)
– Portrait, which combines both physical (prosopography) and psychological (etopeia) features (Ex. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë)
– Caricature, which is associated with the idea of overloading or exaggeration under the principle of dominant impression.

In describing a character, the addresser may make use of the following processes of characterisation, summarised in the acronym PAIRS:
- Physical description - the character's physical appearance is described.
- Action/attitude/behaviour - how the character does or behaves and his or her attitude.
- Inner thoughts - their personalities and feelings, which sometimes helps us understand the character's actions.
- Reactions - Effect on others or what the other characters say and feel about this character. We learn about the relationships among the
characters.
- Speech - What the character says provides a great deal of insight for the reader.
Taken from Unit 29

· Topographies, which represent an inanimate item (a place, a house, a garden, a village, a mountain) displaying a spatial relationship
among objects themselves with establish hierarchies.
· Chronologies, since they represent an age or a period of time where important events take place (a setting, an individual,
setting atmosphere.
7. Conclusion.
· The model of descriptive texts provides students the opportunity to describe people, objects, animals, events and situations using
appropriate linguistic elements and also, to connect real- life experiences.

– How to?
· “Guess the (x)”
With a series of images related to a special lexical or grammatical field, students should describe that specific item.
For instance:
[Household items] > Washing machine: It is square but it has got a round opening. It is white or grey. It makes noise...
[Manner adverbs] > Angrily: The person is frowning, he is shouting at another person...
· “ What can you see from (x) to (y)?”
Tell students to describe what they see, enumerating the items/features following a special order.
For instance:
[Classroom] From left to right...
[People] From head to toe...
· Cross-curricular (higher levels): “Guess the canvas/sculpture/building” *
Students have to guess famous artistic milestones out of a partner's description.
For instance:
[Mona Lisa] There is a woman with a mysterious smile. On the background a bridge stands above a river...

– Key Competences:
Linguistic Competence + * Cultural Expression