Isotopy (linguistics)
As isotope (level of understanding) is called an attempt connections between the sets of a text (Text shortcuts) to semantic point of view, that is, after the importance address. The isotope study is therefore an intermediate stage between a coherence-oriented and a cohesion- oriented text analysis. This approach enables an answer to the fundamental question of text linguistics, namely what makes a sentence sequence a text. It also provides a good introduction to text interpretation, as intuitive inferences we draw while reading can be tied back to the text.
Algirdas Julien Greimas formulated the basic idea for isotope studies in his 1966 work "Sémantique structurale".
functionality
Klasseme are the meaning components (semes) of a word; these can be worked out with the linguistic method of semanalysis and presented in a table.
Through the principle of recurrence , i.e. the repeated occurrence of a class (= a syntactically dominant semen ), or the principle of substitution (replacement), text links within the text (section) to be examined can be traced across sentence boundaries.
This is how one defines those semes as particularly essential ("dominant") that stand out in a text because they occur several times ( recurrence ).
By forming a class, one can identify a level of isotope in order to narrow down how a text is meant. A text can have several isotopic levels, which stand next to each other or can be linked to one another.
Since the isotopy is examined independently of the text cohesion (i.e. the syntactic connection of texts), this method is a good way to approach texts whose grammatical structures and word fields have been deliberately destroyed, for example in order to alienate them , or expressionistic poetry.
Analysis example
Example sentence : "The tower shook and the farmer was gone."
Possible semes of the words found:
| tower | swayed | Farmer | away |
|---|---|---|---|
| building | stands uncertain | Creature | not here anymore |
| Chess piece | " | Chess piece | " |
The example sentence alone can represent a chess game situation or a scene from a fairy tale, for example, without further information, it remains questionable which of the semes (chess pieces on the one hand or buildings and living beings on the other) is dominant. It is only when one of these semes is repeated that it becomes clear which is the class.
Example sentence with the following sentence: “The tower wobbled and the farmer was gone. He screamed all the way. "
"Screamed": Seme would be z. B. Activity, alive, etc.
Through the following sentence, in which the pawn is connected with the Sem “alive”, one understands that probably no chess game is represented, so the class is not called “chess piece”. The reader understands the isotopic as a "living scene" and not as a "chess game".
There are semantic lexicons for determining semes.
Isotopy in humor
Punch often results from the fact that the level of meaning is changed unexpectedly, which is also called isotopic fraction.
example
Man to the pharmacist: "Do you have something for colds?"
Pharmacist: "No, only against it."
After the first sentence, it is actually clear to the listener that the customer would like a remedy for a cold, but the pharmacist interprets the customer's question on a different level of meaning, namely that of sympathy or antipathy and answers accordingly, which amazes the listener and thus can amuse you.
literature
- Algirdas J. Greimas: The Isotopy of Speech . In: W. Kallmeyer, W. Klein, R. Meyer-Hermann, K. Netzer, HJ Siebert (eds.): Lektürekolleg zur Textlinguistik. Volume 2: Reader. Athenaeum Fischer, Frankfurt M. 1974, pp. 126-152. ISBN 3-8072-2051-8 .
- EU Grosse: On the reorientation of the semantics at Greimas. Basic ideas, problems and suggestions . In: W. Kallmeyer, W. Klein, R. Meyer-Hermann, K. Netzer, HJ Siebert (eds.): Lektürekolleg zur Textlinguistik. Volume 2: Reader. Athenaeum Fischer, Frankfurt, M. 1974, pp. 87-125. ISBN 3-8072-2051-8 .
- Margot Heinemann, Wolfgang Heinemann: Basics of text linguistics. Interaction - Text - Discourse. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2002. ISBN 3-484-31230-0 .
- Groupe µ (1977) Rhétorique de la poésie: lecture linéaire, lecture tabulaire . Table of contents in French.
