Microfunctional analysis
Microfunction analysis is a term from the linguistic text analysis method, which is based on so-called microfunctions. This method was introduced by Karin Vilar Sánchez.
Microfunctions
The microfunctions are functional categories that take precedence over the referential content of a statement. Microfunctions are the smallest communicative, semanto-grammatical and pragmatic units of a text that come about through the linguistic form of the lexemes and not through their referential content, which is on a lower, subordinate level.
aims
The aim of the microfunction analysis is the description of the text type- specific use of linguistic forms and structures and thus also the stylistic description of different text types. A microfunction analysis makes it clear, for example, that in German medical instruction leaflets the use of prepositional phrases is the preferred linguistic means for expressing a condition, while this is, for example, the use of conditional clauses introduced by conjunctions in letters to the editor of specialist journals . Inter-lingually, with the help of a microfunction analysis, not only can the language-specific text-type-dependent usage patterns of linguistic forms and structures be described, but it is also possible to demonstrate microfunction uses and combinations that constitute individual language-specific text-type types. With this analysis method, for example, one can prove that the micro-function of threats is formulated much more frequently in German employment contracts than in Spanish ones, even if this is not directly clear from the surface structure.
The results of extensive corpus analyzes, which, due to their size, are preferably presented in electronic form, offer translators in particular , but also language learners, a tool for adequate text production in the foreign language.
literature
- Karin Vilar Sanchez: Text description relevant to translation based on the microfunction analysis: expression of the possibility. In: Living Languages. 51, 2006, S., doi : 10.1515 / LES.2006.116 .