Интерпретация текста = Text Interpretation

 
 
 
 
М.А. Ананьина 
 
 
 
 
 
ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИЯ ТЕКСТА 
 
TEXT INTERPRETATION 
 
 
 
Учебное пособие 
 
 
 
2-е издание, стереотипное 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Москва 
Издательство «ФЛИНТА» 
2024 

УДК 811.111'42(075.8) 
ББК  81.432.1-5я73 
          А64 
 
 
Р е ц е н з е н т ы: 
д-р филол. наук, директор департамента лингвистики  
Уральского гуманитарного института ФГАОУ ВО «Уральский федеральный университет 
имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцина», зав. кафедрой германской филологии,  
проф. кафедры лингвистики и профессиональной коммуникации  
на иностранных языках О.В. Томберг; 
канд. филол. наук, доцент, доцент кафедры русского, иностранных языков и культуры речи 
Уральского государственного юридического университета М.В. Боровкова; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ананьина М.А. 
А64           Интерпретация  текста   =   Text  Interpretation :   учеб.  пособие  / 
М.А. Ананьина. — 2-е изд., стер. — Москва : ФЛИНТА, 2024. — 102 с. — 
ISBN 978-5-9765-5527-3. — Текст : электронный. 
 
В пособии использованы рассказы ирландского писателя Джеймса 
Джойса из сборника «Дублинцы», а также материалы современной 
британской и российской публицистики, научных журналов, деловой 
переписки, рекламные тексты. Учебное пособие состоит из трех глав. 
Теоретический материал сопровождается практическими заданиями. 
Учебное пособие по интерпретации текста предназначено для 
студентов старших курсов специальности 050303 — «Иностранный язык 
(английский)». 

УДК 811.111'42(075.8) 
ББК  81.432.1-5я73 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-9765-5527-3                                     © Ананьина М.А., 2024 
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2024 

CONTENTS 
 
CHAPTER I. Typology of Texts ....................................................................................................... 4 
1.1. Types of information represented in the text. Typology of texts .................................................. 4 
Practice Section .......................................................................................................................... 6 
 
CHAPTER II. Text categories ........................................................................................................ 26 
2.1. The notion of a text. The main text categories ............................................................................ 26 
2.1.1. Divisibility ...................................................................................................................... 26 
Practice Section ........................................................................................................................ 32 
2.1.2. Cohesion ......................................................................................................................... 39 
Practice Section ........................................................................................................................ 41 
2.1.3. The categories of space and time .................................................................................... 49 
Practice Section ........................................................................................................................ 53 
2.1.4. Modality ......................................................................................................................... 58 
Practice section ........................................................................................................................ 60 
2.2. The analysis of the author’s individual style .............................................................................. 79 
Practice Section ........................................................................................................................ 79 
 
CHAPTER III. The Cultural Perspective  of the Literary Text and its Decoding .................... 81 
3.1. The title and the non-linguistic context of a literary text ............................................................ 81 
3.2. The notion of the vertical context ............................................................................................... 82 
Practice Section ........................................................................................................................ 85 
 
SOURCES ........................................................................................................................................ 100 
Dictionaries ...................................................................................................................................... 101 
List of Authors and Publications Quoted ......................................................................................... 101 
 

CHAPTER I 
TYPOLOGY OF TEXTS  
 
1.1. Types of information represented in the text. Typology of texts 
 
In order to interpret the text, i.e. to co-ordinate the form and content of a text, to 
explain, why this very content requires this very form, it is necessary to analyse 
different types of texts in their interrelation with each other [Лукин, 2005: 236]. 
A professional philologist, that is a person who has received profound education 
in different fields of linguistic studies, should treat the process of reading a text with 
special care and do it consciously, making use of knowledge received at the previous 
stages of linguistic education. The linguistic analysis of any text requires special 
logical approach. One of the ways of the complex study of the linguistic nature of a 
text is proposed by I.S. Alexeyeva, the famous interpreter and the author of books on 
the theory of translation [Alexeyeva, 2003]. Every process of translation requires 
some preliminary thorough linguo-stylistic analysis of the text. The main stages of 
this analysis are very helpful to students taking the course of interpretation of the text 
and consists of the following phases [Alexeyeva, 2003: 147—155]: 
 
I. Reading the whole text. 
 
II. Defining the text type which includes specifying the following components: 
 
1. The author of the text, the time of writing and publishing the text, where the 
text is taken from (e.g., an information note from the newspaper “Gerald Tribune”, an 
encyclopaedia entry, a scientific article from the journal “Cardiology” etc.). This 
information is of great importance as it can help decode the author’s message and 
evaluate the aesthetic effect of the text, it may also help predict the contents. The text 
which was written in the XIX century differs greatly from that one written, say, in the 
XX or the XXI centuries in many ways, including the problems touched upon, the 
treatment of theses problems, let alone the language, which in the XIX-century texts 
is characterized by the use of archaic expressions, obsolescent words and syntactical 
structures. The mention of the author’s name can also be very helpful in defining the 
author’s individual style, his or her aesthetical and philosophical views. 
 
2. Defining the recipient of the text (for whom the text was written, or who will 
read it). Texts, written for children, are characterized by the simple syntactical 
structures, bright imagery, simple wording. The texts for adults, e.g. manuals, are 
composed of various syntactical structures, but there are no highly specialized words 
or dialectal words. In such texts the mention of the author’s name may not give the 
reader any information about his / her individual style, for sometimes the name is 
required for the purpose of assigning responsibility. 
 

3. Defining the type of information and its compression. The following three 
types of information may be represented in the text: cognitive, emotional and 
aesthetic. The type of information is determinative for the text type and has its own 
linguistic means of expression.  
Cognitive information contains the objective knowledge about the real world.  
It may be the name of the author, of the firm, of the products, the terms of delivery, 
etc. This type of information is expressed in the text with the help of the following 
means:  
1) 
the use of terms (which are usually monosemantic, neutral, independent of 
the context); 
2) 
linguistic means belonging to the written literary norm (its neutral variety) 
of the language. 
Emotional information is connected with the expression of emotions and 
feelings. This includes the words of greeting, parting, the expression of opinions and 
estimation. Though restricted by the norms of the business etiquette, emotionally 
coloured words occur in a business letter.  
Aesthetic information is mainly expressed through expressive means and 
stylistic devices, such as phraseology, epithets, metaphors, pun, rhyme, rhythm, 
repetitions, etc.  
The texts containing only cognitive information form the group of 
informational-terminological texts (scientific and technical texts, textbooks, 
instructions, manuals). The second group, containing equally emotional and cognitive 
information, is made up of informational-emotional texts (newspaper articles, 
publicist texts, memoirs, obituaries, advertisements and sermons). In the third group 
aesthetic information predominates. This group is called literary texts and includes, 
apart from literary texts, poetry and literary publicist prose. Aesthetic information is 
closely connected with emotional and conveys to the addressee the feeling of beauty. 
The linguistic means of expressing this type of information are varied. 
During the linguistic analysis we should also pay attention to the compression 
of information. In an encyclopaedia entry there are a lot of contracted forms and 
abbreviations, many secondary in importance syntactical structures are omitted. This 
compression testifies to the increase of cognitive information in the text. 
In practice, the reader often deals with the texts containing the mixed type  
of information. For instance, an advertisement may serve as a good example of the 
text which contains cognitive (the title of the firm, of the goods, their characteristics 
and the price), emotional (exaggerated positive evaluation of the qualities of the 
product) and aesthetic information (play on words, rhyme, alliteration, repetition, 
etc.). 
 
4. Defining the communicative aim of the text. Clearly, the majority of the texts 
have some practical function in that they have intentions which are related to the 
world around us. A headline encourages us to read a news story, a publisher’s blurb 
encourages us to buy a book, an advertisement is designed to promote a product. As 
for literary texts, including poetry, their function bears no relation to the real world, 

rather they provoke the reader to create an imaginary alternative world. As Prof. 
Verdonk puts it, “the function of literature is not socializing but individualizing” 
[Verdonk, 2002: 12]. 
 
 
 
Practice Section 
 
INFORMATIONAL-TERMINOLOGICAL TEXTS 
 
1. Study the following extract from a scientific text. What type of information 
prevails in it? Point out the means of expression of each type of information. Why 
can this text be referred to the informational-terminological group? Who is the 
recipient of the text? Does the author identify himself through any linguistic means? 
On whose behalf does the author write? Analyze the cognitive information in the 
text in the following aspects: 
A. Analyze the peculiarities of the subjects in the text, how they are expressed. 
B. Point out passive voice forms, Participle II, predicative constructions, 
impersonal sentences. 
C. Analyze the prevalence of the present tense forms. Explain the reasons of the 
author’s adherence to such verb forms. Is it connected with the communicative aim, 
with the peculiarity of information? 
D. Are there any compound words with abstract meaning, which is usually a 
characteristic feature of the presence of cognitive information. 
E. Compare the ratio of words of nominal and verbal nature. Comment on it, do 
the results show that nominal words make the narration more objective, owing to the 
increase of the level of abstractiveness of narration? 
F. Name the terms and characterize their peculiarities in comparison with other 
words (polysemantic or monosemantic nature, emotional colouring, dependence on 
the context). 
G. To what field of science do the terms refer? Single out the words which can 
be used in any scientific text and those which can be used only in specific contexts. 
What is the difference between the two groups? 
H. Point out the abbreviations as the markers of compression of cognitive 
information. 
I. how are the sentences connected with each other on the semantic level? What 
words are repeated? How is the connection on the formal level carried out (analyze 
the words like ‘this’, ‘thus’)? Does it make the narration logical? 
J. What is the communicative function of this text? 
 
The Stratosphere 
 
The stratosphere lies between the tropopause and the stratopause. It is within the 
stratosphere where the most important part of the ozone layer lies. The stratosphere 
stretches from around 12km to 50km. The temperatures within the stratosphere are fairly 
constant at the lower half, however in the upper half of the stratosphere the temperatures 

can increase to maximum levels of 7oC. This marks the end of the stratosphere and the 
beginning of the stratopause. The temperatures increase in this part of the atmosphere 
because of the energy that this layer absorbs. The energy absorbed is in the form of 
radiation both from the sun and that reflected from the surface of the earth. When the 
gases within the atmosphere absorb this energy they become hot. 
The air within the only moves horizontally and does not move within it. This is very 
different to the air within the troposphere. Because of this particles that go into the 
stratosphere are unlikely to get out of it for three or more years. Dust from volcanic 
explosions is known to be carried in the stratosphere for long periods. 
 

2. Analyze the following scientific text according to the given above plan. Pay 
special attention to the graphical means expressing cognitive information and 
forming its logical structure. Mark the ways of the author’s identification in the text. 
Do they serve to express emotional information? Can we say that the general logical 
structure of the text constitute the aesthetic information? Which type of information 
prevails in the text? 
 
Jeremy Hawthorn: Studying the Novel: An Introduction. — 3rd ed. [Arnold, 1997: 
104—105]. 
 
One term which has, I think, a useful summarizing scope here is narrative situation. 
We can indicate what this term covers by asking about the relationship between the telling 
and what is told. Is the narrator personified, if so is he / she a character involved in the 
action of the work, is the narrative dramatic or immediate or distanced? — and so on. 
Narrative situation thus includes both perspective and voice... 
Sometimes attempts to turn novels into plays or films have the effect of 
demonstrating how crucial their particular narrative situation is. Joseph Conrad attempted 
dramatizations of a number of his works, all of which were more disastrous. I think we can 
easily understand that a dramatization of The Secret Agent (which Conrad actually 
completed) would be disastrous because it necessarily loses what is at the heart of the 
work’s power: the bitter but pitying ironic attitude of the narrator towards the characters 
and events of the novel... 
When a novel is dramatized we...have the shaping hand of a director, and the 
interpretations of the individual actors. But the novel itself gives both far less and far more: 
the novelist guides our attention to some things and prevents us from becoming concerned 
with others...Much is thus ‘cut out’. But what is left is suggestive and artistically rich, such 
that although a film of a scene from a novel may seem to include much more concrete 
detail than the novel, it is often more difficult artistically to organize this detail compared to 
the original arrangement on the printed page. Thus our experience of the film of a novel is 
often that it seems flatter, less complex, than a reading of the novel itself. 
 
3. Analyze the following iron operating instructions (manual) paying special 
attention to the following aspects: 
A. The main communicative function of the instruction. Does it give any 
meaningful information, prescribe and regulate actions? 
B. Who is the potential recipient of the instruction (age, education)? Compare 
the recipients of operating instructions and those of medical ones. Is the doctor the 
addressee of them, too? How can you explain the absence of special terms in the 

given below instruction and the presence of many such terms in the medical 
instruction? 
C. Who is the author? Is it a person or a company? How does this fact influence 
the structure and form of the instruction? 
D. What type of information prevails in the text? Prove your observations. How 
is this information expressed? What grammatical mood is used to make the text 
prescriptive? Give examples. Are there any terms? Think of other operating 
instructions, medical instructions, job descriptions, bureaucratic precepts and define 
to what area of knowledge the terms belong (e.g., medical instructions contain the 
information about the company, how the appliance functions, its technical 
maintenance, guarantee service, ingredients of the pills, etc.).   
E. Are there any emotionally coloured words? Explain how imperative 
constructions indirectly express emotional information. 
F. What features of the instruction make it similar to legal documents (name 
legal terms, turns of speech and structures)? In what parts of instructions are they 
most frequently used? 
G. What are the ways of cognitive information increase (compression)? Are 
there any contracted forms or abbreviations? 
H. Prove that texts of instructions conform to the written literary norm. What are 
its characteristic features? Why is it called officialese? What for is it employed? In 
what way does it make the recipient feel? What kind of attitude should the reader 
adopt towards the instructions? 
I. Can we say that this text is characterized by features indicative of abstract 
content? Compare the number of verbal and nominal forms. Which of them prevail? 
Why? 
 
SUPERGLISS TEFAL 
 
Please read these instructions carefully and keep for future reference. 
 
WARNING! Remove the sole plate protector before heating up the iron 
(depending on the model). 
Warning!  
Before using your iron with the steam function for the first time, we 
recommend that you operate it in a horizontal position for a few moments, away 
from your linen, i.e. press several times on the shot of steam button 
 
During the first few uses, the harmless odour and smoke may be given off. This 
has no effect on the use of the iron and will disappear quickly. 
 
What water to use? 
Your appliance has been designed to function with tap water. However, it is 
necessary to operate the self-Clean function regularly in order to eliminate hard water 
deposits. If your water is very hard (check with your water authority), it is possible to mix 
tap water with store-bought demineralized water in the following proportions: 
50% tap water, 50% demineralized water. 

Types of water not to use: 
Heat concentrates the elements contained in water during evaporation. The types of 
water listed below contain organic waste or mineral elements that can cause spitting, 
brown staining, or premature wear of the appliance: water from clothes dryers, scented or 
softened water, water from refrigerators, batteries, or air conditioners, pure distilled water, 
or rain water. 
 
STEAM IRONING 
Filling the water tank 
- 
Unplug your iron before filling it. 
- 
Set the steam control on DRY. 
- 
Open the water tank filler cover completely, set the iron on a table (not when the 
iron is hot) shown in the diagram below, and fill the tank. 
- 
Do not exceed the MAX line indicated on the water tank (with the iron set on its 
heel). 
- 
Close the water tank filler cover. 
Setting the temperature 
- 
Set the temperature control shown in the diagram below referring to the table 
below (or on the heel). 
- 
The thermostat light comes on. Wait for the light to go off and come on again 
before you start ironing. 
Setting the steam level 
- 
In order to avoid water dripping from the iron onto the linen: 
 
Turn off the steam when ironing silk or synthetic fabrics. 
 
Set it at the minimum position for wool. 
 
THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN DESIGNED FOR DOMESTIC USE ONLY. ANY 
PROFESSIONAL USE OR FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS, THE 
MANUFACTURER ACCEPTS NO RESPONSIBILITY AND THE GUARANTEE WILL 
NOT APPLY. 
 
4. Analyze the following medical instructions according to the given above 
plan. How is this text different from the previous one? Is there emotional 
information? What linguistic means unite this instruction with advertising and 
enlightening texts (publicist style)? What parts of instruction are characterized by this 
integration? Does it influence the communicative purpose? How is it changed? 
 
Чай «Жуйдэмэн» — путь к здоровому похудению 
 
Культура чая в Китае насчитывает несколько тысячелетий. Чай «Жуйдэмэн» 
изготавливается в соответствии с традиционной теорией китайской медицины, с 
использованием 
высококачественных 
лекарственных 
трав 
и 
высокосортного 
зеленого чая, произрастающего на юге Китая. На протяжении многих сотен лет 
рецепт чая дополнялся и улучшался. На сегодняшний день чай для похудения 
«Жуйдэмэн» — это продукт, полностью отвечающий международным требованиям и 
стандартам... 
Чай для похудения «Жуйдэмэн» способствует нормализации выработки 
ферментов в организме, улучшает обмен веществ и физиологические функции, 
выводит токсины, способствует выведению холестерина, укрепляет иммунитет. 
 

Продукт эффективен и абсолютно безопасен! 
Состав: 
зеленый 
чай, 
семена 
кассии 
тора, 
плоды 
боярышника, 
листья 
периллы 
кустарниковой, трава эльшольции реснитчатой, цветы хризантемы китайской и 
другие лекарственные растения. 
Назначение: снижение веса, регуляция уровня холестерина в крови. 
Показан: лицам с избыточным весом и повышенным уровнем холестерина в 
крови. 
Не рекомендуется принимать женщинам в период беременности и кормления. 
Рекомендуемая дозировка: 
По 1—2 фильтр-пакета 2—3 раза в день через 30 минут после еды. Чай 
заваривают в 200 мл кипятка в течение 5—8 минут. 
Упаковка: фильтр-пакеты по 3 г. 
Срок годности: 2 года. 
Хранить в сухом, защищенном от света месте при комнатной температуре. 
Не является лекарством. 
Регистрационное удостоверение № 000393.И.156.04.2003 
 
5. Analyze the following encyclopaedia entry paying special attention to the 
following aspects: 
A. What is the communicative function of the text? What kind of information 
does it give to the addressee (subjective or objective, established facts)? What can 
serve as a subject for the entry? Are the data initial or profound, scientific and 
described in detail? Does the information have any evaluative connotations? Whose 
estimates are given (of the definite person or generally accepted evaluations)?  
B. Who is the addressee of the text (age, education)? Who is the author? How 
can you explain the fact that though an encyclopaedia entry is written by a specialist 
in that field of knowledge which is revealed in the text, the entry is not characterized 
by a peculiar individual style of the author? Is the author or the editorial staff 
responsible for the choice of notions commented upon in the encyclopaedia? Why is 
the intellectual elite of humankind supposed to be the real author of an 
encyclopaedia? 
C. What is the leading type of information in the text? Analyze the passive 
constructions, impersonal sentences, prevalence of the present tense forms of the 
verb, predominance of nominal words over the verbal ones, the use of terms from this 
field of knowledge, ways of compression of information, adherence to the 
contemporary written norm of literary language, the absence of emotionally coloured 
words and evaluative connotations in lexical and syntactical structures, objective 
semantics of the subject in the sentence. 
What can you say about the number of contracted and abbreviated forms in 
comparison with other informational-terminological texts? Can you give examples of 
contractions common to the language in general, special and contextual? What nonverbal conventional signs are used?  
Are there any repetitions? Comment on the incompleteness of syntactical 
structures. Is this incompleteness restored from the situation or from the preceding 
context? Give examples of the cut-off grammatical units (particles, auxiliaries).