Grounding

Brita Wårvik
Table of contents

In studies of text and discourse the term ‘grounding’ is used for the distinction between foregrounded and backgrounded parts of the text. Foreground is generally understood to cover those elements that are more prominent, more directly relevant to the development of the main thread of the discourse than background, which subsumes materials whose main purpose is to support, explain, and comment on the foreground. As terminology varies, ‘foreground(ing)’, ‘background(ing)’, ‘prominence’, ‘storyline’, ‘mainline’, and ‘salience’ can be used as key words in searching for studies of this phenomenon.

Full-text access is restricted to subscribers. Log in to obtain additional credentials. For subscription information see Subscription & Price.

References

Bäcklund, I.
1988 Grounds for prominence. On hierarchies and grounding in English expository prose. Studia Neophilologica 60: 37–61. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Björklund, M.
1993 Narrative strategies in Čechov's The Steppe. Cohesion, grounding and point of view. Åbo Akademi University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chvany, C.
1985 Foregrounding, ‘transitivity’, saliency (in sequential and non-sequential prose). Essays in Poetics 10: 1–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Delancey, S.
1987 Transitivity in grammar and cognition. In R. Tomlin (ed.): 53–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dry, H.
1981 Sentence aspect and the movement of narrative time. Text 1: 233–240.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1983 The movement of narrative time. Journal of Literary Semantics XII: 19–53. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Enkvist, N.E. & B. Wårvik
1987 Old English Þa, temporal chains, and narrative structure. In A.G. Ramat, O. Carruba & G. Bernini (eds.) Papers from the 7th International Conference on Historical Linguistics : 221–237. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fleischman, S.
1990 Tense and narrativity: From medieval performance to modern fiction. Routledge.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Garvin, P.L.
1964 A Prague School reader on aesthetics, literary structure and style. Georgetown University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grimes, J.E.
1975 The thread of discourse. Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K.
1971 Linguistic function and literary style: An inquiry into the language of William Golding's The Inheritors. In S. Chatman (ed.) Literary style: A symposium: 330–368. Oxford University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P.J.
1979 Aspect and foregrounding in discourse. In T. Givón (ed.) Syntax and semantics, vol 12: Discourse and syntax: 213–241. Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, P.J. & S.A. Thompson
1980 Transitivity in grammar and discourse. Language 56: 251–299. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(eds.) 1982 Syntax and semantics, vol. 15: Studies in transitivity. Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jakobson, R.
1960 Closing statement: Linguistics and poetics. In T.A. Sebeok (ed.) Style in language: 350–377. M. I. T. Press Paperbacks. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Joos, M.
1964 The English verb. University of Wisconsin Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kalmár, I.
1982 Transitivity in a Czech folk tale. In P. Hopper & S.A. Thompson (eds.): 241–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Khalil, E.N.
2000 Grounding in English and Arabic News Discourse. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W.
1977 Language in the inner city: Studies in the Black English Vernacular. Blackwell.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Labov, W. & J. Waletzky
1967 Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experiences. In J. Helm (ed.) Essays on verbal and visual arts: Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society: 12–44. University of Washington Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Leech, G.N.
1969 A linguistic guide to English poetry. Longman. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lemon, L.T. & M.J. Reis
1965 Russian formalist criticism: Four essays. University of Nebraska Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Longacre, R.E.
1981 A spectrum and profile approach to discourse analysis. Text 1: 337–359. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mann, W.C. & M. Taboada
2005-2010  RST Website . Available: http://​www​.sfu​.ca​/rst
Mathiessen, C. & S.A. Thompson
1988 The structure of discourse and ‘subordination’. In J. Haiman & S.A.Thompson (eds.) Typological Studies in Language, vol. 18: Clause Combining in Grammar and Discourse: 275–329. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nickel, G.
1966 Die Expanded Form im Altenglischen. Karl Wachholtz Verlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Osgood, C.E.
1980 Lectures on Language Performance. SpringerVerlag. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reichenbach, H.
1947 Elements of symbolic logic. Macmillan.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reinhart, T.
1984 Principles of Gestalt perception in the temporal organization of narrative texts. Linguistics 22: 779–809. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Slobin, D.
1982 The origins of grammatical encoding of events. In P. Hopper & S.A. Thompson (eds.): 409–422. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tomlin, R.S.
1985 Foreground-background information and the syntax of subordination. Text 5: 85–122.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
1987 Linguistic reflections of cognitive events. In R.S. Tomlin (ed.): 455–79.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(ed.) 1987 Coherence and grounding. John Benjamins.  BoP Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tynianov, Y.
1981 The problem of verse language. Ardis. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vendler, Z.
1967 Linguistics in philosophy. Cornell University Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wallace, S.
1982 Figure and ground: The interrelationships of linguistic categories. In P.J. Hopper (ed.) Tense-aspect: Between semantics and pragmatics: 201–233. John Benjamins.  BoPGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wårvik, B.
1990 On grounding in English narratives: A diachronic perspective. In S. Adamson et al. (eds.) Papers from the 5th International Conference of English Historical Linguistics: 559–575. John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2002 On grounding in narrative: A survey of criteria and models. Department of English, Åbo Akademi University. [Lic. Thesis 1992]Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weinrich, H.
1971 Tempus. Besprochene und erzählte Welt. Verlag W. Kohlhammer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
 
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue