The discursive level

The discursive level is a surface level of meaning or level of manifestation. Here we examine the specific words - or grammatical items/structures that are visible on the surface of the text. Most grammar teaching - and indeed textual analysis - has hitherto been concerned exclusively with this level. Key elements on this level are:

The figurative component: by this we mean all the elements in the text that refer to the external physical world. They are known as figures. Figurative reality, then, is that reality that can be apprehended by the five senses - vision, smell, hearing, taste and touch. It can be contrasted with the inner world of the conceptual abstract, that is the third and deep level of meaning.

To explore the figurative component we start with examining the vocabulary. We try to extract the most important lexical (semantic) fields. This is done by grouping together words that have a meaning in common or a common denominator. These groupings are called 'isotopies' (isotopies in French). The lists of isotopies can then be interpreted: How are they distributed in the text? Which is/are the dominant one/s? Can we extract oppositions at this level? This kind of interpretation will already give us an indication of what will be the significant themes.

Grammatical/syntactic features: the use of the active or passive voice, for example, or procedures like nominalization and cohesive markers

throw light on the organization of a text and thus reveal textual strategies of manipulation.

The enunciative component: this relates to traces of the speaker/author and the listener/reader in the text. What image does the utterance construct of either of them? Investigation of pronouns, of the narrative voice (personalized or depersonalized), of forms of speech (direct/ indirect), for instance, indicate signifying intentionaliry. Most important in this respect is also the modality of a statement, categorical, for example, in the case of news reporting, or tentative on the part of a pupil, etc.