Sentence in the Text

We have repeatedly shown throughout the present work that sentences in continual speech are not used in isolation;they are interconnected both semantically topically andsyntactically.Intersentential connections have come under linguisticinvestigation but recently.The highest lingual unit which wasapproached by traditional grammar as liable to syntactic studywas the sentence; scholars even specially stressed that to surpass the boundaries of the sentence was equal tosurpassing the boundaries of grammar.In particular, such an outstanding linguist as L. Bloomfield,while recognising the general semantic connections betweensentences in the composition of texts as linguistically relevant,at the same time pointed out that the sentence is the largestgrammatically arranged linguistic form, i.e. it is not includedinto any other linguistic form by a grammatical arrangement.*However, further studies in this field have demonstrated theinadequacy of the cited thesis. It has been shown that sentencesin speech do come under broad grammatical arrangements, docombine with one another on strictly syntactic lines in theformation of larger stretches of both oral talk and written text.It should be quite clear that, supporting the principle of syntactic approach to arrangement of sentences into a continualtext, we do not assert that any sequence of independentsentences forms a syntactic unity. Generally speaking,sentences in a stretch of uninterrupted talk may or may not build up a coherent sequence, wholly depending on the purposeof the speaker.

E.g.: Barbara. Dolly: don't be insincere. Cholly: fetch your concertina and play something for us (B. Shaw).The cited sequence of two sentences does not form a unityin either syntactic or semantic sense, the sentences beingaddressed to different persons on different reasons.Adisconnected sequence may also have one and the samecommunication addressee, as in the following case:Duchess of Berwic. I like him so much. I am quitedelighted he's gone! How sweet you're looking! Where do youget your gowns? And now I must tell you how sorry I am for you, dear Margaret (O. Wilde).But disconnected sequences like these are rather anexception than the rule. Moreover, they do not contradict in theleast the idea of a continual topical text as being formed of grammatically interconnected sentences. Indeed, successivesentences in a disconnected sequence mark the correspondingtransitions of thought, so each of them can potentially beexpanded into a connected sequence bearing on one

unifying topic. Characteristically, an utterance of a personagein a work of fiction marking a transition of thought (and breaking the syntactic connection of sentences in the sequence)is usually introduced by a special author's comment.

E.g.: "You know, L.S., you're rather a good sport."

Then his tone grew threatening again. "It's a big risk I'm taking. It's the biggest risk I've ever had to take" (C. P. Snow).As we see, the general idea of a sequence of sentencesforming a text includes two different notions. On the one hand,it presupposes a succession of spoken or written utterancesirrespective of their forming or not forming a coherentsemantic complex. On the other hand, it implies a strictlytopical stretch of talk, i.e. a continual succession of sentencescentering on a common informative purpose. It is this latter understanding of the text that is syntactically relevant. It is inthis latter sense that the text can be interpreted as a lingualelement with its two distinguishing features: first, semantic(topical) unity, second, semantico-syntactic cohesion