2.7.4 Significant Lexicogrammatical Features of Descriptive Text
Besides having a communicative purpose and generic structures, descriptive text also has lexicogrammatical features that support a descriptive text.
The following are significant lexicogrammatical features of descriptive text.
1 Focus on specific participant
2 Use of Attributive and Identifying process.
3 Frequent use of Epithets and classifier in nominal groups
4 Use of simple present tense
2.7.4.1 Specific Participant
As stated before, the purpose of descriptive texts is to describe particular person, thing or place. The subject that is described is not general, but more
specific. Thus we can not describe people in general, but we can describe a particular person. For example: my father, my house, Mrs. Alexandria, etc.
2.7.4.2 Relational Processes
Relational processes involve state of being including having. They can be classified according to whether they are being used to identify something
Dirly Piers may be the finest living horn player or to assign a quality to something Dirly Anderson is a fine horn player.
Processes which are established to identify are called identifying processes and those which assign a quality are called attributive processes. Each has its own
characteristics participant roles.
In attributive there are Carrier and Attributive. Dirly Anderson is
a fine horn player Carrier Attributive Attribute
In identifying processes the participant roles are Token value. Dirly Piers may be the finest living horn player
Token Identifying Value
2.7.4.3 Nominal Group
A nominal group is group of words which has a noun a word which names a person, place or thing as its head word and includes all additional
information related to the noun. As a means of representing experience, the nominal group has a number of functional components. Some of the components
which are frequently used in writing descriptive text are epithet and classifier. Epithet indicates some qualities of the subset, which may be either
‘adjective’ such as ‘old’, ‘big’, ‘small’ or it may be an expression of the speaker’s attitude such as ‘loathsome’, ‘nasty’.
Classifier tells us ‘what type’ or ‘what kind’. For example, we distinguish between types of snake by their classifier.
It is often difficult to draw a line between what is a classifier and what is an epithet. Some criteria are:
1 A classifier comes from a finite set of options. There are any numbers of
qualities which can be assigned to something but a more limited range of types or sub-sets.
2 A classifier can not be intensified. We can have ‘A very big snake’ but we
do not find ‘A very non-venomous snake’.
2.8 Simple Present Tense
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