Descriptive Lists and List Descriptions

Abstract

Lists are a recurrent feature of discourse. They not only occur in the text type (the shopping list, the to-do list, the order of business), but are a standard feature of arguments (first, second, third), of instructional prose (Put the milk into the mixer, add the sugar and the strawberries, then turn on the blender, blend for five minutes, then add the vanilla ice cream and blend for another three minutes, then pour into glasses), of narrative (He checked the arsenal, appointed guards, manned the portcullis, and closed the gates of the castle), and of description (The dining room sported a large table, ten chairs, a sideboard, several lamps, a chandelier over the table, a big red carpet, and several mirrors and paintings on the walls). The list therefore is a structural schema of enumeration in which particular items (e.g., attributes, objects or people, processes, actions) are arranged in a series. The order of items can be determined temporally (first to last), spatially (from top to bottom, left to right), in reference to importance (most important to least important), to salience (from the object/feature that stands out to less remarkable items), to logical parameters (from the general to the specific, e.g., first give the layout of a house, then list the individual rooms), or can follow cultural codes (start describing women from the face downward; describe apartments by listing rooms in the order in which you walk through them). There are also unordered lists in which one has jotted down items as they have occurred to one (the shopping list) or lists where the order is determined by accidental external circumstances (the agenda of a meeting, where topics may have been arranged to meet the schedules of various parties who have to leave early or who are coming late from other engagements). Lists thus display a great variety of forms and are utilized in many different contexts. When one considers lists in literature (fiction and poetry--I exclude drama from consideration), there are four dominant forms to be observed: (1) the narrative list which lists actions in fiction or narrative poetry; (2) the descriptive list, that is, a descriptive passage in the form of a list; (3) the argumentative list, which can occur in the discourse of the narrator persona or in the dialogue (or monologue) of characters, and in the disquisitions of the speaker of a poem; (4) the list as insert, for instance as the quotation of a shopping list or agenda; but also in embedded texts such as the quoted business letter or minutes, the letter enumerating things to do or events of the previous week. Whereas (1) to (3) are inherently part of narrative, in the case of (4) the list form belongs to the text type or genre of the embedded text. Argumentative lists have received ample treatment in Deborah Schiffrin's Approaches to Discourse. She notes that much conversational language is structured in the format of lists. For instance, she quotes an interview in which the interviewee answers the question Racing's big around here, isn't it? by listing the places for racing (Jersey, Monmouth, Garden State, Atlantic City, Liberty Bell, Neshaminy, Delaware, York, Aquaduct, Saratoga, Belmont) and then establishes the order of the list as follows: Racing around here Racing in New Jersey Race tracks in New Jersey Racing here [in Pennsylvania] Race tracks in Pennsylvania Racing in Delaware/race track in Delaware Racing in New York Race tracks in New York (Adapted from Schiffrin 295) Schifffin goes on to contrast narrative and descriptive lists, noting how in some conversations the two tend to be combined or merge into one another. For instance, in a narrative of where people would go on dates (304), this list is interrupted by a descriptive enumeration concerning the ice cream parlor, but nevertheless continues the list of locations by adding a bakery (304). …