Chapter 5
Discourse
Discourse analysis = the branch of linguistics that focuses on language use above and
beyond the sentence. It is by examining units larger than sentences, then, that discourse
analysts go “above” the sentence. And it is by examining aspects of the world in which
language is used that discourse analysts go “beyond” the sentence.
Besides linguistic processes (arranging sentences, conveying meaning) there are also
cognitive processes that underlie the organization of thoughts into verbal form.
A discourse differs from random sequence/sentence because it has coherence = it
conveys meaning that is greater than the sum of its parts. Discourse are structured
relationships among the parts of that result in something new and different.
Written discourse vs. spoken discourse
Data: language use in everyday life
Analysis of discourse is always analysis of language use. Discourse analysts examine
actual samples of people interaction in everyday situation, (besides that also on tape).
Focus on the patterns in which sentences appear in the texts that are constructed as
people interact.
Communicative competence = our tacit cultural knowledge about how to use language
in different speech situations, how to interact with different people engaged together in
different speech events, and how to use language to perform different acts.
First, only few sentences analysed at the time. Second, difficult to reconstruct the
nuances of speech, especially with several people interacting with each other.
Our memories are fallible, so we fill in details based upon prior knowledge of what
typically happens.
The ethnography of communication = persuaded linguists and anthropologists to
analyse the social, cultural, and linguistic properties of three units embedded in one
another:
Speech act = an action performed by one person through speech. It can be labelled by
a noun that names the act. Speaker intends to perform the act and that intention is
recognized by recipient. (greeting, compliment, request, boast).
Speech event = an interaction between two> people which more than one speech act
occurs (greetings, requests, compliance).
Speech situation = a social occasion with more than one speech event. During the
occasion, speech contributes to what happens, but it is not necessarily all that happens
(classroom, party etc.)
Transcript = written version of what is said that captures numerous aspects of language
(features of speech: intonation, volume, nonfluencies / aspects of intonation: overlaps
between turns at talk / nonvocal behaviour: gaze, gesture etc.)
Spoken and Writen discourse
Both processes rely upon language but both in different way and their products achieve
coherence through different means.
Discourse
Discourse analysis = the branch of linguistics that focuses on language use above and
beyond the sentence. It is by examining units larger than sentences, then, that discourse
analysts go “above” the sentence. And it is by examining aspects of the world in which
language is used that discourse analysts go “beyond” the sentence.
Besides linguistic processes (arranging sentences, conveying meaning) there are also
cognitive processes that underlie the organization of thoughts into verbal form.
A discourse differs from random sequence/sentence because it has coherence = it
conveys meaning that is greater than the sum of its parts. Discourse are structured
relationships among the parts of that result in something new and different.
Written discourse vs. spoken discourse
Data: language use in everyday life
Analysis of discourse is always analysis of language use. Discourse analysts examine
actual samples of people interaction in everyday situation, (besides that also on tape).
Focus on the patterns in which sentences appear in the texts that are constructed as
people interact.
Communicative competence = our tacit cultural knowledge about how to use language
in different speech situations, how to interact with different people engaged together in
different speech events, and how to use language to perform different acts.
First, only few sentences analysed at the time. Second, difficult to reconstruct the
nuances of speech, especially with several people interacting with each other.
Our memories are fallible, so we fill in details based upon prior knowledge of what
typically happens.
The ethnography of communication = persuaded linguists and anthropologists to
analyse the social, cultural, and linguistic properties of three units embedded in one
another:
Speech act = an action performed by one person through speech. It can be labelled by
a noun that names the act. Speaker intends to perform the act and that intention is
recognized by recipient. (greeting, compliment, request, boast).
Speech event = an interaction between two> people which more than one speech act
occurs (greetings, requests, compliance).
Speech situation = a social occasion with more than one speech event. During the
occasion, speech contributes to what happens, but it is not necessarily all that happens
(classroom, party etc.)
Transcript = written version of what is said that captures numerous aspects of language
(features of speech: intonation, volume, nonfluencies / aspects of intonation: overlaps
between turns at talk / nonvocal behaviour: gaze, gesture etc.)
Spoken and Writen discourse
Both processes rely upon language but both in different way and their products achieve
coherence through different means.
