Power Point
Power Point
Discourse analysis examines patterns of language across texts and considers the
relationship between language and the social and cultural contexts in which it is used.
Discourse analysis also considers the ways that the use of language presents different
views of the world and different understandings. It examines how the use of language
is influenced by relationships between participants as well as the effects the use of
language has upon social identities and relations. It also considers how views of the
world, and identities, are constructed through the use of discourse.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEXT LINGUISTICS AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Text Linguistics: It is concerned with internal aspects of language (it studies text,
cohesions and coherence)
Discourse Analysis: It goes further, it considered internal and external aspects of
language (the rest of criteria).
WHEN WAS DISCOURSE ANALYSIS FIRSTLY INTRODUCED?
The term discourse analysis was first introduced by Zellig Harris ( 1952 ) as a way of
analysing connected speech and writing. Harris had two main interests: the examination
of language beyond the level of the sentence and the relationship between linguistic
and non-linguistic behaviour. He examined the first of these in most detail, aiming to
provide a way for describing how language features are distributed within texts and the
ways in which they are combined in particular kinds and styles of texts.
An early, and important, observation he made was that: connected discourse occurs
within a particular situation – whether of a person speaking, or of a conversation, or of
someone sitting down occasionally over the period of months to write a particular kind
of book in a particular literary or scientific tradition.
There are, thus, typical ways of using language in particular situations. These discourses,
he argued, not only share particular meanings, they also have characteristic linguistic
features associated with them. What these meanings are and how they are realized in
language is of central interest to the area of discourse analysis.
The work of J. R. Firth has been similarly influential in the area of discourse analysis. This
is reflected in the concern by discourse analysts to study language within authentic
instances of use (as opposed to made-up examples) – a concern with the inseparability
of meaning and form and a focus on a contextual theory of meaning (Stubbs 1996).
Sinclair also argues that language should be studied in naturally occurring contexts and
that the analysis of meaning should be its key focus (Carter 2004).
Discourse analysis, then, is interested in ‘what happens when people draw on the
knowledge they have about language . . . to do things in the world’ (Johnstone 2002:3).
It is, thus, the analysis of language in use. Discourse analysis considers the relationship
between language and the contexts in which it is used and is concerned with the
description and analysis of both spoken and written interactions.
Its primary purpose, as Chimombo and Roseberry (1998) argue, is to provide a deeper
understanding and appreciation of texts and how they become meaningful to their
users.
CONTEXT OF SITUATION AND CONTEXT OF CULTURE
In addition to grammatical forms and patterns, one needs also to consider the field,
tenor and mode of the context, for language is used in what is called the context of
situation, which is part of what is called the context of culture.
In the context of situation the reader must identify:
the field (What is being spoken about? The field of human activity? Is it at the
beach? Going to school? Or what?)
the tenor (What are the relationships? father to son? friend to friend? Judge to
jury? Or what?)
the mode (what are the circumstances in which the language communication
takes place? Conversation? Reflection? Description? Or what?) (Collerson, 1994)
Note that circumstances dictate the level of language used, such as: the formal, the
informal, the colloquial and slang (Collerson). An example of context of situation could
take place in a shop. The field could be the price of a certain item; the tenor would be
a slight deference on the shop assistant part towards the customer because of a
potential sale; the mode would be that of spoken inquiry: question, answer, response.
As mentioned above, context of situation forms part of context of culture. By context
of culture is meant the meanings and assumptions we share as a community of
people. It also incorporates “the culturally evolved expectations of ways of behaving”
and getting things done (Hammond et al, 1992, p.2). For example, the buying and selling
of goods will vary from culture to culture. In some cultures bartering is always
acceptable but in Australia selling goods at fixed prices is the usual expectation. We
must keep in mind, however, that a society like Australia has a multi-cultural strand in
which different cultural assumptions interact but that in some Australian settings, it is
possible for a common set of meanings and assumptions to operate.
OBJECTS OF DISCOURSE