Discourse Analysis

Realised in communication Realised by language Realised by texts Discourse Definition Common concern Abstract Realised in communication Realised by language Realised by texts

Discourse Definition Language use beyond sentence Language use in contexts Social practice

Language in a social-semiotic perspective ‘Social semiotic’ as a general ideology As an intellectual stance As conceptual angle of the subject

A general study of signs A study of meanings in most general sense Semiotics A general study of signs A study of meanings in most general sense Linguistics is a kind of semiotics Culture is a set of semiotic systems, a set of systems of meanings, all of which interrelate.

Language (sounds, letters) Examples Traffic lights Colours Language (sounds, letters) Interpretation of colours (salted eggs, navy blue)

Language as social semiotic Used by a community Based on convention At all levels: word, phrase, sentence, text

Discourse is realised by texts Communication happens in text Text is central to discourse analysis What is text?

TEXT CULTURE Genre (Purpose) Situation Who is involved? (Tenor) Subject matter Channel (Field) (Mode) Register TEXT

Something is called a’ text’ when it is meaningful. It is a semantic unit. Something is called a’ text’ when it is meaningful. It is spoken and written. It is not a phonological or a graphological unit. It occurs in a context of situation.

There are three elements Context of situation There are three elements Subject matter (field) Participants involved (tenor) Channel (mode)

Context of culture Every culture produces text types. A text type is a genre Two general purposes: Transactional and Interpersonal genres Transactional: to get something done Interpersonal: for different purposes of communication

Procedure Descriptive Narrative Recount report News item Discussion Basic English genres Procedure Descriptive Narrative Recount report News item Discussion Explanation Exposition Review

Needs linguistic analysis Text analysis Needs linguistic analysis Interpretation is based on linguistic evidence Text analysts need the right ‘knife’ to cut the right ‘bread’ Different ‘knives’ for different ‘bread’

Discourse analysis How texts relate to contexts of situation and context of culture How texts are produced as a social practice What texts tell us about happenings, what people think, believe etc. How texts represent ideology (power struggle etc.)

Text & Discourse Analyses (Nunan, 1993) Text analysis is the study of formal linguistic devices that distinguish a text from random sentences. Discourse analysts study these text-forming devices with reference to the purposes and functions for which the discourse was produced, and the context within which the discourse was created. The ultimate goal is to show how the linguistic elements enable language users to communicate.

“the study of language in use”. Discourse, according to Stubbs (1983:1), i “language above the sentence or above the clause” and ‘the study of discourse is the study of any aspect of language use. “the study of language in use”. (Fasold1990: 65).

“Discourse constitutes the social “Discourse constitutes the social. Three dimensions of the social are distinguished – knowledge, social relations, and social identity – and these correspond respectively to three major functions of language … Discourse is shaped by relations of power, and invested ideologies.” (Fairclough 1992:8)

Discourse analysis, in turn, is composed of a wide range of sub-disciplines, such as pragmatics, conversational analysis, speech act theory and ethnography of speaking. The discipline studies language used in the context, so its subject matter is language as a whole, either written or spoken, in terms of transcriptions, larger texts, audio or video recordings, which provides an opportunity to the analyst to work with language rather than a single sentence.

See the following diagram onn stratification and metafunctions Communication Exchange of meanings Happens in texts See the following diagram onn stratification and metafunctions

Discourse Semantic Level CULTURAL LEVEL Discourse Semantic Level Textual Interpersonal Lexicogrammatical Level Ideational Phonology/ Graphology Level

Discourse semantic level Leexico-grammatical level Stratification Discourse semantic level Leexico-grammatical level Phonological / graphological level All of these are related by realisation