Discourse Analysis, Types,Elements,Importance,Text Complete In Urdu and Hindi

Overview

• What is Discourse Analysis?

• The origin of the term “Discourse Analysis”

• Importance of Discourse Analysis

• Difference between text and discourse.

• Elements of discourse analysis

• Types of discourse analysis

Zellig Harris

The term discourse analysis was first employed by Zellig Harris as the name for ‘a method for the analysis of the connected speech or writing for continuing descriptive linguistics beyond the limit of a single sentence at a time and for correlating culture and language’ (Harris 1952).

The meanings of discourse

• The word discourse is an elastic term,

• The word discourse has a complex history. It is used in a range of different ways by different theorists.

• Originally the word ‘discourse’ comes from Latin, ‘discursus’ which denoted ‘conversations’, ‘speech’.

• As a noun it can mean verbal communication, talk, formal speech or writing on a subject and a unit of text used by linguists for the analysis of linguistic phenomena that range over more than one sentence

Definition of Discourse Analysis

• Discourse analysis is the study of how stretches of language used in communication assume meaning, purpose and unity for their users: the quality of coherence (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Applied Linguistics by Keith Johnson and Helen Johnson,1998)

Two domains of language

• TEXT/ SENTENCE

• Text is a message coded in auditory or visual medium

• Essays, notices, road signs etc.

• DISCOURSE

• Interpersonal activity/ transaction between speaker and hearer

• Written as well as spoken

• Interviews, commentaries, speeches, etc.

Difference between Text and Discourse

• According to David Crystal Discourse analysis focuses on the structure of naturally occurring

• spoken language, as found in such ‘discourses’ as conversations, interviews, commentaries and speeches.

• Text analysis focuses on the structure of written language, as found in such ‘texts’ as essays, notices, road signs and chapters.

• According to Geoffrey Leech and Michael Short; ‘’discourse’’ is linguistic communication seen as transaction between speaker and hearer, as an interpersonal activity whose form is determined by its ‘’social purpose’’.

What do we do in Discourse Analysis?

• We analyze and investigate all those features of that are part of the total communicative act: context of utterance, relationships, mode of discourse and so on

• Conversational behavior is observed

• Conventions of conversation (turn-taking)

• Strategies for beginning and ending a conversation

• How topics appear and disappear

• How different speech acts (e.g. politeness) are performed

• To establish underlying norms of conversation

Importance of Discourse Analysis

• Since it has a large agenda, it continues to have a wide appeal

• Language is irreducible part of social life

• In speech behavior not only linguists but sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists are also interested.

• DA is helpful in other forms of analysis like Ethnography (the study of races of people)

Types

There are five main types of discourse:

Narrative

Description

Persuasive

Argumentative

Expository

Narrative writing

involves telling a story (narrating). Narration involves several features, such as: Narrative

5. Point of view (first person or third person)

Characters

Setting

Plot

Conflict

Resolution

Descriptive

Descriptive writing features descriptive words/phrases and sensory images.

7. An effective piece of descriptive writing should make the reader feel as if he or she is experiencing what is being described.

Persuasive

The purpose of Persuasive writing/speaking is to convince the readers/listeners to change their mode of thinking or to persuade them to take a specific action. Persuasive techniques are often used in: Advertisements Argumentative writing Political campaigns Persuasion often appeals to emotion.

Argumentative

Argumentative writing/speaking is similar to Persuasive writing/speaking. However, the argument is put forward in a logical manner and is often supported by facts. Persuasive techniques are often used in Argument.

Expository

The purpose of Expository writing, or Exposition, is to deliver information about an issue, subject, method, or idea.

Types of Expository Writing include:

 Analogy

 Analysis

 Cause and Effect

 Classification

 Comparison and Contrast

Elements of Discourse Analysis

Following mentioned are main elements of discourse analysis

Coherence (from Lat. “cohaerere” – to stick together) can be understood in a wide sense and in a narrow sense. In a wide sense, coherence is the semantic structure which helps to unite several sentences into a holistic text. In a narrow sense, coherence is the connection brought about by reader’s/listener’s knowledge that helps him/her to understand any given discourse (e.g. through the knowledge of the context in which the discourse is unfolding). Coherence has to do with mental processes and cultural knowledge rather than any explicit discourse markers such as deictic words or linking words (Bussmann, 1998).

Example 1:

Tom: May I have some more?

Helen: Yes, of course, any time you want more, just go ahead.

In this example, Tom does not mention what exactly he wants, but through the context of the situation Helen knows that he is speaking about perogies (Tom has just finished a plate of perogies). Thus, despite the fact that Tom is not mentioning explicitly what he wants, his discourse is coherent as is Helen’s (who is not mentioning perogies either).

Cohesion “is the connection that results when the interpretation of a textual element is dependent on another element in the text. […] Cohesion refers to the connection that exists between elements in the text” (Renkema, 2004, p. 49).

“Cohesion is produced by (a) the repetition of elements of the text, e.g. recurrence, textphoric, paraphrase, parallelism; (b) the compacting of text through the use of devices such as ellipsis; (c) the use of morphological and syntactic devices to express different kinds of relationships such as connection, tense, aspect, deixis,or theme-rheme relationships” (Bussmann, 1998, p. 199).

Example 3:

James likes yellow apples. He eats them every day.

In example 3, the interpretation of “he” depends on another element in the text (i.e. “James”). Similarly, the interpretation of “them” depends on “yellow apples”. In this case, cohesion is achieved by the use of personal pronouns “he” and “them”.

Example 4:

Ann is not going to Ukraine soon. Ann has just returned from there.

In example 4, cohesion is achieved through the use of the deictic word “there” which relies on another element of the text, the noun “Ukraine”.

The important difference between coherence and cohesion is that coherence relies on semantics of a given text as well as cultural knowledge and the overall context in which discourse is unfolding. There is no explicit manifestation of textual coherence in a text itself. Coherence is rather deduced from a text.

Cohesion, in turn, starts with concrete textual elements which are then built upon to produce the effect of cohesion. Cohesion is often manifested through the use of such “devices” as pronouns (e.g. I, he, she, it) and deictic words (e.g. here, there, then).

context

The context of an idea or event is the general situation that relates to it, and which helps it to be understood (Collins Co-build Dictionary, 1995)

Discourse analyst has to take account of the context in which a piece of discourse occur. Linguistic elements which require contextual information e.g here, now, I, you, then and that

The discourse analyst is investigating the use of the language in context by a speaker/ writer the relationship between the speaker and the utterance, on the particular occasion of use, tan with the potential relationship of one sentence to another, regardless of their use. Interpreting reference, presupposition, implicature and inference

Hedges

There is an accepted way of speaking which we all accept as standard behavior. When we produce, or hear, an utterance, we assume that it will generally be true, have the right amount of information, be relevant, and will be couched in understandable terms.

If an utterance does not appear to conform to this model, then we do not assume that the utterance is nonsense; rather, we assume that an appropriate meaning is there to be inferred. In Grice’s terms, a maxim has been flouted, and an implicature generated.

There are certain kinds of expressions speakers use to mark that they may be in danger of not fully adhering to the principles, these kinds of expressions are called “hedges”. For example, we may say: “I am not sure if this is right…” or “As far as I know…” to show that we respect the maxim of quality and many of us may use this cliché expression” So, to cut a long story short,” to emphasize that we observe the quality maxim in communication process.

 

 

 

 

 

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