DISCOURSE
WHAT IS DISCOURSE?
Discourse is the use of language above and beyond the sentence: how people use
language in texts and contexts.
WHAT CAN WE DO THROUGH DISCOURSE?
Through discourse, people
REPRESENT THE WORLD
CONVEY COMMUNICATIVE INTENTIONS
ORGANIZE THOUGHTS INTO COMMUNICATIVE ACTIONS
ARRANGE INFORMATION SO IT IS ACCESSIBLE TO OTHERS
ENGAGE IN ACTIONS AND INTERACTIONS WITH ONE ANOTHER
CONVEY THEIR IDENTITIES AND REL ATIONSHIPS
WHAT DO DISCOURSE ANALYSTS DO?
Discourse analysts focus on peoples actual utterances and try to figure out what
processes make those utterances appear the way they do.
Discourse analyses spoken discourse and written discourse. Models of function and
coherence in spoken discourse are also presented. Discourse analyses peering into
the small details of moment-by moment talk can be very detailed. And such
details are in keeping with the assumption that knowledge and meaning are
developed, and displayed, through social actions and recurrent practices, both of
which depend upon language.
WHAT DOES ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION DEAL WITH?
Ethnography of communication deals with speech act (the speakers intention
recognized by the recipient), speech event (interaction between people in one
speech act) and speech situation (a social occasion with more than one speech
event)
WHAT ARE THE DIFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES BETWEEN SPOKEN AND
WRITTEN DISCOURSE?
Spoken discourse shows how different configurations of language work together to
produce coherence in spoken discourse. Through: Verbalization of thoughts;
introduction of new information; repairing errors in what we say; turn-taking at talk;
MARIA ISABEL MONTAA
thinking of others; performing acts; linking information through cohesive ties;
speaking is faster than writing; fragmentation, the segmentation of information into
small, syntactically simple chunks of language that present roughly one idea at a
time; learning to speak seems to occur without much effort; role of the recipient: in
spoken genres, the recipient is a co-participant. They alternate between the roles of
speaker and listener. And spoken discourse is more fragmented. While written
discourse have longevity, a shelf life; they can be read and re-read and examined
more closely than transitory speech. Sometimes written texts also become part of a
cultural canon; they serve as official bearers of wisdom, insight, and institutional
knowledge that can be passed down over time and generation. When writing, we
have time to mold a group of ideas. Integration, the arrangement of information into
long, syntactically complex chunks of language that present more than one idea at
a time. Learning to write is often a formal and explicit process that includes
instruction in graphic conventions, technology, punctuation and rules of correct
grammar. The role of the recipient: Writers have to anticipate the informational
needs of their intended recipients, as well as what will maintain readers interest,
without the benefit of immediate feedback. Writers try to be clear and to create
involvement with their material and with their intended readers. Written discourse is
more integrated.
WHAT ARE THE RESOURCES/TOOLS AT HAND IN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN
DISCOURSE?
The tools that people use when they are talking to one another are often the same
at some level (e.g. turn-taking recurs in almost all discourse), but different at other
levels (e.g. the ways that turns are exchanged may differ). Capturing what is the
same, and identifying what is different, is an important part of discourse analysis.
WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF A SPEECH SITUATION?
The components of a speech situation are: the addressor, the addressee, the
contact, the context and the message.
WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE?
The functions of language are:
REFERENTIAL FUNCTION
Sentences focusing on aspects of the speech situation mainly serve a referential
function.
PHATIC FUNCTION
Sentences focusing on the relationship between participants mainly serve a phatic
function.
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POETIC FUNCTION
Focus on the message itself.
EMOTIVE FUNCTION
Sentences that express the impact of some facet of the external world (context) or
internal world (feelings, sensations) on the address or mainly serve the emotive
function.
CONATIVE FUNCTION
Focus on the relation of the addressee to the context or the interaction.
METALINGUISTIC FUNCTION
Focusing on the relation between code and situation.
THE PLANES OF DISCOURSE
Focusing on utterances allows us to see how several planes of context are related
to, and expressed through, the language used in an utterance. Like the facets of a
diamond, an utterance simultaneously has meanings:
A REFLECTION OF A SOCIAL REL ATIONSHIP (WHO ARE YOU? WHO AM I?)
PART OF A SOCIAL EXCHANGE (WHO WILL TALK NOW?)
A SPEECH ACT (WHAT ARE YOU DOING THROUGH YOUR WORDS?)
SHARED KNOWLEDGE (WHAT CAN I ASSUME YOU ALREADY KNOW?)
A PROPOSITION (WHAT ARE YOU SAYING ABOUT THE WORLD?)
Each utterance is simultaneously part of and has meaning in a participation
framework, an exchange structure, an act structure, an information state, and an
idea structure. Each utterance is connected to other utterances and to the context
on each of these planes of discourse; part of each utterances meaning is these
connections.
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