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Identity And Discourse

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Discourse and Identity

Identity is a central concept in the study of discourse and social sciences. It has been a main concern for many scholars from different disciplines. These disciplines proposed definitions and research methods regarding the study of identity which led to new insights in the study of human behavior and social interaction.
A large number of terms can be used to describe persons. These ‘terms’, and their ‘description’, are both discourse phenomena. Different descriptions may be produced, in which some ‘identities’ are made clear and others are ignored or implied. So, when someone is identified as ‘a middle-class employed man’ this implies that the described person is not a woman, neither an elite nor a lower-class person, …show more content…

He argues that people use different styles or varieties of language for different purposes. They use different varieties of language to enact and recognize different identities in different settings. Gee also points out that people build identities and activities not just through language, but by using language together with other “stuff” that isn’t language. (Gee, 2011, p. 207)
There is a strong connection between discourse and identity. A Discourse is a characteristic way of saying, doing, and being. An oral or written “utterance” has meaning, then, only if and when it communicates a ‘who’ and a ‘what’; a “who” is a socially situated identity, the “kind of person” one is seeking to be and enact here and now while a “what” is a socially situated practice or activity that the utterance helps to constitute. (Gee, 2011, p. …show more content…

Collective Identity
As mentioned earlier, 'identity ' can be defined in discourse analysis and social studies as the person 's sense of 'who ' and 'what ' he/she is. This sense can be taken as a starting point to understand the concept of 'group identity ' or 'collective identity '. Two types of identity can be distinguished in the vast literature of identity research, namely the personal and the collective.
In the second half of the twentieth century, sociologists, social psychologists and linguistics critics began to be interested in the notion of group or collective identities, with which people identify and claim – or resist – membership, and define who they are in relation to others. (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006, p. 8)
Back to the dictionary definitions, Cambridge Dictionary defines 'collective ' as "of or shared by every member of a group of people". (Cambridge Dictionary,

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