ipl-logo

Discourse Analysis: Contextual Use Of Language

1364 Words6 Pages

1.4: An Introduction to Discourse Analysis:

Defining discourse depends on the subject area and the contextual use of language. Definition of discourse and discourse analysis depends on the epistemological stance of the theorist. It is used in different disciplines, in different ways, with different contents or the meanings of the concept. Discourse studies both the text and the context. Discourse analysis is essentially multidisciplinary. It involves linguistics, poetics, semiotics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, history, and communication research. Discourse analysts study language in use in relation to social, political and cultural aspects.
The term ‘Discourse’ is wide spread. Discourse is language and therefore discourse analysis …show more content…

We conclude from this that with the sentence we leave the domain of language as a system of signs and enter into another universe, that of language as an instrument of communication, whose expression is discourse.” (Benveniste, Problems in General Linguistics 110)
Emile Benveniste studies the language system. According to him a sentence plays a vital role in human speech. As written by Emile it is ‘the life’ of human speech in action. He is of the point that a sentence is a system of signs which helps the speaker or the hearer to enter into another universe. So in communication language is used as an instrument and its expression is discourse.
Emile …show more content…

He treats discourse as the general domain of all statements. This part of the definition gives broad idea and understanding of discourse. It means all utterances or texts which have meaning and which have some other effects in the real world, count as discourse. In the second part of the definition “as an individualizable group of statements” Foucault discusses about the particular structure within the discourse. Foucault’s definition of discourse contains layers of meanings as it also talks about the discourse of femininity, the discourse of imperialism and so on. In the third part of the definition Foucault is less interested in the actual utterances or texts that are produced than in the rules and structures which produce particular utterances and texts.
There are six tradition of discourse analysis in literature. They are: Conversation analysis, interactional sociolinguistics, discursive psychology, critical discourse analysis, Bakhtinian discourse analysis, and Foucauldian discourse

Show More
Related
1361 Words | 6 Pages

During the 1980s, space exploration was a popular topic to watch, listen to, and learn about in American life. NASA had already sent a lot of missions to space, all reaching new milestones and increasing interest in space exploration. The Challenger, however, had a different mission than the rest. It was going to carry the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, into space where she would teach two lessons. There were six other men and women on board the Challenger.

Read More
189 Words | 1 Pages

In James Paul Gee’s essay “What Is Literacy?’ , he uses the key term ‘discourses’. Gee explains discourses as a placement in society or the belonging to a group in society. Gee states that it come from an individual’s saying, doings, or just their identity. As Gee elaborates on discourses he breaks them down into different areas in which relate to one another.

Read More
820 Words | 4 Pages

Everyone has a Discourse, whether they are aware of it or not. One might ask, “What is a Discourse”? James Paul Gee’s Literacy, Discourse and Linguistics: Introduction states, “Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are a form of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes” (6-7). Entering the writing Discourse may be difficult, as there are many styles and versions. It is common to come upon many styles of writing such as college level writing, scientific writing and technical/business communication.

Read More
1122 Words | 5 Pages

Past leaders such as Andrew Jackson, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Marc Antony are evidence that society does not reward morality and good character in leadership. Society is drawn to leaders that have good rhetoric, propaganda, and charismatic personalities, and society supports them despite their immorality. Society is concerned about stability more than the morality of their leaders and will support immoral leaders in times of crisis to provide stability. In history there have been multiple leaders that have used rhetoric, propaganda and charismatic personalities to gain power, despite their morals.

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical analysis is an investigation into how someone uses his/her critical reading skills to analyze text. The objective of the rhetorical analysis is the study of how the author writes, instead of what the author wrote. At that point, we need to examine the method that the author uses to attain his goal. According to Jonah G. Willihnganz “A rhetorical analysis is an examination of how a text persuades us of its point of view. It focuses on identifying and investigating the way a text communicates, what strategies it employs to connect to an audience, frame an issue, establish its stakes, make a particular claim, support it, and persuade the audience to accept the claim”.

Read More
535 Words | 3 Pages

1) Of the three primary units we have completed in this course, the most challenging unit for me was the argument (persuasion) unit. I was surprised at how much I struggled both in the pre-writing process and in the writing process. To begin with, because I love arguments, I had trouble choosing a topic. In the end, I decided to challenge myself with the policy that requires sex offender to be added to a public registry policy. Instead of going with my initial stance (opposition), I decided to flip the scrip and argue the opposite of what I believe (proposition).

Read More
835 Words | 4 Pages

Science is often stereotyped as a primarily independent endeavor. Most people will never step foot inside a research lab during their lifetime, so their only understanding of a scientific researcher is the one portrayed in books and movies -- the smart, eccentric, socially-isolated male who spends all his time in the lab and doesn’t do much else. People assume that biomedical research is only for introverts, since it is often misrepresented as pipetting miniscule amounts of liquids for hours on end. In addition, researchers are assumed to be unusually intelligent. How else are they going to cure cancer or discover life on Mars?

Read More
1059 Words | 5 Pages

A discourse community is a group of people that share a set of values and goals. Members of a discourse community have their own way of communicating within the group and with the public. Although the communities may differ in subject matter and appearance, they do share varying levels of similarities. The three-discourse communities that we will be focusing on are: art, research biology and finance: specifically, the financial service sector. Furthermore, we will be comparing the three-discourse communities on: similarities among all the groups, similarities between each group and the differences among all three.

Read More
1564 Words | 7 Pages

The main advantages of the experimental method is the ability to control what each participant experiences and this allows researchers to test precise and accurate hypotheses and draw conclusions about how one variable affects another. The main disadvantage of is that it cannot replicate or reproduce the complexity of real life and it can miss social rules and other factors that could establish whether a bystander intervenes or not. The discourse analysis, on the other hand can capture a richer and more varied picture of people’s experiences and looks at people’s actual experiences. However, it cannot provide general rules about human behaviour that could be applied to more than one

Read More
1636 Words | 7 Pages

Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher and author, once stated, “The well-being of a community of people working together will be the greater, the less the individual claims for himself the proceeds of his work, the more of these proceeds he makes over to his fellow-workers, the more his own needs are satisfied, not out of his own work but out of the work done by others” (“Recording of Society”). This quote represents the true meaning of a discourse community. A discourse community is a group of social individuals that work together to reach a common goal, understand the same basic values and assumptions, and use a unique kind of communication to reach their set goal or purpose. A good example of a discourse community is the organization

Read More
1554 Words | 7 Pages

It can be difficult to understand what it means to be a discourse or what communities fall under that category, and that is why I feel like John Swales’ definition of a discourse community is the the one that makes the most sense and the one that almost anybody can apply to communities they are part of and determine if they are discourses or not. Even though Gee and Porter had good points regarding discourses and good arguments, one almost had to be a linguist to fully understand what they were saying. They did help Swales get his point across more clearly in some instances though. Thanks to Swales I now know for a fact that my English 1113 class is a discourse community and I achieved that by following the six rules Swales presented as necessary to be a discourse community. Gee, James P. “Literary, Discourse, and Linguistics.”

Read More
667 Words | 3 Pages

Every day humans encounter rhetorical situations, yet hardly ever is a heated conversation or debate though of this way. Rhetoric, which is the art of conversation has been used for thousands of years across the world. Rhetorical situations constitute of four elements, the exigence, rhetor, audience, and constraints. All of these are equally the most important elements, because without each other the conversation would make no sense. The action or statement that sparks a discourse, or the exigence is one of the four constituents of a rhetorical analysis.

Read More
1274 Words | 6 Pages

Based on Stuart Hall’s (2006) discussion of Foucault’s theory of discourse, a discourse is generally consisting of a group of statements that together offer a way of talking about a par-ticular knowledge on a certain topic. Many individuals can produce it together, in different institutional settings. The discourse thereby enables the construction of a topic in a specific way which at the same time limits other constructions of the same topic. A discourse is made up not only from one but a multiplicity of statements that all share the same style to talk about the same topic. However, it is not a closed off system, it draws statements from and into other discourses.

Read More
1629 Words | 7 Pages

It is prima facie evidence of linguistic flexibility, proof of the great dexterity of the human mind. (Pincott,

Read More
1691 Words | 7 Pages

On the one hand, some argue that language constructs our thoughts. From this perspective, Deborah Tannen, from the language constructs thought community, states that “This is how language works. It invisibly molds our way of thinking about people, actions, and the world around us” (Tannen 14). On the other hand, however, others such as Richard Selzer, might say that language is used to represent our thoughts, but it can fall short. One of his view’s main proponents are, “these extremes of sensation remain beyond the power of language to express” (Selzer 28).

Read More

More about Discourse Analysis: Contextual Use Of Language

Related Topics

Open Document