UNIT 8 THE ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE

In this unit we are going to look at that which constitutes discourse. Within this area
we will be examining various contributory factors, including cohesion and coherence,
anaphora and cataphora, connectors, textual organisation markers and finally deixis.
Let us begin by trying to define exactly what is meant by the term discourse.
Discourse analysis looks at not just the use of language from the point of view of
single sentences, but from the aspect of a connected whole, in other words the way
that chunks of language can fit together in order to create a meaning.
This means that discourse can be as little as a single word or as much as a novel, as
long as the elements convey the communicative intentions of the sender.
In an attempt to place the discourse functions together with the sentence in order to
demonstrate the way that form and intention are connected, we can identify four
types of sentence that correspond to four types of discourse function:
1.1. Sentence Types:
Declarative.
Interrogative.
Imperative.
Exclamative.
Related discourse functions:
Statements:
The role of the statement in discourse is to convey information.
Questions:
These are used as a way to gain information about something in particular.
Directives:
Directives are a way of giving an order or of warning someone.
Exclamations:
These are used to show the feelings of the speaker towards something
These show the ways that we actually use the language in day-to-day speech.
When we look at discourse, we take into account the function of the language: this
means that each utterance can be analysed.
When we come to analyse discourse we have to take into account three main areas:
Theme, Focus and Reference.
The theme is orientated towards the speaker. It is up to the speaker to decide on
which themes he wishes to discuss, and in which order he wishes to discuss them.

Connected with the theme is the Focus. This is the part that the speaker wishes the
listener to pay attention to.
The final part of the analysis, Reference, relates to an element of the text that acts
as the referential point for something that has already been, or is going to be,
mentioned in the text. This area forms part of the next section of this unit, cohesion
and coherence.
Grice declared that a text should be True, Brief, Relevant and Clear. This can be
summed up by saying that the text should be coherent. In order to achieve this
coherence, or clarity, we have to pay attention to the cohesive devices that are used
in order to hold the text together as a whole. According to Halliday and Hasan,
cohesion is the combination of register and various devices that go to make a text
coherent. We will look at the cohesive devices in more detail later, but for now we
will begin with register.
Register basically refers to the choices that we have between a variety of language
that is appropriate for each speech event. Imagine for example that you are talking to
the bank manager. The form of discourse would probably be very different to the
form that you would use if you were talking to friends in a bar.
Halliday and Hasan state that there are five major types of grammatical cohesive
ties:
Reference
Substitution.
Ellipsis.
Conjunction
Lexical
Many of these sections make use of both anaphora and cataphora, for this reason
this section of the unit will be included within the cohesive ties.
We will begin this section by looking at the area of reference and the various forms
that this can take.
Reference is a device that ties one part of the text to a previous or a forthcoming
part. This can be done through the use of either pronouns, demonstratives or
comparatives.
We will begin with pronouns. In this section we will introduce the concepts of
anaphora and cataphora.
Anaphora can occur when a pronoun is used in order to refer back to a previously
mentioned element of the text.
The weather in England isnt as hot as in Spain, and it rains more.
In this example, the pronoun it is referring back to the weather.
Cataphora is when a cohesive tie points ahead to something that has not yet been
mentioned in the text. In the following example the pronoun him is referring forwards

u
o

to Andy.
When I phoned him, Andy pretended to be out.
Demonstratives:
Like pronouns, demonstratives have the ability to be either anaphoric or
cataphoric. An anaphoric reference could be:
The earth goes round the sun, everybody knows that.
Here, that refers back to the fact previously mentioned.
As a cataphoric reference we could use the following as an example:
That is my seat, please stand up.
The final cohesive tie is comparatives. These tend to be used for anaphoric
referent, as can be seen in the following example:
That soup was delicious, can I have some more?
Here, more is referring to some already identified substance. However,
comparatives can be used for cataphoric reference, although this is much less
common:
That is the best Ive ever tasted. How do you make such delicious soup?
The comparative the best is referring forwards to the level of the soup.
Substitution:
This is a method of referring to a class of items as opposed to the way that
reference is more specific. It is more usual that substitution is anaphoric rather than
cataphoric
Did you find the blankets?
Only the blue ones.
We can see that ones refers to a class of blanket that is blue.
Substitution can be made for nominals, verb groups and clauses:
Nominals:
Do you want the blankets?
Yes, Ill take some.
Verbal:
Did you sing?
Yes, I did.
Clausal:
The blankets needed to be cleaned.
Yes, they did.

The next area that we are going to look at is ellipsis. The omission is clarified by the
context
Nominals:
They are small, take two.
(biscuits.)
Verbal:
Were you calling me?
No, I wasnt
(calling you.)
Clausal:
I dont know how to type.
Youll have to learn how.
(to type.)
The fourth type of cohesive tie is conjunction.
Conjunctions are used to interpret the relationship between clauses.
Additive: this adds information to one of the clauses:
He lay on the sand and as he lay there he thought about Julie.
Adversative: This conjunction presents a contrast between the clauses:
He had never thought about Julie before, yet by the evening he was sure he loved
her.
Causal: Here we can see how one action comes about as the result of another:
He wanted to see her, so he phoned her office.
Temporal: This conjunction shows a relation with time:
Then, as the phone was ringing, he realised she wasnt the girl for him.
The fifth type of cohesive tie according to Halliday and Hasan is that which they
refer to as lexical.
This relates to the way that words are used throughout a text in order to provide
some cohesion. It may be that the word is repeated at various points:
He went into the room. It was a dark room with only a small window.
Or perhaps a synonym is used:
He was very angry. More furious than he could ever remember being before.
Sometimes a superordinate can be found, giving a more general reference to
something that had previously been mentioned specifically:
He looked at her chairs. Cheap furniture, he thought.

We will now move on to looking at connectors and the ways that they can join
clauses together to give them different meanings. We will pay particular attention to
lexical, syntactic and logical connectors.
We will begin this section by looking at what Greenbaum refers to as lexical
connectors.
These are words that connect sentences together. This may be done through a
variety of ways, but the main aim is that successive sentences in a discourse have
some kind of relationship. Some of the lexical connectors include those that we have
mentioned before in the section on lexical ties, such as repetitions or synonyms.
Other areas include:
Antonyms: The use of opposites may be one way that we can draw together two
parts of a sentence, as can be seen in the following example:
John was an adult, not a child, and he should have known better.
Coocurrence: This is when two parts of a sentence include lexical items that belong
to a similar set, for example:
We heard that the birth was easy, but the baby was smaller than expected
The next area that we will examine is that of syntactic connectors.These can be
divided into time and place. We will begin with time.
Time connectors can show a reference to something in the past. These include the
use of adverbials, such as already, first, before, etc:
I will make us a drink, but first you must see my new dress.
and also the use of adjectives, e.g. earlier, preceding, previous:
This match should be good. The previous time these teams met they scored a lot of
goals.
Also the connectors can refer to something happening at the same time as
something else, this is known as simultaneous time reference.
3.3. Simultaneous Time Reference:
Adverbials are the main way of expressing this area. Examples include: at the
moment, now, simultaneously, etc.
There are heavy storms in Southern Europe. At the moment there is flooding in
Spain and Portugal.
Another area that we can look at is that of place connectors:

These words show the relationship between two places such as can be seen with
adverbs such as there, here, etc:
Logical Connectors where we can find and; addition, this area makes use of also, as
well, equally, etc; summation, expressions that may be used here include: to sum up,
in conclusion, finally, etc
Deixis points out things that are before our eyes. This can take an anaphoric or a
cataphoric style if it refers to things in the past or things in advance.
We can identify three main types of deictic items: personals, demonstratives and
comparatives. We will begin with personals.
4.1. Personals.
Look at this sentence:
My friend is a really interesting person. Would you like to meet her?
In the sentence above, the anaphoric use of her is making the distinction of the
person.
The next area that we will look at in this section is that of demonstratives:
Demonstratives.
Let us first think about the use of the demonstratives this and that. The basic
meaning of these is one of proximity. This refers to something that is close at hand,
whilst that refers to something that is farther away.
Lastly we will look at comparatives.
4.3. Comparatives:
Comparatives are used as a means of setting up a relation of contrast. In
comparative terms the deictic item still means you know what I am referring to not
because the same entity is being referred to again, but rather because there is a
frame of reference. Any of the comparatives can achieve this. Look at the following
examples:
He is bigger than Jane.
This refers back to the size of Jane.
He is different to other men.
This refers to the way that other men are, and so on.
5. REFERENTS

A referent is the concrete object or concept that is designated by a word or

expression. It is an object, action, state, relationship, or attribute in the referential
realm. The referential aim refers to anything real or imagined that a person may talk
about.
Historically, there was only one person called George Washington, the first
president of the United States. He can be referred to in a text in many ways,
such as

the president

Mr. Washington

he, or even

my friend.

EvenEven though there are many ways to talk about him, there is only one referent in
the reareferential realm.

A locator is a referent which tells us where we can find the individual referred to by
the referent, either in the physical world or in a catalogue of individuals.
There are two kinds of locators
1. Individual markers, and
2. Indexicals.
Definition of individual markers
Individual markers are names of persons, places, organizations, etc.

John lives in Leicester and works for Texaco Oil

In the above example, John, Leicester and Texaco Oil are all individual markers.

Indexical referents are used to refer to individuals whose identity can be recovered
or inferred from some context. e.g.

The cat drinks the milk

Here we know that the cat we are talking about is the one that drinks the milk.

We may use sets of things as referents. For example:

"The guests, Tom, Julia, and Brad, sing a song, 'Happy Birthday
to you,' to Alfred".

Here, we can see that the concept of guests can act as a referent.
Likewise, if we look at the word birds in the following example:
Birds flying high above me
We can see that it is not specifying how many birds, but as a set (or flock).
5. CONCLUSION
In this unit we have seen how discourse has to be a unified whole if it is to achieve
the maxim of truth, brevity, relevance and clarity. In order to achieve this, the
speaker has to use the devices of cohesion and coherence, as well as the other
areas that we have looked at, such as connectors and deixis. The teacher must
ensure that the student has as much exposure to these items as possible if he is to
become proficient as a user of English, and if his texts, written or spoken, are to
appear as a unified whole.