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INSTITUTO DE EDUCACIÓN GENERAL MARTÍN MIGUEL DE GÜEMES N°8.
226
Educando con Calidad, Humanidad y Sabiduría
Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

E-Mail: institutogeneralguemes@gmail.com
DISCOURSE, TEXT, AND CONVERSATION COMPARED
Difference between Discourse and text

Discourse Analysis focuses on the structure of naturally spoken Language
as found in conversation interviews, commentaries and speeches.
Texts analysis focuses on the structure of written language, as found in such text
as essays, notices,road signs and chapters.
(Crystal.1987)
Some scholars talk about ‘spoken or written discourse’ others about ‘spoken or
written text’
(Crystal.1987)
It means discourse and text can be used almost synonymously. But a

distinction is always there and that in discourse has some social purpose while
text fulfils the function of comunication of some meaning only. As suggested by
Michael Stubbs (1983) who treats text and discourse as more or less
synonymous.
Hawthorn (1992) says text may non-interactive where as a discourse is

interactive. Means to say text is non-interactive that is it only fulfils the function
of conveying some meaning. But discourse is always involved in two ways
responses in some formal or informal conversation and dialogues, etc.
Hawthorn (1992) further says ‘ discourse’ is a linguistic communication seen

as a transaction between speaker and hearer. While text is also a linguistics
communication (either spoken and written) seen simply as a message coded in
its auditory or visual médium’.
To conclude we can say discourse and text have something in common as

both use the medium of language whether in sign language. Both have some
meaning that they try to convey.
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INSTITUTO DE EDUCACIÓN GENERAL MARTÍN MIGUEL DE GÜEMES N°8.226

But text has a limited scope as compare with discourse. In other words we
can say discourse is somewhat broad category in the system of language . And
text deals with the written form of language. Discourse has different form as
discourse of Advertising, Discourse of Racism, Discourse of Medical etc. But text
has no such forms. Discourse can be found within a text. And not vice versa . text
has its máximum interpretation in its ownself but discourse has a lot of things
above the level language.
What is a text?
In text analysis one of the primary tasks is to explore the linguistic features
which characterise texts. Texts have structure, just as single sentences have
structure. The goal of text analysis is to examine how the reader or user of a text
recognises that the words / phrases / sentences in a text must be co.interpreted-
that parts of texts are dependent on others.
Conversation analysis
Firstly, Concerning with how linguists have studied written texts- text
analysis, however, this study forms only a part of the interest in linguistics about
how sentences are combined in sequence to produce cohesive and coherent
stretches of language. In recent years there has been an increasing interest in
studying the structure of stretches of spoken language. Discourse analysis is
concerned with studying how people use language in a variety of discourses-
conversation, interviews, spoken language involves the investigation of what
people are trying to accomplish with their words and with the overall patterns that
can be found in conversation.
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H.G Widdowson Discourse Analysis
Conversation Analysis
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in studying the structure of
stretches of spoken language. So, discourse Analysis is concerned with studying
how people use language in a variety of discourses- conversation, interviews,
spoken commentaries, political speeches, teaching,etc. The analysis of spoken
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language involves the investigation of what people are trying to accomplish with
their words and with the overall patterns that can be found in conversation.
Consider the terminological confusión between the terms ‘discourse,’ text,’ and
‘conversation.’ The confusión arises in part because of the different stances in
both the british and the American tradition of dicourse Analysis.
BRITISH DA AMERICAN DA
 British work has mainly  American work has produced a
followed structural –linguistic large number of descriptions of
criteria, on the basis of isolation discourse types, as well as
of units, and sets of rules insights into the social
defining well-formed constraints of politeness and
sequences of discourse. face- preserving phenomena in
 Influenced by M.K. Halliday talk, overlapping with British
(who emphasized the social work in pragmatics.
functions of language and the  Influenced by ethnomethodoly
thematic and informational (i.e. the study of
structure of speech and communication in natural
writing). settings).
 Also influenced by Sinclair and  Also influenced by the The
Coulthard (who described a Prague School of linguists, with
model for the description of their interest in the structuring
teacher-pupil talk). of information in discourse.
In British tradition:
Some say: ‘Discourse Analysis’ studies both written and spoken language.
Others say: ‘Discourse Analysis’ studies spoken language and text Linguistics
studies written language.
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In the American tradition:
Some say: ‘Discourse Analysis’ studies both written and spoken language.
Others say: ‘Conversation Analysis’ studies spoken language and text linguistics
studies written language. Conversational analysis is centred in sociology.
Questions: What is ‘written language `, ‘text’ and or/ discourse? What is spoken
language’? ‘Conversation’ and / or discourse?
Discourse vs Text
Some say
‘Discourse’ and ‘text’ are the same thing. Therefore, ‘discourse analysis’ and
‘text analysis’ are the same thing (spoken/ written discourse = spoken/written
text). The term ‘text’ is used here in its broader sense. This is the stance taken
by Zellig Harris and Michael Stubbs.
Others say:
‘Discourse’ is spoken language, oral production. ‘Text’ is written. The term ‘text’
is used here in its narrow sense. This is the stance taken by David Crystal.
Discourse Analysis focuses on the structure of naturally spoken

language as found in conversation interviews, commentaries and speeches. Text
analysis focuses on the structure of written language, as found in such text as
essays, notices, road signs and chapters. Some scholars talk about ‘spoken or
written discourse’ other about ‘spoken or written text’.
(Crystal, 1987)
‘Discourse’ is a set of utterances which show coherence; hence, Text Analysis

studies cohesion. This is the stance taken by Widdowson.
‘Discourse is a set of utterances which lead to the creation of a text, the dynamic
of the process. ‘text ‘is the physical product or the result of discourse. This is the
stance taken by Brown & Yule, Dakowska, and Halliday.
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‘Discourse’ is the physical realization of a text. ‘Text’ is an abstraction.
‘Discourse’ is any connected piece of language considering its social context.

‘Text’ is any connected piece of language without considering its social context.
Since the two terms text analysis and discourse analysis have sometimes been
confused, in this course we shall approach them as complementary, discourse
analysis starting with the outer frame of situations and working inwards to find
the formal linguistic correlates to the situational variable, text analysis starts with
linguistic forms and asks in which contexts they are appropriate. In other words,
we shall view text analysis as concerned with the formal devices used for
establishing inter-sentential connections, and units ‘above’ the sentence, and
view discourse analysis as handling considerations of use. This accords with Van
Dijk’s (1978) position: ‘As soon as the analysis goes beyond the boundaries of
linguistic / grammatical notions we find ourselves in the interdisciplinary field of
discourse studies’.
Discourse vs conversation
Some say:
‘Discourse’ and ‘conversation’ are the same thing.
Others say:
‘Discourse’ is a set of utterances which constitute a speech event (no
reference being made to its linguistic structuring); therefore, DA uses deductive
methods in analysing spoken language. ‘Conversation’ is talk-in-interaction,
discourse constructed and negotiated between participants, following a pre-
established pattern (pauses, laughter, intonation, fillers.); therefore, CA uses
empirical, inductive methods analysing spoken language. CA studies the
structure of natural conversations: its aim is extract regularities of organization.
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INSTITUTO DE EDUCACIÓN GENERAL MARTÍN MIGUEL DE GÜEMES N°8.

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

DISCOURSE, TEXT, AND CONVERSATION COMPARED

Difference between Discourse and text

It means discourse and text can be used almost synonymously. But a

Hawthorn (1992) says text may non-interactive where as a discourse is

Hawthorn (1992) further says ‘ discourse’ is a linguistic communication seen

To conclude we can say discourse and text have something in common as

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

H.G Widdowson Discourse Analysis

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

In the American tradition:

Discourse Analysis focuses on the structure of naturally spoken

‘Discourse’ is a set of utterances which show coherence; hence, Text Analysis

Libertad 481 – General Güemes – Salta. Argentina

‘Discourse’ is the physical realization of a text. ‘Text’ is an abstraction.

‘Discourse’ is any connected piece of language considering its social context.

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