DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Zara Irshad Roll. 23

Language

Language can be defined as Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols Language is our means of communication and learning. Without good language we would be unable to express our thoughts and ideas, and we would not be able to learn

Approaches to the analysis of language

Conversational analysis Conversational analysis is the analysis of talk as it occurs in interaction in naturally occurring situation. The talk is recorded and writes down so that the detailed analysis can be carried out. These analyses are concerned with uncovering the basic structures of talk.

Discourse analysis

In social sciences Discourse analysis is sometimes defined as the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'. Discourse: a continuous stretch of language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent(logical) unit such as a sermon, argument, joke, or narrative

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Discourse analysis may be describe as a Way of reading a text Language as performative What the discourse is doing? Talk and text as social action

Origin and development

Zellig Harris was the first modern linguist who founded the study of relation of sentences and coined the term of discourse analysis (cook 1990:13). The emergence of this study is a result of not only linguistic research, but also of researchers engaged in other fields of inquiry, particularly sociology, psychology, anthropology and psychotherapy (TrappesLomax 2004:133).

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A significant contribution to the evolution of discourse analysis has been made by British and American scholars. In Britain the examination of discourse turned towards the study of the social functions of language. A research was conducted in University of Birmingham and the discourses turned towards the social function of language.

(organon model)

There are three types of discourses

Informative Narrative Argumentative

Advantages

It is applicable to every field of life . It allows personal growth and creative abilities
No technology and funds are necessary

Disadvantages

Its does not provide a definite answer because its not a hard science Its an insight knowledge based on continuous debate and argumentations

Process of Discourse Analysis

There is no universally agreed set of methodological procedure, the following guidelines for the analysis of discourse can help the analyst get started:

 Reading
It is important that the transcripts are read at least once without any attempt at analysis. For example we may feel that a text makes it sound like there is a war going on even though the topic of the transcribed speech was a forthcoming election.reading a text before analysing it allows us to become aware of what a text is doing.

 Coding Reading and rereading of the transcripts is followed by the selection of material for analysis or coding. Coding of the transcripts is done in the light of the research question.

 All relevant sections of text are highlighted copied and filled for analysis It is important to make sure that all material which is potentially relevant is included.

 The need for coding before analysis illustrates that we can never produce a complete discourse analysis of a text. Our research question identifies a particular aspect of the discourse which we decide to explore in detail.

Discourse analysis in the research Process

Discourse analysis can be applied to any sort of media article and interviews.
Interpretations can be based on transcripts of those texts and interviews.

Major discourse analyst

Norman Fairclough
Teun A. Vandijk Micheal Foucalt

References
Bryman, A. (2001). Social Research Method.

Oxford University Press

Wisniewski, K. (2006). Linguistics. Retrieved April 3, 2012 from http://www.tlumaczeniaangielski.info/linguistics/discourse.htm

Discourse Analysis. Retrieved April 3,2012 from http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~palmquis/co urses/discourse.htm

References
Flick, U. (2010), An Introduction to Qualitative Research. Sage Publications

Thank you