DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Introduction

Prior to the advent of Discourse Analysis (henceforth DA), the predominant practice was to

analyse language according to the structure without much regards for the context and other

features that shape meaning. DA started by focusing on speech, mainly naturally-occurring

conversation. Contrary to the traditional practice, DA studies naturally-occurring instances of

language use beyond the sentence boundary. So, unlike most traditional linguistic analyses,

the text is not invented. This is to underscore the importance of context in language use.

Linguists have identified two major approaches to language: formalism and functionalism.

Formalism sees language as a mental phenomenon and tends to explain linguistic universals

as deriving from a common genetic linguistic inheritance of the human species. Formalists are

inclined to explain childrens acquisition of language in terms of a built-in human capacity to

learn language. Functionalists regard language primarily as a societal phenomenon and tend to

explain it in relation to the social institution from where the language derives. The approach

to DA is functionalist approach. In this Unit, we shall be looking at the concept of discourse,

which is what linguists analyse when they do DA. We shall also look at the origin of the

discipline and the earliest practices in DA.

What is Discourse?

DA has a very strong link with many other disciplines other than language and this affects the

way scholars see the discipline. In this section, we shall examine some views of DA. Before

trying to define DA, it is important to define the term discourse. Originally the word

'discourse' comes from Latin 'discursus' which denoted 'conversation, speech'. Discourse is

generally seen as language in use. Johnstone (2002: 2) defines discourse as actual

instances of communication in the medium of language. Discourse can also be seen as a

continuous stretch of spoke or written language larger than a sentence, often constituting a
coherent unit (Pustejovsky 2006). It is also commonly referred to as connected speech or

writing. The term discourse has several definitions. In the study of language, discourse often

refers to the speech patterns and usage of language, dialects, and acceptable statements,

within a community. It is a subject of study in peoples who live in secluded areas and share

similar speech conventions. Johnson defines discourse as an institutionalized way of speaking

that determines not only what we say and how we say it, but also what we do not say which

can be inferred from what we say. Initially the term refers to speech, but later, its meaning

extends beyond speech to include every instance of language use

Sociologists and philosophers tend to use the term discourse to describe the conversations and

the meaning behind them by a group of people who hold certain ideas in common. Such is the

definitions by philosopher Michel Foucault, who holds discourse to be the acceptable

statements made by a certain type of discourse community.

For linguists, discourse is an extended stretch of language, such as we find in conversations,

narratives, polemical statements, political speeches, etc., is not just a string of sentences, one

following the other, but rather it exhibits properties which reflect its organization, coherence,

rhetorical force, thematic focus, etc.

What is Discourse Analysis?

DA is generally viewed as language above the sentence or the clause. It is the aspect of

linguistics that is concerned with how we build up meaning in larger communicative, rather

than grammatical units. It studies meaning in text, paragraph and conversation, rather than in

single sentence. Stubbs (1983:1) describes DA thus: The term discourse analysis is very

ambiguous. I will use it in this book to refer mainly to the linguistic analysis of naturally

occurring connected speech or written discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to attempts to

study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to

study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. It follows that
discourse analysis is also concerned with language use in social contexts, and in particular

with interaction or dialogue between speakers. Brown and Yule (1983)) observe that DA

examines "how addressers construct linguistic messages for addressees and how addressees

work on linguistic messages in order to interpret them." From this description of DA by

Stubbs, we can gather some important information about the discipline:

(a) DA studies naturally-occurring connected speech or written discourse

kind of meaning communicated. There are contextual features that shape the kind of language

people use. These include: the interactants themselves, their discourse roles, the physical

environment of the discourse, the worldview and cultural practices in the domain of the

discourse, and so forth. DA looks at the language together with these features in order to

interpret meaning. This is why any good DA will generate data based on observation and

intuition of the language users. Discourse analysts analyze conversations (casual, telephone,

gossip, etc), speeches (campaigns, formal speeches delivered by political figures, etc), written

discourse (novels, plays, news, written speeches, editorials, etc). Discourse analysis is

concerned not only with complex utterances by one speaker, but more frequently with the

turn-taking interaction between two or more, and with the linguistic rules and conventions

that are taken to be in play and governing such discourses in their given context. The overall

goal of any DA is to explain how language users construct and interpret meaning in discourse.

Origin of Discourse Analysis

The term Discourse Analysis was first use by Zellig Harris in 1952 in a paper he published

then. Harris was an American structural linguist, Harris did not use the term in the sense it is

now commonly used. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, scholars started using the term to describe
an approach to the study of social interaction. The earliest discourse analysts were

ethnographers, anthropologists and sociologists.

Text

Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. A text is an instance of language in

use. It ranges from a word to a large chunk of language. Sometimes, people associate text with

just written language, but text is any instance of language use. A text could be a statement, an

utterance, a sentence, a paragraph, a whole chapter, a news item, a conversation, and so forth. One

aspect of Linguistics that studies written text is called Textlinguistics. Text linguistics tends to

focus on the patterns of how information flows within and among sentences by looking at aspects

of texts like coherence, cohesion, the distribution of topics and comments, and other discourse

structures. Much like syntax is concerned with the structure of sentences, text linguistics is

concerned with the structure of texts.

One of the criteria of a text identified by Haliiday and Hasan (1976) is that it must form a

unified whole. A text may be spoken, written, prose, or verse, dialogue, or monologue. It may be

anything from a proverb to a whole play, form a momentary cry for help to an all-day discussion

on a committee (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1). A text is best regarded as a semantic unit.

According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), a text has a texture and this is what distinguishes it from

something that is not a text. It derives its texture from the fact that it functions as a unity with

respect to its context.

Context

The word context is a commonly used expression, which may mean different things to different

people. Its general meaning is the set of facts that surrounds a particular event or situation. From

the linguistic point of view, context is everything that surrounds the production of a piece of

communication. These include the physical situation in which the communication takes place, the

interactants or interlocutors, the knowledge of the communicators of their cultural norms and

expected behaviour, and the expressions that precede and follow a particular expression. All these
features of context help language speakers to interpret meaning appropriately. Linguists are

particularly interest in the linguistic context of any form of language use.

Speech and Writing

Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. Speech however is the oldest form

of language use and writing is said to be a derived form of speech. The fact that there are still a

good number of languages that do not have any written form is a pointer to the fact that speech

predates language in human history. Gestures are also forms of language, but they are seen by

linguists as primarily complementing speech. There is a branch of Linguistics that studies signs,

and this branch is called Semiotics.

Speech is the primary medium of human communication. It can be said to be as old as human

existence. Children automatically learn to speak because there is an inbuilt mechanism in humans

that makes them to acquire whichever language is spoken in their immediate environment. Most

people speak more than they write, because every human society builds relationships through

speech. Speech simply refers to oral medium of transmission of language. It is the meaningful oral

sound produced through the use of our respiratory, phonatory and articulatory system and

perceived by our auditory system. Humans express thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to one

another through a series of complex articulation, which results in specific, decodable sounds.

Speech is produced by precisely coordinated muscle actions in the head, neck, chest, and

abdomen. Speech development is a gradual process that requires years of practice. During this

process, a child learns how to regulate these muscles to produce understandable speech. Speech is

spontaneous, so it is characterized by repetitions of speech sounds, hesitations before and during

communication, and the prolonged emphasis of speech sounds. Speech, especially a casual one is

susceptible to errors or slips, hence the expression slip of the tongue. This occurs when we say

things we do not intend to say. Speakers many times self-correct their speech, when they are

aware that they did not produce the correct utterance. Peoples origin and identity are very often
recognized from their speech. They either speak with a particular accent or intonation. Most times

when people speak, one is able to identify their social roles and gender. Speech is transient and

time bound which basically means that when someone speaks to you, it doesnt really stay in your

memory for that long which gives it a disadvantage. Certain human behaviours aid speech. They

include body language, gesture and facial expressions and people use these modes without even

realizing it. Speaking is as fundamental a part of being human as walking upright but writing is an

optional extra.

Writing, on the other hand is a product of a more careful thought, so it is expected as much as

possible to be flawless. It is not a spontaneous act rather it is a well thought out process. Children

have to be taught how to write any particular language, even their mother tongue. Unlike speech

that uses the medium of phonic substance, writing uses the medium of graphic substance. Written

words can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be

extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy. These attributes of writing are possible

because the pace of involvement is controlled by both the writer and the reader. The writer can

write and rewrite at great length, a span of time, which in some cases can be measured in years. In

writing, there is a time lag between the production and reception, while in speech, the reception is

instant and extra-linguistic cues help the listener to interpret. Writing is more associated with

formality than speech. The chances are that we write more often to people we are less familiar

with than the ones we are familiar.