From DISCOURSE TO CONTEXT OF CULTURE

DISCOURSE
Silvia IRIMIEA, PhD Course tutor

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

Discourse

1.

2. 3. 4.

Discourse analysis Macro-structure level relationships Internal patterning of discourse Bibliography

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

From description to explanation in discourse analysis

Discourse analysis is the study of language use beyond the sentence boundaries It has become an established discipline Its advent can be associated with the tremendous development of linguistics in the 60s-70s all its branches: a revolution in linguistics Demand of English courses tailored to specific needs was growing Influential new ideas began to emerge in the study of language The aim of linguistics had been to describe the rule of English use, ie grammar. The new studies shifted attention away from defining the formal features of language use to discovering the ways in which language is actually used in real communication(Widdowson, 1978)
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 3

One conclusion was that the language we speak varies considerably and in a number of ways from one context to another The development of the concept of special language, which generated the concept of register analysis The aim of register analysis was to identify the grammatical and lexical features of the language used for specific areas of concern They studied the language used for engineering vs the one used in medicine etc

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

Ewer and Latorre showed that there was little that was distinctive in the sentence grammar of scientific English beyond a tendency to favour particular forms such as the present simple, the passive voice, and nominal compounds(Hutchinson) Register analysis as a research procedure was soon taken over by other developments in linguistics; First the linguistic studies (including ESP) were focused on language at sentence level, then they shifted attention to the level above the sentence(discourse and rhetorical analyses, ESP) The leading personalities were: H. Widdowson, in Britain the Washington School: Larry Selinker, Luis Trimble etc
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 5

The basic hypothesis of this stage was succinctly expressed by H Widdowson: We take the view that the difficulties which the students encounter arise not so much from a defective knowledge of the system of English, but from an unfamiliarity with English use, and that consequently their needs cannot be met by a course which simple provides practice in the composition of sentences, but by one which develops a knowledge of how sentences are used in the performance of different communicative acts

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

Register analysis had focused on sentence grammar, but now attention moved over to understanding how sentences were combined in discourse to produce meaning. The concern of the research was to identify the organizational patterns in texts and specify the linguistic means by which these patternes are signalled; these patterns would then form the syllabus of the ESP course

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

DA history goes back as early as the 1970s and has developed into a variety of approaches: - in sociology analysis of language under the name of ethnography of communication provides insights into the structuring of communicative behaviour and its role in social life. - Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel, 1967, 1972) became concerned with the processes that the users of the language utilize in order to produce and interpret communicative experiences.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

-in philosophy speech act theory has yielded rules of language

use against rules of grammar - in cognitive psychology the interest for how knowledge of the world is acquired, organized, stored, represented and used by human mind in the production and understanding of discourse has yielded frames, and theories - In literature in the name of literary or linguistic stylistics it provides an understanding of how literary writers achieve aesthetic value by describing, interpreting and analyzing literary style.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

Discourse analysis

-In linguistics it has generated several trends, such as text linguistics, text analysis, conversational analysis, rhetorical analysis, functional analysis and clause-relational analysis. The aim of these undertakings has been to understand the structure and function of language use to communicate meaning.

Discourse analysis has developed within the frame of linguistics and can best be distinguished along several parameters.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

10

1.

The theoretical dimension can roughly be represented as a scale with discourse studies located at one end and discourse analyses of institutionalized use of language at the other. The general to specific scale dimension The applicative dimension Surface-deep analysis of language in use

2. 3.

4.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

11

The theoretical dimension

discourse studies

discourse analyses

discourse studies appear as an extension of grammatical formalism are focused on formal and/or functional aspects of language use, including semantics and pragmatics. they represent a linguistic framework

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

12

discourse analysis
discourse analysis is concerned with the analysis of the institutional use of language in socio-cultural settings the focus here lies on communication as social interaction primarily represents an endeavour to capture and interpret actual communication in institutionalized socio-cultural settings DA studies are less concerned with the use of a particular linguistic framework, but more with the actual communication in an institutionalized socio-cultural context Examples in this respect are analyses of spoken interactions in the ethnomethodological tradition and analyses of professional and academic research genres by Swales J.M.(1981) and Bhatia V.K.(1982)
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 13

The general to specific scale dimension

Along the general to specific scale at the general end we can locate DA of everyday conversation, analyses of written discourse in terms of descriptive, narrative, argumentative writing At the specific end we find analyses of research article introductions, legislative provisions, doctor-patient and witness-counsel examinations as genres Register analyses of scientific style and journalistic texts are located somewhere in between

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

14

The applicative dimension

Discourse studies have also been undertaken for applicative purposes, especially for language teaching purposes in the area of ESP The range of studies that fall within the domain of the applicative dimension include: - DA carried out by Widdowson H, - register analysis undertaken by Halliday M.A.K. - doctor-patient intercourse by Candlin C.N. - rhetorical-grammatical analyses of scientific discourse by Selinker, Trimble and others

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

15

Surface-deep analysis (thin/thick description of l)

DA can be distinguished along a surface-deep analysis scale, depending on whether or at what level it provides a thin/thick language-in-use description Over the last three decades models of discourse analyses have moved from surface-level description of language use to a more functional and grounded description of l use, often providing useful explanation of why a particular type of conventional codification of meaning is considered appropriate to a particular institutionalized socio-cultural setting. Insights from such analyses have been used in ESP teaching

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

16

Surface-level linguistic description: register analysis

register became the focus of several studies in the seventies It has been developed by Halliday et al.(1964) within the institutional linguistics framework of Hill (1958) Its primary concern has become the identification of statistically significant lexico-grammatical features of a linguistic variety. Hence its area of concern is restricted to language varieties. It relies on the concept of register defined by Halliday, McIntosh and Strevens (1964: 87). According to them, Language varies as its function varies; it differs in different situations. The name given to a variety of a language distinguished according to its use is register They claimed that registers could be differentiated on the basis of the frequency of lexico-grammatical features of a particular text-variety.
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 17

Shortcomings they are confined/restricted to making relevant statistical data relating to the high or low incidence of certain linguistic (syntactic) features of various varieties of languages They tell little about the reasons why certain features prevail and what function they supposedly perform The information provided by this kind of analysis does not tell anything about the way information is structured in a particular variety It also fails to indicate why a particular variety takes the form it does

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

18

Functional language description: grammatical-rhetorical analysis

The fathers of grammatical-rhetorical analysis are: Selinker, Lackstrom and Trimble They aimed to investigate the relationship between grammatical choice and rhetorical function in written English for Science and Technology. They investigated EST , specifically the tense choice and the en participles in chemistry texts Their researches were focused on how specific linguistic features take on restricted values in structuring scientific communication

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

19

Language description as discourse: interactional analysis

This third level of language description brings into relevance the notion of interpretation of discourse by the reader/listener IA was described as: applied DA speech functions analysis of predictive structures clause relations Candlin and Loftipour-Saedi propose a model of discourse analysis which depends on processes that are the outcome of two complementary perspectives(the readers and the writers) The novelty of their approach lies in the focus put on the interactive aspect of discourse

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

20

Candlin and Loftipour-Saedi(1983) the discourse in interactional analysis is viewed as essentially interactive, being created as a result of the readers interpretation of the text. If grammatical-rhetorical analysis can be referred to as the writers discourse, discourse as interaction is the readers discourse(Bhatia, V.K., 1993, Analysing genres) They rely on what Grice calls the cooperative principle The first principle refers to quality and recommends that, in order to fulfil this requirement, the communicator (writer or speaker) should communicate only what he knows to be true and what he can justify, the second refers to

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

21

quantity advising the writer to say as much as the listener or reader needs to know for a full comprehension of what is being said, the third principle relating to relevance, indicates that the message should contain only what is relevant to the purpose of the conversation or communication, fourth principle regards manner, indicating that the conversation should be clear, brief and orderly, avoiding ambiguity and obscurity. Despite the general observance of the principle and its successful use in various everyday communicative encounters, however, some linguistis, including

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

22

Fairclough(1985) claim that it tends to simplify the relationship between the production and interpretation of discourse in many of the conevntionalized academic or professional contexts or what Levinson(1979) calls specific activity types where one invariably needs to relax Grices maxims(Swan, 1990: pg 9).

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

23

Macro-level coherence: Topics

At macro-structure level the relationships are expressed through: topics key words lexical chains internal patterning lexical patterns key sentences schemas scripts

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

24

At the macro-structure level the topics are topics of the text, and as such they are the topics of several sentences that occur in the text. The topics are at a large extent carried by words that appear in the headline or titles or in the recurring key words, which, most of the time, are nouns. Lexical chains are strings of related lexical items that run through texts. They can retrieve graphically entire texts. However, words and word chains alone do not render a text coherent. They can create lexical cohesion, but that does not necessarily mean coherence.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

25

Internal patterning of discourse

Internal patterning of discourse is realized in the ways words or their synonyms or derivatives are carried over from one sentence to the next Often the comment of one sentence become the topic of the next. This carrying over happens globally too, ie over larger texts Here is the first sentence of a news report in a scientific journal: A draft version of the honey bee genome has been made available to the public- a move that should benefit bees and humans alike. There from a number of words flow into the next two sentences: The honey bee is multi-talented. IT produces honey, pollinates crops and is used b y researchers to study human genetics, ageing, disease and social behaviour.
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 26

Words from the first sentence still pop up in later sentences: (1)A draft version of the honey bee genome has been made available to the public- a move that should benefit bees and human alike (11) the genomes publication is good news for bee keepers and victims of bee stings alike. nominalization: the geneomes publication should benefit becomes is good news: nominalization public- publication: derivation benefit- good news: synonymy

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

27

In the last sentence: (1)A draft version of the honey bee genome has been made available to the public- a move that should benefit bees and human alike (23) This is the first time that the amassed sequence data have been made publicly available.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

28

Key sentences are sentences that begin the text, come near the beginning, and which reflect the content of the headline, title and subtitle. Other key sentences are sentences that repeat or paraphrase at least two, maybe three elements of that key sentences, admits Thornbury (2005, pg 55).

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

29

The text makes sense only if it corresponds to the mental representations of the world outside that the reader is familiar with. Thus, particular texts activate the mental scheme or representation that the reader has about the topic or subject matter. A schema is the way knowledge is represented mentally and varies from person to person according to the breadth and depth of personal cognitive potential. Scripts, on the other hand, represent the ways in which we expect things to happen (Thornbury, 2005, pg 55). While schemas have the form of a diagramme, scripts are more likely to have the form of a list of events, or a sequence of events or actions etc.
S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005 30

Thornbury gives a conclusive example for scripts: the sequence of events involved in catching a bus. This would necessarily contain: wait at the stop board bus sit down pay the ticket to the conductor when he approaches.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

31

Scripts are culture-determined, but there are macro-scripts that follow the same course. For example, the macro-script for descriptions would normally be organized according to the following parameters (Thornbury, 2005): from general to particular from whole to part from including to included from large to small from nearer to further, from back to front, or outer to inner from possessor to possessed from now to then

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

32

Other types of macro-scripts are: biographies, narratives, processes, news stories etc.

The script of a biography or personal profile follows usually the chronological sequence of life events. For example, Mary Stephens (1992, pg 90) uses the following script suggestions: Brief summary childhood/teenage major event in life family life development of career conclusion

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

33

The script of narratives or processes and that of encyclopedia entries is similar, in that they follow the sequence of the basic events, happenings or ideas. The news story or the newspaper article exhibits the following macroscript: outcome of events/condensed summary expansion comments from spokesman/witnesses etc reference to future developments

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

34

Bibliography

1. Atkinson, D. (1999) Scientific Discourse in Sociohistorical Context, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. 2. Bakhtin, M.M. (1986) Speech genres and other late essays, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. 3. Bhatia, V.K. (1993) Analysing genres, Longman. 4. Eggins, S., (1996), An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics, Pinter. 5. Crombie, W., (1985), Discourse and Language Learning, OUP. 6. Fowler, R. (1981) Literature as Social Discourse: The Practice of Linguistic Criticism, London: Batsford Academic.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

35

7. Guy Cook. (1900) Theories of discourse, OUP 8. Hoey, M., 1991, Patterns of Lexis in Text, OUP. 9. Hoey, M., 2001, Textual Interaction, London, Routledge. 10. Jaworsky A., Coupland, N., (1999) The discourse Reader, Routledge, London. 11. Nord, C., (1991), Text Analysis in Translation, Rodopi. 12. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies, 1998. 13. Santos, T., (2001) The Place of Politics in Second Language Writing, in Tony Silva and Paul Kei Matsuda (Eds.) On Second Language Writing, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers, London. 14. Swales, J.M., (1981), Aspects of article introductions, Birmingham, UK: The university of Aston, language Studies Unit. 15. Swales, J.M., (1990), Genre analysis : English in academic and research settings, Cambridge, England : CUP. 16. Thornbury, S., 2005, Beyond the Sentence, Macmillan Books for Teachers.

S. IRIMIEA, Discourse, 2005

36