Discourse Analysis
Discourse Analysis is a term
used to describe a range of research approaches that focus on the use of
language.
Discourse analysis has been
used to understand a wide range of texts including natural speech, professional
documentation, political rhetoric, interview or focus group material, internet
communication, journals and broadcast media.
The aim of discourse analysis is to
reveal the ontological and epistemological premises which are
embedded in language, and which allows
a statement to be understood as rational or interpreted as
meaningful. Discourse analysis
investigates whether – in statements or texts - it is possible to establish any
regularity in the objects which are discussed; the subjects designated as
actors; the causal relations claimed to exist between objects (explanans) and
subjects (explanadum); but also
the expected outcome of subjects trying
to influence objects; the goal of their action; and finally the
time dimension by which these relations
are framed.
Example of discourse analysis types:
♦
Conversation analysis
It focuses on a fine grained analysis of the ways in
which language is used.
Example: how
people reply to a spoken invitations or the uses of a specific word or phrase.
♦
Discursive psychology
It applies the notion of discourse to psychological
topics such as memory and attitudes.
♦
Critical discourse analysis
It considers the social power
implications of particular discourses with an explicit aim of challenging power
imbalances.
♦
Foucauldian discourse analysis
It
draws on the ideas of Foucault, often considering the development and changes
of discourses over time. Foucauldian discourse analysis is generally concerned
with the webs of power relationships that are enacted and constructed through
discourse.
Approaches to Discourse Analysis:
1.
Speech Act Theory focuses on communicative acts performed through
speech.
2. Interactional Sociolinguistics focuses on the social and lingustic meaning
created during interaction.
3. The Ethnography of Communication focuses on language and communication as
cultural behaviour.
4. Pragmatics focuses on the
meaning of invidual utterances in hypothetical contexts.
5. Conversation Analysis focuses on how sequential structures in
conversation provide a basis through which social order is constructed.
6.
Variation Theory focuses on structural categories in texts and
how form and meaning in clauses help to define text.
Discourse
Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.cprjournal.com/documents/discourseAnalysis.pdf on April 18, 2012 on 7.30 pm
Discourse Analysis. Retrieved from http://www.ingilish.com/discourseanalysis.htm
on April 18, 2012 on 7.30
pm
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