Discourse AnalysisZiahosseiny 2002(pp 26-59)Discourse Analysis nDiscourse analysis: the study of how sentences in spoken and written language form larger meaningful units such as paragraphs. conversations, interviews, etc.

DA is concerned with the process of communication rather than merely the product (language form in isolation)

DAIt is concerned with how texts are structured beyond sentence level:

the role of intonation in communication

The underlying rules of languages changing from one culture to another and so on.

For example, discourse analysis deals with:

A) how the choice of articles, pronouns, and tenses affects the structure of the discourse

B) the relationship between utterances in a discourse

C) the MOVES made by speakers to introduce a new topic, change the topic, or assert a higher ROLE RELATIONSHIP to the other participants Analysis of spoken discourse is sometimes called CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS.

Some linguists use the term TEXT LINGUISTICS for the study of written discourse.Another focus of discourse analysis is the discourse used in the classroom.

Such analyses can be useful in finding out about the effectiveness of teaching methods and the types of teacher-student interactions.

Written Discourse1. written discourse vs. spoken discourse

2. cohesion vs. coherence

3. Interpretation: the reader activates his knowledge in the light of the situation and the goals of the text

GrammarIndividual clauses and utterances are connected to form spoken and written discourse by grammatical connections.

Those grammatical connections can be classified under:

1. Reference

2. Ellipsis

3. Substitution

4. Conjunction

1. ReferenceReference in its wider sense would be the relationship between a word or phrase and an entity in the external world (see DENOTATION). For example, the word tree refers to the object tree (the referent).

Reference in its narrower sense is the relationship between a word or phrase and a specific object, e.g. a particular tree or a particular animal.

For example, Peters horse would refer to a horse which is owned, ridden by, or in some way associated with Peter.

Three varieties of references have been recognized (Halliday and Hassan, 1976):

1. Anaphoric

2. Cataphoric

3. Exophoric

Anaphoricanaphora n anaphor n anaphoric adj a process where a word or phrase (anaphor) refers back to another word or phrase which was used earlier in a text or conversation.

cataphoriccataphora n cataphoric adj the use of a word or phrase which refers forward to another word or phrase which will be used later in the text or conversation is called cataphora.

For example, in the sentence: When I met her, Mary looked ill.Exophoric

When the author expects the reader to share a world with him independent of the text, the references are called Exophoric

2. Ellipsisellipsis n elliptical adj the leaving out of words or phrases from sentences where they are unnecessary because they have already been referred to or mentioned.

For example, when the subject of the verb in two co-ordinated clauses is the same, it may be omitted to avoid repetition:

The man went to the door and (he) opened it. (subject ellipsis)

Mary ate an apple and Jane (ate) a pear. (verb ellipsis)

see also ELISION

ELISIONelision n elide v the leaving out of a sound or sounds in speech.

For example, in rapid speech in English, suppose is often pronounced as [spAz], factory as [`fiktri] and mostly as [`mAsli].

3. SubstitutionAnother universal feature of language in which a nominal, verbal, or clausal segment in a text is substituted by an element in the language

E.g. Do you want me to help you? If so, I am here; If not, good luck.

4. ConjunctionIt signals a relationship between segments of the discourse.

Theme vs. RhemeTheme is the topic within which on transmits what is to be said

Rheme is the new information in the discourse text