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1 - Background: What is discourse?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Deborah Schiffrin
Deborah Schiffrin
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis is a vast and ambiguous field. Consider two recent definitions. First, Brown and Yule (1983: 1) state that:

the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language in use. As such, it cannot be restricted to the description of linguistic forms independent of the purposes or functions which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs.

Second, Stubbs (1983a: 1) states that discourse analysis consists of:

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 in use in social contexts, and in particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers.

Brown and Yule emphasize a particular perspective toward language (functional versus structural) which is tied to a focus on parole (versus langue); Stubbs' emphasis on a particular unit of analysis (‘above the sentence’) leads him toward a similar pragmatic emphasis on ‘language in use’. The authors then observe a definitional problem similar to the one noted above. Brown and Yule (1983: viii) observe that the term discourse analysis

has come to be used with a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activities. It is used to describe activities at the intersection of disciplines as diverse as sociolinguistics, psycho-linguistics, philosophical linguistics and computational linguistics.

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Discourse Markers , pp. 1 - 30
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1987

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