View source for Discourse analysis

{{Short description|Analysis of social and lingual policy, or historiographical discourse phenomena}}
{{original research|date=November 2024}}
{{Sociolinguistics}}
{{Linguistics|Subfields}}
{{Research}}
'''Discourse analysis''' ('''DA'''), or '''discourse studies''', is an approach to the analysis of written, spoken, or sign language, including any significant [[semiotic]] event.{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The objects of discourse analysis ([[discourse]], writing, conversation, communicative [[symbolic interactionism|event]]) are variously defined in terms of coherent sequences of [[sentence (linguistics)|sentences]], [[proposition]]s, [[speech acts|speech]], or [[Conversation Analysis#Turn-taking organization|turns-at-talk]]. Contrary to much of traditional linguistics, discourse analysts not only study language use 'beyond the sentence boundary' but also prefer to analyze 'naturally occurring' language use, not invented examples.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/resource/discourse-analysis-what-speakers-do-conversation |title=Discourse Analysis—What Speakers Do in Conversation |website=Linguistic Society of America |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> [[Text linguistics]] is a closely related field. The essential difference between discourse analysis and text linguistics is that discourse analysis aims at revealing [[social psychology (sociology)|socio-psychological]] characteristics of a person/persons rather than text structure.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://yatsko.zohosites.com/integrational-discourse-analysis-conception.html |title=Yatsko's Computational Linguistics Laboratory |website=yatsko.zohosites.com |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>

Discourse analysis has been taken up in a variety of disciplines in the [[humanities]] and [[social science]]s, including [[linguistics]], education, [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], [[social work]], [[cognitive psychology]], [[social psychology]], [[area studies]], [[cultural studies]], [[international relations]], [[human geography]],  [[environmental studies]], [[communication studies]], [[biblical studies]], [[public relations]], [[Argumentation theory|argumentation studies]], and [[translation studies]], each of which is subject to its own assumptions, dimensions of analysis, and [[methodology|methodologies]].{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}

==History==
{{Globalize|section|USA|2name=the United States|date=December 2010}}

===Early use of the term===

There is ongoing discussion about whether Austria-born [[Leo Spitzer]]'s ''Stilstudien'' (''Style Studies'') of 1928 is the earliest example of ''discourse analysis'' (DA).{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} [[Michel Foucault]] translated it into French.<ref>{{Cite web|last = Elden |first = Stuart|url= https://progressivegeographies.com/2016/11/10/when-did-foucault-translate-leo-spitzer/ |title=When did Foucault translate Leo Spitzer? |date=2016-11-10|website = Progressive Geographies}}</ref> However, the term first came into general use following the publication{{citation needed|date=November 2024}}  of a series of papers by [[Zellig Harris]] from 1952<ref>{{Cite journal|last = Harris |first = Zellig|url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/409987 |title=Discourse Analysis |date=1952|journal = Language| volume=28 | issue=1 | pages=1–30 | doi=10.2307/409987 | jstor=409987 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> reporting on work from which he developed [[transformational grammar]] in the late 1930s. Formally equivalent relations among the sentences of a coherent discourse are made explicit by using sentence transformations to put the text in a canonical form. Words and sentences with equivalent information then appear in the same column of an array.

This work progressed over the next four decades (see references) into a science of [[sublanguage]] analysis (Kittredge & Lehrberger 1982), culminating in a demonstration of the informational structures in texts of a sublanguage of science, that of immunology (Harris et al. 1989),<ref name=Hardy1991>{{Cite journal|last=Hardy|first=Donald E.|date=1991-04-01|title=The foundations of linguistic theory: Selected writings of Roy Harris Ed. by Nigel Love (review)|url=https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/linguistic-society-of-america/the-foundations-of-linguistic-theory-selected-writings-of-roy-harris-JpN3RDAbWC|journal=Language|language=en|volume=67|issue=3|doi=10.2307/415056 |jstor=415056 |issn=1535-0665|url-access=subscription}}</ref> and a fully articulated theory of linguistic informational content (Harris 1991).<ref name=Hardy1991/> During this time, however, most linguists ignored such developments in favor of a succession of elaborate theories of sentence-level syntax and semantics.<ref>[[John Corcoran (logician)|John Corcoran]], then a colleague of Harris in Linguistics at University of Pennsylvania, summarized and critically examined the development of Harris’s thought on discourse through 1969 in lectures attended by Harris’ colleagues and students in Philadelphia and Cambridge.<br />
{{Cite journal |last=Corcoran |first=John |date=1972 |editor-last=Plötz |editor-first=Senta |title=Harris on the Structures of Language |journal=Transformationelle Analyse |publisher=Athenäum Verlag |location=Frankfurt |pages=275–292}}</ref>

In January 1953, a linguist working for the American Bible Society, James A. Lauriault (''alt.'' Loriot), needed to find answers to some fundamental errors in translating Quechua, in the Cuzco area of Peru. Following Harris's 1952 publications, he worked over the meaning and placement of each word in a collection of Quechua legends with a native speaker of Quechua and was able to formulate discourse rules that transcended the simple sentence structure. He then applied the process to Shipibo, another language of Eastern Peru. He taught the theory at the<ref>{{Cite web|title=SIL International|url=https://www.sil.org/|access-date=2020-12-03|website=SIL International|language=en}}</ref> Summer Institute of Linguistics in Norman, Oklahoma, in the summers of 1956 and 1957 and entered the University of Pennsylvania<ref>{{Cite web|title=University of Pennsylvania {{!}}|url=https://www.upenn.edu/|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.upenn.edu|language=en}}</ref> to study with Harris in the interim year. He tried to publish a paper,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Loriot|first1=James|last2=Hollenbach|first2=Barbara|date=1970|title=Shipibo Paragraph Structure|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25000427|journal=Foundations of Language|volume=6|issue=1|pages=43–66|jstor=25000427|issn=0015-900X}}</ref>''Shipibo Paragraph Structure'', but it was delayed until 1970 (Loriot & Hollenbach 1970).{{Citation needed|date=November 2013}} In the meantime, [[Kenneth Lee Pike]], a professor at the University of Michigan,<ref>{{Cite web|title=University of Michigan|url=http://umich.edu/|access-date=2020-12-03|website=umich.edu|language=en}}</ref> taught the theory, and one of his students, [[Robert E. Longacre]], developed it in his writings. Harris's methodology disclosing the correlation of form with meaning was developed into a system for the computer-aided analysis of natural language by a team led by [[Naomi Sager]] at [[NYU]], which has been applied to a number of sublanguage domains, most notably to medical informatics.

===In the humanities===
In the late 1960s and 1970s, and without reference to this prior work, a variety of other approaches to a new cross-discipline of DA began to develop in most of the humanities and social sciences concurrently with, and related to, other disciplines. These include [[semiotics]], [[psycholinguistics]], [[sociolinguistics]], and [[pragmatics]]. Many of these approaches, especially those influenced by the social sciences, favor a more dynamic study of oral talk-in-interaction. An example is "[[Conversation analysis|conversational analysis]]" (CA),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Conversational Analysis {{!}} Encyclopedia.com|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-sciences-magazines/conversational-analysis|access-date=2020-12-03|website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> which was influenced by the sociologist [[Harold Garfinkel]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Lynch|first=Michael|date=2011-07-13|title=Harold Garfinkel obituary|url=http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/jul/13/harold-garfinkel-obituary|access-date=2020-12-03|website=The Guardian|language=en}}</ref> the founder of [[ethnomethodology]].

==Perspectives==
The following are some of the specific theoretical perspectives and analytical approaches used in linguistic discourse analysis:

*[[Applied linguistics]], an interdisciplinary perspective on linguistic analysis<ref>{{Cite journal |last=James |first=Carl |date=June 1993 |title=What is applied linguistics? |journal=International Journal of Applied Linguistics |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=17–32 |doi=10.1111/j.1473-4192.1993.tb00041.x |issn=0802-6106}}</ref>
* [[Aron K. Barbey#Cognitive neuroscience of human intelligence|Cognitive neuroscience of discourse comprehension]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Barbey |first1=Aron K. |last2=Colom |first2=Roberto |last3=Grafman |first3=Jordan |date=January 2014  |title=Neural mechanisms of discourse comprehension: a human lesion study |journal=Brain |volume=137 |issue=1 |pages=277–287 |doi=10.1093/brain/awt312 |issn=1460-2156 |pmc=3954106 |pmid=24293267}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/204693 |title=Researchers map brain areas vital to understanding language |last=Yates |first=Diana |website=news.illinois.edu |publisher=University of Illinois |access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref>
*[[Cognitive psychology]], studying the production and comprehension of discourse.
*[[Conversation analysis]]
*[[Critical discourse analysis]]
*[[Discursive psychology]]
*[[Emergent grammar]]
*[[Ethnography |Ethnography of communication]]
*[[Functional theories of grammar|Functional grammar]]
*[[Interactional sociolinguistics]]
*[[Mediated stylistics]]
*[[Pragmatics]]
*[[Response based therapy]] (counselling)
*[[Rhetoric]]
*[[Stylistics (linguistics)]]
*[[Sublanguage]] analysis
*[[Tagmemics]]
*[[Text linguistics]]
*[[Variation analysis]]

Although these approaches emphasize different aspects of language use, they all view language as social interaction and are concerned with the social contexts in which discourse is embedded.

Often a distinction is made between 'local' structures of discourse (such as relations among sentences, propositions, and turns) and 'global' structures, such as overall topics and the schematic organization of discourses and conversations. For instance, many types of discourse begin with some kind of global 'summary', in titles, headlines, leads, abstracts, and so on.

Increasingly, more recent methodological frameworks in [[social science]]s conceptualize discourse analysis not as a singular method, but as an umbrella term representing both an analytical framework and a flexible set of methods from [[discursive psychology]] to [[critical discourse analysis]].<ref name="AlejandroZhao2023">{{cite journal |last1=Alejandro |first1=A. |last2=Zhao |first2=L. |year=2023 |title=Multi-Method Qualitative Text and Discourse Analysis: A Methodological Framework |journal=Qualitative Inquiry |volume=30 |issue=6 |pages=461–473 |doi=10.1177/10778004231184421 |orig-year=2024|doi-access=free }}</ref> The unifying goal across these perspectives is to empirically investigate how [[discourse]]—defined broadly as [[language]] in its social [[context]]—produces social configurations and contributes to the (re)production of social and political orders.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Alejandro |first=Audrey |title=Discourse analysis |date=2023-09-12 |pages=162–170 |url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/119770/ |access-date=2025-06-10 |publisher=University of Michigan. Press |isbn=978-0-472-07622-2 |last2=Laurence |first2=Marion |last3=Maertens |first3=Lucile}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Fairclough |first=Norman |url=https://archive.org/details/languagepower00fair |title=Language and Power |publisher=Longman |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-582-41483-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref> This is typically achieved by identifying specific [[Linguistics|linguistic]] mechanisms and processes within the socio-political [[context]] where texts are produced and received.<ref name="AlejandroZhao2023" /> Consequently, discourse analysis is frequently combined with other approaches, such as content analysis or thematic analysis, to maximize its strength in providing in-depth and contextualized readings<ref name=":0" /> in multi-method qualitative text analysis research designs according to the framework developed by Alejandro and Zhao.<ref name="AlejandroZhao2023" />

==Topics of interest==
Topics of discourse analysis include:<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Handbook of Discourse Analysis |last=Van Dijk |first=Teun |date=2005-01-01 |publisher=Blackwell Publishers Ltd |isbn=978-0-470-75346-0 |editor-last=Schiffrin |editor-first=Deborah |location=Malden, Massachusetts, USA |pages=352–371 |chapter=Critical discourse analysis |doi=10.1002/9780470753460 |editor-last2=Tannen |editor-first2=Deborah |editor-last3=Hamilton |editor-first3=Heidi E.}}</ref>
* The various levels or dimensions of discourse, such as sounds ([[Intonation (linguistics)|intonation]], etc.), [[gestures]], [[syntax]], the [[lexicon]], [[Stylistics (linguistics)|style]], [[rhetoric]], [[Meaning (linguistic)|meanings]], [[speech acts]], moves, [[strategies]], turns, and other aspects of [[Social interaction|interaction]]
*[[Genres]] of discourse (various types of discourse in politics, the media, education, science, business, etc.)
*The relations between discourse and the [[Emergent grammar|emergence of syntactic structure]]
*The relations between text (discourse) and [[Context (language use)|context]]
*The relations between discourse and [[Power (sociology)|power]]
*The relations between discourse and interaction
*The relations between discourse and [[cognition]] and [[memory]]
*[[Lexical density]]
*Ecocultural discourse studies consider human relationships with their wider ecologies. As Milstein writes, “discourses not only serve to structure, oppress, and transform human lives, but so, too, do discourses serve to symbolically and materially construct, constrain, and change the more than human world”.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Milstein |first=Tema |date=2009 |title=Somethin' Tells Me It's All Happening at the Zoo": Discourse, Power, and Conservationism |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17524030802674174 |journal=Environmental Communication |volume=3 |pages=25–48}}</ref>

===Political discourse===
{{See also|Public sphere|Social media use in politics}}
'''Political discourse''' is the text and talk of professional politicians or political institutions, such as presidents and prime ministers and other members of government, parliament or political parties, both at the local, national and international levels, includes both the speaker and the audience.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kitaeva|first1=Elena|last2=Ozerova|first2=Olga|date=2019|chapter=Intertextuality in Political Discourse|url=http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/intertextuality-in-political-discourse/232154|access-date=2020-12-03|title=Language, Power, and Ideology in Political Writing: Emerging Research and Opportunities|series=Advances in Linguistics and Communication Studies|pages=143–170|doi=10.4018/978-1-5225-9444-4.ch007|isbn=9781522594444|s2cid=197717211|language=en}}</ref>

Political discourse analysis is a field of discourse analysis which focuses on discourse in political forums (such as debates, speeches, and hearings) as the phenomenon of interest. [[Policy analysis]] requires discourse analysis to be effective from the [[post-positivist]] perspective.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Discourse and Education |date=2017 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=978-3-319-02242-0 |editor-last=Wortham |editor-first=Stanton |location=Cham |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-02243-7 |editor-last2=Kim |editor-first2=Deoksoon |editor-last3=May |editor-first3=Stephen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Research Methods in Language Policy and Planning: A Practical Guide |last=Hult |first=F.M. |publisher=Wiley |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-118-33984-8 |editor-last=Hult |editor-first=F.M. |edition=First |location=Chichester, West Sussex |pages=217–31 |chapter=Making policy connections across scales using nexus analysis |oclc=905699853 |editor-last2=Johnson |editor-first2=D.C}}.</ref>

Political discourse is the formal exchange of reasoned views as to which of several alternative courses of action should be taken to solve a societal problem.<ref name="co-operation.org">{{Cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=David W. |last2=Johnson |first2=Roger T. |date=2000 |title=Civil political discourse in a democracy: The contribution of psychology |journal=Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=291–317 |doi=10.1207/S15327949PAC0604_01 |issn=1532-7949}}</ref>

=== Corporate discourse ===
'''Corporate discourse''' can be broadly defined as the language used by corporations. It encompasses a set of messages that a corporation sends out to the world  (the general public, the customers and other corporations) and the messages it uses to communicate within its own structures (the employees and other stakeholders).<ref>{{Cite book |title=Corporate Discourse |last=Breeze |first=Ruth |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-4411-7753-7 |location=London |oclc=852898361}}</ref>

==See also==
{{col div|colwidth=25em}}
*[[Actor (policy debate)]]
*[[Critical discourse analysis]]
*[[Dialogical analysis]]
*[[Discourse representation theory]]
*[[Frame analysis]]
*[[Communicative action]]
*[[Essex School of discourse analysis]]
*[[Ethnolinguistics]]
*[[Foucauldian discourse analysis]]
*[[Interpersonal communication]]
*[[Linguistic anthropology]]
*[[Narrative analysis]]
*[[Pragmatics]]
*[[Rhetoric]]
*[[Sociolinguistics]]
*[[Statement analysis]]
*[[Stylistics (linguistics)]]
*[[Worldview]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box|by=no|onlinebooks=no|about=yes|wikititle=discourse analysis}}
* [http://www.discourseanalysis.net DiscourseNet. International Association for Discourse Studies]
* [http://www.thereferentialprocess.org/the-discourse-attributes-analysis-program-daap The Discourse Attributes Analysis Program and Measures of the Referential Process] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316183539/http://www.thereferentialprocess.org/the-discourse-attributes-analysis-program-daap |date=2023-03-16 }}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101125032435/https://lsadc.org/info/ling-fields-discourse.cfm Linguistic Society of America: ''Discourse Analysis'', by Deborah Tannen]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141006074640/http://waucondastore.com/discourse-analysis-z-harris/ Discourse Analysis by Z. Harris]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081217104207/http://www.llc.ilstu.edu/dlevere/docs/soas.pdf Daniel L. Everett, Documenting Languages: The View from the Brazilian Amazon] Statement concerning James Loriot, p.&nbsp;9
* [http://metadiscourseacrossgenres.com A discourse analysis related international conference] You can find some information and events related to Metadiscourse Across Genres by visiting MAG 2017 website

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[[Category:Discourse analysis| ]]
[[Category:Systemic functional linguistics]]
[[Category:Applied linguistics]]
[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]
[[Category:Translation studies]]
[[Category:Postmodernism]]
[[Category:Postmodern theory]]