DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION:LINGUISTIC FORMS

AND FUNCTION

Virginia Helzainka NIM 1312021135Kadek Windayanti NIM 1312021106

Ni Made Wit Cittaningsih NIM 1312021112English Education Department

Ganesha University of Education

What is discourse analysis?

Discourse can be defined in three ways:• Language beyond the level of a sentence• Language behaviors linked to social practices• Language as a system of thought

“Discourse Analysis is the analysis of language in use.”

Discourse analyst (n)Investigate what the language is use for

The functions of language(analytic convenience)

Transactional• Content

Interactional• Social relations• Personal attitudes

The TRANSACTIONAL view

• Language is used to convey factual or proportional information: primarily transactional language

• Message oriented, e.g: direction, instruction

WHAT IS LANGUAGEWHAT IS IT FOR ?

The INTERACTIONAL view • Linguist proportional information• Sociolinguist maintain social

relationship

PHATICS: “Hey, how are you?”Denoting or relating to language used for general purposes of

social interaction, rather than to convey information or ask questions

Conversational analyst : Role relationship, Peer solidarity, Exchange turns in convo, Saving face

The INTERACTIONAL view

“a great deal of human interaction is characterized by the primarily interpersonal rather than the transactional use of language”

Example:(in a bus shelter) “my goodness, it’s so cold”

The INTERACTIONAL view However,“a great deal of casual conversation contains phrases and echoes of phrases”

Example:A: “Aye, she’s an awfy woman”B: (agreed) “Aye, she’s an awfy woman”

The importance for social relationships: establishing common ground and agreeing on point of view (Brown & Levinson,

1978)

The INTERACTIONAL view

Transactional : WrittenInteractional : Spoken

WRITTEN language is, in general used for transactional purpose, but it is possible to find it as to maintain social relationship

Spoken and written language• Manner of Production:Spoken and written language make somewhat different demands on language producers

SPEAKER voice qualityfacial expressiongestures & postures system

paralinguistics, denied to the writers

SPEAKER vs WRITER

Speech OR Write ?

THE ADVANTAGES?

THE DISADVANTAGES?

• Under some circumstances, a face to face interaction is preferred but, in others, for a variety of different reasons, the individual may prefer to conduct his transaction in writing

The REPRESENTATION of discourse:

Ways of production forms of WRITING and SPEECH• Written TEXT• Spoken TEXT

TEXT = TECHNICAL TERMWhat it means to represent a ‘TEXT’

Example 1 :O, that this too too sullied flesh would mesh (Dover Wilson, 1934)` too too sullied ` too too sallied` too too sullied ` too too solid

Example 2:“Mr. Bennet, how can you abuse your own children in such a way? You take

delight in vexing me. You have no compassion on my poor nerves.”“ you mistake me, my dear. I have a high respect for your nerves. They are my

old friends. I have heard you mention them with consideration these twenty years at least.

An adequate representation of a text must assign:- speeches the correct characters- sentences the correct paragraphs- paragraphs the correct chapters

Example of representation of a text:

• The reproduction of the poetry become crucial.

• Text reproduced in printed form

• Jane Austen`s expression of contrast is reproduced by publishers in Italic:`Nay,` said Elizabeth, `this is not fair. You wish to think all the world respectable, and are hurt if I speak ill of any body. I only want to think you perfect….

• Queen Victoria`s handwritten journal is represented with an italic type-face. “he gave me such a kind, and I may say, fatherly look”

• In Winnie-the-Pooh is reproduced in one insert line, using capitals and with the author`s own spelling“PLEZ CNOKE IF AN RNSR IS NOT REQID”

SPOKEN TEXTS A tape recording of a communicative act will preserve the `text`.

Variables :In speech `voice quality`, rhythmic, pause, intonation.In written punctuation, capitalization, italicization, paragraphing, etc.

Spoken text different individual pay attention to different aspects of text

`Text` as the verbal record of a communicative act` requires at least two hedges:

1. The representation of a text which is presented for discussion may in part.

2. Features of the original production of the language considered as features of the text rather than features of the context.

The relationship between speech and writing

According to Goody, writing language has two main functions :1. The storage function which permits

communicative over time and space.

2. Shifts language from the oral to the visual domain` and permits words and sentences to be examined out of their original contexts, where they appear in a very different and highly “abstract” context (1977:78)

The use of speech and written language in daily life:

a. Speech for the establishment and maintenance of information (primarily transactional use), for the detailed transmission of factual information.

b. Written language for the working out of and transference of information (primarily transactional use).

Major relationship between speech and writing:

- Writing design to be permanent

- Speech essentially transitory

Differences in form between written and spoken

language

Characteristics of spoken language:1. The syntax of spoken language is typically much less

structured than that of written language:

2. In written language an extensive set of metalingual markers exist. Example: besides, moreover, however In spoken language , example: and, but, then, ifIn written stretches of discourse appear, like: firstly, more important than, in conclusion

3. Written language sentences are generally structured in subject-predicate form, in spoken language calls topic-comment structure, as in the cats = did you let them out.

4. In informal speech, the occurrence of passive constructions is relatively infrequent. Instead active constructions with indeterminate group agents are noticeable, as in:Oh everything they do in Edinburgh = they do it far too slowly

5. In chat about the immediate environment, the speaker may rely on (e.g) gaze direction to supply a referent : (looking at the rain) frightful isn`t it.

6. The speaker may replace or refine expressions as he goes along: this man + this chap she was going out with

7. The speaker typically uses a good deal of rather generalised vocabulary: a lot of, do, thing, nice, stuff, place and things like that

8. The speaker frequently repeats the same syntactic form several times over, as this fairground inspector does: I look at fire extinguishers + I look at fire exits + I look at what gangways are available + I look at electric cables what + are they properly earthed + are they properly covered

9. The speaker may produce a large number of prefabricated `fillers` : well, erm, I think, you know, if you see what I mean, of course and so on

Sentence and Utterance

Utterance are spoken

Sentence are written. Based on Lyon describe as ‘the products of ordinary language-behaviour’. He makes distinction between ‘text-sentences’and ‘system-sentences’

On ‘Data’

The grammarian’s ‘data’ is inevitebaly the single sentence

The perfomance data may contain feature such as hestations, slips, and non standard form

Rules Versus Regularities

Rules of grammar same way as ‘laws’ in physical sciences

Regularities occur under certain condition in discourse data. A regularity in discourse is a linguistic feature

Product Versus Process

Sentence-as-object view

Text-as-product view does not take account of those principle which constrain the production and constrain the interpretation of texts

Discourse-as-process view talks about how the producer to communicate his message to recipient

On ‘Context’The discourse analyst treats his

data as the record (text) of

dynamic process in which

language was used as an

instrument of communication in a

context by a speaker / writer to

express meanings and achieve

intention(discourse)

Sources Yule, G., & Brown, G. (1983)

Introduction: linguistics forms and function. Discourse Analysis, Cambridge University Press 1-25

Oxford dictionary, # 8th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010

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