Discourse Theory and Practice

Discourse Theory and Practice PDF

Author: Margaret Wetherell

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2001-05-25

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9780761971566

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This text provides specially written profiles of eight key discourse analysts, describing each one's main contribution to the field, and introducing their method of discourse analysis.

Mediated Discourse

Mediated Discourse PDF

Author: Ron Scollon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-09-26

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1134535880

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Mediated Discourse: The Nexus of Practice sets out a discursive theory of human action. Language and action are intimately related. The difficult question to answer is how they are related. Mediated Discourse Theory looks into social relationships to see how the use of language is both a form of action in itself and is also indirectly related to all other forms of human action. Through the empirical study of a one year old child learning to exchange objects with caregivers, Scollon challenges the commonly held claim that all practices are represented in discourse and that all discourse has the function of structuring practice. Calling upon work in interactional sociolinguistics, critical discourse analysis, anthropological linguistics, sociocultural psychology, and intercultural communication, the Mediated Discourse Theory set out in this book resolves current problematic issues such as how practices are learned across the boundaries of groups and how individuals come to be socialized as social actors.

Analysing Political Discourse

Analysing Political Discourse PDF

Author: Paul Anthony Chilton

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780415314718

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Based on Aristotle's premise that we are all political animals, able to use language to pursue our own ends, this text uses the theoretical framework of linguistics to explore the ways in which we think and behave politically.

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method PDF

Author: Marianne W Jorgensen

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2002-10-10

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1847876927

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Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is a systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. It brings together three central approaches, Laclau and Mouffe′s discourse theory, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology, in order to establish a dialogue between different forms of discourse analysis often kept apart by disciplinary boundaries. The book introduces the three approaches in a clear and easily comprehensible manner, explaining the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach as well as the methodological guidelines and tools they provide for empirical discourse analysis. The authors also demonstrate the possibilities for combining different discourse analytical and non-discourse analytical approaches in empirical study. Finally, they contextualize discourse analysis within the social constructionist debate about critical social research, rejecting the view that a critical stance is incompatible with social constructionist premises and arguing that critique must be an inherent part of social research.

Patterns and Meanings in Discourse

Patterns and Meanings in Discourse PDF

Author: Alan Partington

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2013-04-16

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 9027272123

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This work is designed, firstly, to both provoke theoretical discussion and serve as a practical guide for researchers and students in the field of corpus linguistics and, secondly, to offer a wide-ranging introduction to corpus techniques for practitioners of discourse studies. It delves into a wide variety of language topics and areas including metaphor, irony, evaluation, (im)politeness, stylistics, language change and sociopolitical issues. Each chapter begins with an outline of an area, followed by case studies which attempt both to shed light on particular themes in this area and to demonstrate the methodologies which might be fruitfully employed to investigate them. The chapters conclude with suggestions on activities which the readers may wish to undertake themselves. An Appendix contains a list of currently available resources for corpus research which were used or mentioned in the book.

Discursive Illusions in Public Discourse

Discursive Illusions in Public Discourse PDF

Author: Aditi Bhatia

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-05-15

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 1317691865

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This book presents a unique perspective into the investigation and analysis of public discourses, such as those of the environment, politics, and social media, springing from issues of key relevance to contemporary society, including the War on Terror, the ‘Arab Spring’, and the climate-change debate. Employing a qualitative approach, and drawing on data which comprises both written and spoken discourses, including policy documents, political speeches, press conferences, blog entries, informational leaflets, and corporate reports, the book puts forward a unique theoretical framework, that of the Discourse of Illusion. The research draws on discourse analysis, in order to develop and implement a multi-perspective framework that allows a closer look at the intentions of the producer/actor of various discourses, power struggles within social domains, in addition to the socio-political and historical contexts which influence the individual repositories of experience that create multiple, often contesting, arguments on controversial issues, consequently giving rise to discursive illusions. Discursive Illusions in Public Discourse: Theory and practice intensively explores the discourse of illusion within multifarious dimensions of contemporary public discourses, such as: • Political Voices in Terrorism • Activist Voices in New Media • Corporate Voices in Climate Change This book will particularly appeal to researchers working within the field of discourse analysis, and more generally for students of postgraduate research and specialists in the field of language, linguistics, and media. The book can also be used as a guide for non-specialists in better understanding the complexities of public discourses, and how they shape society’s perceptions of some key social and political issues.

The Discourse Studies Reader

The Discourse Studies Reader PDF

Author: Johannes Angermuller

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company

Published: 2014-06-19

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 902727018X

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Discourse Studies is an interdisciplinary field studying the social production of meaning across the entire spectrum of the social sciences and humanities. The Discourse Studies Reader brings together 40 key readings from discourse researchers in Europe and North America, some of which are now translated into English for the first time. Divided into seven sections – ‘Theoretical Inspirations: Structuralism versus Pragmatics’, ‘From Structuralism to Poststructuralism’, ‘Enunciative Pragmatics’, ‘Interactionism’, ‘Sociopragmatics’, ‘Historical Knowledge’ and ‘Critical Approaches’ – The Discourse Studies Reader offers a comprehensive overview of the main currents in discourse studies, both discourse theory and discourse analysis. With short introductions elaborating the broader context, the sections present key selections from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds by placing them into their respective epistemological traditions. The Discourse Studies Reader is an indispensable textbook for students and scholars alike who are interested in discourse theoretical questions and working with discourse analytical methods.

The Theory and Practice of Discourse Parsing and Summarization

The Theory and Practice of Discourse Parsing and Summarization PDF

Author: Daniel Marcu

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780262133722

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Most discourse researchers assume that full semantic understanding is necessary to derive the discourse structure of texts. This book documents an attempt to construct and use automatic and non-semantic computational structures for text summarization.

Perspectives on Discourse Analysis

Perspectives on Discourse Analysis PDF

Author: Laura Alba Juez

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2009-05-27

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13: 1443812226

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Perspectives on Discourse Analysis: Theory and Practice provides the student/reader with the basic theoretical knowledge and the empirical tools of some of the most relevant approaches to the analysis of discourse. It has been mainly conceived of as a general (university) course on Discourse Analysis, but it can also be useful for any person or group whose main concern is to acquire the basic necessary knowledge and skills for analyzing any type of discourse. The subject matter of the book could not only be of use for linguists or prospective linguists: given its interdisciplinary character, its findings can be (and in fact are) used and applied by practitioners and scholars from different fields, such as sociology, psychology, medical science, computer science, and so on. Thus the book can be used by any person who, having certain linguistic knowledge, is interested in exploring the fascinating world of discourse. All the chapters contain both a theoretical and an empirical section, the latter containing examples of analysis, as well as exercises (Practice) and self-evaluation questions, whose answers can be found at the end of the book (in the Practice key and Key to self-evaluation questions sections). The book is divided into 12 chapters. The first two introduce basic information about discourse analysis and text linguistics, as well as the necessary techniques for gathering data, including a very brief introduction to corpus linguistics. Chapters 3-11 present and discuss some of the most prominent and well-known approaches to discourse analysis, namely Pragmatics, Interactional Sociolinguistics, Conversation Analysis, The Ethnography of Communication, Variation Analysis and Narrative Analysis, Functional Sentence Perspective, Post-Structuralist Theory and Social Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis and Positive Discourse Analysis, and Mediated Discourse Analysis. Finally, Chapter 12 deals with crucial and further issues, such as the type of discourse chosen for the analysis, the strategies and functions of discourse, or the problem of choosing an appropriate unit of analysis which will suit the aims of research. Perspectives on Discourse Analysis: Theory and Practice may prove of value to all those who are professionally involved in the area of discourse and pragmatic studies, or simply to those who wish to acquire the necessary basic knowledge and techniques for analyzing any type of discourse, from medical, journalistic or political discourse to computer-mediated, humoristic, or hegemonic discourse (where the use and abuse of power is an important issue), just to name a few of the innumerable possibilities. A desirable and intended effect of this book is also the development of an open and tolerant mind, which will eventually lead to a better understanding of the different and varied manifestations of language, culture and communication in human society.

Discourse

Discourse PDF

Author: David Howarth

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)

Published: 2000-12-16

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0335231837

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* What do we mean by discourse? * What are the different conceptions of discourse and methods of discourse analysis in the contemporary social sciences? * How can this concept help to clarify key theoretical problems and illuminate empirical cases? The concept of discourse provokes considerable debate and is understood in a variety of ways in the contemporary social sciences. This text presents a comprehensive overview of the different conceptions and methods of discourse analysis, while setting out the traditions of thinking in which these conceptions have emerged. It surveys structuralist, post-structuralist and post-Marxist theory, and the author sets out a fresh approach to discourse analysis, drawing principally on the writings of Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault, Derrida, Laclau and Mouffe. He evaluates a number of pertinent criticisms of this approach, and explores ways in which discourse analysis can assist our understanding of identity formation, hegemony, and the relationship between structure and agency. This concise and engaging text provides a stimulating introduction to the concept of discourse for students and researchers across the social sciences.