Introduction to Discourse Analysis

Summary

This lecture introduces discourse analysis, a method for understanding spoken or written text by examining its context. It explains that discourse encompasses everything that gives meaning to text, including speaker, context, and time. The lecture also discusses the importance of analyzing discourse to uncover speakers' intentions and the two types of text: spoken and written. Examples are given to illustrate how discourse analysis can be applied to determine meaning in conversations and answer questions about dialogues. Various approaches to discourse analysis are mentioned, including pragmatics, social linguistics, conversation analysis, and systemic functional linguistics.

Takeaways

• 📚 Discourse analysis is the study of how meaning is created in language beyond the sentence level.
• 🗣️ It involves looking at the speaker, the text, and the context in which communication occurs.
• 💬 Discourse can be spoken or written, including utterances, sentences, paragraphs, and more.
• 🔍 The goal of discourse analysis is to understand the speaker's intention and the meaning of the text in context.
• 🌐 Discourse analysis considers various factors like time, context, and social interactions to interpret meaning.
• 🗣️ Spoken text includes dialogues and utterances, which can have multiple interpretations depending on the context.
• ✍️ Written text encompasses any form of written communication, such as letters, books, or digital messages.
• 🧩 Discourse analysis helps in understanding the correct meaning of words or phrases by analyzing the surrounding context.
• 📊 It can be applied to solve problems or answer questions based on a given text or dialogue.
• 🔑 There are several approaches to discourse analysis, including pragmatics, sociolinguistics, conversation analysis, and systemic functional linguistics.
• 🔍 These approaches help to uncover the intended meaning of language by examining the function, context, and social aspects of communication.

Q & A

What is discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is the process of understanding spoken or written language by paying attention to everything that gives meaning to the text.

What is the difference between spoken and written text?

Spoken text is language that is spoken, like an utterance, while written text is language that is in written form, such as a book or a document.

How can discourse analysis help in understanding the meaning of a text?

Discourse analysis helps by considering the context, social aspects, conversation patterns, and the functions of language to find the intended meaning of the speaker.

What is the role of context in discourse analysis?

Context plays a crucial role in discourse analysis as it provides the setting in which the language is used, helping to determine the intended meaning of the text.

Can you provide an example of how discourse analysis is used in the script?

Yes, in the script, the example of analyzing the phrase 'what's up' in different contexts (classroom, casual conversation) shows how the meaning can change based on the discourse.

What are the approaches to discourse analysis mentioned in the script?

The approaches mentioned are pragmatics, social linguistics, conversation analysis, systemic functional linguistics, and ethnography of communication.

How does conversation analysis contribute to understanding discourse?

Conversation analysis contributes by examining turn-taking patterns, the length of speakers' turns, and other interactive aspects of discourse to uncover the intended meaning.

What is the significance of systemic functional linguistics in discourse analysis?

Systemic functional linguistics is significant as it views language not just as a form but also as a function, helping to understand how different linguistic structures can convey different meanings.

How can discourse analysis be applied to an English test?

Discourse analysis can be applied to an English test by analyzing the context and language used in dialogues to infer the correct answers to questions about speakers' identities or the settings of conversations.

What is the importance of understanding the speaker's intention in discourse analysis?

Understanding the speaker's intention is important in discourse analysis because it helps to accurately interpret the meaning behind the text, which is crucial for effective communication.

How does the script illustrate the application of discourse analysis in identifying a speaker's role?

The script illustrates this by analyzing dialogues containing keywords like 'mail', 'package', 'prescription', and 'medicine' to deduce that the speakers are likely postal workers or pharmacists.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Discourse Analysis

This paragraph introduces the concept of discourse analysis within the field of linguistics. It explains that discourse analysis involves understanding the meaning of spoken or written text by considering the context, speaker, and other factors that contribute to meaning. The paragraph gives examples of spoken text like 'hello' and written text like a paragraph in a book. It emphasizes that discourse analysis is not just about the text itself but also about the speaker's intention and the context in which the text is produced. The paragraph also touches on the practical application of discourse analysis in understanding the meaning behind utterances and written statements.

05:04

🔍 Analyzing Discourse: Methods and Applications

The second paragraph delves into the practical application of discourse analysis, highlighting different approaches such as pragmatics, social linguistics, conversation analysis, and systemic functional linguistics. It explains how these approaches help in understanding the meaning of discourse by considering factors like context, social aspects, turn-taking in conversations, and the function of language. The paragraph also provides examples of how discourse analysis can be used to infer the location of a conversation (e.g., a florist's shop) and the roles of speakers in a dialogue (e.g., identifying a pharmacist). It concludes by emphasizing the importance of these methods in uncovering the intended meaning behind spoken or written text.

Keywords

💡Discourse Analysis

Discourse Analysis is the process of understanding spoken or written language by paying attention to everything that gives meaning to the text. It is central to the video's theme as it is the main subject being discussed. The script uses examples such as understanding the meaning of 'it' in the phrase 'do you like it?' when given a chocolate, to illustrate how context contributes to the meaning in discourse analysis.

💡Text

In the context of the video, 'Text' refers to anything that is written or spoken by a speaker, such as a single word, sentence, paragraph, or even a conversation. It is the object of discourse analysis. The script mentions 'hello' as an example of text, emphasizing that discourse analysis looks beyond the text to understand its meaning within a broader context.

💡Context

Context is the situation in which something exists or occurs, influencing its meaning. It is crucial for discourse analysis as it helps to determine the intended meaning of a text. The script illustrates this by explaining how knowing that someone is crying in a classroom can change the meaning of 'what's up' from a general inquiry to a specific one about the person's condition.

💡Pragmatics

Pragmatics is an approach within discourse analysis that focuses on the context of a conversation to determine meaning. It is highlighted in the video as a method to understand discourse. An example from the script is using pragmatics to find the meaning of 'what's up' by considering the situation and the speaker's intent.

💡Social Linguistics

Social Linguistics is an approach that considers the social aspects of language use, such as who is speaking, where, and when. It is mentioned in the script as a method to find the real meaning of a text by paying attention to the social context of the conversation, like understanding the roles of the speakers.

💡Conversation Analysis

Conversation Analysis is an approach that looks at turn-taking and the length of speakers' turns to understand the meaning of a discourse. It is used in the video to analyze how the structure of a conversation can reveal its meaning. The script suggests that by examining the pattern of speech exchanges, one can gain insights into the discourse.

💡Systemic Functional Linguistics

Systemic Functional Linguistics is a theory that language has functions beyond just being a form of communication. It is presented in the video as an approach to understand the different meanings that can arise from different sentence structures, like active and passive voice. The script uses this concept to explain how the function of language can be analyzed to understand discourse.

💡Spoken Text

Spoken Text refers to any spoken language, such as a conversation or an utterance. It is a classification of text discussed in the video. The script uses 'what's up' as an example of spoken text, which can have multiple meanings depending on the discourse.

💡Written Text

Written Text is any text that is in written form, such as a book or a letter. It is the second classification of text mentioned in the video. The script contrasts spoken and written text, emphasizing that both are subjects of discourse analysis.

💡Utterance

An Utterance is a single spoken expression, which can be a word, phrase, or sentence. It is used in the script to illustrate spoken text and how its meaning can vary based on the discourse. The example 'what's up' is an utterance with multiple potential meanings that are clarified through discourse analysis.

💡Turn-Taking

Turn-Taking refers to the pattern in which speakers alternate in a conversation. It is a concept within Conversation Analysis mentioned in the video. The script implies that analyzing turn-taking can provide insights into the structure and meaning of a discourse, such as identifying who is leading the conversation.

Highlights

Introduction to discourse analysis in linguistics

Discourse analysis focuses on understanding text in context

Discourse includes everything that gives meaning to text

Examples of text include spoken words, written sentences, and paragraphs

Discourse analysis helps to find the speaker's intention

Text can be classified into spoken and written forms

Spoken text includes utterances like greetings or questions

Written text encompasses written communication like books or notes

Discourse analysis is applied to understand meaning in dialogues

Analyzing discourse can reveal the correct meaning of utterances

Context plays a crucial role in understanding spoken language

Discourse analysis can be used to solve English test questions

Identifying the speaker's role through discourse analysis

Determining the conversation's location by analyzing discourse

Approaches to discourse analysis include pragmatics, social linguistics, conversation analysis, and systemic functional linguistics

Pragmatics focuses on the context of conversation

Social linguistics considers the social aspects of language use

Conversation analysis looks at turn-taking and speaker length

Systemic functional linguistics examines the function of language

Five approaches to understand discourse and extract meaning

Discourse analysis can be applied to both spoken and written text

Transcripts

okay welcome back to the introduction to

linguistics class and today we will

discuss about introduction to discourse

analysis okay

so previously we have talked about the

psycholinguistics phonetics and

phonology morphology syntax semantics

and pragmatics a little so today we will

discuss about introduction to discourse

analysis okay so the question is when we

are having this topic what is discourse

analysis alright let's check so in our

daily interaction we can describe the

process like this there is a speaker and

then we have the text and then we have

here so everything that is written or at

search by the speaker is called text

vertex everything that is written or

spoken by the speaker is for example is

like when you are saying hello that is a

text and then you write

the book is here that is all subtext and

then you have a paragraph that is also a

text so the question is what is

discourse analysis discourse analysis is

the process of understanding attacks by

paying attention to everything that

gives meaning to this text that's it so

we can describe it like this so when

when we want to understand a text what

we have to pay attention is everything

that gives me that gives meaning to this

X that is what we call discourse so

simply we can say that this chorus is

anything like the speaker is like the

context time and everything that gives

meaning to this next like oh when

someone is saying do you like it and

then we can understand the word it from

the speaker when we are analyzing the

discourse for example is your friend say

do you like it

bye and while giving you a chocolate for

example and then you know it refers to

the chocolate because you have the

discourse so this course is everything

that gives meaning to a text and then

that is what we are going to analyze in

discourse analysis what is the use the

use is by analyzing the discourse we can

find the right meaning as the intention

of the speaker in our daily interaction

that's it so text is the object of

discourse analysis as we can see in the

previous slide and this text can be

classified into two types the first

classification is the spoken text spoken

text is a rating that is spoken like the

name the example is when someone is

saying what's up yeah the utterance

what's up now we can understand it has

more than one meaning the first one is

what's up means what is happening or

asking for your condition what's up

in bahasa and SF can say that as a pocke

bar or something like that

what is the right meaning yet to find

out the right meaning we have to analyze

the discourse for example katika in our

classroom someone is crying and then you

are saying what's up the person crying

is part of the discourse and then we can

find the meaning of what's up is at the

upper not Ibaka bar that is what we call

this chorus now this is the second type

of the text is what we call written text

it is like the writing free or any other

writing that is in written form and both

of these are closed are included in the

classification of texts

both are texts okay now that we have

talked about this one let's move to the

next part an English test for example we

can use this discourse analysis to find

the correct answer for example for

number one we want to we want to figure

out or we want to know who is the woman

most likely here you have the right

thing woman it means we are talking

about the who is the second speaker

right so let's check the complete

dialogue I'd like to mail this package

please first our second class here we

can see some clues that becomes the

discourse like mail and then you have

package and then you have class then you

have first or second from this discourse

we can answer this question

yeah by analyzing this discourse we can

answer this question seeing this one I

believe that everyone is agreeing or

everyone agrees that the answer is a

postal worker so we can guess we can

find out who a person is by analyzing

the discourse the other one is when we

have this question where does this

conversations will probably take place

we can guess or we can understand the

location by paying attention to the

dialogue and then analyze

the discourse here we have at a some

keyword like flowers and then okay it

means they are talking about flowers and

perhaps they are in a florists shop

because this one is about the price also

so they are not in a garden because they

have the transaction it also works for

number three who is the woman most

likely to be the second speaker here we

have the complete one and then we can

analyze the discourse here we have the

prescription and then take a seat and

then you have your medicine ready for a

moment and I believe everyone can

understand that the second speaker or

the woman is a pharmacist okay that's it

now when we want to understand the

discourse is it like popping out in our

mind directly without thinking for

example in some case yes however in our

discourse analysis we have some

approaches that we can use to analyze

the discourse so here we have pragmatic

social linguistics at mcgoofy

conversation analysis and systemic

functional linguistics so pragmatics as

we can see we can find the meaning in by

using this one by studying this one

because this part is focusing mostly in

the context of the conversation and then

we also have social linguistics so we

can find the real meaning by paying

attention to the social aspect that's

why it is called socio linguistics

ethnography of communication so we are

talking about the unag Rafi whatever

involves in the conversation like who is

speaking where they are talking when are

they talking and everything involved

this is also the approaches so we can

understand someone's meaning like paying

attention to the complete one we'll

discuss this later

then we also use conversation analysis

that turn-taking resemble or the length

of the speaker is talking we can see the

real meaning or different

by analyzing the discourse using this

approach or the latest one is we are

having systemic functional linguistics

an approach a theory that says language

is not just a forum it also has function

and then by seeing the function like

when you are saying a sentence inactive

and then you are saying a sentence in

passive they have different meaning then

you can find it in systemic functional

linguistics so we can use this five s

approaches to understand a discourse so

we can find the right meaning of

someone's text whether it is in spoken

form or it is in written form and we

will discuss this later okay that's it

thank you for the attention and good

luck