Discourse Analysis by LAB

Con estrellas o en amarllo (han salido como preguntas en el examen de teora)

UNIT 1 Chapters 1-2 book

Chapter 1
Text linguistics (in everyday use) is reduced to written texts and Discourse to spoken language.
But now TEXT includes everything: from magazine to conversation.
Here (this book/this class)
TEXT: purely linguistic material
DISCOURSE: language in use, text and context (broader)
TEXT LINGUISTICS
-Crystal (1997) says it is the formal account of the linguistic principles governing the structure
of texts.
-De Beaugrande and Dressler (1981) say it is a communicative event that must have:
COCOINTACC INFOSIT INTER
1. Cohesion: relationship between text and syntax (conjunction, ellipsis, anaphora, cataphora,
recurrence) = CEACR
2. Coherence: meaning implied by the language used, which influence reception
3. Intentionality: attitude and purpose of speaker or writer
4. Acceptability: preparation of hearer/reader to understand
5. Informativity: quantity and quality of new or expected information
6. Situationality: situation where text is produced is crucial to production and reception
7. Intertextuality: A) a text is always related to some proceeding or simultaneous discourse and
B) texts are always linked and grouped in genres or text varieties by formal criteria.
Text internal (more PURE approaches to
Text Linguistics)
They constitute the text
TL: Formal and experimental approach
(seeing language as mental phenomenon)
cohesion
coherence

Text external (more important in Discourse

Analysis)
Constitute the context
DA: Functional approach (seeing language
as a social phenomenon)
intentionality
acceptability
informativity
situationality
intertextuality

Slembrouck points to the ambiguity of the term discourse analysis and defines it as the
linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected speech or written discourse, or the study of

larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. So for him, as for
many other discourse analysts, D.A is concerned with language use in social contexts.
Discourse Analysis (according to Schiffron) involves both TEXT and CONTEXT. (So can be seen
to embrace TL)
As Van Dijk (2002) or Johnstone (2002) point out, DA is essentially multidisciplinary and
therefore crosses into many other domains like:
-Poetics
-Semiotics
-Psychology
-Sociology
-Anthropology
-History
-Communication research
-Political science
-Literary criticism, etc.
They pay attention to linguistic facts AND social, political and cultural aspects.
DA is the study of language in use, and studies TEXT and CONTEXT.
Origins and History
All agreed DA should go Beyond the sentence
In Linguistics in the 20th century we can see new disciplines in the field of Linguistics all
interrelated):
-Functionalism
-Cognitive linguistics
-Sociolinguistics
-Pragmatics
-Text linguistics
-Discourse analysis
**Many authors move from TL to DA as a natural part of their progression.
Important notions:
Macrostructure
Cohesion
Strategic understanding (what language really does)
Socio-cultural knowledge
Mental models
Approaches to the Phenomenon of discourse
All definitions of discourse and DA fall into three different categories:
1. Anything beyond a sentence
2. Language use
2

3. A broader range of social practice that includes non-linguistic and non-specific instances of
language

Formal Approach
Discourse is language beyond the sentence
-

Functional Approach
Discourse is language in use
-importance shown to purposes and functions of
language (language and society are parts of each
other)
-include all uses of language, focusing on how
language is used to achieve communicative goals
-discourse NOT just one more level in a hierarchy, but
as an all embracing concept which include:
propositional content and social, cultural and
contextual contexts

Harris (1951) was the first to use the term Discourse Analysis and saw this hierarchy:
Morphemes- clauses- sentences- discourse (but this view is criticized)
Schiffrin proposes a balanced approach to discourse, in which both the formal and the
functional paradigms are integrated. She views discourse as utterances, i.e. units of linguistic
production (whether spoken or written) which are inherently contextualized (1994:41)
In discourse we may include: sign language, dramatization and body hexis: way the speaker
stands, talks, laughs, walks (Bordieu)
Discourse is multi-modal because it uses more than one semiotic system and performs several
functions at the same time.
Wetherell et al (2001) present 4 possible approaches/models to DA:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Language is a system and we must look for patterns

Language is a process (not product), the focus is on interaction
Searches for language patterns associated with a given topic/activity
Searches for patterns within broader contexts (society, culture), here language is
viewed as part of a major processes/activities, so interest goes beyond the language.

All streams of research are related to each other

Best known schools of thought:
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
3

Mediated Discourse Analysis

** All of them tend to be interested in what happens when people USE language and how
they DO things with language, like expressing feelings, entertaining others, exchanging info,
etc (not language as an abstract system)
What do Discourse analysts do?
They study the use of language in context, so they are interested in what speakers/writers DO
(not so much on formal relationships among sentences or propositions) DA has a social
dimension.
They explore matters like:
-turn taking in phone conversations
-conversations
-scripts
-discourse
-structure of narratives
-use of irony, humor, metaphors, etc
-strategies used to fulfill a function
-Face-to-face conversations
-The language, images, symbols, etc. used in e-mails
-Linguistic politeness
-The discourse of politicians
-Power relations and sexism as manifested in language
-The structure of (written and oral narratives)
-ETC.
It is called Discourse Analysis (not Discourseology) because they focus on the analytical
process in a relatively explicit way (Johnstone 2002) either by:
1. Dividing long stretches of discourse into parts/units of different sorts
2. Tests of given phenomenon
So Discourse Analysts:
-see how speakers/writers organize their discourse (to show semantic intention)
-see how hearers/readers interpret discourse
CORPUS are natural texts that are transcribed and annotated, which is the basis for DA.
(Necessity!) (Crystal): a corpus is a collection of linguistic data, either written texts or
transcription of recorded speech, to be used as a starting point of linguistic description or as a
means of verifying hypotheses about a language.
(Biber et al.) essential characteristics of corpus-based analysis are empiricism, utilization of a
large collection of natural texts (corpus) as the basis for analysis, extensive use of computer for
4

analysis (using both automatic and interactive techniques), the and use of both quantitative
and qualitative analytical techniques. Studies of language use require empirical analyses of
large databases of authentic texts.

CHAPTER 2
What data to use and how to collect it depend on the type of research to be done and their
goals. Once decided, the researcher must select samples.
Transcription: an important part of data collection. The researcher turns a spoken
conversation into a document: a transcription. This is difficult and time consuming and its very
hard (almost impossible) to be objective.
-should try to show all the variables that intervene in the phenomenon
-a totally neutral transcription DOES NOT exist
There is no single and accepted way to transcribe speech. Each analyst focuses on the features
that best fit the goal of his/her research
Some include:
- Interruptions and pauses
-genre, date and place of publication
- information about the speakers (sex, age, occupation, etc)
- paralinguistic features such as pronunciation and intonation patterns, or even laughter
They need to use a typology (a system of classification). But there are no Golden rules on how.
The best way is to start from a consensual set of categories, and use your own when there is
no agreement.
Highly detailed transcriptions: provide lots of info, but are hard to read
Less detailed transcriptions: are easier to read, but contain less info.
Three main principles should be observed (Edwards 1993):
1. Categories: they should be systematically discriminable, exhaustive and systematically
contrastive
2. Transcripts should be readable (to a researcher)
3. For computational tractability, mark ups should be systematic and predictable.
The researcher should also decide if the transcription will be orthographic, prosodic or
phonetic. (Or a combination)
LONDON LUND CORPUS
This corpus was originally known as the Survey of English Usage (1960s), and consisted of a
million words included in 200 texts of spoken and written material. The whole survey was
computerized and is now called the London Lund Corpus.

Prosody
Tones
Pitch

Stress
Pauses
Speakers

# means end of tone group

means beginning of tone group
/ is raise and \ is fall
: Higher than previous syllable
! High
! ! Very high
` normal `` strong
- Each dash is one stress unit/foot
+ a brief pause
A identity
(A)Speaker continues where they left off
A, B A and B
VAR Various speakers
? Speaker identity unknown
a non-surreptitious speaker

Ethics of data collection

-ideally all should have the same status, but the researcher (because of status of
academic/expert and because they have more info about the experiment than the subjects)
usually holds more power.
Researchers must:
-obtain the consent of the participants, not only to take part in the study but also to use the
data they provide.
- protect all participants
- observe their legal rights
CORPORA FOR DA
Corpus: a collection of linguistic data (written texts or transcriptions), used to verify
hypotheses about a language. (Crystal, 1997: 95)
Biber et al. (1998:4) highlight the main features of a corpus-based analysis, namely:
-Empiricism (it analyzes the patterns of use in natural texts)
-Utilization of a large and principled collection of natural texts as the basis for analysis
-Use of computers for analysis
-Use of both quantitative and qualitative techniques
WHY USE CORPORA?
-They facilitate the investigation of language in use
-We can use databases of authentic texts thanks to the aid of corpus linguistics
-It allows researchers to analyze patterns of use (e.g. lexical associations and their distribution
across different registers)
6

E.g.: the lexical associations for fat, plump, chubby, overweight

COMPUTER CORPORA AND CONCORDANCE PROGRAMS
Ever since the 1980s, increasingly large corpora have been compiled (especially of English).
Examples of Modern corpora are:
-The BNC (British National Corpus)
-The COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American)
-The ICE (International Corpus of English)
-The Bank of English
Online Corpora:
-The Shakespeare Online corpus
-The Experimental BNC website
-The Davies Corpus
CONCORDANCE PROGRAMS
They turn electronic texts into databases that can be searched. Some of them are:
-Word Cruncher
-TACT
-SARA
-WordSmith Tools (widely used by linguists, lexicographers and discourse analysts)
Reichs classification of corpora (1998):
Reichs taxonomy classifies corpora according to medium, national varieties, historical
variation, geographical/dialectal variation, age, genre, open-endedness and availability:
a) Medium:
Spoken corpora London-Lund Corpus
Written corpora LOB (Lancaster Oslo/Bergen corpus)
Mixed corpora BNC
b) National varieties:
British corpora LOB
American corpora Brown corpus, COCA
International corpora International Corpus of English
c) Historical variation:
Diachronic corpora Helsinki Corpus
Synchronic corpora LOB, Brown Corpus, BNC
7

Corpora which cover only one stage of language history Shakespeare Corpora, Corpus of Old
English, Corpus of Middle English.
d) Geographical/dialectal variation:
Corpus of dialect samples Scots
Mixed corpora BNC (which includes samples of speakers from all over Britain)
e) Age:
Adult English corpora
Child English corpora CHILDES
f) Genre:
Literary texts corpora
Technical English corpora
Non-fiction corpora ( e.g. News texts)
Mixed corpora covering all genres
g) Open-endedness:
Closed/unalterable corpora LOB, Brown Corpus
Monitor corpora Bank of English
h) Availability:
Commercial corpora/Non commercial research corpora
Online corpora/ corpora on ftp servers/ corpora on floppy disks or CD-ROMs.
This is not an entirely comprehensive taxonomy, for other variables might be considered
depending on the researchers aims.

UNIT 2 CHAPTERS 4-5

Chapter 4 Interactional Sociolinguistics
Based on relationships between language, culture and society and has its roots in
Anthropology, Sociology and Linguistics. Its multidisciplinary. Situational meaning.
Language, context and the interaction of self and other.
Discourse is a social interaction.
Main concern:
contextualization
Main contributors:
John Gumperz (Anthropologist)
Erving Goffman (Sociologist)
8

John Gumperz
-Essay: Discourse Strategies
-real time processes in face to face interactions
-cognition and language are affected by social and cultural forces
-contextualization cue: any verbal sign which when proceeded in co-occurrence with symbolic
grammatical and lexical signs serves to construct the contextual ground for situated
interpretations, affecting how messages are understood. (intonation, prosodic choices,
conversational code switching, lexical or syntactic choices, accent, style switching and
facial/gestural signs).
Contextualization cues function indexically (they are deictic, like shifters, but they are not
lexically based because they can be non-verbal)
Contextual cues are learned, through face to face contact over time.
BUT cues are not always shared in diverse societies. Interactional Sociolinguistics insists on this
ASSYMETRY in the communicative background of speakers. (its expected)
So..Sociolinguistics of Interpersonal Communication says:
-speakers are members of social and cultural groups
-the way we use language reflects our group identity
-the way we use language also provides indices of who we are, what we want to communicate
and how skillful we are in doing so.
Example of Contextual cue in book: code switching between a person using formal speech and
one not .having failed to show himself as part of that group they are distanced. Lauras
Example of foreigners speaking to each other in their dialect.
Erving Goffman
-he centers on physical co presence (more than on social groups)
He focuses on aspects of interaction order like:
-Settings (elevator talk)
-Forms of self-maintaining behavior (focused interaction and civil inattention)
-Conduct in public situations of embarrassment, face saving behavior and or public displays of
competence (oops!)
-Role of temporal and spatial activity boundaries, which result in inclusion/exclusion from talk

Co-presence: draws attention to the body (its disposition and display)

Goffman argues that the self is a social construction and viewing oneself through FACE
Face: the positive social value a person effectively claims for himself by the line others assume
he has taken during a particular contact.
9

To be in face/to maintain face: the way interactants are expected to act

Face saving= traffic rules of society
Frame: how social actors organize their experiences in terms of recognizable activities (board
meeting, ball game, a lecture), They structure experiences
Footing (highly related to frame): speakers shifting alignments in relation to the events at
hand. Different speaker roles. There are 4:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Animator: participant that produces talk

Author: the one who creates talk
Figure: the one who is betrayed by talk
Principal: the one who is responsible for the talk

All these roles can be played by different people, or all by the same person, or switching during
the talk.
For hearer there are 2:
1. Primary addressee: a ratified hearer
2. Overhearer: non ratified hearer/accidental bystander
Similarities between Gumperz and Goffman
-they focus on situational meaning
-study interaction between self and other
-study context
-language is indexical to the social world
-their work complements each other
POLITENESS
-politeness is not easy to define, not everyone sees politeness as the same thing
-in Pragmatics politeness refers to strategies for maintaining or changing interpersonal
relations.
4 approaches to Politeness:
1. Social-norm view: politeness in the English speaking world in general
2. Conversational-maxim view: (Grice) Cooperative principle and maxims. Lakoff and
Leech also subscribe to this approach.
3. Face saving view: best known. Rational and efficient manner of talk. Concept of face.
4. Conversational contract view: Conversational contract (Fraser)

Conversational-Maxim view
LEECH
-Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle do not work in isolation. They create a tension
in the speaker.
10

His 6 maxims are:

TACT Maxim: minimize cost to other, maximize benefit to other
GENEROSITY Maxim: minimize benefits to self, maximize cost to self
APPROBATION Maxim: minimize dispraise of other, maximize praise of other
MODESTY Maxim: Minimize praise of self, maximize dispraise of self
AGREEMENT Maxim: minimize disagreement between self and other, maximize agreement
between self and other
SYMPATHY Maxim: minimize antipathy between self and other, maximize sympathy between
self and other.

So, minimize unfavorable aspects to hearer and maximize those that are favorable to him/her.
Relative Politeness: politeness in a specific situation
Absolute Politeness: politeness inherently associated with specific speaker actions. Offers are
inherently polite whereas orders are inherently impolite
Negative politeness: minimizing the impoliteness in impolite illocutions.
Positive politeness: maximizing the politeness in polite illocutions.
ROBIN LAKOFF
Politeness: a device used in order to reduce friction in personal interaction. Her two Rules of
Pragmatic Competence:
1. Be clear
2. Be polite
They sometimes reinforce each other, sometime conflict with each other. When clarity is in
conflict with politeness, politeness wins out.
Three rules of Politeness:
1. Dont impose (Formal/Impersonal Politeness)
2. Give options (informal politeness)
3. Make the other feel good /be friendly (Intimate Politeness)
Face saving view Brown & Levinsons Theory of Politeness
FACE
Sociolinguistic variables related to face:
-social distance
-relative power
-absolute ranking
All speakers have positive and negative face
11

Face threatening act (FTA): always intrinsically threaten interlocutors face.

On record: direct, with or without redressive (beat around the bush) strategies
Off record: indirect, knowing what they are going to say is offensive/impolite, they use
mitigating elements

Chapter 5: Conversation Analysis

CA originated in Sociology as an approach to the study of social organization of everyday
conduct
Began with Harold Garfinkel and his Ethnomethodology (knowledge is neither autonomous
nor decontextualized).
Ethnomethodology avoids idealizations and that speakers produce categories that are
continuously adjusted to whether the anticipation of an act is confirmed by anothers actions
or not.
Typifications/categories. Language is a situational product of rules and systems.
Meaning of an utterance is indexical to a specific content and purpose.
CA analysts attempt to explicate the relevance of the parties to an interaction, while they
reject the use of investigated-stipulated theoretical and conceptual definitions of research
questions. (they dont idealize)
They use tape recorded conversations as data (no researcher prompting)
They are concerned with conversation and talk in interaction: not just everyday talk, also
courts, doctors office, school.
Interaction is structurally organized, so they search for reoccurring patterns, distributions and
forms of organization.
Heritage says:
1. Contributions to interaction are contextually orientated
2. No order of detail in interaction can be dismissed a priori as disorderly, accidental or
irrelevant
Central criteria for CA:
-the data must be fully observable
-replicated data should look essentially the same
-if data do not explain themselves, then more empirical data should be captured.
EXPLORATION OF SEQUENTIAL STRUCTURES OF SOCIAL ACTION: how utterances fit in with
previous ones, or how they are important to what comes next (sequential analysis): adjacent
pairs and turn taking, very important.

12

Turn taking: used for talking in different speech-exchange systems like interviews, meetings,
debates or ceremonies. There is a basic set of rules that govern turn construction to minimize
gaps and overlapping. Turn taking is a form of social action.
Rules of turn taking:
-one party talks at a time
-occurrences of more than one speaker are common but brief
-no gaps, no overlaps and some gaps some overlaps are the most common occurrences
-turn order varies, and they can be continuous or discontinuous
-size of turns varies
-length/topic/ turn taking of conversation is not set in advance
-number of parties can vary
-turn allocation techniques are used (selected by first speaker or auto selected to continue)
-repair mechanisms exist to deal with errors/violations

Transition Relevance Place (TRP): any possible change of turn, marked by

-end of structural unit (phrase or clause)
-a pause
How can listeners show they are paying attention?
-head nods
-smiles/facial expressions
-vocal indications (uh-uh, yeah, mmmm: backchannels). These backchannels provide feedback
to the speaker. Absence of backchannels can be taken negatively (lack of interest).
Adjacency pair: a sequence of two utterances which are adjacent and produced by different
speakers. The first part EXPECTS a certain answer from the second part:
EX: A: Hello B: Hello
A: Would you care for some tea? B: Yes, please
A: Im sorry B: Dont worry.
But this is not always followed, and we can see insertion sequences (question answer
imbedded in the question answer). See below
A: Can I play videogames? B: Have you tidied your room? A: No B: Then, no!
Preference organization
-there is a hierarchy operating over the potential second part of an adjacency pair.

13

-there is a preferred (unmarked) and dispreferred (marked) category of response to the first
part.
Dispreferred seconds normally show:
-delays: pause before delivery
-prefaces: markers or announcers of dispreferred (Uh, Well,.)
: tokens of agreement before disagreements
: use of appreciations if relevant (requests, invitations)
: use of qualifiers (I dont know, for sure, but..)
: hesitations (self editing)
-Accounts: carefully formulated explanations for why the dispreferred act is being done
-Declination component: of a form suited to the nature of the first part of the pair, but
characteristically indirect or mitigated.
Other sequences:
REPAIR: correction of misunderstandings, mishearings or non hearings
Self initiated repair: within a turnglottal stops, lengthened vowels.
Other initiated repair: echo questions, repetition of problematic items with stress on
problematic syllables, or with expressions like What? Pardon? Excuse me?....
When to make repairs? Right after the error, at the end of the turn, after delay at the end of
the turn
PRE-SEQUENCES: they prefigure the specific kind of action that they potentially precede
-summonses, pre invitations, pre-closing, pre request, pre announcement, pre arrangements
INSERTION SEQUENCES: repairs or temporary holds
OVERALL ORGANIZATION: the totality of the Exchange, EX: openings of telephone
conversations, first topic slot (why they called), closing section (markers or goodbyes).
Generally conversations have:
-opening
-main body (topic slot 1, 2, 3..)
-closing section
First topic slot is usually the most important

14

UNIT 3 Chapters 7
Chapter 7 Variation Analysis and Narrative Analysis
VA: the study of linguistic change
-from Linguistics, but differs from traditional linguistics
VA says there are patterns of language which vary according to the social environment so they
can only be identified after studying a certain speech community
VA is concerned with the variation and changes observed along different speech
communities.
Originally, it only studied semantically equivalent variations (napkin/serviette or lift/elevator),
but now are extended to texts.
William Labov developed the initial methodology and theory.
Data collection and field work are very important.
Language is the property of a speech community (materialistic view) which evolves through
time. Labov shows how language changes spread through society.
Orderly heterogeneity: Structured variation. Linguistic changes are usually carried out by
certain social groups and that dialect variation is not free or haphazard.
Telsur/Atlas project: changes in North American English
VA combines qualitative and quantitative techniques
Constraint: an overall text imposes constraints on parts (EX: temporal structure constrains
composing elements and syntactic forms). Recipes (terms regarding food, ingredients)
Sequence of analyzing for VA (according to Patrick)
-establish which forms alternate with one another (which are the same)
-delimit environment and classify the factors
-propose hypotheses for contextual factors that might contain the variation
-compile a data set
-compare the frequencies/ probabilities with which the different variants co-occur with the
different factors (environmental)
-place primary emphasis on internal linguistic factors and secondary emphasis on external
social explanations
-consider analysis exploratory rather than confirmatory
SO: Variation/linguistic change can be studied at the level of semantically equivalent words
AND at phonological levels, syntactic levels and even textual levels.
Labov considers the narrative a privileged area of discourse, because discourse type is closest
to vernacular.

15

VERNACULAR: variety acquired in pre-adolescent years and is used when they pay the
minimum attention to their speech
-when people know they are being taped/studied, they tend to change their way of speaking.
To collect vernacular studies use sociolinguistic interviews: discover the regular rules of
language and the social distribution of variants.
Variations Analysis is the basis for Narrative Analysis.
Narrative Analysis.
Labov and Waletzky
Based on VA Analysis
Labov studied Afro-American vernacular in NY (South Harlem). He argued against the idea that
black children were verbally deprived (and genetically inferior). He proved that black people
used their vernacular is a highly creative and talented way.
Vernacular (Labov): first acquired, perfectly learned and used only among speakers of the
same vernacular. (used when there are no other speakers of different varieties present)
Observers Paradox: effort made by researchers to observe how speakers talk when they are
not being observed. Eliciting personal experience narratives within face to face interviews is a
partial solution to this paradox.
Narrative (Labov & Waletzky): particular unit in discourse which contains smaller units having
particular syntactic and semantic properties.
Narratives contain a beginning, middle and end, but in detail we can find:
1. Abstract: one or two clauses that summarize the story
2. Orientation: one or two clauses that give info about the time, place, persons, activity
or situation
3. Complicating action: sequential clauses describing different events
4. Evaluation: (typical of personal experience) why was the narrative told (to teach a
lesson?) irrealis mood: what did not happen, what might have happened, or would
occur by comparing real events with alternative realities.
5. Result/resolution: set of complicating actions that follow or coincide with the most
reportable event.
6. Coda: a free clause at the end which signals that the narrative has finished, a final
clause that returns the narrative to the time of speaking, precluding What happened
then?
Not all narratives have the 6 elements, but usually their basic characteristic is their temporal
sequence.
For a recapitulation of experience to be a narrative it must tell the events in the same order as
the original events.
All complicating action clauses are sequential clauses.
Abstracts, orientations and codas may NOT be sequential.

16

Sequential clause (Labov): a clause that can be an element of a temporal juncture. Two clauses
are separated by a temporal juncture if a reversal of their order changes the meaning
(interpretation of order by listener)
The simplest possible narrative (Labov) a single line of complication w/o a clear resolution.
Minimal narratives often have complication AND resolution EX: Mary fell down and broke her
arm.
Most common variation: Orientation-Complicating Action-Evaluation-Resolution-Coda..
But in jokes, surprise endings, ghost storiesthe evaluation ends the resolution
Important because insight was gained into the capacity of a narrator to transfer experience of
the narrator to the audience
Social context influences the construction of speech actions and rules (so important to study of
discourse units)
Narratives can be amenable to a formal framework
Narratives are an important role in peoples construction of identity.
Reportability: telling a narrative requires a person to hold the floor longer. The narrative has
to be interesting enough to hold others attention for longer.
Reportable event: one that justifies the automatic reassignment of speaker role to the
narrator (they are interesting enough to be listened to= hold the floor)
Most reportable event: the event that is less common than any other in the narrative and has
the greatest effect on the needs and desires of the participants (semantic and structural crucial
point around which the narrative is organized).
Credibility: the extent to which the listeners believe that the events described actually
occurred in the form described by the narrator. If no credibility=failed narrative.
Casualty: the sequence of events is explained explicit or implicit casual relations. Proposed
chain of events that links orientation to the most reportable event through a web of causal
relations.
Narrators point of view is shown through the assignment of praise or blame to the actors or
actions involved.
Objective event (Labov): one that becomes known to the narrator through sense experience
Subjective event: one that the narrator became aware of through memory, emotional reaction
or internal sensation
Objectivity affects audiences more (seen as more credible). The audience expects the narrator
to be more objective in the sequence of events (complicating act and resolution), whereas
more subjectivity may be expected in the evaluative part. (if events are true=doesnt matter if
view is subjective or objective)

17

Information structures
-one of the main concerns of VA is to search for the information structures that prevail in
discourse. They can be analyzed in one text or across several.
Temporal structure: is central to the definition of a narrative. Linear presentation of event
clauses is very important in assigning reference time. (but is not relevant in other areas: like
lists)
Descriptive structures: are not central to, but can be part of narratives. Usually designated to
background orientation function. Narrative description function may preface the narrative, or
be embedded in the complicating action.
The point of a story is shown through evaluation.
So Evaluative structures are important in constructing narratives. Evaluation is necessary in
stories, be may be optional in/less important in EX: recipes or instruction manuals
Related units make text coherent.
Key task for VA: compare and contrast the use of information structures across text types and
w/i given texts.
All narratives seem to have:
-sequential structure
-complicating action
-resolution
Narrative and Identity
Social constructions: identity is neither a given nor a product. Identity is a process that
presupposes discursive work and takes place in concrete interactional situations, resulting
from the process of negotiation and entextualization.

UNIT 4 CHAPTER 8
Chapter 8: Functional Sentence Perspective
Functionalism

-one of the greatest linguistic paradigms of the 20th c

-originated in the Linguistic School of Prague
-vs. the abstract and formalized view of Transformational Grammar
-functionalism relies on a pragmatic view of language as social interactions, so it
focuses on the rules that given verbal interaction. Meaning not form.
-Purpose and extra linguistic context are important.
Functional Sentence Perspective
-a theory of linguistic analysis that refers to an analysis of utterances or texts in terms of the
information they contain.
Communicative dynamism: key concept, it attempts to rate the different levels of contribution
within a structure (theme and rheme) in the development of a communication (Firbas)
18

So it assumes that when speakers say something, they have a communicative purpose and the
elements of their language contribute to this purpose. Broader social and cognitive
commitments are avoided.
The order of words in a sentence (all other things being equal) corresponds to an increase in
communicative dynamism, determined by 4 factors:
-linear modification
-contextual factor
-semantic factor
-prosodic prominence
Linear modification (Firbas): depicts the relation between word order and communicative
dynamism
Contextual factor: concept of retrievability and irretrievability from the immediately relevant
context.
Semantic factor: dynamic functions. Theme: adds least to the advancing process (low
communicative dynamism). Rheme: high degree of communicative dynamism.
Prosodic prominence: factor that can only be studied in spoken language, integrates
functional sentence structure with intonation studies.
Thematic Structure
Theme and Rheme
Theme (Halliday): point of departure. Rheme: the rest
Many sentences can have the same propositional meaning, but what speakers consciously
choose as a departure point is based on the assumptions of the knowledge of the hearer.
Theme: always contains an ideational meaning, some entity that functions as subject, object,
complement or circumstantial adjunct. Halliday calls it the TOPICAL THEME.
Ideational function represents our experience of the world, processes, actions, events,
processes of consciousness and relations (EXPERIENTIAL THEME)
Non experiential themes can be divided into:
-interpersonal themes: continuative themes (pragmatic markers of attention, response,
request, surprise, hesitation, etcoh, well, please, hey!), adjuncts of stance, (apparently,
surely...) vocatives/appellations (Dad, Mr. Wilson, Ladies and Gentlemen)
-textual themes: connective adjuncts/discourse markers (anyway, however, first, finally..)
which connect a phrase to a previous part
Multiple Themes:
Three macro-functions of language: Experiential, interpersonal and textual
Multiple themes: when two or three types of them are concurrent in the same utterance

19

When three themes appear together the order is usually: textual, interpersonal, experiential,
although the interpersonal theme may be marked (and therefore appear before the textual
theme). But the experiential theme must always be the final one.
Detached Themes: (two types: absolute theme and dislocations)
Detached themes are normally detached lexical noun phrases which stand outside the clause,
and are called ABSOLUTE Themes. They are common in spoken registers of many European
languages.
E.g. The financial crisis, we are all aware that some measures must be taken.
There is a connection, but the financial crisis is neither subject nor object.
The DT provides a pragmatic framework which allows the hearer to infer the relationship
between the clause and the detached theme.
In dislocations the dislocated element is a constituent of the clause (frequently as a subject)
and is repeated by a co-referential pronoun. The connected is grammatically encoded.
Left-dislocation: the dislocated element is placed at the beginning of the clause (to make
explicit a referent):
E.g. That scream, where did it come from?
Right-dislocation: the dislocated element is placed at the end of the clause.
E.g. Is it yours, that jacket?
Two or more detached themes can occur in the same clause, more common in spoken English:
E.g. Your friend, the car outside her house, theyve stolen it. (absolute + left dislocation)
The relationship between them must be pragmatically relevant.
Thematic clauses:
When two or more clauses are joined together in a complex clause, the first clause is thematic
with respect to the clause as a whole.
Coordination: paratactically related, typically in chronological order
E.g. Tommy hit his sister and then she burst into tears.
Subordination: hypotactically related, not necessarily in chronological order
E.g. When I saw her I realized she had been crying.
Theme, subject and topic (these are not the same thing)
Marked and unmarked themes
Certain info is foregrounded/thematized
Marked theme: when the theme does not coincide with the expected first constituent of each
mood structure. If it does concur with the expected constituent it is unmarked.
Example: In declaratives, the subject is unmarked.

20

Thematization/Staging
Thematization: linear organization of sentences and texts
Staging: a more general and all inclusive term that means (Grimes) every clause, sentence,
paragraph, episode and discourse is organized around a particular element that is taken as a
point of departure.
Through staging/thematization certain elements can be given more prominence. (E.g. Title of
book or article). (can constrain how texts are interpreted)
Thematization creates certain expectations in the reader/hearer, because they provide a
starting point which contains their interpretation of the discourse that follows
GIVEN vs. NEW Information Structures
Tone group: a phonological constituent and functions as the realization of something else, a
unit/quantum of info in discourse (Halliday).
Halliday says that spoken discourse takes the form of a sequence of information units. This
information unit is a structure made up of GIVEN and NEW.
From a structural standpoint, all information units must have an obligatory NEW element and
an optional GIVEN element, which is recoverable (from linguistic co text or from cultural or
situational context) by the hearer/reader. It is optional from a structural perspective. Can be
ellipted.
New info is presented as non recoverable by the hearer.
Given normally precedes NEW. New is always marked by some tonic prominence
Information focus: the element which carries the tonic prominence
Marked and Unmarked Focus:
Unmarked distribution starts with the Given and progresses towards the New (principle of
end-focus). The focus normally marks where the New element ends (falls on the last lexical
item in the clause). But no clear boundary where New begins. Depends on context. Examples:
What were all the people doing after the 9/11 attacks in NY? All the people were running for
their lives.
Who were running for their lives after.? All the people were running for their lives.
When were all the people running for their lives? All the people were running for their lives
after the 9/11 attack.
Principle of end focus says that the unmarked option for the focus is to fall on the last lexical
item of the clause. It is marked when it does not fall on the last lexical item of the clause.
Focus is marked when the speaker/writer wants to emphasize, contrast or correct something.
Or even for emotive reasons.

21

Unmarked focus:

Marked focus:

We are shy.
It sounds odd.
You will see me in the future.

It does sound odd

She is shy
You will see me in the future.

How to identify focus?

Information units=tone unit (phonological unit): one syllable is more prominent. It is called
the intonation nucleus and constitutes the focus of the information.
Prominence can be given by pitch movement. Pitch movement corresponds to the different
tones of intonation: falling, rising or level.
Information focus: peak/highest peak of the unit (contrast and emphasis)
There is no one to one correspondence between tone unit and any grammatical unit.
Cleft construction:
A single clause may be reorganized into two related parts or units in order to place the focus
on a new element that always follows a form of the verb to be. This is called Clefting and there
are two kinds. Wh-cleft and It-cleft
I want a hamburger
It-cleft: Its a hamburger I want
Wh-cleft: What I want is a hamburger.
Focus is on hamburger.
Clefts can:

-mark contrastive focus

-highlight expressions of time or place
-signal the beginning of an episode of discourse
-to signal a shift to a new episode
-suggest exclusiveness

Information Structure and Thematic Structure

IS and TS are closely related from the semantic point of view
Usually theme/given and rheme/new coincide
Theme: what I the speaker choose as a departure point
Given: what you the listener already know/have access to
Theme-rheme is speaker orientated
Given-new is listener orientated
Pitch can indicate NEW info.
22

Hallidays Information Structure

Halliday says pitch is only to mark focus on new info. But it can also mark the beginning of a
turn or the beginning of a new topic.
Sometimes its hard to see prominence, because there is not just one but many lesser ones
bunched together.
Focus may mean different things to different people. (discourse-new, discourse-old, hearernew, hearer-old)
Sample Analysis
Thematic Structure
-shows how writer/speaker has organized the info
-can help us to identify topic
-can establish relative coherence of a text and show how paragraphs can be arranged
Example: letter in a financial advice column pg 197
-first clause...thematization (after 12 years of marriage)
-first themes (after 12 years of marriage, we, my physician husband, our expenses)
-last themes (my question, How, I)
Themes are related to the writer and her life.
In letters narrator or writer are thematized.
Most of the themes are interactional (contains words or phrases that specifically refer to the
sender or receiver).
Information Structure
Fragment in book page 198
How rhetorical importance is given through emphasis.

UNIT 5 CHAPTERS 9-11

Chapter 9 Post-structuralism
Structuralism: based in France, a mix of Marx, Freud y de Saussure. Human existence
could be understood through economic structures.
As to language, meaning not found in individual words, but within the structure of the
whole language.
POST Structuralism shared ideas with structuralism but reacted against its
absolutism and totalizing concepts.

23

Post-structuralism is based on:

-concept of self as a singular and coherent entity is a fictional construct. Race,
gender, class, professionall intervene in our notions of self and how we interact with
others. Discourse is related to our perception of ourselves.
-Texts do NOT have a single purpose or meaning. Each reader gives a text new
meaning, purpose or existence. Authors intended meaning is secondary
(destabilizing/decentering of the author).
-meanings shift according to variables (readers identity). Many interpretations must
be considered (even if they conflict). All help to gain a better insight into the text.
French Philosopher Michel Foucault: first a structuralist and then a poststructuralist.
Social space: organizations, institutions, identities and relationships

Social spaces and the world of material objects are discursive in nature.
There is nothing outside of the text. BUT this does NOT mean they deny a
material world.
Meaning-making in relation to people and objects is never fixed= it is unstable.
All elements are not internal moments of the system= no closure.
PS are against totalizing concepts. All is relative.
Reality is fragmented, diverse and culture specific.
Emphasis on the body (human being inserted in time and history).

We live in a linguistic universe (language is NOT a transparent medium). Reality in a

linguistic universe is only mediated reality, which is governed by structure of ideology,
the world of discourse, the various cultural codes, etc.
All meaning is textual and intertextual.
Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Jacques Lacan (and Roland Barthes)
Major Weaknesses:
-no explicit method for the analysis of actual instances of text or social interaction-tocontext.
Social Theory
-attempt to theorize the modern social world (cultural, legal, political)
-outside of Sociology because it does NOT follow scientific method, its suspected of
being objective. Looks at human suffering. But Pierre Bourdieu claims that Social
Theory can be empirical as long as there are true stories to be told and that listening is
believed to be an empirical act.
Michel Foucault (philosopher, social theorist, historian and literary critic)
-post structuralist school of thought
24

-popularized the concepts of discourse and discourse analysis

He is interested in:

Origins of the modern sciences (medicine, sexology, psychiatry) and their

affiliated institutions (clinic, asylum) and how the production of truth is
governed by discursive power regimes.
Discourse and power
Discursive construction of social subjects and knowledge
Functioning of discourse in social change

His work is divided in three main stages

1. Archaeological work
2. Genealogical studies
3. Ethics

Archeological work (1972)

Constitutive view of discourse: perceives discourse as actively constituting or
constructing society on various dimensional planes.
-meaning is governed by formative rules of discourse: it does not originate in the
speaking subject. Speaking is decentered.
-social identity is dispersed. The whole social subject is replaced by fragmented
(unstable role identities).
-the acquisition of social identities is a process of immersion into discourse practice
and submission to discourse practice.
Genealogical studies
-discourse is put on a second plane and shifts focus to truth/power regimes and how
they affect bodily disposition. How the techniques of power work on bodies, habits or
movements.
-modern technology of discipline tends to create docile bodies. (adapted to the
demands of modern forms of economic production).
-he analyzes two major technologies of power: discipline and confession.
Discipline is seen in many ways, like architecture of schools, prisons or factories (given
space for each person)/ the division of the working or school day into strict parts, etc.

25

The main technique of discipline is examination. It handles masses of people, which

objectifies the subject, making an individual an object, which in turn can be
generalized (averages, norms, etc).
Confession is a ritual of discourse, it subjectifies people (unlike discipline). The need to
talk about oneself, seems to be a liberating resistance, but this is an illusion as it draws
people more into the domain of power.
Ethics of the postmodern subject
The analysis of the techniques of domination can be counterbalanced by analysis of
the techniques of the self.
Summary of Foucault
-didnt focus on language but on discourse as a system of representation (rules
that make meaningful statements and regulated discourse in different historical
periods)
-discourse is a way of representing knowledge about a particular topic at a
particular time
-all practices have a discursive aspect. Discourse constitutes the social.
-discourse produces knowledge, not the things talked about
-all discourse practices depend on others (in terms of relations with others)
-modern biopower (confession and examination) are discursive to a significant
degree
-discourse has a political nature (power in and over discourse)
-social change is discursive in nature; changing discourse = social change
Applying Foucauldian Theory to Analysis of Discourse
Foucault didnt analyze real texts (major fault), but Carabine did.
Carabines steps to apply genealogy to the analysis of real texts:
-select your topic, identify possible sources of data
-know your data, read and re read, be familiar with your data
-identify themes: categories and objectives of discourse
-look for evidence of inter-relationship between discourses
-identify discourse strategies and techniques used
-look for absences and silences
-look for resistance and counter resistance

26

-identify the effects of the discourse

-Context 1: outline the background to the issue
-Context 2: contextualize the material in the power/knowledge networks of the time
-be aware of the limitations of your data, research and sources
**Example in book of a study that Carabine did
Pierre Bourdieu (philosopher, social theorist and teacher)
Symbolic capital: a metaphor that establishes an analogy between financial capital and
symbolic resources. Unequal division between groups. Subject to supply and demand.
Some groups in society have more symbolic capital and the more they have, the easier
it is for them to invest it properly. Access to discourse situations =access to financial
capital.
Habitus: individual differences in practical linguistic competence. Speakers are
strategic players, putting language into use and anticipating the reception of their
words. The formation of habitus is constantly modified through trial and error. Habitus
presupposes a theory of linguistic practice rather than linguistic system (language in
use). Attached to social action. Habitus is a social construct.
Bodily hexis: associates linguistic practices with deep rooted bodily disposition.
Language is a body technique.
Basically, communicative efficiency is subsidiary to political efficiency and the desire to
dominate and gain profit SO: comprehension is NOT the primary goal of
communication. THE DESIRE TO BE UNDERSTOOD is the greatest aim of
communication. (this is in opposition to Grice, who says all communicators cooperate)
Impeccable use of language is NOT always linked to authority and credibility. A good
command of the language does NOT guarantee success in the symbolic market. The
value of an utterance depends on the speakers ability to IMPOSE their criteria.
ACCEPTABILITY is more important than grammaticalness.
Linguistic capital can be transformed into other forms: a certain linguistic disposition
will result in certain levels of education which in turn gives the speaker a good job and
social status.
Summary:
-grammaticalness is replaced by acceptability
-relations of symbolic power, not relations of communication. Meaning of speech is
replaced by the value and power of speech.
-linguistic competence is replaced by symbolic capital which is linked to the speakers
position in the social structure.

27

Mikhail Bakhtin
-shared some views with Marxism
-language is dialogic: utterance is the basic unit of language. Utterances cannot be
isolated from the sequence they are found in. They have dialogic relationships with
previous utterances.
-Discursive practice is heteroglossic (multilanguagedness).
Heteroglossia is all the different ways people speak to one another: and how each
appropriates each other's speech/ideas and attempts to make it their own. Collection
of all the forms of social speech that people use daily. Not all texts have the same level
of heteroglossia (some more some less). Screenplay: more. Kitchen recipe: less.
Language is usually patterned into speech genres: two or more speech genres usually
coexist in a given discourse practice.
Centripetal forces: associated with political centralization and a unified cultural canon.
They produce authoritative and inflexive discourse (scientific truth, religious dogma,
fathers, teachers..)
Centrifugal forces (spins out or decentralizes): allude to stratification and
diversification of language into varieties (different genres, age groups, professions,
etc). These forces are associated with everyday informal conversation and peoples
inner dialogue (reflections).
Because language is dialogic and heteroglossic, our views are always evaluative and
ideological.
Genres: drive belts (correa que mueve algo) between history of language and history
of society. Shifts/changes in these genres= changes in society. Social changes are first
perceived at genre level and languages change through transformation in genre
conventions.
Sample of heteroglossic Analysis
Page 224: Social worker interviewed by a senior colleague about the diagnostic of an
underweight baby.
Two strings of speech: string one=conclusion about the failure to thrive. String two:
the detailed observations that lead to this conclusion.
Final remarks:
Post structuralism and Social theory have not been accepted by all (thought to be
politically orientated and biased).
But they HAVE influences Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Positive Discourse Analysis
(PDA) and Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA).

28

Chapter 10: CDA and PDA

Critical Discourse Analysis
-started in 1970s from the critical linguistics (UK and Australia) that were against the
dominant formal paradigms of the 60s and 70s.
-focused on analysis of text or discourse (not decontextualized sentences like
Chomsky)
-based on Hallidays systemic/functional grammar
-grammar is an ideological instrument to classify and categorize what happens in the
world, based on Sapir/Whorf hypothesis. (which says that the language we use
influences the way we think and that no two linguistic systems categorize the world
the same.
CDA according to Teun van Dijk:
-studies the way social power is abused, how it dominates and how it perpetuates
inequality in social and political talk.
-CDA aims to understand, expose and resist social inequality
Van Dijk turned to CDA because it dealt with real problems in the world (like racism).
Fairclough examines how social institutions in shaping discourse practices. He says
language is always shaped by the material and social conditions in which it is
produced. He says discourse is three dimensional:
1. texts (objects of linguistic analysis)
2. discourse practices (production, distribution and consumption of texts)
3. social practices (power relations, ideologies and hegemonic struggles that discourse
reproduces, challenges or restructures)
Ruth Wodak and her critical linguistics.(an interdisciplinary approach to language
study). From a critical and analytical point of view. She emphasizes on the use of
multiple methods and the importance of historical and social aspects.
Wetherell et al. say that CDA is based on semiosis (including all forms of meaning
making: visual, body and verbal language)
CDA is multidisciplinary, rather than a new school or discipline, it offers a different
mode of analysis.
CDA does NOT have a unifying theoretical framework (there are many types of CDA).
Talk about social dominance: power, dominance, hegemony, ideology, gender, race
and discrimination.
Social positionings determine speaker dispositions.
29

Main tenets of CDA: POWER and DOMINANCE

-CDA addresses social problems

-power relations are discursive
-discourse constitutes power and culture
-discourse does ideological work
-discourse is historical
-the link between text and society is mediated
-discourse analysis is interpretive and explanatory
-discourse is a form of social action

CDA uses discourse to make people aware of important social and political issues.
CDA bridges the gap between micro and macro levels of social order.
Macro level: power and dominance
Micro level: discourse, verbal interaction and communication
Van Dijk says a racist speech in Parliament is at micro level is a debate and at macro
level may enact or constitute part of legislation or the reproduction on racism.
CDA says most studies in critical linguistics and DA neglect social cognition (the social
representations in the mind of social actors), which for them is an important
shortcoming of discourse research. They say it is necessary, its the missing link
between discourse and dominance.
Ideology: language can never appear by itself, it is representative of an ideological
system.
Discourse and Power
-power is multifaceted and can take many forms
-power is associated with rank and status
-according to CDA, power belongs to some but not to others (depending on socioeconomic status, ethnic identity or gender).
Social power: is defined in terms of control (van Dijk). Social members of a certain
social group have power if they can control the acts and minds of others. This control
gives them access to money, status, fame, knowledge, information (not available to
all).
Types of power
Military power: based on force
Power of the rich: based on money
Power is seldom absolute. Inferior groups may resist, accept, condone, comply with,
legitimate, etc
30

Althusser was one of the first to describe power as a discourse phenomenon.

CDA says:

Access to specific forms of discourse (political, media, science) is itself a power

resource
Power influences peoples minds and therefore indirectly their actions.
The groups that control most influential discourse, have the chance to control
minds and actions of others.

Van Dijk divides the issue of discursive power into two basic questions
1. How do powerful groups control public discourse?
2. How does such discourse control mind and actions of less powerful groups and what
are the social consequences of this control? (social inequality)
We much distinguish between legitimate forms of power and abusive power.
Hegemony: when a less powerful group accepts the dominance of another more
powerful one (even though it is abusive)
Hegemonic groups= power elites (They have special access to discourse because they
have the most to SAY. The less powerful are not allowed speaking.)
Symbolic power is what these elites have (scope and resources).
Powerful discourse structures
Discourse can be powerful.
Sociolinguistics studies more and less powerful ways of speaking.
Elites control communicative events in all its components. The same way the CEO of a
company decides the time, place and circumstances of a meeting.
Some controls are legally or morally unacceptable (exclusion of women by men,
restrictions on blacks by whites, etc).
Structures also affected. Points of view and opinions are censured. The less powerful
are less quoted, less heard, less spoken about= their voices are blocked.
At micro-level of talk and text, there is a less direct control: intonation, rhetorical
figures, power in turn taking And politeness. The more powerful people feel
entitled to be impolite to subordinates.(E.g.: high ranking soldier to foot soldier)
So linguistic strategies to express power:
-politeness (or lack thereof)
-hedges
-hesitations
31

-interruptions, pauses
-laughter
-forms of address, etc
TOPIC: the group that decides the topic is the powerful one. Control the topic =control
the mind.

Examples and analysis

Page 244 book: the sergeant (in power) interrupts, shouts, insults (w/taboo swear
words), orders (imperatives).
Is it abusive? Or part of his job as a superior officer? What is considered abusive
depends on context
Other studies on discourse and power
There are 9 studies in the book (page 248)
Ideology, social cognition and discourse
Ideology: key notion for CDA. Its the link between discourse and society.
Van Dijk:
-ideologies have been developed by dominant groups to reproduce and legitimate
their domination.
-discourse is the medium by which ideologies are communicated in society
(reproducing power and domination of certain groups)
Ideologies resemble natural languages in that they are essentially social (shared by
members of the group and used to solve social problems). But groups use languages to
communicate among themselves while ideologies serve to communicate with other
groups.
Those in a certain group share a given identity, aims, values..which tell them how to
act in normal situations and in conflicts.
Ideologies are social systems and mental representations. They not only have a social
function, they also cognitive functions of belief organization.
Ideologies are the mental representations that form the basis of social cognition
(shared knowledge and attitudes of a group).
Ideological analysis:
Page 249-50 in the book, a politicians speech is analyzed.
Topic: we /they
32

Schematic organization
Local meaning: coherence, implications and presuppositions.
Lexicalization: our positive/their negative
Style: argumentative style
Rhetorical devices: contrasts, metaphors, hyperboles and euphemisms

Steps to follow
Analytical framework

Step 1: focus upon a social problem that has a semiotic aspect

Step 2: identify obstacles to the social problem being tackled
Step 3: Consider whether the social order (network of practices) needs the
problem
Step 4: Identify possible ways past the obstacles
Step 5: Reflect critically on the analysis

Major criticism of CDA

-no detailed and systematic analysis of discourse
-Schegloff says it should be grounded in the technical discipline of CA (Conversation
Analysis)
-CDA presupposes contextualization (not always evident by the way we talk if we are
for example a woman, or black) AND should PROVE contextualization by examining
what social members actually say and do.
-Kress says CDA has no productive activity, it should look for ways to redistribute
power, not just comment on it.
Positive Discourse Analysis (PDA)
-need to concentrate on the positive aspects of power (not negative)
-focus on community (how people get together and make room for themselves in the
world, redistributing power, w/o struggling against it)
-want constructive discourse research
-they want to engage in heartening accounts of progress not in repression. (what is
done well)
Example of analysis
Page 254

33

-study of voice in a discourse of dealing with themes of reconciliation in indigenous

people in Australia
-voice is important
-CDA can analyze the forms and mechanisms of evaluative language because
communities are formed around attitudes on things
-CDA can analyze the power of narrative: the evaluative structure present in almost
every narrative may have the power of aligning values around the social significance of
recountable events
Final remarks on PDA
-a recent approach to AD
-needs to develop methodology and tools for analysis
-it has strong foundations (grounded in Systemic Functional Linguistics and on positive
values and intentions)
Chapter 11 Mediated Discourse Analysis
-focuses on human social action more than on texts or discourses
-technology is mediated means within social actions
-language is not the only mediational means. Also non verbal communication and
physical objects used by an agent in taking action.
Mediated action: used as the basic unit of analysis
MDA explores the actions individuals take with texts as well as the consequences of
those actions. Says problems in society are linked to texts.
It is interdisciplinary, developed out of linguistics
MDA is a framework for looking at social actions with the following two questions in
mind:
1. What is the action going on here?
2. How does discourse figure into these actions?
MDA seeks to develop a theoretical remedy for discourse analysis.
Central concepts (5)
Mediated action: unit of analysis. Focus on the acting of social actors, because
discourses are not just material objects. PEOPLE (that use mediated means).
Site of engagement: the social space where mediated action occurs. Focus on real time
irreversible actions

34

Mediated means: the material means (body, dress, movements of the material actors)
through which mediated action is carried out.
Practice: mediated action is only interpretable within practices.
Nexus of practice: discursive and non-discursive practices are interrelated and linked
to form nexus of practice.
E.j: Italian restaurant nexus of practice includes

Ordering practices (must know different types of pizza or pasta)

Eating practices (along or in company)
Discursive practices (pronounce and understand Italian names)
Physical spacing practices (space for customers, for staff)

Theory of Social Action

Social problems are linked to texts (Scollon).
MDA shares goals of CDA, but focuses on social action (not on discourse of social
issues).
Principle of social action: most important part of MDA. Mediated action is most
important part of this.
An individuals accumulated experience of social action = HABITUS /Historical body
Methods of MDA
Three main groups:
1. Ethnography of communication surveys of key situations and participants:
concerned with problems of social change. Aims to gather info about the participants,
the mediated means, the scenes or situations and the events and actions.
2. Issue based surveys of public discourse: independent analysis of the significance of
topics, mediated means and mediated actions to cross check against the ethnography
of communicative surveys.
3. Public opinion and focus group surveys of issues and situations: determine central
sociopolitical issues
The data can be seen form 4 different perspectives
Members generalization: We usually do X or Y (about themselves). The Xs do P or Q
(about other groups). Very important source of data in MDA.
Individual experience: individual members may make individual disclaimers, saying
they dont do everything their group does because they are different. Individual
habitus vary widely.
Neutral/Objective data: MDA is skeptical of generalized data. So they take video
recorders/cameras to provide objective third point of view.
35

Playback responses: gives an objective record of actions as well as the analysis of the
observer
Mediated social interaction
Sender-receiver model of communication is misleading, because it makes us think that
the social interaction is between the author/producer and the reader/audience.
But..in the case of a news program, its the producers (Journalists, photographers,
editors) that produce the info who are really the ones that have social interaction
among themselves. The news is then SHOWN to the audience.
In MDA all discourse is mediated and all mediations are discursive.
Interdisciplinary
Roots in Boas (not Saussure)
Grounded their analysis of language in the sociocultural worlds of the people who use
language (not so much in language itself).
The incorporation of so many disciplines brings about problems:
o Representation and structure: tension between the study of abstract systems
of representation and the study of social actors living in real time. They use
Mediated action and activity theory to solve this.
o Linguistic relativity: tension between Saussarian assertion about the total
arbitrariness of the symbol and the Boasian assertion that symbolic systems
embed the histories of mental categorization in their users.
o Units of analysis: mediated action as unit of analysis.
o Methodology: tape recording, transcription and playback. But these really focus
on linguistic data than on mediated action.
o Psychology of the social actor: what we do has no connection to our capacity to
articulate our intentions or goals. So there is no well-grounded analytical basis
for attributing a given action to a particular social actor.
How does MDA analyze discourse? Cup of coffee with friends at Starbucks
Discourse of commercial branding: logo of Starbucks on clothes and cups
Legal discourse: logo is a registered trademark
E-commerce discourse: website of company
Consumer correctness discourse: company cares about its coffee growers (clients can
call and make a donation)
Environmental Correctness discourse: things made of recycled paper
Service information discourse: printed list of products
Manufacturing information Discourse: info about the cup
36

Geosemiotics: How language appears in the material world: applied to signs, symbols
and even messages sent by our bodies
The broad analytical position of how language appears in the material world:
geosemiotics: all language is based on the material, concrete, physical placement of
that language in the world.
The key to the analysis of any human action is indexicality. (meaning of signs based on
material location). Hence all language takes a major part of its meaning from how and
where it is placed.
Indexicality: property of context-dependency of signs, especially language; hence the
study of those aspects of meaning which depend on the placement of the sign in the
material world.
Who uttered this?
Who is the viewer?
What is the social situation?
Is that part of the material world relevant to such a sign?
We signal our meanings by means of:

Icons: signs that resemble the objects being signaled

Indexes: signs which point to or are attached to the object
Symbols: signs which are arbitrarily or conventionally associated with the
object.

Central elements in Geosemiotics analysis (4) by Scollon + Scollon

1. Social actor: a person who moves and acts in the physical world and who gives off
different signals (race, age, sex)
2. Interaction order: set of social relationships we take up and try to maintain with the
other people who are in our presence.
3. Visual semiotics: visual frame of social action.(how interaction order is represented
visually and how the placement of visual symbols affects their interpretations)
4. Place semiotics: actions take place in a physical universe. Semiotic and non semiotic
spaces are taken into account.
So from a Geosemiotic point of view, everything surrounding us may influence our
taking particular action.
Examples of Analysis: picture on page 278
What is going on here?

A kindergarten class (site of engagement)

Teacher (one of the social actors)
37

Points to written symbols (mediated means)

Boys body language (mediational means) shows he is not paying attention

Discourse?
Oral discourse: exchange between teacher and students
Written discourse:
Diagrammatic discourseteaching explaining what is on the board (diagram)
Discourse of rules/regulations.rules on the wall
Poetic discourseposter with nursery rhyme
Language-learning discourse.sentences/language exercises on the board
So in this picture the discursive and non-discursive practices are interconnected,
constituting the nexus of practice of the social situation in question.
Practices seen:
-turn taking
-physical spacing practices
-teacher-learning practices

38

PRINCIPAL SUMMARY

Interactional
Sociolinguistics

Main
authors

Ideas

John
Gumperz

-Essay: Discourse Strategies

-real time processes in face to face
interactions
-cognition and language are affected
by social and cultural forces
-contextualization cues:

Based on relationships
between language,
culture and society and
has its roots in
Anthropology,
Sociology and
Linguistics.
Its multidisciplinary.
Language, context and
the interaction of self
and other.
Discourse is a social
interaction.
Situational meaning

Ideas
Irving
Goff
man

(intonation, prosodic choices,

conversational code switching,
lexical or syntactic choices,
accent, style switching and
facial/gestural signs).

-physical co presence
-interaction order (setting,
form, conduct)
-FACE,FRAME, FOOTING
-Theory of Politeness is based
on Goffmans idea of face.

Conversational
Analysis
-originated in
Sociology
-interaction is
structurally organized
-CA explores
sequential structures
of social activities
Variation Analysis
-solely Linguistics

Harold
Garfinkel

Ethnomethodology: knowledge is
neither autonomous nor
decontextualized, avoids
idealization, categories
continuously adjusted

William
Labov

- Orderly heterogeneity
-probability theory
-materialistic approach
-constraint: of syntactic units
-vernacular:

Narrative Analysis

Labov and
Waletzky

-based on VA
-studied Afro-American
vernacular:
Vernacular: variety acquired in
pre-adolescence and only used
when not paying attention to their
language.

-Based on narrative clauses

(temporally ordered)
-Structure of a narrative: abstractorientation-complicating actionevaluation-resolution-coda
-reportability
-Narratives are important in
constructing identity.

Functional
Sentence
Perspective
-language as social
interaction
-based on Linguistic
School of Pragie

-Danes

-analyses in function of the info

they contain
-thematic structure (theme,
rheme) Firbas
-extra linguistic context
-purpose of communication

Communicative dynamism: rates levels

of contribution to development of the
communication.
-themes can be experiential or non
experiential
-info units (New: tonic prominence and
Given) and carries the info focus
(unmarked)

(Communicativ
e dynism)

-Mathesius
-Firbas
(Functional
Sentence
Perspective)

39

-Adjacent pairs and turn taking

-preference organization
(preferred and dispreferred of
response)
-other orders of organization:
repair, pre-sequences and overall
organization

Patric
k

- Concerned with the variation and

changes observed along different
speech communities.
-focus on different types of analysis
-differences among text types

Post Structuralist
Theory
-The world of material
objects and social space are
discursive in nature
-The meaning of texts vary
according to the readers
identity
-Relativism underlies all/
truth/rationality crisis
-reality is mediated by
ideology and cultural codes

-Foucault
(discourse and
power. Discourse
cannot be studied
objectively)

-Bakhtin
(language is
dialogic.
Heteroglossic
and speech
genres)

-shares some ideas

w/Structuralism but stands
against absolutism and their
totalizing ideas.
-there is nothing outside the
text (all meaning is textual and
intertextual). Texts exist in
relation to others.

-reality is
fragmented/diverse/culture
specific. Local contextualization
is important.
-

-Bourdieu
(symbolic
capital, habitus
and bodily
hexis)

Social Theory

Critical Discourse
Analysis
-from UK and Australia
- analysis of text or
discourse (not
decontextualized
sentences)
-multidisciplinary
-based on Hallidays
systemic/functional
gram.
-grammar is an
ideological instrument
to classify and
categorize what
happens in the world,
based on Sapir/Whorf
hypothesis

-Foucault
-Bakhtin
-Bourdieu
-Van Dijk
-Fairclough
(discourse is 3
dimensional)

social dominance: power,

dominance, hegemony,
ideology, gender, race and
discrimination.
-Access to specific forms of discourse
(political, media, science) is itself a
power resource
-Power influences peoples minds and
therefore indirectly their actions.
-The groups that control most
influential discourse, have the chance
to control minds and actions of others
-grammar is an ideological instrument

Positive Discourse
Analysis
-a recent approach to
AD
-needs to develop
methodology and tools
for analysis
-it has strong
foundations (grounded
in Systemic Functional
Linguistics and based on
positive values and
intentions)

Mediated Discourse
Analysis
-focuses on social
action

SEE Post Structuralism

-Scollon

Focuses on
-power
-domination
-social inequality
Ideology: social systems and
mental representations (which
are the basis of social cognition)
Power belongs to some and not
to others (depends on socio-economic
status, gender, ethnic identity..)

Power elites have special access

to discourse and therefore
symbolic power

-need to concentrate on the

positive aspects of power (not
negative)
-focus on community (how
people get together and make
room for themselves in the
world, redistributing power,
w/o struggling against it)

-want constructive discourse

research
-they want to engage in
heartening accounts of
progress not in repression.
(what is done well)

Mediated action: used as the

basic unit of analysis
Habitus/historical body:
accumulated experiences of
social actions of an individual

-mediational means:
language/non verbal
communication/physical objects
used by agents to carry out
action
-practices: social action is made
up of unconscious actions

Geosemiotics: a broad analytical

position taken up in MDA, which
says meaning of language is based
on the material, concrete, physical
placement of language in the
world. (Indexicality)

40

SUERTE
-LAB

41