Discourse analysis

Speakers and writers use language in its 1. interpersonal function (taking part in social
interaction); 2. textual function (creating well-formed and appropriate text); and 3. ideational
function (representing thought and experience in a coherent way).

DA investigates the form and function of what is said and written, focuses on the spoken or written
record of the process by which language is used in some context to express intention.

Some important terms:

structure of discourse ‑ well‑formed text ‑ cohesion ‑ textual organization - coherence -
assumption of coherence ‑ background knowledge - cultural schema - frame - script

Example 1:      Plant Sale

                        Garage Sale

(in spite of identical structure different interpretation)

Example 2:

How many animals of each type did Moses take on the Ark?

Example 3:

A motor vehicle accident was reported in front of Kennedy Theatre involving a male and a female.

Example 4:

Man Robs Hotel with Sandwich

schema

pre‑existing knowledge structure in memory

familiar patterns from previous experience that we use to interpret new experiences

frame

static pattern to the schema; a frame shared by everyone within a social group is a prototypical
version;

Example 5:

Apartment for rent. £ 500.763‑6683.

script

pre‑existing knowledge structure involving event sequences e.g. going to a doctor's office, a movie
theatre, a restaurant, or a grocery shop;

Example 6:

I stopped to get some groceries but there weren't any baskets left so by the time I arrived at the
check‑out counter I must have looked like a juggler having a bad day.

cultural schemata

(background knowledge) for making sense of the world are culturally determined

cross‑cultural pragmatics

the study of differences in expectations based on cultural schemata

contrastive pragmatics

the study of different cultural ways of speaking

interlanguage pragmatics

the study of the communicative behaviour of non‑native speakers attempting to communicate in their
second language

pragmatic accent

aspects of our talk that indicate what we assume is communicated without being said


Note:

According to Leech (1983) general pragmatics can be divided into

pragmalinguistics (related to grammar, language specific)

and socio-pragmatics (related to sociology, culture specific)