11. Discourse Features
11. Discourse Features
1. Recap on Discourse:
- Bennett on being a fluent fool (1997)
o fluent fool = sees the surface elements, but not the underlying ones, they only
view language as a communication tool, nothing more
languages are sets of words tied together by rules and easy to acquire
not understand the social/philosophical content of the language
can get into trouble and so might develop negative opinions
to avoid: we need to understand more completely the cultural
dimension of language
- language is not just a tool of communication. If we regard it that, we’ll end up a fluent
fool unable to adapt to situations, understand values, etc.
- to avoid becoming a fluent fool we need to understand:
o cultural context of behaviour and language used in particular situations and the
way language represents contextual features,
o thinking and wording how language influences the way we experience
o Contextual features influencing language use can be
content related: i.e., the socially/culturally condoned elements of
specific interactions. These depend on the genre, the specific
communicative purpose and situation, and the interactants
structural: related to coherence, cohesion, text structure, grammar
2. Discourse:
- the text of a communication event; text in context
- Text types, Genres (formal – informal division in all of these):
o writing types: school writing, academic, professional, business, technical,
informative, creative, note taking, note making, etc.
o written genres: contract, letter (formal - informal), article, essay, report,
review, thesis, ….
o oral: monologues (presentation, lecture) or dialogues (chit-chat, conversation,
interview, discussion, negotiation)
o mixed genres: chat, social media, etc. using oral style in writing
- Discourse analysis examines:
o structure (organisation, coherence, cohesion, deixis, substitution, ellipsis, etc.)
o function (content, style, relevance, efficiency, appropriacy, etc.)
- it is a complex area of study and draws on numerous other disciplines, e.g.:
o linguistics (syntax, semiotics, cohesion,)
o applied linguistics (sociolinguistics, pragmatics, psycholinguistics, stylistics,)
o social sciences (cultural studies, psychology, anthropology, media studies,)
- Types of analysis: Thematic analysis, Content analysis, Structural analysis,
Conversational analysis (the analysis of oral dialogic interaction), multimodal
analysis, etc.
“reader-responsible” texts
purpose of text is often implied and not stated
o Korean
characterized by the four-unit pattern of the ki-sung-chon-kyul
- Examples of differences between genre content – the use of different textual rituals:
o letter of complaint
English: describe problem, ask for solution
Hungarian: describe problem, ask for solution, refer to rights
o letter of apology
English: express sorrow/sympathy, admit responsibility, offer remedy
Hungarian: express sorrow/sympathy, offer remedy