DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Major Questions: 1. How do we make sense of what we read in texts? 2. How do we

understand what speakers mean despite what they say? 3. How do we recognize connected as
opposed to jumbled or incoherent discourse? 4. How do we successfully participate in a
discourse?
1.Interpreting discourse: As language users, we are capable of more than simply recognizing correct
versus incorrect forms and structures. We can cope with fragments such as:
Trains collide, two die (causal relationship between the two phrases).
No shoes, no service (conditional relationship between the two phrases). The Saudi ESL student (his
errors). We try to make sense out of it. We attempt to arrive at a reasonable interpretation of what the
writer intended to convey.
2. Cohesion: The ties and connections which exist within the text. Cohesive links: Pronouns: father he - he; my - my - I, Lincoln - it; My father once bought a Lincoln See Text, p. 140. Lexical connections:
Lincoln convertible - that car - the convertible; Meaning sharing elements: (e.g. money) bought - saving penny -worth a fortune - sold - pay; (e.g. time) once - nowadays - sometimes; Connectors: However
connects 'what follows to what went before'.
But, cohesion by itself would not be sufficient to enable us to make sense of what we read. There must be
some other factor which leads us to distinguish connected texts which makes sense from those which do
not - this factor is coherence.
3. Coherence: Unlike cohesion, which exists actually in the spoken or written discourse, coherence exists
in the minds (experiential memory of the way the world is) of those reading or listening (readers or
listeners)
1. Casual conversation: Her: That's the telephone Him: I'm in bath Her: O. K.
2. No cohesive ties within this fragment of discourse - this type of exchanges are best understood in terms
of conventional actions performed by speakers in such interactions.
She makes a request of him to perform action (indirect request) He states reason why he cannot comply
with request .She undertakes to perform action
4. Speech events: Such as, debates, interviews, various types of discussions. There is enormous
variation in what people say or do in different situations and circumstances.
Sources of variation: Roles of speaker and hearer, or hearers; their relationships - friends, strangers,
young, old, equal, unequal, educated, uneducated; topic of conversation; setting or context in which it
took place.
5.Conversational interaction: Turn-taking: In conversational interaction two or more people take turns
at speaking. Completion point: Signaled by asking question or by pausing at the end of the phrase or
sentence. Wanting to take turn: Signaled by making short sounds, body shifts, and facial expressions.
Strategies of participation: Butting-in - (characterized as rude), shyness (keep waiting for the turn) Keeping
the turn (holding the floor) - avoid the end of a sentence and pause occurring together; place the pause
where message is incomplete; fill the pause with the hesitation markers (such as, er, em, ah); make
sentences run on by using.
6. The co-operative principle: Make your conversational contribution, such as is required, at the stage
at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk, exchange in which you are engaged.
The four maxims supporting the co-operative principle:
Quantity: be informative & to the point
Quality: be truthful
Relation: be relevant
Manner: be clear, brief and orderly
What we say that indicates we are aware of these maxims:
to make long story short or I won't bore you with all the details (Quantity)
as far as I know, now correct me if I am wrong, I am not absolutely sure, but, I think/feel that, It
may be / is possible that (Quality) C. Not to change the topic, but (Relation).
7. Conversational implicature:
Carol: Are you coming to the party tonight?
Lara: I have got an exam tomorrow.
#1. Although, Lara's statement is not an answer to Carol's question, but Carol interprets it as meaning 'No'
or 'Probably not'. Carol arrives at this interpretation, because she knows that exam tomorrow
conventionally involves 'study tonight'. Lara's statement contained this implicature (an additional
conveyed meaning or implication) concerning tonight's activities.
#2. We use our background knowledge to arrive at interpretations of what we hear or read.
Background knowledge: How we use background knowledge to build interpretation of what we read
or hear - example: John was on his way to school last Friday.
He was really worried about the math lesson. Last week he had been unable to control the class.
It was unfair of the math teacher to leave him in charge. After all, it is not a normal part of a janitor's duty.
Schema: (Mental image) A general term for a conventional knowledge structure which exists in long-term
memory. We have many schemata which we use in the interpretation of what we experience, read or hear.
For example: supermarket schema, restaurant schema, classroom schema, etc.
3. Script: A kind of dynamic schema in which a series of conventional actions take place. Examples:
'Going to the dentist', 'Going to the movie', 'Eating in a restaurant', 'Going to an athletic event', etc.

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