DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

LECTURER IN ENGLISH
SUMAIR ARSLAN
 DISCOURSE
Discourse is spoken or written communication between
people, especially serious discussion of a particular subject.
In linguistics, discourse is a unit of language longer than a single
sentence, referring to spoken or written language in social contexts.
Discourse is generally any form of verbal communication, whether
spoken or written.
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
• Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is an approach to the
analysis of written, vocal, or sign language use, or any significant
semiotic event.
• In its simplest form, discourse is verbal or written communication
between people that goes beyond a single sentence.
• In general, discourse analysis involves the examination of language
beyond the sentence to understand how it functions in a social
context.
• An example of discourse is a professor meeting with a student to
discuss a book. Discourse is defined as to talk about a subject. An
example of discourse is two politicians talking about current events.
How is discourse used in daily life?
• Whenever you communicate with someone about a topic, either in
writing or speaking, you are participating in discourse. Since
communication happens all the time, discourse is a huge part of our
everyday lives. It's absolutely vital, especially as part of the language
learning process.
What is discourse analysis in linguistics
example?
• Discourse analysis is a research method for studying written or spoken
language in relation to its social context. It aims to understand how
language is used in real life situations. When you do discourse
analysis, you might focus on: The purposes and effects of different
types of language.
SPEECH ACT THEORY.
• Speech act theory is a subfield of pragmatics that studies how words
are used not only to present information but also to carry out actions.

• The speech act theory was introduced by Oxford philosopher J.L.

Austin in How to Do Things With Words and further developed by
American philosopher J.R. Searle.
• Many philosophers and linguists study speech act theory as a way to
better understand human communication.
• Speech act theory can be defined as the idea that language contains
meaning beyond just the definition of the words that are used. Language
is a tool to perform various functions, also called speech acts. Speech act
theory suggests that the meaning of what we say is influenced by the type
of speech it is, the structure of the utterance, and the context in which it is
used. It also explains how speech can create an action or outcome.
• A speech act is any utterance that serves a function in communication. For
example, speech can be used to make statements, ask questions,
apologize, describe, or persuade, among many other uses. In a speech act,
words are used to do something, not just to say something.
• The speech act theory considers language as a sort of action rather than a medium to convey and express.
• A speech act is an utterance that serves a function in communication. We perform speech acts when we offer an apology, greeting,
request, complaint, invitation, compliment, or refusal. A speech act might contain just one word, as in "Sorry!" to perform an apology, or
several words or sentences: "I’m sorry I forgot your birthday. I just let it slip my mind." Speech acts include real-life interactions and
require not only knowledge of the language but also appropriate use of that language within a given culture.

• Here are some examples of speech acts we use or hear every day:

• Greeting: "Hi, Eric. How are things going?"

• Request: "Could you pass me the mashed potatoes, please?"

• Complaint: "I’ve already been waiting three weeks for the computer, and I was told it would be delivered within a week."

• Invitation: "We’re having some people over Saturday evening and wanted to know if you’d like to join us."

• Compliment: "Hey, I really like your tie!"