As defined by
Merriam Webster (retrieved April 02, 2016) discourse
is the capacity of orderly thought or procedure. (2) verbal interchange of ideas and (3) formal and orderly and usually
extended expression of thought on a subject. On the other hand, Discourse
analysis is
concerned with language use as a social phenomenon and therefore necessarily
goes beyond one speaker or one newspaper article to find features which
have a more generalized relevance. This is a potentially confusing point
because the publication of research findings is generally presented through
examples and the analyst may choose a single example or case to exemplify the
features to be discussed, but those features are only of interest as a social,
not individual, phenomenon." (Stephanie Taylor, what is Discourse Analysis? Bloomsbury, 2013)
Discourse analysis (linguistic Society of America, retrieved April 02, 2016) is
sometimes defined as the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'. This
contrasts with types of analysis more typical of modern linguistics, which are
chiefly concerned with the study of grammar: the study of smaller bits of
language, such as sounds (phonetics and phonology), parts of words
(morphology), meaning (semantics), and the order of words in sentences
(syntax). Discourse analysts study larger chunks of language as they flow
together.
Some discourse analysts consider the larger
discourse context in order to understand how it affects the meaning of the
sentence. For example, Charles Fillmore points out that two sentences taken
together as a single discourse can have meanings different from each one taken
separately.
To illustrate, he asks you to imagine two
independent signs at a swimming pool: "Please use the toilet, not the
pool," says one. The other announces, "Pool for members only."
If you regard each sign independently, they seem quite reasonable. But taking
them together as a single discourse makes you go back and revise your
interpretation of the first sentence after you've read the second.
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