DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

By Fariha Ali
Discussions
 What is discourse, analysis and discourse
analysis
 Why it is done
 How is it related to literature
 What things can affect discourse
 Discourse and ideology
 Discourse and text
 Difference between text analysis and
discourse analysis
 Approaches to Discourse anlysis
What is discourse

 The use of words to exchange

thoughts and ideas.
What is Analysis

 Analysis is a careful study of

something to learn about its parts,
what they do ,how they are related to
each other.
Discourse Analysis

 The study of linguistic relations and

structures in discourses
 It is a detailed study of conversations
and/or texts
 It is also defined as language beyond
the sentence
Why we need discourse
analysis

 Ambiguous nature of language

Why it is ambiguous
 Language is situated

 Within relationships

 Within history

 In relation to other language

As a result of ambiguous
nature of language
 We become immune to misunderstandings
 We engage in the discourse analysis all the time
 We try to know something beyond the words
 Maybe intentions, motives, truths etc
 And this also depends on our own perspectives
 As it is said we only see what we want to see it
How discourse analysis helps?

 Language is not used to deceive but

its rather naturally ambiguous and
dubious
 It helps to better understand people
and words
 Find realities
 Meanings within what people hide
consciously or unconsciously
Discourse and literature

 We deal with texts and their textures

 And texts and textures again are full of
ambiguities
 Because texts are structured and they
fulfill certain social functions.
 By creating versions of realities
How realities are created
 By word choice
 By constructing certain relationships
 By reinforcing larger systems of beliefs and
knowledge
 With the help of frozen theories
 Hence texts do not represent realities they
construct realities
 THUS IDEOLOGIES ARE PROMOTED THROUGH
TEXTS

TEXT’S INTENTION

 We can safely say that the way texts

are put together is closely related to
what text is trying to get done
APPROACHES TO CDA

 Formal: rules and conventions

 Functional: how people use language
 Social: how language is used to
construct social identities
SOCIAL APPROACH

 Highlights role of a power structure,

dominance and inequality operated in
a society
 Its purpose is,
 It somehow affects us, disturbs us or
makes us question something,
Why do we study Discourse
Analysis?
 As linguists, to find out how language works, to
improve our understanding of an important kind of human activity
 As educators, to find out how good texts work, so
that we can focus on teaching our students these
writing/speaking strategies.
 As critical analysts, to discover meanings in the
text which are not obvious on the surface (e.g.,
analysing a politician’s speech to see their
preconceptions).
How text analysis and
discourse analysis differ?
 Text is defined as being a physical product
 Whereas discourse is viewed as a process
 Meaning can be found in text whereas in
discourse meaning is derived through
reader’s interaction with the text
 Text is made up of sentences , discourse
uses sentences
 Text analysis deals with cohesion, discourse
analysis investigates coherence
REFERENCES
 http://faculty.mu.edu.sa/public/uploads/1422
845667.1527DISCOURSE_ANALYSIS-
Copy.pdf
 And etc.

THANK YOU :)