ENG 352 Discourse Analysis Course Material PDF

NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES COURSE CODE: ENG 352: COURSE TITLE: Discourse Analysis COURSE GUIDE ENG 352: Discourse Analysis Course Developer: ‘Rotimi Taiwo (Ph.D) Department of English Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. Course Writer: ‘Rotimi Taiwo (Ph.D) Department of English Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. Course Editor: Professor Kunle Adeniran Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State Programme Leader: I. Omolara Daniel, PhD School of Arts and Social Sciences National Open University of Nigeria Course Coordinator: Theodore O. Iyere School of Arts and Social Sciences National Open University of Nigeria 2 National Open University of Nigeria Headquarters 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos. Abuja Annex 245 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street Central Business District Opposite Arewa Suites Abuja. e-mail: [email protected] URL: www.nou.edu.ng National Open University of Nigeria First Printed: 2010 ISBN All Rights Reserved Printed by …………………………………. For National Open University of Nigeria NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA 3 Contents 1. Introduction 2. Course Aim 3. Course Objectives 4. Working through the course 5. Course Materials 6. Study Units 7. References 8. Assessments 9. Tutor-marked Assignments 10. Final Examination and Grading 11. Course Marking scheme 12. How to get the most from this course 13. Tutor and Tutorials 1. Introduction ENG 209: Discourse Analysis simply refers to the linguistic analysis of connected writing and speech. The major focus in Discourse Analysis is the use of language in social context. Discourse Analysis focuses not only on the linguistic symbols used, but also on all the features that accompany language, which include the paralinguistic features, such as gestures and kinesics. Discourse Analysis has to do with the study of language in use, so it is concerned with the performance of the language user. Such performance may be a monologue, (soliloquiy) a dialogue, a multilogue 2. What you will learn in the Course? This course will introduce you to the discipline called Discourse Analysis, as a field of study. It is designed for you to help you to understand the intricate relationship 4 between the linguistic and paralinguistic content of human behaviour. You will learn about how the discipline originates and the different theories and methods of Discourse Analysis. This course will take you through the major topics in Discourse Analysis, especially those that have to do with spoken discourse, such as Ethnomethodology, Conversational Analysis. We will also examine approaches to analyzing written discourse. These include the examination of Information and Thematic Structures, Thematic Progression in text and cohesion and coherence in written texts. Discourse Analysis also focus on utterance meaning. In this respect, we shall take you through some basic Pragmatics principles, such as Presupposition, implicature, Entailment, Speech Acts, Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle. In the last section of the course, you will learn about the recent approaches to Discourse Analysis and how discourse is functions in some specific human endeavour. You will also see how it is related to other disciplines 2. Course Aims This course has twenty-one study units and each of these units has its objectives. You should ensure that you study the objectives of each unit, so that they can serve as guides as you go through the units. The general aims of this course are (i) to introduce you to the study of discourse; (ii) to familiarize you with the major concepts in Discourse Analysis; (iii) to help you to understand the relationship between discourse and the social world; (iv) to show you the basic principles that guide human conversation; (v) to show how cultural and general norms for human behaviour help to shape discourse; 3. Course Objectives Following the aims outlined above, some objectives for this course are set out below. These are the things you are expected to be able to do at the end of the study. These objectives should be able to guide you in knowing how much you have learnt and where you need to improve on your learning. By the end of this course, you should be able to: (i) describe how the spoken discourse is structured 5 (ii) identify how written text is structured in terms of the information units and thematic units; (iii) state the resources that language users use to signify connectedness in texts; (iv) demonstrate the relationship between language and ideology; (v) describe how humans use spoken and written discourse enact power; (vi) discuss how language specifically relates to culture, gender, racism and conflict; (vii) explain how discourse relates with other disciplines, such as Sociology, Philosophy, Medicine and Literature. 4. Working Through the Course In this course, you have twenty-one study units to go through. In each of the study units, you are expected to thoroughly study the contents. You are advised to pay attention to the objectives of each study unit as they will serve as your guide to knowing what is expected of you. At the appropriate points in each unit, you are assessed through Tutor Marked Assignments. You are also expected to write a final examination based on the entire course. 5. Course Material (a) Course Guide (b) Study Units (c) Textbooks (d) Assignment Files (e) Presentation Schedule 6. Study Units Unit 1: Course Guide Unit 2: Discourse Analysis: An Introduction 6 Unit 3: Major Concepts in Discourse Analysis Unit 4: Kinds of Discourse Unit 5: Ethnonmethodology Unit 6: Conversational Analysis Unit 7: Linguistic Anthropology Unit 8: Information Structure / Thematic Structure Unit 9: Thematic Progression Unit 10: The Birmingham School Approach Unit 11: Text Linguistics Unit 12: Grammatical Cohesion Unit 13: Lexical Cohesion Unit 14: Pragmatics: An Introduction Unit 15: Speech Acts Unit 16: Grice’s Cooperative Principles Unit 17: Politeness Principles Unit 18: Critical Discourse Analysis Unit 19: Discourse in Use (Discourse and The Media) Unit 20: Discourse in Use (Discourse and Society) Unit 21: Discourse and Other Disciplines 7. References Each unit contains a list of reference materials that you can read in addition to the study nits. These may be textbooks, journals, websites, and so forth. These references are meant to help you enhance your better understanding of the course. 8. Assignment File 7 This file contains all the details of the work you must submit to your tutor for marks. Note that all the marks obtained in all the assignments you do will be part of the final assessment scores for you in this course. 9. Presentation Schedule The presentation schedule included in your course materials help you to have an idea of the important dates for the completion of Tutor-marked Assignments and attendance of tutorials. Note that the dates for the submission of your assignments must be adhered to. 10. Assessment Your assessment in this course will be based on Tutor-marked Assignments (TMAs) and the final examination, which you will write at the end of the course. 11. Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) Every unit contains some assignments. You are advised to work through all the assignments and submit them for assessment. Your tutor will assess the assignments and select four, which will constitute the 30% of your final grade. The tutor-marked assignments may be presented to you in separate file. Just know that for every unit, there are some tutor-marked assignments for you. It is important that you do these assignments and submit them. 12. Final Examination and Grading At the end of the course, you will write a final examination, which will constitute 70% of your final grade. In the examination, which shall last for two hours, you will be requested to answer three questions out of at least five questions. 13. Course Marking Scheme This table shows how the actual course marking is broken down Assessment Marks Assignments Four Assignments, best three marks of the four count as 30% of course work Final Examination 70% Total 100% 8 14. How to Get the Most From This Course In distance learning, the study units replace the university lecture. This is one of the greatest advantages of distance learning; you can read and work through specially designed study materials at your own pace, and at a time and place that suits you best, Think of it as reading the lecture instead of listening to the lecturer. In the same way, a lecturer might give you some reading to do, the study unit tells you when to read, and which are your text materials or set books. You are provided exercises to do at appropriate points, just as a lecturer might give you an in-class exercise. Each of the study units follows a common format. The first item is an introduction to the subject matter of the unit, and how a particular unit is integrated with the other units and the course as a whole. Next to it is a set of objectives. These objectives allow you to know what you should be able to do by the time you have completed the unit. These learning objectives are meant to guide your study. The moment a unit is finished, you must go back and check whether you have achieved the objectives. If this is made a habit, then you will significantly improve your chances of passing the course. The main body of the unit guides you through the required reading from other sources. This will usually be either from your set books or form a reading section. The following is a practical strategy for working through the course. If you run into any trouble, please call your tutor. Remember that your tutor’s job is to help you. When you need assistance, do not hesitate to call and ask your tutor to provide it. 15. Other Essential Information 1. Read this course Guide thoroughly. It is your first assignment. Organise study schedule. Design a ‘course overview’ to guide you through the course. Note the time you are expected to spend on each unit and how the assignments relate to the units. Important information, eg: details of your tutorials and the date of the first day of the semester is available from the study centre. You need to gather all the information into one place, such as your diary or wall calendar. Whatever method you choose to use, you should decide on and write in your own dates and schedule of work for each unit. Once you have created your own study schedule, do everything to stay faithful to it. The major reason that students fail is that they get behind with their course work. If you get into difficulties with your schedule, please, let your tutor know before it is too late for help. Turn to Unit 1, and read the introduction and the objectives for the unit. Assemble the study materials. You will need your set books and the unit you are studying at any point in time. Work through the unit. As you work through the unit, you will know what sources to consult for further information. Keep in touch with your study center. Up-to-date course information will be continuously available there. 9 Well before the relevant due dates (about 4 weeks before the due dates), keep in mind that you will learn a lot by doing the assignments carefully. They have been designed to help you meet the objectives of the course and therefore, will help you pass the examination. Submit all assignments not later than the due date. Review the objectives for each study unit to confirm that you have achieved them. If you feel unsure about any of the objectives, review the study materials or consult your tutor. When you are confident that you have achieved a unit’s objectives, you can start on the next unit. Proceed unit by unit through the course and try to pace your study so that you keep yourself on schedule. When you have submitted an assignment to your tutor for marking, do not wait for its return before starting on the next unit. Keep to your schedule. When the assignment is returned, pay particular attention to your tutor’s comments, both on the tutor-marked assignment form and also the written comments on the ordinary assignments. After completing the last unit, review the course and prepare yourself for the final examination. Check that you have achieved the unit’s objectives (listed at the beginning of each unit) and the course objectives (listed in the Course Guide). 17. Tutors and Tutorials The dates, times and locations of these tutorials will be made available to you, together with the name, telephone number and the address of your tutor. Each assignment will be marked by your tutor. Pay close attention to the comments your tutor might make on your assignments as these will help in your progress. Make sure that assignments reach your tutor on or before the due date. Your tutorials are important, therefore try not to skip any. It is an opportunity to meet your tutor and your fellow students. It is also an opportunity to get the help of your tutor and discuss any difficulties encountered on your reading. 18. Summary This course introduces you to the study of discourse. Basically, you will be taken through the following: (a) how to analyze discourse using the different frameworks of DA, such as the Birmingham School Approach, The Prague School Approach, Text Linguistics, Pragmatics and Critical Discourse Analysis, (b) how different kinds of discourse are structured, and (c) how discourse is used to enact and resist power. All these are aimed at giving you good background knowledge on discourse and how it is used by humans. I wish you every success in this course. 10 COURSE MATERIAL ENG 352: Discourse Analysis Course Developer: ‘Rotimi Taiwo (Ph.D) Department of English Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. Course Writer: ‘Rotimi Taiwo (Ph.D) Department of English Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. Course Editor: Professor Kunle Adeniran Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State Programme Leader: I. Omolara Daniel, PhD School of Arts and Social Sciences National Open University of Nigeria Course Coordinator: Theodore O. Iyere School of Arts and Social Sciences National Open University of Nigeria NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA 11 National Open University of Nigeria Headquarters 14/16 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island Lagos. Abuja Annex 245 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street Central Business District Opposite Arewa Suites Abuja. e-mail: [email protected] URL: www.nou.edu.ng National Open University of Nigeria First Printed: 2010 ISBN All Rights Reserved Printed by …………………………………. For National Open University of Nigeria 12 MODULE ONE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: INTRODUCTORY ASPECTS MODULE ONE: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: INTRODUCTORY ASPECTS Unit 1: Discourse Analysis: An Introduction Unit 2: Major Concepts in Discourse Analysis Unit 3: Kinds of Discourse Unit 1: Discourse Analysis: An Introduction Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 What is Discourse 3.1 What is Discourse Analysis 3.2 Origin of Discourse Analysis 3.3 Self Assessment Exercises 3.4 Earliest Studies of Discourse Analysis 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0. References/Further Reading 2.0 Unit Objectives At the end of this Introductory Unit you should be able to do the following: define Discourse Analysis, describe what discourse analysis do, explain the origin of Discourse Analysis explain some earliest practices of Discourse Analysis 3.0 Introduction Prior to the advent of Discourse Analysis (henceforth DA), the predominant practice of was to analyse language according to the structure without much regards for the context and other features that shape meaning. DA started by focusing on speech, mainly naturally-occurring conversation. Contrary to the traditional practice, DA studies 13 naturally-occurring instances of language use beyond the sentence boundary. So, unlike most traditional linguistic analyses, the text is not invented. This is to underscore the importance of context in language use. Linguists have identified two major approaches to language: formalism and functionalism. Formalism sees language as a mental phenomenon and tends to explain linguistic universals as deriving from a common genetic linguistic inheritance of the human species. Formalists are inclined to explain children’s acquisition of language in terms of a built-in human capacity to learn language. Functionalists regard language primarily as a societal phenomenon and tend to explain it in relation to the social institution from where the language derives. The approach to DA is functionalist approach. In this Unit, we shall be looking at the concept of discourse, which is what linguists analyze when they do DA. We shall also look at the origin of the discipline and the earliest practices in DA. 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1. What is Discourse? DA has a very strong link with many other disciplines other than language and this affects the way scholars see the discipline. In this section, we shall examine some views of DA. Before trying to define DA, it is important to define the term discourse. Originally the word 'discourse' comes from Latin 'discursus' which denoted 'conversation, speech'. Discourse is generally seen as “language in use.” Johnstone (2002: 2) defines discourse as “actual instances of communication in the medium of language.” Discourse can also be seen as a continuous stretch of spoke or written language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit (Pustejovsky 2006). It is also commonly referred to as as connected speech or writing. The term discourse has several definitions. In the study of language, discourse often refers to the speech patterns and usage of language, dialects, and acceptable statements, within a community. It is a subject of study in peoples who live in secluded areas and share similar speech conventions. Johnson defines discourse as an institutionalized way of speaking that determines not only what we say and how we say it, but also what we do not say which can be inferred from what we say. Initially the term refers to speech, but later, its meaning extends beyond speech to include every instance of language use Sociologists and philosophers tend to use the term discourse to describe the conversations and the meaning behind them by a group of people who hold certain ideas in common. Such is the definitions by philosopher Michel Foucault, who holds discourse to be the acceptable statements made by a certain type of discourse community. 14 For linguists, discourse is an extended stretch of language, such as we find in conversations, narratives, polemical statements, political speeches, etc., is not just a string of sentences, one following the other, but rather it exhibits properties which reflect its organization, coherence, rhetorical force, thematic focus, etc. 3.2 What is Discourse Analysis DA is generally viewed as language above the sentence or the clause. It is the aspect of linguistics that is concerned with how we build up meaning in larger communicative, rather than grammatical units. It studies meaning in text, paragraph and conversation, rather than in single sentence. Stubbs (1983:1) describes DA thus: The term discourse analysis is very ambiguous. I will use it in this book to refer mainly to the linguistic analysis of naturally occurring connected speech or written discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to attempts to study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. It follows that discourse analysis is also concerned with language use in social contexts, and in particular with interaction or dialogue between speakers. Brown and Yule (1983)) observe that DA examines "how addressers construct linguistic messages for addressees and how addressees work on linguistic messages in order to interpret them." From this description of DA by Stubbs, we can gather some important information about the discipline: (a) DA studies naturally-occurring connected speech or written discourse (b) DA studies language above the sentence or clause (c) DA is concerned with language use in social context Every instance of language use is situated in a particular social context, which determines the kind of meaning communicated. There are contextual features that shape the kind of language people use. These include: the interactants themselves, their discourse roles, the physical environment of the discourse, the worldview and cultural practices in the domain of the discourse, and so forth. DA looks at the language together with these features in order to interpret meaning. This is why any good DA will generate data based on observation and intuition of the language users. Discourse analysts analyze conversations (casual, telephone, gossip, etc), speeches (campaigns, formal speeches delivered by political figures, etc), written discourse (novels, plays, news, written speeches, editorials, etc). Discourse analysis is concerned not only with complex utterances by one speaker, but more frequently with the turn-taking interaction between two or more, and with the linguistic rules and conventions that are taken to be in play and governing such discourses in their given context. The overall goal of any DA is to explain how language users construct and interpret meaning in discourse. 15 3.3 Origin of Discourse Analysis The term Discourse Analysis was first use by Zellig Harris in 1952 in a paper he published then. Harris was an American structural linguist, Harris did not use the term in the sense it is now commonly used. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, scholars started using the term to describe an approach to the study of social interaction. The earliest discourse analysts were ethnographers, anthropologists and sociologists. Self-assessment Exercises Describe what in your own words what discourse analysts do. 3.4. Earliest Studies of Discourse Analysis The earliest studies of discourse analysis were done by people in other disciplines namely, sociologists, anthropologists and ethnologists. Their major concern was not language, but social interaction. They developed a method for investigating such interaction, which they called Ethnomethodology. The proponent of this method is Harold Grafinkel an American sociologist. Other scholars who were inspired by ethnomethodologists focused their attention on how the conversation is ordered and structured. Their method is called Conversational Analysis. They observe and describe the sequential patterning of conversation. The key figures in this school of thought are Emmanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacksand Gail Jeffesons. We shall examine in details the methods of Enthomethodology and Conversational Analysis later in this course. Much later, linguists who perceive language as a social phenomenon got interested in analyzing discourse from that perspective. They see Linguistics as a sub-branch of Sociology, as opposed to another school of thought, which sees Linguistics as a sub- branch of Psychology (The Transformational Generative grammarians). The first major attempt to analyze discourse from the perspective of Linguistics was done by John Sinclair and Michael Coulthard of the University of Birminghan in the UK. They analysed the language used by teachers and pupils in the secondary school and proposed a five-point discourse rank scale for analyzing discourse. After these scholars, other scholars in the Birmingham School have followed their theory. 4.0 Conclusion Discourse Analysis is the approach to language that focuses on the use of discourse in society and the role context plays in the interpretation of discourse. Unlike earlier approaches before it, it examines naturally occurring texts, such as conversation and written texts. The goal is to bring out the salient discourse features in such texts. Though started by non-linguists, it has in recent times become a very popular approach in linguistic analysis. Its use is not only limited to linguists. Scholars in other 16 disciplines also find Discourse Analysis relevant, since discourse is often seen as a social practice that exists in all facets of human endeavour. 5.0 Summary Background issues on Discourse Analysis was our focus in this unit. We started by looking at what we mean by the term “Discourse” and the discipline “Discourse Analysis.” Afterwards, we traced the origin of Discourse Analysis from its earliest times to Anthropologists and Sociologists, whose goal was just to look at how the society is organized through the use of discourse. Linguists later got involved in the practice. Lastly, we examined the earliest practices of Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis. 6.0. Tutor-marked Assignments] Identify the key figures in Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis and discuss in details the practices of ethnomethodologists and conversational analysts. 7.0 References/Further Reading Brown, G. and Yule G. (1983) Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: CUP Johnstone, Barbara (2002) Discourse Analysis. Blackwel Publishers Pustejovsky, James (2006) Language as Action Accessed from edu/~jamesp/classes/usem40a06/slides/DiscourseAnalysis.ppt – on January 2 2008. 17 Unit 2: Some Major Concepts in Discourse Analysis Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Text 3.2 Context 3.3 Self-Assessment Exercises 3.4 Speech and Writing 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0 References and Further Reading 1.0 Introduction In this Unit, we shall be examining some selected basic concepts used in Discourse Analysis. These concepts will lay the foundations for many other things we shall be discussing later in the course. We shall be examining two all important concepts: text and context. Since discourse is both writing and speech, we shall look at the nature of written and spoken discourse briefly. 2.0 Unit Objectives At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: identify some basic concepts in DA define these concepts and give appropriate examples to support you definition differentiate between speech and writing 18 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Text Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. A text is an instance of language in use. It ranges from a word to a large chunk of language. Sometimes, people associate text with just written language, but text is any instance of language use. A text could be a statement, an utterance, a sentence, a paragraph, a whole chapter, a news item, a conversation, and so forth. One aspect of Linguistics that studies written text is called Textlinguistics. Text linguistics tends to focus on the patterns of how information flows within and among sentences by looking at aspects of texts like coherence, cohesion, the distribution of topics and comments, and other discourse structures. Much like syntax is concerned with the structure of sentences, text linguistics is concerned with the structure of texts. One of the criteria of a text identified by Haliiday and Hasan (1976) is that it must form “a unified whole.” A text may be spoken, written, prose, or verse, dialogue, or monologue. It may be anything from a proverb to a whole play, form a momentary cry for help to an all-day discussion on a committee (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1). A text is best regarded as a semantic unit. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), a text has a texture and this is what distinguishes it from something that is not a text. It derives its texture from the fact that it functions as a unity with respect to its context. 3.2 Context The word context is a commonly used expression, which may mean different things to different people. Its general meaning is the set of facts that surrounds a particular event or situation. From the linguistic point of view, context is everything that surrounds the production of a piece of communication. These include the physical situation in which the communication takes place, the interactants or interlocutors, the knowledge of the communicators of their cultural norms and expected behaviour, and the expressions that precede and follow a particular expression. All these features of context help language speakers to interpret meaning appropriately. Linguists are particularly interest in the linguistic context of any form of language use. Self Assessment Exercises Discuss the role of context in the construction of a text. 3.3 Speech and Writing Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. Speech however is the oldest form of language use and writing is said to be a derived form of speech. The fact that there are still a good number of languages that do not have any written form is a pointer to the fact that speech predates language in human history. Gestures are also forms of language, but they are seen by linguists as primarily complementing speech. There is a branch of Linguistics that studies signs, and this branch is called Semiotics. 19 In this section, we shall look through some of the features of speech and writing and how they are studied in Discourse Analysis. Speech is the primary medium of human communication. It can be said to be as old as human existence. Children automatically learn to speak because there is an inbuilt mechanism in humans that makes them to acquire whichever language is spoken in their immediate environment. Most people speak more than they write, because every human society builds relationships through speech. Speech simply refers to oral medium of transmission of language. It is the meaningful oral sound produced through the use of our respiratory, phonatory and articulatory system and perceived by our auditory system. Humans express thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to one another through a series of complex articulation, which results in specific, decodable sounds. Speech is produced by precisely coordinated muscle actions in the head, neck, chest, and abdomen. Speech development is a gradual process that requires years of practice. During this process, a child learns how to regulate these muscles to produce understandable speech. Speech is spontaneous, so it is characterized by repetitions of speech sounds, hesitations before and during communication, and the prolonged emphasis of speech sounds. Speech, especially a casual one is susceptible to errors or slips, hence the expression “slip of the tongue.” This occurs when we say things we do not intend to say. Speakers many times self-correct their speech, when they are aware that they did not produce the correct utterance. People’s origin and identity are very often recognized from their speech. They either speak with a particular accent or intonation. Most times when people speak, one is able to identify their social roles and gender. Speech is transient and time bound which basically means that when someone speaks to you, it doesn’t really stay in your memory for that long which gives it a disadvantage. Certain human behaviours aid speech. They include body language, gesture and facial expressions and people use these modes without even realizing it. Speaking is as fundamental a part of being human as walking upright but writing is an optional extra. Writing, on the other hand is a product of a more careful thought, so it is expected as much as possible to be flawless. It is not a spontaneous act rather it is a well thought out process. Children have to be taught how to write any particular language, even their mother tongue. Unlike speech that uses the medium of phonic substance, writing uses the medium of graphic substance. Written words can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy. These attributes of writing are possible because the pace of involvement is controlled by both the writer and the reader. The writer can write and rewrite at great length, a span of time, which in some cases can be measured in years. In writing, there is a time lag between the production and reception, while in speech, the reception is instant and extralinguistic cues help the listener to interpret. Writing is more associated with formality than speech. The chances are that we write more often to people we are less familiar with than the ones we are familiar. 20 4.0 Conclusion The major concepts in Discourse Analysis discussed in this Unit are meant to help you to understand what we shall be spending our time discussing in the better part of this course. They are concepts you will come across from time to time and a good grounding in them will help you to interpret them whenever you come across them in future in any of the modules ahead of this. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we have examined some major concepts, which are meant to help to be more grounded in the whole course. Such concepts are widely used in other disciplines, but what we have been able to do in this Unit is to explain them as they are used in the field of language study. Text and context are very important concepts in discourse. While text is what we analyze, context helps us to understand the text better, thereby having a more accurate interpretation. 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment Write a detailed essay with adequate illustrations on the difference between speech and writing. 7.0 References/Further Reading Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1985). Language, context, and text: aspects of language in a social-semiotic perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 21 Unit 3: Kinds of Discourse Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 Spoken Discourse 3.1 Monologue 3.2 Dialogue 3.3 Multilogue 3.4 Conversation 3.5 Written Discourse 3.6 Interpersonal Discourse 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 Introduction This Unit introduces you to the kinds of discourse we have. The term discourse is so widely applied that we need to delimit it and identify some of the kinds of discourse that discourse analysts are particularly interested in. Such types of discourse include: spoken discourses, such as monologue, dialogue, multilogue and conversation. We shall also look at written discourse and the different types, and lastly, interpersonal discourse. 2.0 Unit Objectives At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: identify the different kinds of discourse, explain the peculiarities of each type of discourse, discuss how spoken discourse is different from written discourse 22 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Spoken Discourse A spoken discourse is any discourse that is verbalized or spoken. It is also generally referred to as speech. Every language is spoken, so every social activity we are involved in where speech is used is referred to as spoken discourse. Some examples of spoken discourse are: casual conversation, sermon, political campaign, symposium, public lecture, classroom discourse, doctor-patient discourse, telephone exchange, service encounter, sports commentaries, etc. Though a spoken discourse is essentially verbal, certain non-verbal behaviour helps speakers to interpret the discourse. They include, our facial gestures, body movements and other sounds uttered that are not necessarily regarded as speech. Spoken discourse takes place in different forms. We have face-to-face discourse in which the speakers are together physically. Apart from this, we have distance communication, in which though the speakers are not necessarily together physically, they are still able to transmit their voice through some other media like: radio, telephone, and so forth. 3.2 Monologue Monologue refers to a speech situation in which an individual is doing the talking for a long time either to himself or to other people who are not responding. The Wikipedia Dictionary defines monologue as “an extended, uninterrupted speech by one person only. The person may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing other persons, e.g. an audience, a character, or a reader.” Many times, we get carried away that we express our thoughts aloud even when they are not really addressing some specific people. Monologue is also used in drama to make the audience or readers to know the thought of a character. This is often referred to as dramatic monologue. However, a dramatic monologue is also called a soliloquy when it refers to a lengthy talk in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud. Soliloquy is often used to reveal thoughts or feelings that is delivered by a character in a play to him or herself, or directly to the audience. 3.3 Dialogue A general definition of dialogue is “a conversation between two persons” A dialogue is a discourse that involves 2 or more interlocutors. The roots of the word Dialogue can be traced to the Greek "dia" and "logos" which means "through meaning." In a dialogue, there is an exchange of ideas by the participants. Dialogues have some socio-cultural characteristics, such as the participants listening while the person who has the floor is 23 speaking, respect for differences, with the believe that everyone has an essential contribution to make and is to be honored for the perspective which only they can bring equality of perspectives, and minimization of interruption as much as possible. A dialogue is not just a situation in which two or more people are interacting, it is a skillful exchange or interaction between people with shared understanding based on their cultural practice and shared world-view. For two or more people to be involved in a dialogue successfully, they must be able to share some sort of understanding about the Topic in focus. 3.4 Multilogue Multilogue refers to a situation in which too many people are engaged in conversation at the same time. This may refer to the situation in which many conversations are happening at one time within a chatroom. The term is also more commonly used to describe a situation in which many interactancts communicate using the aid computer mediated forms, such as online video, message boards, forums, etc. 3.5 Conversation Conversation simply refers to the use of speech for exchange of ideas by two or more people. A conversation may be formal or informal. This is determined by the kind of relationship that exists between the people involved. People involved in a conversation are referred to as conversationalists or to use a more technical term interlocutors. A conversation is built on certain conventions, such as: the people involved do share some common grounds, such as a culture, a belief or norm, their conversation is guided by these culture, norms and beliefs the people know that ideas are being shared, so no one dominates, except they are allowed by convention or the conversationalists, the conversationalists respect one another’s views despite their differences The whole idea of conversation is based on the understanding that turns have to be taken. We shall soon come to deal more extensively with the term turn taking in conversation. 3.6 Written Discourse A written discourse is any discourse in which the thoughts of the producer are represented graphically on a surface, such as paper and other media. Initially in the study of discourse analysis, written discourse was not considered. The attention then was on the spoken discourse. Written discourse as we have seen earlier is quite different from spoken discourse. It is more carefully constructed and gives a lot of room for correction and possible reconstruction. Written discourse is organized in such a way that similar ideas are put together in sections of the writing called paragraph and each paragraph can usually be summarized 24 in one sentence, which is generally called the topic sentence. Also, each paragraph is linked with the one directly before it and the one after, and all the paragraphs can be seen as a unified whole, which can also be summarized in a sentence. To make written language easy to read, certain marks are used to punctuate it. These marks are used to indicate where the reader needs to pause for a period of time (full stop and comma), raise the tone of their voice to either show that they are asking a question or that they are surprised. These marks are called punctuation marks. They make the written discourse readable in a meaningful way. When punctuation marks are not used in any written discourse, such discourse loses the full meaning that it ought to convey to the reader. A group of linguists, who developed interest in the study of written discourse in the tradition of Systemic Linguistics refers to the study of written discourse as Textlinguistics. They believe written discourse has certain characteristics, which make them essentially different from spoken discourse. They focus on the textuallity of the discourse, which is marked by its cohesion and coherence. They also look at the elements that are thematized in a written discourse and how one paragraph relates to the other thematically (thematic progression). Examples of written discourse are: newspaper stories, letters, novels, articles in magazines, editorial in newspapers, etc. Self Assessment Exercises Using adequate examples, differentiate between monologue, dialogue and multilogue 3.7 Interpersonal Discourse Interpersonal discourse is the kind of discourse that involves two or more person. One of the commonest forms of interpersonal discourse is a conversation. If you will remember, we earlier dealt with conversation. Interpersonal communication is not restricted to face to face communication, it may also be a feature of written or even distance communication, eg, telephone discourse, letters, communication through electronic media, such as e-mail, mobile phones, SMS texts and so forth. Interpersonal communication may not necessarily be verbal. They can also be non-verbal, using movements and body positions, such as kinesics, posture, gesture, eye gaze, etc. It is important that every human being possess the skills for interpersonal discourse. Such skills help them to build, manage and sustain intimate relationships with other people around them. Interpersonal discourse skills also help us to counsel, negotiate for prices in the market, teach or coach, mentor others and manage conflicts in our relationships and other people’s relationships. To engage successfully in any interpersonal discourse, the people involved must use simple and clear language based on the premise that the other(s) involved in the discourse will be able to understand. It is more difficult for people from different cultural background to successfully engage in interpersonal discourse even sometimes when they share same language. For instance, a Nigerian English speaker and a Canadian English speaker do not share the same cultural background, yet they speak 25 the same language. When two people from different cultural backgrounds are engaged in interpersonal discourse, they should not base their discourse on too much assumption. Every expression that is likely to be misunderstood must be expressed in simpler terms. 4.0 Conclusion The kinds of discourse were extensively examined in this Unit. They clearly show that the discourse analyst is open to a lot of options in his analysis of both spoken and written discourse. The most essential view of a discourse analyst of these various kinds of discourse is that they are instances of language use in different social contexts, therefore, these social contexts play a prominent role in their interpretation. The discourse analysts do not lose focus of the linguistic peculiarities of the discourse as they examine how the context informs and shapes such peculiarities. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we looked at the different kinds of discourse that we can come across in any human social context, such as the various kinds of spoken discourse (monologue, dialogue, multilogue and conversation). Also we examined the kinds of written discourse. We particularly noted the practice of analyzing written discourse by looking at the devices used for making the text appear as a unified whole and how themes in each paragraph progress. 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 1. Identify the key features of a conversation. 2. How is a multilogue different from a conversation? 7.0 References/Further Reading Halliday 1985 : Halliday, M.A.K., Spoken and Written Language, Victoria : Deakin University, 1985. 26 MODULE TWO APPROCAHES TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS MODULE TWO: APPROCAHES TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS Unit 1: Ethnonmethodology Unit 2: Conversational Analysis Unit 3: Linguistic Anthropology Unit 1: Ethnonmethodology Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objective 3.0 Main Content 3.1 What is Ethnomethodology 3.2 Language and the Social World 3.3 Conducting Ethnomethodological Research 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 Introduction This Unit looks at one of the earliest approaches to discourse analysis. The discussions in this Unit will help you to understand how the approach to language analysis, which you are studying emerged. The earliest practitioners of discourse analysis were not linguists and in contemporary times, discourse analysis is fast adopting a multidisciplinary approach, which makes it relevant not only to linguists, but also sociologist, philosophers, psychologists, political scientists and other social scientists. This Unit will expose you to the earliest ways of studying discourse. 27 2.0 UNIT OBJECTIVES At the end of this Unit, you should be able to: Explain the terms Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis Describe how to conduct a research using ethnomethodological approach Describe how language functions in the social world 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 What is Ethnomethodology? Ethnomethodologyis a blend of the words Ethnography and methodology. It is a branch of Anthropology, which studies people in their environment. Methodology simply refers to the way of doing things. The major focus is the cultural behaviour of the people) and the methods involved in doing a particular thing). The term Ethnomethodology is a sociological term, which describes a discipline that studies how people make sense of their world. How they are able to understand one another to the extent that they are able to exist in an orderly social context. Ethnomethodological approach was developed by a sociologist named Harold Garfinkel. The approach looks at the organization of practical actions and reasoning, the organization of talk-in-interaction. Ethnomethodologists are concerned primarily with Ethnomethodology which is concerned with the how (the methods) by which social order is produced, and shared. One thing that is of central concern to ethnomethodologist is “context.” Their focus is always on the ways in which words are dependent for their meaning on the context in which they are used. Ethnomethodology is concerned basically with the following: The organization of practical actions and practical reasoning: This was the concern of earliest ethnomethodologists The organization of talk-in-interaction: This is known in modern times as Converstional Analysis. We shall be looking at this late in this unit. Talk-in-interaction within institutional or organizational settings: this is basically concerned with interactional structures that are specific to particular settings. The study of work: The study bof any social activity within the setting in which it is performed 3.2 Language and the Social World Language is an essential part of the human social structure. Everyday, we use it actively to create and shape the world through social interaction. Every language operates in a social world. Speakers, as part of a society, rely on a corpus of practical knowledge, 28 which they assumed is shared, at least partly with others. This is why a group of linguists, generally referred to as Functionalists, see language as a social activity being performed in a social world. The primary concern of such linguists, who belong to the schools of Sociolinguistics, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Text Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, and so forth is that language is context- dependent and the general context is the world we live in, while the specific contexts are the contexts of a particular usage. Context here includes the knowledge of the speaker of his/her world, the culture, values, expectations and norms. One way in which language is believed to influence our understanding of social reality goes back to the ideas of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis stresses that we view and perceive our world in terms of our language. It also stresses that the social reality we experience is unique to our language, since no two languages/cultures shares exactly the same social reality. This is why oftentimes terms for specific phenomena in languages do not have precise counterparts in other languages. What we have discussed in this section is really an important guiding principle for our approach to the analysis of discourse. We can only analyze any particular discourse effectively if we situate it within the social context or domain of its use. And this will take into consideration a lot of factors such as, the interlocutors, their role relationships in discourse, the mode of discourse. All these are used to create the text that will fit appropriately into the social world of the language users. 3.3. Conducting Ethnomethodological Research Ethnomethodological research has its own peculiar characteristics. An ethnomethodological research is often referred to as a qualitative research. The goal of a researcher using this approach is to understand local knowledge and practices relating to the daily life of the people being investigated. Therefore, ehnomethodologists do not just conduct their research from a distance. They participate in the life of the people and observe daily interactions among them in formal and informal conversations among the groups and individuals. This method of doing research is called participant observation method, and the researcher is called a participant-observer. The traditional method of doing research that distances the researcher from his field has been observed to be characterized by normative descriptions. Scholars working from the perspective of seeing language as a social phenomenon have emphasized the importance of an interaction between the researcher and the community. This makes the outcome to be that in which the researcher is present in the text. This is more authentic than the traditional research method. Ethnomethodological research demands that the researcher reside in the community he or she is investigating to facilitate his/her interaction with the people. So, it involves months and years of fieldwork. It is usually an in depth study of the historical, 29 demographical and cultural norms of the people alongside with the specific issue being investigated. One can summarize the features of an ethnomethodological research as follows: It involves the study of naturally occurring phenomena in their setting It involves social interaction with the community within their social context It involves data collection and analysis that takes place at the micro level It involves discovery through interaction It involves the study of the local knowledge, ie: identifying terms, concepts and logic used by individuals and the group to talk about specific subjects Self-assessment Exercises Identify the major principles of an ethnomethodological research. 4.0 Conclusion One of the earliest approaches to research in Discourse Analysis is Ethnomethodology. Though the study of discourse keeps undergoing changes from time to time, the use of this approach has remained one of the key approaches to investigating discourse. It presents a common ground for linguists studying discourse. This is particularly so because it emphasizes the importance of context in discourse analysis. The two major ways of collecting data in discourse analysis are really context-dependent. The use of tape recorder as a data collecting method depends largely on the context of the discourse. This implies that the researcher has to be present at the setting to do his/her recording. The other method, which is emphasized in Ethnomethodology is the participant observation, which requires the researcher to be present in the community for a period of time. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we have looked at a major approach to discourse analysis – Ethnomethodology. We examined its origin and its use in discourse analysis. We particularly focused attention on the methods of doing Ethnomethodology, with its emphasis on interaction between the researchers and the people they are investigating. The emphasis students should note is that language is a social phenomenon And each time people use language, they are being creative, so, this makes each social event and situation unique and worthy of being analyzed distinctly by looking at the social factors that facilitates the creation of the text. 6.0 Tutor-marked assignment 1. Describe how you would do an ethnomethodological study of the discourse of motor park touts. 2. Explain the connection between language and the social world. 30 7.0 References/Further Reading Poore, S. (2000) Ethnomethodology, An Introduction. Source: http://www.hewett.norfolk.sch.uk/CURRIC/soc/ethno/intro.htm Garfinkel, H. (1984) Studies in Ethnomethodology, Malden MA: Polity Press/Blackwell ublishing. (first published in 1967). Heritage, J.C. (1987) 'Ethnomethodology'. In: A. Giddens, J.H. Turner, eds. Social theory today. Cambridge: Polity Press: 224-72 31 Unit 2: Conversational Analysis Contents 0.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 What is Conversational Analysis? 3.1 Turn Taking and Turn Allocation 3.2 Insertion Sequences 3.3 Self-assessment Exercises 3.4 Adjacency Pairs 3.5 Error and Repair Mechanisms 3.6 Simultaneous speeches 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION In this Unit, we shall be examining another approach to Discourse Analysis – Conversational Analysis. This approach is concerned with the study of talk in interaction. We shall be examining such topics as how people allocate and take turns in conversation (the mechanisms used). This shows that people do not just talk anyhow in conversation. They are guided by some specific rule. We shall also look at the concepts of insertion sequences and adjacency pairs. This will show us how conversations are ordered. There are appropriate responses to specific expressions and when these responses do not come, then it is either the person responding did not understand the question or he/she is deliberate in giving such response.. This will then lead us to how we repair errors in discourse. How simultaneous speech is managed, to the extent that it does not degenerate into confusion. 2.0 UNIT OBJECTIVES At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: define all the terms used in conversational analysis identify how conversationalists allocate and take turns in discourse explain the terms insertion sequence and adjacency pairs 32 explain how errors are repaired in conversation describe how simultaneous speech occurs and how it is managed 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 What is Conversational Analysis? Conversational Analysis (CA) is an approach to discourse analysis that is concerned with the study of talk in interaction. The major aim of CA is to describe how conversationalists achieve orderliness in their interaction. It studies how interactions are structured in a sequential manner. CA studies any instance of talk, which may include institutional discourse, such as, classroom discourse between the teacher and the students, doctor-patient interaction, antenatal classroom discourse, courtroom discourse. It also study routine or casual conversation. CA was a method introduced by Emmanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacks and Gail Jefferson in the early 1970s. It was inspired by Ethnomethodology. CA has now become an established force in sociology, anthropology, linguistics, speech-communication and psychology. 3.2 Turn Taking and Turn Allocation Turn taking is a general feature of conversation. It has been observed that people involved in a conversation do not just talk in a disorderly manner. A person speaks and after his turn, another person takes the floor. It is not normal in a conversation for one person to speak all the time while others just listen. It is also the case that people are aware when it is their turn to speak. There are some clues to when a speaker’s turn has finished and when another speaker should commence talk. Turn taking is a basic characteristic of any normal conversation. Speakers and listeners change their roles in order to begin their speech (Coulthard, 1985: 59). Turn taking mechanisms may vary between cultures and languages. Scholars have identifies a set of rules that govern turn taking in discourse. These are: When the current speaker selects the next speaker, the next speaker has the right to and is obliged to commence the turn If the current speaker does not select the next speaker, any one of the speakers has the right to self-select and become the next speaker If neither the next speaker selects the next speaker nor the next speaker self- selects, the current speaker may resume his or her turn Sacks, Schegloff and Jeffeson (1974:704) There are signals to turn taking that are called turn-eliciting signals. We have the Turn Construction Unit (TCU), which is the fundamental segment of speech in 33 conversation. It describes pieces of conversation, which may comprise an entire turn. The end of a TCU, called a Transition Relevance Place (TRP), which marks a point where the turn may be go to another speaker, or the present speaker may continue with another TCU. The change of turn occurs only in the TRP. TRP is the possible structural completion point of one-word, lexicon, phrase, clause or full sentence. There are other signals to turn taking. The dominant referring tone, the interrogative functions of tones and phatic questions serve a role in turn taking. For instance, a speaker may use a rising tone rather than a fall-rise tone in ending a sentence to hold his turn by underlining his/her present status as the dominant speaker. This indicates that the speaker expects to be allowed to go on without an interruption. Story tellers are fond of using this continuative rising tone (Brazil, 1997:93). Other signals are, the last speaker’s gaze direction, the last speaker calling the name of the next speaker, the last speaker aligning his body towards the next speaker, and so forth. Self-assessment Exercise Observe a conversation in a “home video” and identify the mechanisms for turn taking 3.3 Adjacency Pairs Adjacency Pair is a unit of conversation that contains an exchange of one turn each by two speakers. The turns are so related to each other that the first turn requires a range of specific type of response in the second turn. It is a sequence that contains functionally related turns. Examples of adjacency pairs are Question – Answer Pair Q. When will you be home A. At 5 o’clock Greeting – Greeting Pair G. Good morning Bola. G: Good morning. Request – Acceptance/Rejection R: Can I use your pen for one minute. A: Yes, please have it/ R: I am sorry. It’s the only one I have Inform – Acknowledgement I: You have to see the head of department before he leaves for the Senate meeting at 4. A: Okay. Apology – Acceptance/Rejection App.: I am sorry, I could not make the appointment Acc.: That’s okay, we can fix another time/ Rej.: You have no excuse. 34 You just kept me waiting for nothing. Congratulations – Thanks C: Congratulations on your PhD. T: Oh, thanks In an adjacency pair, the first pair part invites, constrains, and partially determines the meaning and range of possible second pair part. If somebody shouts “help”, it is an action not language that is required. If the exclamation is 'ouch', it is likely to elicit a question, 'What's the matter' which in turn starts off an adjacency pair, completed by, for example, 'I've cut my finger'. Adjacency pairs are normal in conversations, but sometimes they do not necessarily occur. Some instances may affect the flow of adjacency pair. For instance, if a person decides to ask another question after being asked a question, the flow is disrupted. This is called an insertion into what would have been a normal sequence of conversation. This is called insertion sequence. We shall treat this in the following section. 3.4 Insertion Sequences An insertion sequence is a sequence of turns intervenes between the first and second parts of an adjacency pair. It is a kind of delay in which the response expected is not given, rather, an entirely different, though related response is given. Conversations usually occur in pairs, for instance we have question-answer, request- acceptance/rejection, invitation-acceptance/rejection, and so forth. For instance, let us see a conversation 1. Bola: When are you traveling back to London? 2. Uju: Why do you ask? 3. Bola: I would like to send you with a parcel to my auntie in Woolwich. 4. Uju: Okay, I will be going in a week’s time. In this piece of conversation above, Bola asked a question and expects a direct answer. But turns 3 and 4 are together an insertion sequence, which separates the earlier question in turn 1 from the direct answer in turn 4, which comes later. Insertion sequences occur in situations when people do not want to provide a direct response to an elicitation until they are sure of the intention of the speaker as we can see in the conversation piece above. 3.5 Error and Repair Mechanisms In conversation, we do not always say things the correct ways we desire to say them. When we did not say what we ought to say, we still have a way of saying them. This is called error repair. 35 3.6 Overlap in speeches An overlap in speech occurs when two or more interlocutors are talking at the same time. It can also be described as occurrences of two or more participants trying to take their turns at the same time after the previous speaker had finished or is about to finish his turn. The real overlap occurs when the two participants start their turns simultaneously and none of them relinquishes the floor for the other. This is not always the case in a normal conversation. Earlier on we said that conversations are orderly, because speakers will naturally take turns. An overlap in speech may occur in any of the following situations: when a speaker deliberately comes in while another speaker is having turn, when a speaker thought another speaker had finished his/her turn and decided to come in. 4.0 Conclusion Analyzing a conversation involves how turns are taken and allocated and other features such as how people correct their errors in speech when they realize them. It also involves looking at the way some talks are connected despite their seemingly unconnected nature. Apart form all these, we realize that talks overlap, especially when the speakers involved are eager to make their points, or when a speaker feels that the last speaker has finished their turn. All these features of conversation simply tell us that natural conversation is not always smooth and orderly. Some of the features discussed above contribute to the naturalness of most conversation. In fact, when a conversation moves on without any of these features, it seems less natural than when they are present. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we have looked at the features of conversation that discourse analysts look at when they study the conversation. Such features include: turn taking and turn allocation, insertion sequences, adjacency pairs, overlap in speech, and so forth. These features exist in most conversations. Though as we have observed, some of them feature more in some conversations than others. For instance adjacency pairs is a very visible feature of any form of interview, such as employment interview or newspaper interview. It is also important to note that in some kinds of speech, turns are necessarily allocated by a person who has the social role to do so. For instance in a discussion, a moderator has such social role. Also in classroom discourse, the teacher determines who takes up a turn and when they do so. 36 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment Select any written play by Wole Soyinka and explain how some of the feature of conversation discussed in this Unit manifest in the conversations. 7.0 References/Further Reading Brazil, D. (1977) The communicative value of intonation in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Ten Have, Paul (1999): Doing Conversation Analysis. A Practical Guide, Thousand Oaks: Sage. Psathas, George (1995) Conversation Analysis, Thousand Oaks: Sage. Sacks, H. (1992) Lectures on conversation. 2 vols. Edited by Gail Jefferson with introductions by Emanuel A. Schegloff. Oxford: Basil Blackwell 37 Unit 3: Linguistic Anthropology CONTENT 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Linguistic Anthropology: Introduction 3.2 Speech community 3.3 Speech Situation/Event 3.4 Self-assessment Exercises 3.5 Ethnography of Speaking 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked assignment 7.0 References/further Reading 1.0 INTRODUCTION In this Unit, you shall be learning about a discipline that is central to your understanding of the whole idea of discourse analysis – Linguistic Anthropology. The field methods of Linguistic Anthropology are very useful for discourse analysts, because the latter place a lot of importance on context, as you earlier saw. The whole idea of analyzing discourse originated from Anthropologists, whose focus was not really on the language corpus but on how the society is structured through human interaction. We shall also take you through other notions related to Linguistic Anthropology, such as the concept of a speech community and Dell Hymes’ notion of Ethnography of Speaking.. 2.0 OBJECTIVES By the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: Explain clearly what Linguistic Anthropology is all about. Define the concept of Speech Community Use Ethnography of Speaking to describe any particular speech situation Explain the terms “speech community” and “speech event” 38 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Linguistic Anthropology: Introduction Linguistic Anthropology is a branch of Anthropology. The focus of the discipline is on how language is used in various social contexts. It focuses on speech both ancient and contemporary ones. Linguistic anthropologists are interested in how many languages there are, how those languages are distributed across the world, and their contemporary and historical relationships. It is also the study of the relationship between language and social relations. So, the concern of Linguistic Anthropology is the diachronic or historical, evolutionary, and internal structure of human languages in relation to the context. For instance, a linguistic anthropologist may decide to study the Etymology of names of places. This will require some historical data on the origin of those places. Linguistic anthropology is an interdisciplinary field. It draws a great deal from other, independently established disciplines and in particular from the two from which its name is formed: linguistics and anthropology. Linguistic anthropologists use traditional ethnographic methods such as participant-observation and work with native speakers to obtain local interpretive glosses of the communicative material they record. They also use elicitation techniques similar to those employed by typological linguists interested in grammatical patterns. Recently, these methods have been integrated with new forms of documentation of verbal practices developed in such fields as urban sociolinguistics discourse analysis, and conversation analysis. The advent of new technologies for the electronic recording of sounds and actions has broadened the range of phenomena that can be studied, increased our analytical sophistication, and, at the same time, multiplied the number of technical, political, and moral problems that a fieldworker must confront. As we enter this new technological era, it is imperative to develop a discursive arena in which to examine the pros and cons of the new tools within a general discussion of methodology for the study of human communicative behavior. 3.2 Speech community Speech community is a group of speakers who use language in a distinct way generally accepted among them. This group of speakers may be located in the same area or situated in different locations. What is common to them is that they recognize a language or a dialect of a language as their standard means of communication. For instance, we can talk about a Yoruba speech community comprising of Yoruba speakers in the south-western Nigeria and in other parts of the world, such as Benin Republic, parts of Brazil and USA. The speech community is the locus of most sociolinguistic and anthropological linguistic research. Earliest attempts to identify speech communities date back to the Prague School notion of sprechbond or ‘speech bond”, which refers to “shared ways of speaking which goes beyond language boundaries.” They also talk about sprachbond 39 “language bond”, which involves “relatedness at the level of linguistic forms” (Romaine, 1994: 23). Several scholars have defined of speech community in different ways. Below are some of the definitions. “The speech community is defined by the participation in a set of shared norms…which may be observed in behaviour and in the uniformity of abstract patterns of variation.” Labov (1972: 120 ff) “A speech community is made up of individuals who regard themselves as speaking the same language” Corder (1973: 53) "any human aggregate characterized by regular and frequent interaction by means of a shared body of verbal signs and set off from similar aggregates by significant differences in language usage". Gumperz (1971: 101) "A community sharing rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one linguistic variety... A necessary primary term... it postulates the basis of description as a social, rather than a linguistic, entity." Hymes (1972: 54 ff). "A speech community is a group of people who do not necessarily share the same language, but share a set of norms and rules for the use of language. The boundaries between speech communities are essentially social rather than linguistic... A speech community is not necessarily co-extensive with a language community." Romaine (1994: 22). 3.3 Speech Situation/Event A speech event is a communicative event with the main role of a speech component (planned, organized, controlled, socially significant), eg: meeting, conference, summit, wedding, funerals, elections, party, primaries. Any social activity in which speech is used can be seen as a speech event or situation. 3.4 Self-assessment Exercises Explain the differences between the following kinds of speech community: a geographical speech community a social speech community a virtual speech community 40 3.5 Ethnography of Speaking The term Ethnography of speaking was originally formulated by Dell Hymes in 1962 to describe what happens whenever we engage in communication through speech. Since the use of the term by Hymes, it has been developed to be known as a method in the social approach to language, which draws on the anthropological field of Ethnography to explain how we communicate our experiences in our cultures. The concept was redefined in 1964 as Ethnography of Communication to include the two major means of communication: speech and writing. Any speech event can be seen as comprising several components, and the analysis of these is a major aspect of an ethnography of speaking. Seven types of component or factor can be discerned. Every speech event involves: Setting/scene This refers to the time when a speech takes place and place. Scene does not only refer to the physical scene, but also the psychological setting. This includes the nature of the communication, the degree of its formality, which is determined by the institutionalized cultural way of behaving when engaged in such kind of communication. For instance, there are ways a priest is expected to behave when conducting a service. Informal interactions are less rule-governed when compared to formal ones. Participants This refers to the speaker and his/her audience in any particular speech situation. The speaker is the person who is performing a speech act. He/she may be informing, directing, or eliciting some form of behaviour form his/her audience. The audience is the people involved in the speech situation, usually, they are being addressed by the speaker. Participants do not have to be physically present before the speaker. There instances of communication in which the speaker is far away form the participants, eg: news, telephone, e-mail, and so forth. Ends This refers to the purpose, goal or outcome of the communication. For instance a goal might be to educate as in the speech situation involving a teacher and his/her students; to entertain, as in a comedian and his/her audience; to promote a view, as in a political campaign, an advertisement, etc. Act Sequence Every even has a form and an order it follows. This is what is being referred to here. There are always ways to order one’s communication so that they can be meaningful to the other participants. For instance, a story usually starts with the following phrase “once upon a time”, “a long time ago”, in the year_____”, and so forth. This is the point of departure and it makes the communication a story. Every meeting starts with a greeting. This is particularly more prominent in formal presentations, where protocols are observed, that is, some people have to be recognized and greeted in a particular order (usually, the order of their status). 41 Key The ways of behaving differs when people are engaged in different speech events. For instance, we use different tones when we are engaged in different discursive practices. Our tone and facial expression are serious when we are warning people. When we are engaged in any form of banter, we are more relaxed in our tone. There are ways we speaks that will make people laugh and there are ways we speak that will make people sober or even cry. These are what we mean by key as a component of Ethnography of Speaking. Instrumentalities This refers to the style we adopt in our speech. For instance, when we are engaged in any casual conversations, our words comprise mostly colloquial expressions. However, in any formal situation, we choose our words carefully. Two words may mean the same thing, but each of them is used in different speech style. For instance, the word loo is an informal expression, while its formal counterparts are gents, ladies or convenience. Norms Norms refer to the social rules governing the behaviour of people when they speak. Such rules govern their actions and reactions in the speech situation. There are norms for every speech community. For instance, in Yoruba land, when younger male persons greet older people, they prostrate in addition to what they say. The whole idea of greeting therefore is not just saying the words, but also performing the gesture that goes along with the words. Genre Genre refers to the kind of speech act being performed. Different speech communities have different ways of identifying a genre. 4.0 Conclusion Linguistic Anthropology is a hybrid discipline combining the methods of Anthropology and Linguistics in its investigation. One typical feature of Linguistic Anthropology is its dependence on the social context and culture of conversation. It depends on the practices of a community and the real events that take place while the linguistic performance is going on. Dell Hymes identified a set of components necessary for the interpretation of speech, which he called Ethnography of Speaking representing each letter of the word SPEAKING with another word that describes these components. 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we looked at the discipline – Linguistic Anthropology and some of the terms used in it. The idea of a speech community is very vital to the discipline because every linguistic behaviour is not only enacted within a particular speech community. It is also made to follow the norms and practices in the community. We also noted that a speech event is a social activity planned and structured in a particular way to be identified as meaningful. In addition, we also looked at the factors that come to play in 42 any typical speech situation or event. These factors help to shape the meaning of the event. 6.0 Tutor-marked assignment (i) Visit a law court and use the components of Ethnography of Speaking to describe the event. (ii) How do the following components of Ethnography of Speaking shape meaning? Participants and Norms. 7.0 References/further Reading Duranti, A. (1997) Linguistic Anthropology. New York: Cambridge University Press. Corder, S. Pit. 1973. Introducing applied linguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Duranti, Alessandro. 1988. "Ethnography of speaking: Towards a linguistics of the praxis." In FJ Newmeyer ed. 1988 Linguistics: The Cambridge survey, vol. IV. Language: The socio-cultural context. Cambridge UP.] Gumperz, John. 1971. Language in social groups. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hymes, Dell. 1972. "Models of the interaction of language and social life." (Revised from 1967 paper.) In Gumperz & Hymes, eds. 1972 Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication. Blackwell:35-71. Labov, William. 1972. Sociolinguistic patterns. Phila.: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. Romaine, Suzanne. 1994. Language in society: An introduction to sociolinguistics. London: Blackwell. Saville-Troike, M. () The Ethnography of Communication: An Introduction. Blackwell. 43 MODULE THREE: APPROACHES TO DISCOURSE ANALYSIS I Unit 1: Information Structure / Thematic Structure Unit 2: Thematic Progression Unit 3: The Birmingham School Approach Unit 1: Information Structure/Thematic Structure CONTENT 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Information Structure 3.2 The Given 3.3 The New 3.4 Thematic Structure 3.5 Theme 3.6 Rheme 3.7 Marked and Unmarked Themes 3.7 Multiple Themes Self-assessment Exercices 4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 Introduction In this Unit, we shall examine how information is organized in discourse, using the two well-known paradigms: Information Structure and Thematic Structure. This Unit will expose you to how people structure their information in such a way that they are able to put things considered more important before the others that are considered less important them and their listeners or readers. 2.0 Unit Objectives At the end of your study of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: 44 explain the concepts of information structure and thematic structure differentiate between “Give/New” and “Theme/Rheme” concepts identify instances of multiple themes in texts analyze texts for instances of information structure and thematic structure 3.0 MAIN CONTENT 3.1 Information Structure Information structure is all about how speakers arrange the information in their message. It is natural for the shared message to come before the one not known to the hearer. The shared message is usually found at the beginning of the clause and it is called the Given information. The other information is the focus of the speaker’s message and it is referred to as the New information. The Given and the New information make up the information structure of the clause. 3.2 The Given The Given information is the information that is known to both the speaker and the hearer. It is normally taken for granted that the listener(s) or reader(s) know the information. So the speaker takes off from that point to supply the new information. For example: 8.1. My younger son travelled to the USA yesterday In the sentence above, it is assumed that the hearer knows who the younger son is, so the speaker does not have to mention the name or use any descriptive term beyond the one he used. The emboldened expression is the Given. The referent therefore is obvious to both the speaker and the hearer. 3.3 The New The new information is the rest of the clause It is called New because it is actually what is new to the hearer or reader. For instance in the sentence above, travelled to the USA yesterday is the new information. It is what the speaker actually wants the hearer to know. In writing the writer usually engages in a carefully thought-out exercise, because he wants to be understood. So the nature of information structure in writing differs from that of speaking. In informative texts, sometimes questions are used to elicit the required information. For example: 8.2. What is Linguistics? 45 Linguistics is the scientific study of the nature of language The Given element is put before the New information, because there is an area of mutual knowledge the writer wants to share with the readers (see Bloor and Bloor (1995; Taiwo, 2003). Sometimes, authors may not necessarily use question heading. They may just use an ordinary heading. It is also possible that the whole information in the clause is new, for example: 8.3. It is my belief that you are coming tonight. Since the word it is a dummy or an empty subject, it caries no information, the whole stretch can be regarded as New information. Writers may also use ellipsis as a style in writing. Ellipsis is the omission of a word or a chunk from a sentence in such a way that only the given information is left. This does not render the text incomprehensible in any way, as the reader can still make up the omitted part. For example: 8.4. (a) Bola got up form the bed (b) rushed to the bathroom (c) and took her bath. In (b) and (c) above, all the information are new, because the Given information has been omitted, but the hearer can still link it to the subject of (a). In spoken texts, there are more assumptions, since the situation helps the interlocutors to interpret the message. For instance, in the sentence: 8.5. Please get me my slippers. the entire information is new. This is because the speaker shares some information with the hearer, which include the fact that the hearer knows he/she is the one being addressed and that the hearer knows where the speaker’s slippers are., and so forth. 3.4 Thematic Structure This is similar to what we just finished discussing, but not exactly like it. Thematic structure refers to the organization of the message in the clause. A special status is given to one part of the clause that is called the Theme and the other part is called the Rheme. This simply has to do with what the writer or speaker chose as the starting point of the clause. Discussions on thematic structure was popularized by scholars in Systemic Linguistics and The Prague School. 46 3.5 Theme The theme is the defined as Halliday (1985: 39) as: the element which serves as the starting point for the message He went further to say that the Theme is what the clause is all about. In most cases, the Theme assumes the first position in the clause. For example: 8.6. The president of Nigeria is from the northern part of the country The Theme here refers to a person. In other instance, it may refer to places, time, attitude, and so forth, as we can see in the following examples respectively: 8.6. In Ghana, Nigeria lost a football match 8.7. Last week, I went to Cotonou by road 8.8. In my own opinion, you are wrong 3.6 Rheme The Rheme is defined by Eggins (1993: 275) as: that part of the clause in which the Theme is developed. It is every other part of the clause apart from the Theme. The Rheme is the part of the clause that contains the real message of the clause. The speaker/writer departs at the point of the Theme to supply the message to the hearer/reader. Self-assessment Exercices Take two newspaper editorials and identify the Themes and Rhemes in theme. Also, identify the Given and New information in them. Now, compare the differences and similarities in the Theme/Rheme and Given/New information. 3.7 Marked and Unmarked Themes A marked theme is the unusual Theme. The usual Theme is the one that occupies the position of the subject. This shows that in most cases, the subject position and that of the theme overlap. When there is this overlap, which is often the case, we are said to have and Unmarked Theme. However, when other elements apart from the subject are given prominence by being placed in the initial position, they are called Marked Theme. Examples of Marked Theme are given below: 8.9. While in school, I was very sickly. 47 8.10. Away it flew. 8.11. Strangely, I could not recognize he. 8.12. Before you arrived, my father had spoken about you. In the examples above, we can see other elements functioning as Theme apart from the subject, thereby pushing the subject to a second position in the clause. In 8.9, we have an adverbial group indicating time. In 8.10, we have a complement. In 8.11, we have a comment adjunct, while in 8.12, we have a subordinate adjunct of time. 3.7 Multiple Themes Multiple Themes do sometimes occur in clauses when more than one constituent in the clause are given thematic status. Halliday (1985) identifies three types of theme that can feature in the multiple themes. He used the three dimensional metafunctions: Experiential, Textual and Interpersonal. The three types of theme recognized are the Textual Theme, the Interpersonal Theme and the Topical Theme. The latter, Topical Theme is typically unmarked, because it is the usual Theme. Textual Theme are used mostly in conversation to indicate argument. Interpersonal Themes are used to address listeners in conversation. They are usually signified by first names (David), terms of affection (darling), mood adjuncts (maybe), comment adjuncts (fortunately). Now let us see how multiple themes operate in clauses. Now Darling my aim is to get him to follow me tomorrow TEXTUAL INTERPERSONAL TOPICAL RHEME 4.0 Conclusion The organization of information in the clause structure is determined by the speaker or writer. As we have seen in this unit, a speaker may choose to identify and place a piece of information important to him than others in a position, which ordinarily that piece of information does not occupy. The whole essence of the organization of information is to present elements in their priority to the speaker/writer. In the example above, we can see the textual theme signified by the discourse marker now, showing the boundary of a conversation and indicating that the speaker is about to focus on a specific topic. The word Darling is an affectionate term, which indicates the interpersonal relationship between the speaker and the listener. The topical theme my aim in the sentence above is usually a constant theme. Even when other kinds of theme are not there, the topical theme is always present. The rest of the message is the rheme. 48 5.0 Summary In this Unit, we have examined two related but different aspects of information organization in the English clause: Information Structure and Thematic Structure. We looked at how speaker/writers organize the clause in such a way that they are able to place the information that is important to them before the others. We also identified different types of Theme in the clause structure. The concept of Multiple Themes was also examined and we saw how language users can give thematic status to more than one element. This is a departure from what we had been discussing before, where only one element of the clause structure took up the thematic position. 6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment (i) Select two poems each of Niyi Osundare and Wole Soyinka. Identify and describe how marked themes are used in the poems. (ii) Use a tape recorder to record any natural conversation and identify and discuss the multiple themes used in it. 7.0 References/Further Reading Bloor, T. and Bloor, M. (1995) The Functional Analysis of English, A Hallidayan Approach. London: Arnold. Halliday, M.A.K. (1985) An Introduction to Functional Grammar. London: Edward Arnold. Taiwo, R (2003) “Information Structure and Thematic Structure.” In Lekan Oyeleye and Moji Olateju (Eds) Readings in Language and Literature. Ile-Ife: OAU Press. (87-101) 49 Unit 2: Thematic Progression Contents 1.0 Introduction 2.0 Unit Objectives 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Thematic Progression 3.2 The Constant Theme Pattern 3.3 The Linear Theme Pattern 3.4 The Split Rheme Pattern 3.5 Derived Theme Pattern 4.0 Identifying Themes in Discourse 5.0 Conclusion 6.0 Summary Tutor-marked Assignment 7.0 References/Further Reading 1.0 Introduction This Unit is a continuation of what we looked at in the last Unit. Thematic structure deals with how the message is organized in the clause. Some scholars went beyond the organization of the message in the clause to how thematic choices work in instances of language use longer than the clause, for instance text. They focus on how the theme is organized across sentence boundaries, how themes progress from one sentence to another. This Unit will look at all these 2.0 Unit Objectives At the end of your study of this Unit, you should be able to do the following: explain the concept of “Thematic Progression” illustrate the different thematic progression patterns identify any of the TP patterns when you see them in a text 3.0 Main Content 3.1 Thematic Progression In the last Unit, we looked at the concepts of Theme and Rheme in clauses. We did not go beyond the clause. However, in looking at Thematic Progression, we will look at 50 how themes in different clauses associate and how the entire text becomes a meaningful whole through this interaction. Thematic Progression (TP) refers to how one theme progresses into another from clause to clause. Danes (1974) identified four types of Thematic Progression. In the following sections, we shall discuss each of these in succession. 3.2 The Constant Theme Pattern The first kind of TP is called the Constant Theme Pattern. The constant theme pattern occurs when a common theme is shared by clauses that follow one another in a text. The theme of each clause either refers wholly to the first theme or partly to it. This TP pattern is common in biographical information and other narratives. Example of Constant TP is 1. Mr Sawyer is my friend. 2. He attended Kings College Lagos. 3. After his secondary education, 4. he travelled to England, 5. where he was trained as a lawyer. 6. He was one of the foremost lawyers in Nigeria. You will see that in all the six clauses in this short text, the themes have something to do with Mr. Sawyer either directly or indirectly through the use of first person pronoun he. In the third clause, the expression, his secondary education still refers to Mr. Sawyer. 3.3 The Linear Theme Pattern The Linear Theme Pattern is a pattern in which a rheme is taken up as a theme in a subsequent clause. In other words, the rheme of the last clause becomes the theme of the following clause. An exampole of this is produced below. 1. The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is Umaru Yar’Adua. 2. Umaru Yar’Adua was the last Civilian governor of Katsina State. 3. Katsina State is one of the states in the North Central Nigeria. 4. The North Central Nigeria is regarded as the power base of most politicians in the Northern Nigeria. In the text above, part of the rheme of the first clause (Umaru Yar’Adua) is taken up as the theme for the second clause. Likewise, the nucleus of the rheme for the second clause (Katsina State) is taken up as the rheme for the third clause, and so forth. 3.4 The Split Rheme Pattern The third type of TP is called the Split Rheme Pattern. The split Rheme TP is the type in which the Rheme of the clause has two component and each of the component is taken in turn as the them of subsequent clause. So, the idea is that the components of 51 the rheme are split and elaborated upon in subsequent clauses. An example of the Split Rheme TP is produced below. 1. Nigeria can be conveniently divided into three major regions: the Northern, Western and the Eastern regions. 2. The Northern Region is mainly populated by Hausa speakers and they are mostly Moslems. 3. The Western Region has mainly Yoruba people who are well-exposed to Western education and it has a mixture of Islam and Christianity. 4. The Eastern Region is inhabited mainly by the Igbo speakers, who can be described as the economic livewire of the nation. This text shows clearly that the rheme of the first clause is what is split to develop the text. The rheme has three major components and each of these components was taken in turn to develop each of the subsequent clause. 3.5 The Derived Theme Pattern This kind of TP is a feature of longer text with a variety of topics for discussion. The author may pic

ENG 352 Discourse Analysis Course Material PDF

Document Details

Tags

Related

Summary

Full Transcript

Upgrade to continue