Showing papers on "Discourse analysis published in 1987"

Discourse and Social Psychology: Beyond Attitudes and Behaviour

Abstract: `Potter and Wetherell have genuinely presented us with a different way of working in social psychology. The book's clarity means that it has the power to influence a lot of people ill-at-ease with traditional social psychology but unimpressed with (or simply bewildered by) other alternatives on offer. It could rescue social psychology from the sterility of the laboratory and its traditional mentalism' - Charles Antaki, The Times Higher Education Supplement This book is the first systematic and accessible introduction to the theory and application of discourse analysis within the field of social psychology. Discourse and Social Psychology includes chapters on the theoretical roots of discourse analysis in linguistic philosophy, ethnomethodology and semiotics and an overview on the perspectives of discourse analysis and its utility in studying attitudes. Five substantive chapters are concerned with the key concepts of social psychology. Finally, the authors identify future research directions and present an exhaustive bibliography of all relevant literature. The authors draw on a wide range of examples from written and spoken discourse and avoid jargon at all times, even when introducing complex theoretical issues.

discourse genres in a theory of practice

Abstract: In order to analyze language use within a theory of social practice, it is necessary to develop a coherent approach to speech genres. This paper contributes to such an approach, by treating genres as elements of linguistic habitus, consisting of stylistic, thematic, and indexical schemata on which actors improvise in the course of linguistic production. The empirical focus is “official” Maya language documents produced in 16th-century colonial Yucatan. The rise of novel discourse genres in colonial society was part of the emergence of new, hybrid forms of action. [Mesoamerica, Maya, discourse analysis, social practice]

Rhetorical Structure Theory: A Framework for the Analysis of Texts

Abstract: : Rhetorical Structure Theory is a theory of text organization which provides a framework for an analysis of text. The theory is based on the understanding that a text is not merely a string of clauses, but consists instead of hierarchically organized groups of clauses that stand in various relations to one another. These rhetorical relations can be described functionally in terms of the purposes of the writer and the writer's assumptions about the reader. They hold between two adjacent parts of a text, where, typically, one part is nuclear and one a satellite. An analysis of a text consists in identifying the relations holding between successively larger parts of the text, yielding a natural hierarchical description of the rhetorical organization of the text. The paper informally outlines RST's mechanisms and applications, which include studies of clause combining, coherence and assertional effects of discourse structure. RST characteristically provides comprehensive analyses rather than selective commentary. RST is insensitive to text size, and has been applied to a wide variety of sizes of text. Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Computational linguistics, Discourse, Discourse analysis, Discourse structure, Linguistics, Natural language, Text structures.

The Writing of Research Article Introductions

Abstract: Introductions to research articles (RAs) have become an important site for the analysis of academic writing. However, analysts have apparently not considered whether RA introductions typically incl...

Knowledge elicitation using discourse analysis

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the use of discourse analysis and observation to elicit expert knowledge. In particular, we describe the use of these techniques to acquire knowledge about expert problem solving in an information provision environment. Our method of analysis has been to make audio-recordings of real-life information interactions between users (the clients) and human intermediaries (the experts) in document retrieval situations. These tapes have then been transcribed and analysed utterance-by-utterance in the following ways: assigning utterances to one of the prespecified functional categories; identifying the specific purposes of each utterance; determining the knowledge required to perform each utterance; grouping utterances into functional and focus-based sequences. The long-term goal of the project is to develop an intelligent document retrieval system based on a distributed expert, blackboard architecture.

Now let's talk about now; identifying cue phrases intonationally

Abstract: Cue phrases are words and phrases such as now and by the way which may be used to convey explicit information about the structure of a discourse. However, while cue phrases may convey discourse structure, each may also be used to different effect. The question of how speakers and hearers distinguish between such uses of cue phrases has not been addressed in discourse studies to date. Based on a study of now in natural recorded discourse, we propose that cue and non-cue usage can be distinguished intonationally, on the basis of phrasing and accent.

Discourse Communities, Sacred Texts, and Institutional Norms

Abstract: The systematic investigation of "the speech community" has long been a subject of inquiry among linguists, from the dialectologists who charted rural speech forms in the mid-1800s (Gumperz 116) to the dialectologists of the 1960s who, following the innovations of Labov, initiated the first serious interest in the speech of the cities (Halliday 154-55). Although speech communities have been variously characterized (Hudson 25-30), we may adopt Hymes's definition: "a community sharing rules for the conduct and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one linguistic variety," for example, standard, vernacular, dialect, etc. (54). The ethnography of communication focuses on speech communities and the organization of communication within them (Saville-Troike 17). Despite this long history of inquiry, speech communities have not traditionally been an area of study in rhetoric. As Martin Nystrand writes in What Writers Know, rhetoric has tended to focus on audience, linguistics, on the speech community: "The rhetorical study of audience" takes "into account the ways in which writers locate all available means for achieving particular effects on readers. .... The linguistics of writing, by contrast, is the examination of the effects of readers, as speech community of the writer, upon writers and the texts they compose" (1-2). Only recently have compositional studies begun to investigate communities of writers and readers, though the terminology seems to be changing, to "discourse communities," in order to signal the focus on the written rather than just the spoken. Patricia Bizzell, for example, argues that lack of familiarity with the academic discourse community is an important cause of students' writing problems, and both James A. Reither and Kenneth A. Bruffee discuss the importance of enabling students to understand discourse communities' bodies of knowledge, conventions, and strategies. Marilyn M. Cooper attempts to describe a discourse community and the dialectic involved as discoursers and community each act upon the other and change each other. In

Becoming Literate in English as a Second Language

Abstract: This volume contains empirical research on issues relevant to understanding the educational experiences of minority language students in American public schools. Bringing together some of the most recent empirical findings regarding the acquisition of literacy in English as a second language from fields such as anthropology, special education, cognitive psychology, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics, it helps readers understand the difficulties involved in the process of English literacy acquisition of speakers of other languages and the reasons why some minorities experience lower levels of academic success.

Children's discourse skill: Form and modality requirements of schooled writing

Abstract: This article describes a psycholinguistic investigation of children's competence in the production of extended discourse. Two factors are of special interest: Discourse Form (specifically narrative versus expository) and Production Modality (written versus spoken). Analyses of 240 elementary school texts reveal interactions between these two factors and provide insights into the process of text production. Theoretical explanations are offered that involve interactions among access of information from a knowledge base and structural characteristics of the two discourse forms examined here.

Sociolinguistics for Educational Researchers

Abstract: Educational researchers are fascinated by the language of the classroom. Although they agree that language plays an important role in teaching and learning, they differ in approaches to its study. Describing their differences, Koehler observes that "two types of teaching process studies have evolved: those which attempt to describe or define the process and those which attempt to determine which teaching processes are effective in relation to desired outcomes such as student achievement" (Koehler, 1978, cited in Cazden, 1986, p. 432). The latter group is interested in what Duncan and Biddle called the "process-product" relation of teacher communication to student learning (Duncan & Biddle, 1974, p. 50). This approach has dominated classroom research for more than a decade and is familiar to readers of AERJ. A second approach aims, in Koehler's words, "to define and describe" the teaching process. Included here are studies of the social and academic functions of language in classrooms ( azden, John, & Hymes, 1972). Although called by a variety of names .iese studies have in common the influence of "sociolinguistics" or the "'ethnography of communication" (Gumperz & Hymes, 1972; Hymes, 1974). The ethnographic study of classroom communication may be less familiar to readers of AERJ than the process-product approach. Therefore, in writing this introductory paper, I have three goals: (a) to provide a brief overview of sociolinguistics for educational researchers; (b) to describe the relevance of sociolinguistics to understanding classrooms; and (c) to suggest ways to assess the adequacy of a sociolinguistic study. It is hoped that this introduction will inform readers new to the approach and will encourage sociolinguists to contribute their work to AERJ.

Transitivity and discourse continuity in Chamorro narratives

Abstract: The series is a platform for contributions of all kinds to this rapidly developing field General problems are studied from the perspective of individual languages, language families, language groups, or language samples Conclusions are the result of a deepened study of empirical data Special emphasis is given to little-known languages, whose analysis may shed new light on long-standing problems in general linguistics

A reformulation of thematic progression typology

Abstract: To complement existing studies of thematic progression across more or less extensive corpora, each instance of thematic progression in a biomedical slide talk was traced. To the Danes (1974) linear' and 'constant'types, which are 'simple'and 'contiguous', must be added 'multiple'and 'gapped'development. Marked and unmarked themes co-occur in 36.7% of the independent clauses. On the basis of the progressions described here, Danes's terminology is reevaluated and simplified: a theme that is not new has undergone either 'rhemic' or 'themic' progression, with possibilities for 'separation' and '(re)integration' of thematic material. The 'hypertheme' is seen not as a third type of progression, but at best, as a subtype of either themic or rhemic at an indirect level of givenness. Answers to some of the questions posed by Taylor (1983) are given.

The humanist turn in Foucault's rhetoric of inquiry

Abstract: The authors discuss the relationship of Michel Foucault's work to the humanist perspective. They argue that Fisher is inaccurate in characterizing Foucault as an “anti‐humanist.” Instead, Foucault is properly read as sympathetic to the humanist perspective, and his concept of the “statement” and method of critique turn the humanist perspective away from an institutionalized, perhaps ideological, form that legitimizes the extant social order, and toward a liberating, activist form that allows for change within the status quo.

A pragmatic theory of rhetoric

Abstract: Walter H. Beale offers" "the most coherent treatment of the aims and modes of discourse to be presented in more than a decade. His development of a semiotic grammar of motives that relates the problems of meaning in discourse both to linguistic structure and ways of constructing reality stands as a provocative new theory of rhetoric sharply focused on writing. He includes a comprehensive treatment of rhetoric, its classes and varieties, modes, and strategies. In addition, he demonstrates the importance of the purpose, substance, and social context of discourse, at a time when scholarly attention has become preoccupied with process. He fortifies and extends the Aristotelian approach to rhetoric and discourse at a time when much theory and pedagogy have yielded to modernist assumptions and methods. And finally, he develops a theoretical framework that illuminates the relationship between rhetoric, the language arts, and the human sciences in general."

Discourse in Courts: Cooperation, Coercion, and Coherence.

Abstract: This paper addresses itself to the relevance of Grice's model in accounting for coherent discourse in courts of law. Using examination and cross‐examination episodes of 8 trials, 19 discourse rules were identified and all were shown to be congruent with Grice's Cooperative Principle. At the same time, however, it was also demonstrated that these rules were not easily or readily adhered to. In fact, a contradiction was found to exist: courts need to coerce participants to be cooperative. Given this coercion, it was suggested that adherence to the Cooperative Principle is not something that occurs “normally”. The evidence from this and other studies was used to argue that the criteria of maximally efficient information exchange used by Grice, and the courts, is inadequate for accounting for, or ensuring, coherent discourse in any context.

Michel Foucault's theory of rhetoric as epistemic

Abstract: In this essay, Michel Foucault's notion of the discursive formation is used as a starting point for formulation of a middle‐level theory that explains the process by which rhetoric is epistemic. Five theoretical units derived from Foucault's work‐discursive practices, rules, roles, power, and knowledge‐are discussed, along with the relationships among them. Foucault's theory then is illustrated in an analysis of Disneyland, a system of discursive acts that result in clearly specified knowledge or truth of a particular kind. Finally, the contributions Foucault's theory makes to the debate on rhetoric as epistemic are discussed.

The Statement: Foundation of Foucault's Historical Criticism.

Abstract: Beginning with an overview of his approach to the study of historical systems of thought, this essay makes the claim that Michel Foucault's views of historical criticism and language‐in‐use have a great deal to offer rhetorical theory and criticism. More important, it argues that, if we are to assess Foucault's archaeological method in terms of its value for rhetorical criticism, an understanding of Foucault's notion of discourse is vital. Discussions of the three‐dimensional nature of discourse, together with an examination and illustration of the characteristics of the fundamental discursive datum, the statement, suggest a more extensive exploration of Foucault's corpus.

An Experimental Investigation of the Determinants of Implicitness in Spoken and Written Discourse.

Abstract: Traditionally, spoken language has been characterized as relatively implicit (or context dependent) when compared with written language, which is seen as explicit. This paper examines the relations...

Achieving 'Unmarkedness' in Organisational Discourse: A Praxis Perspective on Ethnolinguistic Identity:

Abstract: An ethnomethodological approach to ethnolinguistic identity is presented using the linguistic concept of 'markedness' as a heuristic innovation to explore the dynamics of ethnolinguistic minorities in work settings. A matrix is proposed that consists of a marked/unmarked boundary and a high/low power boundary. Four propositions relating to crossing the boundaries are advanced, and illustrative evidence supporting each proposition is developed in a discourse analysis of talk in a large hotel work site. The paper concludes that a more praxisoriented perspective on ethnolinguistic identity can enrich understanding of the three concepts embedded in that term ethnicity, language, and identity.