Understanding Discourse Analysis

Bernadette Vine is Senior Researcher and Corpus Manager for the Language in the Workplace Project, based at the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (www.wgtn.ac.nz/lwp). Bernadette’s research interests include workplace communication, leadership and New Zealand English.

"Those studying discourse analysis will love this book which is richly illustrated with examples from diverse languages and cultures. Using a delightfully reader-friendly style, Bernadette Vine adroitly introduces students to the major approaches and the most important figures in discourse analysis." Janet Holmes, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand"For anyone wanting to know how discourse analysis is done, and why it is done in different but related ways, Understanding Discourse Analysis will provide an excellent, practical guide. It is accessible, features authentic data from different contexts and languages, and is highly interactive."Michael Handford, Cardiff University, UK

• ContentsAcknowledgementsTranscription ConventionsPart I Introducing Discourse Analysis1 Introduction to Discourse AnalysisIntroduction Definitions1.1.1 What is discourse?1.1.2 What is discourse analysis? What are some of the dimensions of discourse that may be explored? 1.2.1 Vocabulary1.2.2 Syntax1.2.3 Turn-taking1.2.4 Summary1.3 What are some of the things we do when we communicate?1.3.1 What are some transactional or practical goals?1.3.2 What about relational goals?1.4 Language and identity 1.5 Outline of the rest of the bookChapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercises2 The foundations of Discourse AnalysisIntroduction2.1 The birth of discourse analysis2.2 Speech Act Theory2.2.1 What is Speech Act Theory?2.2.2 Searle’s taxonomy of speech acts2.2.3 Why is Speech Act Theory useful?2.3 Grice's cooperative principle, implicature and conversational maxims 2.3.1 Grice’s cooperative principle and implicature2.3.2 Grice’s maxims of conversation2.3.3 Why was Grice’s work important?2.4 Hymes' Ethnography of Communication, SPEAKING model2.4.1 Hymes and the Ethnography of Communication2.4.2 The SPEAKING model2.4.3 The importance of Hymes’ work2.5 Leech's politeness theory2.5.1 Leech’s approach to politeness2.5.2 Leech’s maxims2.5.3 The importance of Leech’s work2.6 Brown and Levinson's politeness theory2.6.1 Brown and Levinson's approach to politeness2.6.2 Key concept: Face2.6.3 Threats to face2.6.4 Politeness strategies2.6.5 The importance of Brown and Levinson's theoryChapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercisesPart II. Some key approaches to analysing discourse3 Corpus Approaches to Discourse AnalysisIntroduction3.1 The origins and development of Corpus Approaches to Discourse Analysis3.2 Introducing Corpus Approaches to Discourse Analysis3.2.1 Some basic terms and concepts3.2.2 Utilising corpora in discourse analysis research3.3 Exploring words and phrases3.3.1 Basic searches and exploring frequencies3.3.2 Keywords and exploring distinctiveness3.3.3 The use of phrases and formulaic language3.3.4 Collocations and exploring words that frequently occur close to each other3.3.5 Concordance lines and exploring the immediate discourse context further3.3.6 Summary3.4 Beyond words and phrases3.5 Why take a Corpus Approach to Discourse Analysis?Chapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercises4 Conversation AnalysisIntroduction4.1 The origins and development of Conversation Analysis4.2 What are some key concepts in Conversation Analysis?4.2.1 Action and sequence4.2.2 Turn-taking4.2.3 Adjacency pairs4.2.4 Sequence organisation4.2.5 Preference4.2.6 Repair4.2.7 Summary4.3 Beyond ‘conversation’: Institutional settings4.3.1 Medical settings4.3.2 Legal settings4.3.3 Media settings4.3.4 Summary4.4 New mediums of communicationChapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercises5 Interactional SociolinguisticsIntroduction5.1 The origins and development of Interactional Sociolinguistics5.2 What are some key concepts in Interactional Sociolinguistics?5.2.1 Contextualisation cues5.2.2 Conversational inference5.2.3 Framing5.2.4 Norms and conversational style5.2.5 Indexicality and stance5.2.6 Summary5.3 Some key topics in Interactional Sociolinguistics5.3.1 The use of discourse strategies5.3.2 The construction of routine encounters5.3.3 The discursive creation of relationships5.3.4 Identity5.3.5 SummaryChapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercises6 Critical Discourse StudiesIntroduction6.1 The origins and development of Critical Discourse Studies6.2 What are some key concepts in Critical Discourse Studies?6.2.1 Power6.2.2 Ideologies6.2.3 What about the critical aspect of Critical Discourse Studies?6.2.4 History6.2.5 Summary6.3 Key domains in Critical Discourse Studies6.3.1 Political discourse6.3.2 Media discourse6.3.3 Summary6.4 Types of analysis and methodologies in Critical Discourse Studies6.4.1 Corpus linguistics and Critical Discourse Studies6.4.2 Multimodal analysis in Critical Discourse StudiesChapter summaryFurther readingExercisesNotes on exercisesPart III. Conclusions and applications7 Key approaches and applications Introduction7.1 Comparison of approaches7.1.1 Types of data explored7.1.2 Analytic approaches and methods7.1.3 Issues explored7.1.4 Summary7.2 Applications of Discourse Analysis7.2.1 Applied Conversation Analysis7.2.2 Applications within Interactional Sociolinguistics7.2.3 Applications and Critical Discourse Studies7.2.4 Applying discourse analysisChapter summaryFurther readingIndexReferences