Slide presentation Approaches to Discourse

Approaches to Discourse Approaches to Discourse Supervisor Prof Nguyễn Hòa Group 9 Đặng Thị Phương Mai Vũ Thị Mẫu Hoàng Trà My Bùi Thị Nga Discourse Analysis Outline Functional vs formal paradigms Pragmatics theory Interactional sociolinguistics 6 approaches to DA 1 Speech Act Theory 2 Interactional Sociolinguistics 3 The Ethnography of Communication 4 Pragmatics 5 Conversation Analysis 6 Variation Analysis 6 approaches to DA 1 Speech Act Theory 2 Interactional Sociolinguistics 3 The Ethnography.

Approaches to

Discourse

Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hòa

Group 9: Đặng Thị Phương Mai

Vũ Thị Mẫu Hoàng Trà My Bùi Thị Nga Discourse Analysis

1 Functional vs formal paradigms

2 Pragmatics theory

3 Interactional sociolinguistics

Functional vs formal

paradigms

2 paradigms in linguistics provide different assumptions about the

general nature of language and

the goals of linguistics.

Hymes (1974) contrasts Formal and Functional approaches

Analysis of code prior to

analysis of use. Analysis of use prior to analysis of code Referential function Stylistic or social functions All languages necessarily

(potentially) equal. All necessarily languages (potentially) not

equal.

Fundamental concepts

taken for granted. Fundamental taken a problematic and to concepts

be investigated.

Formal vs Functional

approaches

Leech (1983) suggests other ways of

differentiating formalism and

functionalism.Formal Functional

Language as a mental

phenomenon. Language phenomenon.as a societal Linguistic universals as deriving

from a common generic

linguistic inheritance of the

human species.

Linguistic universals as deriving from the universality of the uses to which language is put in human society.

Children’s acquisition of

language in terms of a built-in

human capacity to learn

language.

Children’s acquisition of language in terms of the development of the child’s communicative needs and abilities in society.

Language as an autonomous

system. Language in relation to its social function.

Pragmatics theory

This approach entails a description of

what the speaker/writer and hearer/reader are doing and not

the relationship that exists between one sentence or proposition and another

(Nguyen Hoa, 2000: 54)

Some basic concepts

REFERENCE

E.g.: I hope Linda will still be working when I retire next year She has been working here for almost 20 years

ENTAILMENT

E.g.: He was killed in an accident

Somebody died

Some basic concepts

Bases for inferencing

 According to Leech (1984), inferencing implicatures can be made on the basis of

a.The conventional conceptual meaning of

the utterance.

b The assumption that the speaker is observing

the co-operative principles, and assuming

the hearer to assume that too.

c.Relevant background knowledge.

d.Informal reasoning

(cited in Nguyen Hoa, 2000: 61)

4 maxims: quantity, quality, relation, and manner.

 Concerns anthropology (culture), sociology (society) and linguistics (language)

 2 contributors:

- John Gumperz : how people share same

grammatical knowledge but different messages

- Erving Goffman: how language is situated

in particular circumstances of social life

Interactional sociolinguistics

- is about language, context and the interaction of self and other that provide unity

- Aims at studying the interpretation and function of linguistic forms in socially and culturally situated discourse

Contribution of anthropology:

Gumperz

- The meaning, structure, and use of language is socially and culturally relative

- Language is viewed as a socially and culturally constructed symbol system

that is used in ways that reflect

macro-level social meanings (group identity, status differences) and create micro-

level social meaning (what one is

saying and doing at the moment in time)

1.Open the door!

2.Would you mind opening the door, please?

Functional communication: offering

Contextualization cues: the first utterance - informal situation, the second: formal one

Contribution of sociology: Goffman

Provides a sociological framework for describing and understanding the form and meaning of the social and interpersonal contexts that provide presupposition for the interpretation

of meaning

Contribution of sociology: Goffman

 Goffman differentiates 4 positions:

(i) An animator produces talk

(ii) An author creates talk

(iii) A figure is portrayed through talk

(iv) A principal is responsible for talk.

 These positions can be filled by different people, and a single person can fill a number of participant slots

Contribution of sociology: Goffman

For example

A: Want a piece of candy?

B: No

C: She’s on a diet

 C who says “She is on a diet” is an

animator for B’s principal

“Speak for another”

Is an act whose meaning is also interactionally situated

Is a discourse strategy that is used to create either solidarity or distance

Is an act in which one person takes the role of another and taking the

role of another is itself a way of

showing sequential coherence

“Speak for another”

 For example: context: in a bar

Bartender: Drink?

Jackson: (no reply)

John: Michelob (a kind of wine)

(not “No thanks, I’m not thirsty”)

 The spokesman (animator) uses the other as a basis for a next-utterance but enters into the other’s perspective

to issue a next-utterance from that other’s viewpoint.