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Discourse Analysis

What's discourse analysis? Discourse analysis is sometimes defined as the analysis of language "beyond the sentence". This contrasts with types of analysis more typical of modern linguistics, which are chiefly concerned with the study of grammar. Discourse analysis studies larger chunks of language as they flow together. Some discourse analysts consider the larger discourse context to understand how it affects the meaning of the sentence. Discourse analysis deals with language in context, linking the utterance with its social situation.

Reframing is a way to talk about going back and re-interpreting the meaning of the first sentence. Frame analysis is a type of discourse analysis that asks, "What activity are speakers engaged in when they say this?", "What do they think they're doing by talking in this way at this time?".

A speech act is something expressed by an individual that not only presents information.

but perform an action as well. Speech acts can be analyzed on three levels:

MICROFUNCTIONS -> AUSTIN-

a locutionary act: the performance of an utterance, the actual utterance and its apparent meaning, comprising any and all of its verbal, social and rhetorical meanings, all of which correspond to the verbal, syntactic and semantic aspects of any meaningful utterance.

l'esecuzione di un'espressione, l'espressione reale e il suo significato apparente, comprendente tutti i suoi significati verbali, sociali e retorici, che corrispondono agli aspetti verbali, sintattici e semantici di qualsiasi espressione significativa.

For example the phrase "Don't go into the water" (a locutionary act with distinct phonetic, syntactic and semantic features) counts as warning to the listener not to go into the water (an illocutionary force). If the listener heeds the warning the speech act has been successful in persuading the listener not to go into water (a perlocutionary effect).

Esempio: la frase "Don't go into the water" (un atto locutorio con caratteristiche fonetiche, sintattiche e semantiche distinte) conta come avvertimento per l'ascoltatore di non andare in acqua (una forza illogica). Se l'ascoltatore ascolta l'avvertimento, l'atto di discorso è riuscito a persuadere l'ascoltatore a non andare in acqua (un effetto perlocutorio).

- Una forza illocutoria: il risultato attivo della richiesta implicita o del significato presentato dall'atto locutorio. La nozione di un atto illocutorio è strettamente legata alle enunciazioni performative e constative di Austin: un'enunciazione è performante solo se viene emessa nel corso del "fare di un'azione", con cui intende la realizzazione di un atto illocutorio. Austin ha introdotto l'atto illocutorio mediante un contrasto con altri aspetti del "fare" attraverso il "parlare": l'atto illocutorio è un atto compiuto nel dire qualcosa.

As contrasted with a locutionary act, the act of saying something, an act performed by saying something. One way to think about the difference between an illocutionary act (command, promise, declaration) and an perlocutionary act (listener's reaction) is that in each case a declaration, command or promise has necessarily taken place in virtue of the utterance itself, whether the hearer believes in or acts upon it. When somebody says, "Is there any salt?" at the dinner table, the illocutionary act is a request ("please give me some salt") even though the locutionary act (the literal sentence) was to ask a question about the presence of salt.

A perlocutionary effect: the actual effect of the locutionary and illocutionary acts, as viewed at the level of its consequences. It is in some sense external to the performance and it may be thought of as the effect of the illocutionary act via the locutionary act. "By the way, I have a CD of Sting, would you like to borrow?

"it?" where its illocutionary function is an offer, while its intended perlocutionary effect might be to impress the listener or to encourage an interest in a particular type of music.

So, we can say that locution is what was said and meant, illocution is what was done, and perlocution is what happened as a result.

In the course of performing speech acts we communicate with each other. The content of communication may be identical with the content intended to be communicated. However, the meaning of the linguistic means used may also be different from the content intended to be communicated. One common way of performing speech acts is to use an expression which indicates one speech act, and indeed perform this act, but also performs a further speech act, which is indirect. One may, for instance, say "Peter, can you close the window?" thereby asking Peter whether he will be able to close the window, but also requesting that he does so. Since the request is performed indirectly, by

meansof directly performing a question, it counts as an indirect speech act. An evenmore indirect way of making such a request would be to say, in Peter'spresence in the room with the open window, "I'm cold". Indirect speech acts arecommonly used to reject proposals and to make requests. Searle's taxonomy of speech acts: MICROFUNCTIONS representatives: speech acts that commit a speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition (stating, telling, insisting) directives: speech acts that are to cause the hearer to take a particular action (ordering, requesting, warning, prohibiting, daring). commissives: speech acts that commit a speaker to some future action with the purpose of commitment (pledging, vowing, promising) expressives: speech acts that express on the speaker's attitudes and emotions towards the proposition with the purpose of the stance (admiring, deploring) declarations: speech acts that change the reality in accord with theproposition of the declaration (blessing, baptizing, dismissing)verdictives: speech acts with the purpose of an assessment MACROFUNCTIONS According to Jakobson, any act of verbal communication is composed of six elements: 1. a context (the other verbal signs in the same message and the world in which the message takes place). 2. an addresser (a sender, or enunciator). 3. an addressee (a receiver or enunciate). 4. a contact between an addressee and addresser. 5. a common code. 6. a message. The emotive (expressive) function relates to the addresser and is best exemplified by interjections and other sound changes that do not alter the denotative meaning of an utterance but to add information about the addresser's internal state, "wow what a view". It's author's centered (1 P. I)ST and characterized by idiosyncrasies. We can find it in autobiographies, literary texts, speeches, personal correspondence, etc. The conative (vocative & imperative)formatted). It is characterized by the use of figurative language, such as metaphors and similes, and the emphasis on the aesthetic qualities of the language. It is often used in poetry, literature, and artistic expressions. The emotive function expresses the speaker's emotions, attitudes, and opinions. It is characterized by the use of exclamations, interjections, and subjective language. It aims to evoke a specific emotional response from the reader or listener. We can find it in personal letters, diary entries, and expressive writing. The phatic function focuses on establishing and maintaining social relationships. It is characterized by small talk, greetings, and other social pleasantries. Its main purpose is to create a sense of connection and rapport between the speaker and the listener. We can find it in casual conversations, social media interactions, and informal communication. The metalinguistic function refers to language used to talk about language itself. It is characterized by the use of definitions, explanations, and discussions about words, grammar, and language rules. It is often used in linguistic studies, language teaching, and academic discourse. The textual function refers to the organization and structure of the text. It includes elements such as headings, subheadings, bullet points, and other formatting techniques that help guide the reader through the text. It is essential for creating coherence and clarity in written communication. Overall, these functions of language serve different purposes and are used in various contexts to convey meaning and achieve specific communication goals. By understanding and utilizing these functions, we can effectively communicate and engage with others.

The phatic function is language for the sake of interaction and is therefore associated with the channel/contact factor. It can be observed in greetings and casual discourse of the weather. It also provides the keys to open, maintain, verify or close the communication channel: "Hello!", "Ok?", "Bye!"

The metalingual function is the use of language/code to discuss or describe itself.

The overall meaning of an utterance has to be established pragmatically. A text is an actual use of language. Linguistic communication is not achieved by individual units of language, such as words, sounds or sentences. People, primarly and essentially, use combinations of these language units to express a whole idea in verbal communication. Text, as a linguistic term, is used to refer to these combinations and the function of language is to organize people's common activities. A text is produced and interpreted between

Two people in uncertain context, because human beings use language to communicate with others. Context is the frame of reference. It can be classified into linguistic context, situational context, and cultural context.

Linguistic context refers to the context within the discourse, that is the relationship between the words, phrases, and sentences. Linguistic context can be explored from three aspects: deictic, co-text, and collocation. In a language event, people must know where they are in space and time, and these features relate directly to the deictic context, so time expressions (now, then, after, etc.), spatial expressions (here, there, etc.), and person expression (I, you, etc.).

Situational context refers to the environment, time, and place in which the discourse occurs and also the relationship between the participants. This theory is further approached with the idea of register, that is the language spoken at a particular time, influenced by what the participants are doing there and by the ongoing.

Social activity. Register helps to clarify the interrelationship with of language with context by handling it under three basic headings: field, tenor and mode.

Field of discourse refers to the ongoing activity and we may say field is the linguistic reflection of the purposive role of language user in the situation in which a text has occurred. What is going on?

Tenor refers to the kind of social relationship enacted in or by the discourse. Tenor highlights the way in which linguistic choices are affected not just by the topic or subject of communication but also by the kind of social relationship within which communication is taking place. Who is taking part?

Mode is the linguistic reflection of the relationship the language user has to medium of transmission. How are the meanings being exchanged?

Cultural context refers to the culture, customs or background of epoch in language communities in which the speaker participate.