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.
Discourse Analysis Approaches to Discourse Supervisor: Prof Nguyễn Hòa Group 9: Đặng Thị Phương Mai Vũ Thị Mẫu Hoàng Trà My Bùi Thị Nga Outline Functional vs formal paradigms Pragmatics theory Interactional sociolinguistics approaches to DA Speech Act Theory Interactional Sociolinguistics The Ethnography of Communication Pragmatics Conversation Analysis Variation Analysis approaches to DA Speech Act Theory Interactional Sociolinguistics The Ethnography of Communication Pragmatics Conversation Analysis Variation Analysis 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 Formal Formal vs Functional approaches Functional Structure of language Structure of speech (act, (code) as grammar event) as ways of speaking Analysis of code prior to Analysis of use prior to analysis of use analysis of code Referential function Stylistic or social functions All languages necessarily All languages not (potentially) equal necessarily (potentially) equal Fundamental concepts Fundamental concepts taken for granted taken a problematic and to be investigated Formal vs Functional approaches Leech (1983) suggests other ways of differentiating formalism and functionalism Formal Language as phenomenon a Functional mental Language as phenomenon a societal Linguistic universals as deriving Linguistic universals as deriving from a common generic from the universality of the linguistic inheritance of the uses to which language is put in human species 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 Language in relation system social function to its 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 PRESUPPOSITION E.g.: Have you stopped beating your wife? IMPLICATURE E.g.: He is an Englishman, he is, therefore, brave INFERENCING E.g.: If it’s sunny, it’s warm It’s sunny 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 The co-operative principle Grice (1975) says: “Make your conversational contribution such as required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged.” (cited in Nguyen Hoa, 2000: 61) 4 maxims: quantity, quality, relation, and manner Introduction 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 Introduction 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 Introduction For example: Have you eaten yet? (in Vietnamese and Chinese) = How are you? (in English) 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 macrolevel social meanings (group identity, status differences) and create microlevel social meaning (what one is saying and doing at the moment in time) Contribution of anthropology: Gumperz For example Different social groups express definite linguistic differences when communicating each other 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 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 ... sociolinguistics approaches to DA Speech Act Theory Interactional Sociolinguistics The Ethnography of Communication Pragmatics Conversation Analysis Variation Analysis approaches to DA Speech Act... Functional approaches Formal Formal vs Functional approaches Functional Structure of language Structure of speech (act, (code) as grammar event) as ways of speaking Analysis of code prior to Analysis... “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