Page 265 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 19: Discourse

exercise which is not to be found in ordinary coursebooks. That variety of tasks was deliberately Notes
chosen so as to expand the knowledge of discursive devices to which most teachers pay close
attention, namely linking words and phrases, by an additional set of useful tools. Moreover, in
spite of the fact that the study was to check the perception and implementation of lexical chains in
written texts, it might also be found useful in understanding long speeches, which makes them
even more useful for learners. The assignments, together with the key of answers, which were
used in the study are included in the appendices section
19.2 Definition of Discourse

Since its introduction to modern science the term 'discourse' has taken various, sometimes very
broad, meanings. In order to specify which of the numerous senses is analyzed in the following
dissertation it has to be defined. Originally the word 'discourse' comes from Latin 'discursus'
which denoted 'conversation, speech'. Thus understood, however, discourse refers to too wide an
area of human life, therefore only discourse from the vantage point of linguistics, and especially
applied linguistics, is explained here.
Linguistic had focused its analysis on sentence until the begining of decade 1950s. Then in 1952,
a famous linguist in linguistic discipline, Harris published an article entitled "Discourse Analysis"
in Language magazine. He expressed a new opinion stating that the most complete unit of language
is discourse, not a sentence. That opinion had brought linguist started to analyze language basic
on discourse.
Discourse analysis is not only widely recognized as one of the vastest, but also the least defined
areas in linguistics. One reason for this statement is that our understanding to discourse analysis
is based on scholar from a number of academic disciplines that are actually very different from
one to another. However, as the least defined areas in linguistics, the study of discourse analysis
is supposed to be the most important study of language.
According to Schiffrin, there are three definitions of discourse which are influenced by different
paradigms where they reflect to different assumption between formalist, functionalist, and formalist-
functionalist dichotomy. Discourse is often defined in two ways: a particular unit of language
(above the sentence), and a particular focus (on language use). These two definitions of discourse
reflect the difference between formalis and functionalist paradigm. And Schiffrin also suggests
two prominent definitions, namely as a unit of language larger than a sentence and as language
use.
1. The first is the classic definition of discourse as derived from formalist (in Hyme's 1974b terms,
"structural") assumptions is that discourse as a unit above the sentence is not just a definiton of
discourse, but a way of leading to a particular type of analysis. Although this definition and
analysis to which it leads can be appealing, it also raises some problems. First, the view of
discourse as a unit above the sentence allows one to focus quite easily upon how syntactic
properties of clauses or sentences contribute to higher level structures of a text, e.g. specific
properties of sentences, such as word order to typotactic versus paratactic coordination, can be
related to the properties of texts. Second, structural view of discourse places discourse in a
hierachy of languagestructure thus developing yhe view that one can describe in a unitary way
that continues unimpeded from morpheme to clause in sentence to discourse. Concerning with
the definition of discourse as language above the sentence, many contemporary structural
analysis of discourse view the sentence as the unit of which discourse is comprised. One
immediate problem ia that units in which people speak do not always seem like sentence.
2. The second definition to be considered replaces what is basically a formalist trust with a
functionalist trust discourse is language use. Schiffrin considers a functionalist view: "The
study of discourse is the study of any aspect of language use." And another statement is Brown
and Yule's "the analysis of discourse, is necessarily, the analysis of language use. As such, it
can not be restricted the description of linguistics forms independent of the purposes or functions
which these forms are designed to serve in human affairs."

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