DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Introduction

Discourse analysis (DA) is a hybrid field of enquiry. Its development began to take
shape inthe early1970s, in such as a disciplines as anthropology, linguistics, semiotics,
psychology, sociology, and mass communication research. DA is commonly defined as
analysis of language sentence. Stubbs (1983:1) defines DA as study which concern language
use beyond the boundaries of a sentence, the interships between language and society, and the
interactive or dialogic properties of everyday communication. DA is not only about method
but also a perspective on the nature of language and its relationship to the social sciences.
The goal of this section is to desvribe approaches commonly used in DA, it attemps to
introduce the students with some strategies which can be employed in DA.

1. Speech Act Theory

Speech act theory is a theory of language based on Austin's 1975, its major premise is
that language is a mode of action as it means of conveying information. The basic emphasis
of this theory is on what an utterer (u) means by his utterance (x) rather than what x means in
language (L). speech art can be analysed on three levels: (1) A locutionary act (2) an
illocutionary acts (3) a perluctionary act. Austin (1975) classified verbs into two :
performatives and Constatives.
Ceremonial or Ritual speech act: Austin (1975) observed the sentences are not always
used report state affairs: some sentences, in certain circumstances, must be treated as the
performance of an act Austin. They function not for communicating but for affecting
institutional states of affairs.
Ordinary Speech act : In real life interactions, we perform speech acts when we offer
an apology, greeting, rerequest, complaint, invitation, compliment,or refusal. In conclusion,
speech theory is basically concerned with what people 'do' with language--with function of
language.
2. Etnography of Communication
Hymes argued that both inguists and antropologist were mising an important area of
human communication. The Etnography of Communication is an approach to discourse, whic
is based on linguists and antrophology. It focuses on wider range of communicative behavior
whose forms and function can represent different ways of life. According to HYmes (1986:
102) linguists have ignored the study of communicative patterns and systems of language use.
Methodology Used in Ethnography of Comunnication.
Hymes (1974) proposed a methodology used to discover communicative events. With
this method one can discover communicative acts by classifying the components in which the
communication may be potentiaaly comprised. The classificiatory grid he proposed is known
as the SPEAKING grid.
 Hymes's SPEAKING can be described as follows, each letter reffering to be different
possible component of communication.
S Setting, Scene Time & place of an act and the psychal circumstances
Participants Speaker/sender/adresser
P
Hearer/receiver/audience/addreses
E Ends Purposes and goals or outcomes
A Act Sequence Message form and content
K Key Tone, manner
Instrumentalities Channel (verbal, non verbal, physical) / Forms speech drawn
I
from community repertoire
Norms of interaction Spesific properties attached to speaking interpretation and
N
interpretation of norms within cultural belief system.
G Genre Textual categories.
(Hymes, 1974; Coulthard,1985;Schiffrin,1999)

3. Pragmatics
Pragmatics is another broad approach to discourse. It is the study of the use of context
to make inferences about meaning. Some of the aspetcs of language studied in pragmatics
include : deixes, presuppotion, performative, implicature.A basic idea is that they obey
certain principles in their participation so as to sustain the conversatin, called Cooperative
Principle. Sperber and Wilson (1986) who holad that in verbal communication people try to
be relevant to what they intend to say and whom an utterance is intended, called "relevance
Theory"
This focus of reasearch in pragmatics is learner language or interlanguage. This
interest eventually evolved into interlanguage pragmatics, a branch of pragmatics whic
specifically disccuses how on non-notive speakers comprehend. There are two central
concepts proposed by Grice : the speaker meaning and cooperative principle.

Speaker Meaning
These concepts provide with distinction between two kinds of meaning: semantic and
pragmatic. Grice defines as non-natural meaning and natural meaning. Non-natural meaning
is roughly equivalent to intenional communication whereas natural meaning is lack human
intentionally. Grice's framework allows speaker meaning to be free of conventional meaning.
Speaker meaning may be inferred through a process quite different from the encoding and
decoding processes assumed by the code mode of communication.

Cooperative Principle
An implicature is an implication or suggestion deduced from the form of an utterance.
A conversational implicature uses the cooperative pricnciples which goven the efficiency of
conversation. Implicature is much dependent on conversational principles, therefore, contect
mediates the relationship between sign and user.
It is subdivided into a set of conversational maxims and sub-maxims as described
below:
 1. The maxim of Quantity
submaxim :
a. Makeyour contribution as informative as is required
b. Do not make your contribution more informative than is required.
2. The Maxim of quality
subamxim :
a. Do not say what you believe to be false
b. Do not say that for which you lackadequate evidence
3. The maxim of Relation: be Relevant
4. The Maxim of Manner: be perspicuos
submaxim :
a. Avoid obscurity of expression
b. Avoid ambiguity
c. Be brief
d. Be orderly

According to Grice (1975) there are five ways conversationalists deal with maxim. they are
as follows:

1. Speaker or conversationalist can straight forwardly follow the maxims.

2. Someone may violate a maxim when he deliberately will tell a lie.
3. A speaker can 'opt out' of maxim.
4. A maxim can be violated such as in a case when someone has to violate one maxim to
fulfill another.
5. A maxim can be flouted.