Discourse Semantics Analysis

by Drs. I Wayan Suarnajaya, M.A., Ph.D

Discourse as an Aspect of Linguistics

Units of Language Texts Sentences Clauses Phrases Words Phonemes Morphology Phonology Syntax Aspects of Linguistics Discourse

The Other Aspects of Linguistics

Semantics Pragmatics Language Psycholinguistics Psychology Language Sociolinguistics Sociology

A.

The Concepts of Discourse Analysis

Discourse refers to a general term for examples of language use language which has been produced as the result of an act of communication.
Grammar refers the rules a language uses to form grammatical units such as phrase, clause, and sentence.

Other notions of Discourse (Analysis):

Discourse refers to larger units of language such as paragraphs,conversations, and interviews Discourse Analysis is sometimes used to refer to the study of both written and spoken discourse. To some researchers, Discourse Analysis is used to refer to the study of spoken discourse

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To some researchers, Discourse Analysis is used to refer to the study of spoken discourse (conversational analysis) Text Linguistics refers to the study of written discourse, Discourse Analysis: as the study how sentences in spoken and written language form larger meaningful units such as paragraphs, conversations, and interviews.

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The definition indicates that discourse analysis deals with such things as: a)How the choice of articles, pronouns, and tenses affects the structure of discourse. b) The relationship between utterances in a discourse c) The moves made by the speakers to introduce a new topic, change the topic, or assert a high role relationship to other participants.

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Discourse Analysis is the analysis of spoken and written language as it is used to enact social and cultural perspectives and identities. The analysis is concerned with both a theory of language in use as well as a method of research made up of a set of tools of enquiry and strategies for using them. Discourse analysis is then an analysis of language attempting to understand how language works in a fully intergrated way as simultaneously a mental, social, cultural, institutional, and political phenomenon.

Language as action and affiliation People think that the primary purpose of human language is to communicate information or to exchange information. But, language actually serves a great many functions, basically classified into two, namely: a. To scaffold the performance of social activities

Continue ....... b. To scaffold human affiliation within cultures and social groups and institutions. Cultures, social groups, and institutions shape social activities. They also get produced, reproduced, and transformed through human activities. Discourse Analys is therefore concerned with a theory and a method for studying how the

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details of language get recruited on site to pull off specific social activities and social identities memberships in various social groups, cultures, and institution. Language in use is everywhere and always political.

Politics in language in use?

It refers to anything and any place where It refers to anything and any place where human social interactions and relationships human social interactions and relationships have implications for how social goods are have implications for how social goods are or ought to be distributed. Social goods or ought to be distributed. Social goods mean anything that a group of people mean anything that a group of people believe to be a source of power, status, or believe to be a source of power, status, or worth academic intelligence, money, worth academic intelligence, money, control, possessions, verbal abilities, age, control, possessions, verbal abilities, age, wisdom, knowledge, technology, literacy, wisdom, knowledge, technology, literacy, and morality. and morality.

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When speaking, a particular perspective on what the world is like is always considered. This involves in taking perspectives on: what is normal, what is acceptable and not, what is right and not, what is real and not, what is the way things are and not, What is the ways things ought to be and not, what is possible and not, what people like us or people like them do and dont do. These are all also perspectives on how we believe, wish, or act as if potential social goods are or ought to be distributed.

Theory and method in discourse analysis

An approach to discourse analysis refers to the analysis of language as it is used to enact activities, perspectives, and identities. The analysis, in this case, is partly concerned with a method of research. It should be noted that any method always goes with a theory, in the sense that they cannot be separated.

A method of reseaech is a way to investigate some particular domain, which is in the form of language in-use. The study of a domain requires a theory of what the domain is. In discourse analysis, the theory of domain can be in the form of a theory about the nature of language in-use.

Language

Languange and Social Context

Social Context

a. Context of Culture (Genre) b. Context of Situation (Register) Field, Tenor, and Mode The link of the three register categories to clause structure/the structure of language

N0.

Register Categories

Structure of Language

Meaning Potentials (Functional Categories)

1.

Field

Transitivity

Experiential Meaning

2.

Tenor

Mood

Interpersonal Meaning

3.

Mode

Theme

Textual Meaning

Mood Structure: the grammar of interpersonal meaning

Speech role, speech function, and mood type. Speech role Giving: - John is an English teacher

Demanding: -Can I read your novel? Commodity being exchanged: the exchange of information and the exchange of goods and services. Speech role Commodity Exchanged Speech Function

Speech role Commodity Exchanged Function

Giving Information Goods and Services Demanding Question Information Goods and Services

Speech
Statement Offer

Command

Speech function (SF) pairs

Initiating SF Offer Command Statement Question Responding SF of supporting type Acceptance Compliance Acknowledgement Answer Responding SF of confronting type Rejection Refusal Contradiction Disclaimer

Speech function and grammatical structure

a. Speech function is closely related to grammatical system statement is realized through declarative mood and question through interrogative mood, command through imperative as well as declarative. b. There are two types of clause structures to realize the mood structure of a clause: propositions and proposals. c. The devices used to realize interpersonal meaning: positive/negative polarities; interpersonal metaphor modalities and projected modalisation

The grammatical structure of propositions

Mood structure includes Mood and Residue Mood element: - the part of the clause which cannot disappear when responding speaker takes up his/her position; - the ones included in tag question (Subject + Finite). Residue element: predicator, complement, and adjunct. (Further examples see Eggins p. 160).

Transitivity Structure
It includes: Process types, Participants, and Circumstances Subject He He Predicator drove saw Object a car a car

Transitivity structure analysis

Transitivity analysis ---- the types of process,
participants as well as circumstances. Process Types (Butler 1985: 164, Eggins 1994: 228): a.Material process: Actor - Process: material
-Goal/Range/Beneficiary

b.Mental process: Senser- Process: mental - Phenomenon c.Behavioural process: Behaver Process: Behavioural
Behaviour/Phenomenon

d.Verbal process: Sayer Process: verbal Verbiage

(Report, Quote)

e. Existential process: Process: existential - Existent f. Relational process: - Attributive: Carrier Process: relational Attribute - Identifying: Token Process: relational Value Material Process I stayed up all night He invited his friends The postman delivered the letter They tested the instrument

I Actor He Actor The postman Actor

Stayed up Proc: material invited Proc: material delivered Proc: material

all night Circumstances His friends Goal the letter Goal

They Actor

tested Proc: material

the instrument Goal

He made a chair He made a mistake They give you a cognac He handed her the bags Mary cooked dinner for them all She has given birth three times The lady put the food on the table He is cutting the apples with a knife He made the girl carry the bomb They got him arrested by the police

He Actor

made

a chair

Proc: materialGoal

He Actor

made

a mistake

Proc: materialRange

They Actor He Actor Mary Actor

give Proc: mat handed Proc: mat cooked Proc: mat

you Recipient her Recipient dinner Goal

a cognac Goal the bags Goal for them all Client

She Actor The lady Actor He Actor

has

given Process: material put Process: material is cutting Proc: material

birth Range the food Goal

three times Circ: extent on the table Circ: location with a knife Circ: manner

the apples Goal

He Agent

made Proc: causative got Proc: causative

the girl Actor

carry

the bomb

Proc: material Goal

They Agent

him Goal

arrested Proc: material

by the police Actor

Mental Processes --- the meanings of

thinking or feeling, covering: A.Cognition the verbs of thinking, knowing, and understanding B.Affection associated with the verbs of liking, fearing C.Perception having to do with the verbs of hearing and seeing Material Processes vs. Mental Processes
What did X do to Y vs. What do you think/feel/know about X?

Participants in mental processes: a.Senser a concious human participant. b.Phenomenon the participant being thought, felt or perceived by the conscious senser. Examples: - She likes the dance - I heard her leaving - I saw him taking a rest - He did not realize that it was his fault

She Senser I Senser heard

likes Process: mental

the dance Phenomenon: simple

her leaving Phenomenon: act

Process: mental

I Senser He Senser

saw Process: mental did not realize Process: mental

him taking a rest Phenomenon: act that it was his fault Phenomenon: fact

Projection
All mental processes can do projection, which can be both quoting and reporting. Projection of Quoting: I thought, Ill go and give blood. Projection of Reporting: I Thought Id go and give blood.

Behavioural Processes - are the ones

with the semantic features existing between material and mental process. These are the processes dealing with the processes of physiological and psychological behaviour which is concerned with an action that should be experienced by a conscious being. There are some behavioural processes having the semantic feature of mental processes, but they are actually different from their mental process synonyms. Behaviourals look at listen to Mentals see hear

One obligatory participant in behavioural process is a conscious being, behaver. - He sighed patiently -She laughed loudly -She smiled a broad smile at him -Mary sniffed the soup -She tasted the food

He Behaver She Behaver She Behaver

sighed Process: Behavioural laughed Process: Behavioural smiled Process: Behavioural sniffed Process: Behavioural

patiently Circumstance: manner loudly Circumstance: manner at him Circumstance: location

a broad smile Behaviour

Mary Behaver

the soup Phenomenon

She Behaver

tasted Process: Behavioural

the food Phenomenon

Verbal Processes
Verbal processes are the processes of verbal action, covering the action of saying and all other verbal actions that convey similar meanings with saying, such as telling, asking, and talking, etc. The types of participants in verbal processes are: a. Sayer, expressing the verbal process; b. Receiver, the beneficiary of a verbal message; c. Verbiage, a noun referring to some kind of verbal behaviour and derived from the verbal process story associated with telling.

He Sayer

asked Process: verbal

the lady Receiver

Some questions Verbiage

The boy Sayer

is

talking Process: verbal

about the accident Circumstance: manner

Projection in mental and verbal processes

Projection in mental processes is concerned with reporting or quoting ideas Projection in verbal processes deals with reporting or quoting speech referred to as locutions in Hallidays terms.

Processes of being
These are the processes that are not concerned with action meaning. They convey the states of being, covering existential and relational processes

Existential Processes
An existential process is concerned with the statement that something exists. The statement starts with the introductory there, which does not convey any meaning, but which is required to start certain clauses in English

Example: There is a man in front of the school - The use of the word be or its synonyms like exist, arise, and occur characterizes existential processes. - The word there, in this case, is not analyzed for transitivity since it does not convey any representational meaning. - There are two constituents in an existential process, namely the process itself and an obligatory participant called existent There was a wallet on the floor.

There

was Proc: existential

a wallet Existent

on the floor Circumstance: location

Relational processes: processes of being

Types of relational processes: a.Attributive relational processes b. Identifying relational processes Each can be classified into sub-categories like intensive, circumstantial, and possessive. The constituents of: a. Attributive relational processes: Carrier Process: attributive - Attribute

Intensive relational process

An intensive relational process deals with the establishment of the relationship between the participants of each process type, where the word be or its synonym is the main means of establishing this relationship. The differences between intensive attributive relational process and intensive identifying relational process: a. The meaning of an intensive attributive process is descriptive, while intensive identifying process is defining in nature.

Examples: He He Carrier is is Proc: Att: Intensive a student very clever Attribute

You Token

are Proc: Identifying

the cleverest student value

b. Reversibility occurs with intensive identifying relational process, not with intensive atributive relational process You are the cleverest student The cleverest student is you.

Circumstantial relational processes

Attributive circumstantial relational processes a. The circumstance is often expressed in the Attribute, the verb remains intensive, the Attribute will be a prepositional phrase or an adverb of location, manner, cause, etc. b. The circumstantial element is conflated in the Attribute. The bomb Carrier was Proc: intensive in her luggage Attribute/Circ:location

c. The circumstantial meaning may also be encoded in the process itself with the verb is + circumstance

Examples: The operation Carrier lasted Proc: circumstantial one hour Attribute

(where lasted = be + for one hour)

Jans narrative concerns Carrier Proc:circumstantial her daughters operation Attribute

(where concerns = be + about)

Identifying circumstantial relational process

a. The circumstantial meaning is encoded either in the participants or the process. When encoded in the participants, both the token and the value will be the circumstantial elements of time, place, etc., while the verb remains intensive.
Yesterday Token/circ:time was Proc:Intensive the last time he gave blood Value/circ:time

b. The circumstance may also be expressed through the process, using the verbs: take, follow, resemble, accompany, hold, etc.

The operation Token

took Proc:circumstance

one hour Value

The terrorist Token

accompanied Proc:circumstance

the woman Value

The milk bottle Token

holds Proc:circumstance

one liter of liquid Value

Possessive relational processes

Possessive processes encode meanings of ownership and possession between clausal participants. Possessive relational processes can be attributive and identifying. In Attributive Possessive Relational Processes, possession may be encoded through the participants (with the Attribute as possessor, and the process remaining intensive.
This Carrier is Proc:intensive yours Attribute/Possessor

Possession may also be encoded through the process. The commonest Attributive possessive verbs being to have and to belong to. The Carrier will be Possessor
I You You had have ve got a daughter 8 points of blood less blood than me
Attribute:possessed

Carrier/possessor Proc:possession

The carrier as what is possessed

The bomb Carrier/possessed belonged to Pr:possession the boyfriend Att:possessor

In Identifying possessives, possession may be expressed either through the participants, or through the process. When possession is expressed through the participants, the intensive verb to be is used, with the Token and Value encoding the possessor and the possessed. The commonest Identifying possessive process is to own.
The bomb was her boyfriends Value/Possessor the bomb Token/Possessed the bomb Value/Possessed by her boyfriend Token/Possessor Token/Possessed Pr:intensive Her boyfriends Value/Possessor Her boyfriend Token/Possessor The bomb Value/Possessed was Pr:intensive owned Pr:possessive was owned Pr:possessive

Causative relationals
Causative relational processes may occur with either Attributive or Identifying structures, with causation expressed either through a make + be (process:intensive) structure, or, with Identifying relationals through a caustive Process. An Agent also called an Attributor, in Attributive relationals, causes the Carrier to have an Attribute ascribed. The introduction of the causative process make as the finite in these structures means that causative passives can be formed, but the clause is still Attributive. Note that the intensive process is often ellipsed from the clause. With the Identifying type, the Agent (Assigner) makes The token take a Value.

The experience in Geneva Agent/Attributor

made Pr:causative

Diana Carrier

(become)

a blood donor

Pr:intensive Attribute

Diana

was made

to become Pr:intensive makes

a blood donor Attribute you

by the experience Agent/Attributor weak Attribute for the night Circ:extent (by them) Agent/Assigner

Carrier Pr:causative Giving blood Agent/Attributor They Agent/Assigner Simon Token

Pr:causative Carrier made Pr:causative Simon Token

the barman Value

was made

the barman

for the night Circ:extent

Pr: causative Value

With Identifying clauses, the causative relationship between participants can be expressed directly through a causative circumstantial verb, such as: results in, causes, produces, etc. The verb here isa fusion of be or equals and the expression of cause:
Donating blood results in/causes Token Pr:causative, circumstantial weakness Value

Weakness Token

Is resulted in/caused by Pr:causative, circumstantial

donating blood Value

Ok. Thats all...