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You know you're not talking to your friend like you're talking to a grocery store cashier, or communication with your family is different from communication with strangers. The field of discourse is interested in these situations as context and human relations.
The language you use carries traces of you and reflects your identity, but this process of language use mostly manifests itself subconsciously. It is at this point that discourse analysis lends you a helping hand to explore the world of discourses.
What is discourse analysis?
Discourse analysis (DA) is a type of analysis that examines how language is used in a social context using a variety of research methods.
People use different languages and speak according to different vocabularies in different social environments. This not only constructs discourse but also shapes culture by regulating social relations. Therefore, discourse analysis does not only examine sentences or expressions; it also tries to describe the structural process of language and language use.
Discourse analysis types
Discourse analysis includes different methods in terms of focusing on communication and language use. To share the most common of these with you:
Types of discourse analysis
Textual analysis
Textual analysis examines the written part of the discourse. Although it is generally used to describe the linguistic features of written texts, you can also examine the transcript of any conversation. With this method, researchers can reveal word choices, style of expression, use of expressions and idioms, formal or informal language, and cultural reflections in any text.
Critical discourse analysis (CDA)
The focus of critical discourse analysis is the language usage in the construction of power relations. They are interested in the reflection of social order in language and what can be done to understand these social variables. Examining the language usage of teachers toward students, bosses toward their employees, and politicians toward the public can be given as examples of this.
Conversational analysis
This analysis studies daily conversations. Many factors of speech are taken into consideration. For example, what is your speaking and listening frequency, how much body language do you use, or how much eye contact do you make? All of these are important factors that determine the course of communication and the construction of social relations.
Pragmatic analysis
Pragmatics, as a branch of linguistics, is the study of language in context. Rather than examining words simply, their meanings and messages in the real world are examined along with their dimensions. For example, saying someone's name while getting angry and shouting someone's name with joy are two situations that have the same meaning in the literal sense of the word but have different consequences in the pragmatic sense.
How to use discourse analysis
There are many methods by which you can perform discourse analysis. Still, as in any analysis, the analysis has two stages: data collection, that is, the initial stage, and data evaluation, that is, the analysis stage.
Initial Stages
First of all, the purpose and scope of the research are determined. This is the basis for the data to be collected and the methodologies to be chosen. If your foundation is strong, the structure you build on will also be strong.
You should find the source that best suits your research question. Social media posts, user comments, news articles, scientific articles, interviews, or surveys are well-known qualitative data sources. But again, these options should not be chosen randomly. Not every social media or newspaper is the same and may not fit your goals for your research. Factors such as who uses these environments and texts also need to be examined.
Finally, make the data you have collected ready for analysis. If you are going to perform your analysis on a computer, if your data is a hard copy, you will need to convert it to a soft copy.
Analysis Stages
Know your data. Data is far from being simple; there are many social, cultural and historical factors in its background. This changes the use, choice, source and target of language.
Analyze the structure of the text. Outline the text, and identify key concepts. Sort out the elements that make up the meaning and start coding. For this, you need to read the text well and rearrange it so that it is not overlooked.
Now that everything is ready, all that remains is to understand the discourse expressions. Analysis is made by taking into account many features such as the accuracy, consistency, style, tone, etc. of an expression. Discourse analysis is completed by determining the general characteristics and situational structure of the speech. What follows is post-analysis and enters the interpretation part.
When to use the discourse analysis
Discourse analysis may have different needs depending on which research field you are in. Because there are many different fields, such as linguistics, sociology, psychology, and education. But in general, if you ask when to use a discourse analysis, the following can be said:
- To understand how language reveals power relations
- To understand the impact of language in creating social identity
- To examine the cultural transmission of language
- To describe the construction of language and the foundations of this construction
- To better understand groups such as customers, employees, students, etc., by analyzing their language usage
- To reveal the purposes of different language usages
Approaches to discourse analysis
Discourse analysis can be examined as two main methods and their subbranches. The first method deals with language use, and the second one deals with socio-cultural studies.
- Structuralism: As its name suggests, it is an approach that helps examine the structure and form of the language in a text. Examines the text and describes the language in areas such as grammar rules, syntax, and semantics.
- Sociolinguistics: It deals with the social dimension of language. It is generally preferred by researchers who want to study topics such as power hierarchy, social norms, taboos, and identity.
Example of discourse analysis
For example, a politician is speaking at an election rally. In the speech, he promises to his voters about the economy. These promises include tax regulations, factory openings, and job creation. The politician speaks in a persuasive language, using rhetoric rather than simple expressions. He very often presents counterexamples and criticizes his opponents.
Now, if you want to perform a discourse analysis on this political speech:
- Select one of his speeches and transcript it in detail, describe his tone, stress, and pause.
- Examine word choices and sentence structures. For example, he may have used too many interrogation sentences and overly emphasized development and future themed words.
- Then, try to understand the context, taking into account the politician's views, the ideology of the party he belongs to, and the target audience.
- If you want to examine how the politician establishes power relations with language, apart from his use of language, you can look at his linguistic attitude about himself and his opponents.
- Ultimately, you can interpret the politician's communication and the effectiveness of his speeches and make inferences about the public's opinion of him or the impact of his speeches on the outcome of the election.
Advantages of discourse analysis
The benefits of discourse analysis may vary depending on the purpose you use it for, but in general terms, the benefits are as follows:
- It supports a wide range of qualitative analyses, such as content analysis and textual analysis
- It reveals the underlying meanings of words, phrases, and sentences
- It can provide an interdisciplinary working environment with many specializations in humanities and social sciences
- It allows you to understand power dynamics in cultural, social, and economic dimensions
- It can reveal themes and patterns and the relationships between them in any discourse or text
Frequently asked questions about discourse analysis.
You can take a look at the FAQ below to read answers to questions directly related to discourse analysis.
Por ejemplo, examinar cómo se reflejan en las pantallas de televisión o en los titulares de las noticias los comentarios de los partidos de derecha e izquierda sobre un proyecto de ley electoral es un análisis del discurso.
Los cuatro tipos principales de análisis del discurso en cualquier investigación cualitativa son el análisis textual, el análisis de la conversación, el análisis crítico del discurso y el análisis pragmático.
El análisis del discurso se evalúa dentro de diversos marcos teóricos. Entre ellos se encuentran el estructuralismo, las teorías sociolingüísticas, críticas y pragmáticas. El estructuralismo se centra en describir las estructuras del lenguaje y su uso. La sociolingüística examina la dimensión social del lenguaje y las relaciones interpersonales.
La teoría crítica, por su parte, revela la jerarquía de poder y las desigualdades sociales en el discurso. Por último, la pragmática pretende explorar el papel del contexto y las experiencias a la hora de garantizar o poner en práctica la comunicación. Como resultado, estas teorías ayudan a comprender y simplificar la compleja estructura de la comunicación.
Identidad, contexto y elementos de poder son los principales conceptos del análisis del discurso.
Identidad: Lo que uno dice es su identidad. Cuando se comenta a una persona, interesa sobre todo lo que dice y cómo lo dice. Por eso se utiliza el análisis del discurso para examinar la identidad de individuos y grupos.
El contexto: Cuándo, dónde, con quién, por qué y en qué sentido se utiliza el lenguaje crea el contexto. Esto conlleva la dificultad de examinar simplemente las frases. El análisis del discurso ayuda a ello examinando la importancia y la función del contexto.
El poder: Otra dimensión del discurso son las relaciones sociales de poder. Es un hecho que la gente utiliza lenguas diferentes en función de algunos factores sociales como la edad, la posición y el estatus socioeconómico. El análisis del discurso ayuda a describir y comprender esta actitud social.
El análisis del discurso es un tema que se popularizó en la lingüística, sobre todo en los años 50 de la mano de Zellig Harris. Su objetivo es desvelar los secretos del lenguaje humano describiendo el esquema del discurso. También sirve de puente entre las ciencias sociales como campo de estudio interdisciplinar.
El objetivo principal del análisis del discurso es examinar y comprender sistemáticamente las estructuras profundas y superficiales del uso del lenguaje. Examina las estructuras sociales de la comunicación y el habla en contextos y relaciones de significados. Trata de comprender qué efecto tienen las características del lenguaje en las personas y las culturas.
Final words
This article has been prepared to provide an introduction to discourse analysis and detailed information about the subject. For this purpose, first of all, a definition of discourse analysis was provided in the introduction. Then, the types you can use in research were mentioned.
Afterward, the method of using discourse analysis was explained step by step. When you may need it is explained in another topic. Two main approaches were then presented. Finally, examples of discourse analysis and advantages were explained. Thus, the article touched upon many useful points and made you informed about discourse analysis in research.
Atakan is a content writer at forms.app. He likes to research various fields like history, sociology, and psychology. He knows English and Korean. His expertise lies in data analysis, data types, and methods.
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