DAY 18: CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

LESSON PREVIEW:
The notion of performativity derives from speech act theory and the work of the
linguistic philosopher Austin. It is based on the view that in saying something, we do it
(Cameron and Kulick 2003). That is, we bring states of affairs into being as a result of
what we say and what we do.

● All texts, whether they are spoken or written, make their meanings against the
background of other texts and things that have been said on other occasions
(Lemke, 1992).
● We thus ‘make sense of every word, every utterance, or act against the
background of (some) other words, utterances, acts of a similar kind’ (Lemke,
1995). All texts are, thus, in an intertextual relationship with other texts.
● Intertextuality “points to how texts can transform prior texts and restructure
existing conventions (genres, discourses) to generate new ones” (Norman
Fairclough,1992,1995).
● It is concerned with how texts are produced in relation to prior texts and how
texts help to construct the existing conventions in producing new texts.

CONVERSATION ANALYSIS- is an approach and a major area of study in the analysis of spoken discourse.

Conversation analysis aims to;

Conversation Analysis aims to;

-Took At discourse. Ordinary everyday Spoken understand how People Manage everyday conversational
interactions. Their examine How Spoken Discourse Is organized and develops as speakers carry out these
interactions. Examine How Spoken Discourse Is Organized and develops as speakers carry out these
interactions.
-It has examined different aspects or spoken discourse such as sequences of related
utterance (adjacency pairs), preferences for particular combinations of utterances
(preference organization), turn taking, feedback, repair, conversational openings and
closings, discourse markers and response tokens. Conversation analysis works with
recordings of spoken data and carries out careful and fine-grained analyses of this data
(Paltridge, 2006).

Background of Conversation Analysis

Conversation analysis originated in the early 1960s at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Sociologist Harvey Sacks (1935 – 1975) is generally credited in founding the discipline. Following on
from this work, Sacks (1992, 2007) and his colleagues developed conversation analysis as:
an approach to the study of social action which sought to investigate social order as it
was produced through the practices of everyday talk. (Liddicoat, 2011)

Sacks had a particular interest in the orderly nature of talk and the ways in which there might be
systematic commonalities in spoken interactions that occur across participants and contexts (Liddicoat
2011). It started with the examination of telephone calls made to the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention
Centre. This work then continued with the examination of more ‘ordinary’ telephone calls and
conversations and has since been extended to include spoken interactions such as doctor–patient
consultations, legal hearings, news interviews, psychiatric interviews and interactions in courtrooms and
classrooms. Conversation analysts are interested in how language goes about performing social action
and how social worlds are jointly constructed and recognized by speakers as they take part in
conversational discourse.
Transcribing and Coding Conversation Analysis data
In conversation analysis, the transcription of the data is also the analysis. Hence, spoken texts
are recorded, either on audio tape or video, and then analyzed at the same time as they are
transcribed. If there is an apparent use of a particular feature in a text during the analysis like
increased pitch or particular sequences of utterances, it becomes the beginning point for further
analysis. The analyst listens and transcribes to see how frequently this aspect of the conversation
occurs and, importantly, if speakers respond to it in the same way each time it occurs. In this way,
the analysis aims to understand how speakers manage their conversational interactions.
Look at the conversation of participants from the TV series “sex and the city” shown above, that
is an example of the transcription conventions in a conversation analysis. The analysis displays:
(a) a rising pitch in Charlotte’s exclamation ‘You’re getting engaged!’ The (.) at the end of this
utterance indicates an ending with falling intonation, as with most of the other utterances in
the conversation.
(b) There is no delay between Charlotte’s statement and Carrie’s response. There is, however,
a .5 second pause in Carrie’s response before she adds ‘That’s not normal’. Another
speaker could have taken the conversation away from her at the point of the pause but they
chose not to, allowing her to comment on what she had previously said.
(c) Charlotte’s lengthened vowel in ‘Just say yes’ emphasizes the point she is making before
Carrie replies with ‘well’ followed by a microsecond pause which allows her to hold the floor
in the conversation, and a further .5 second pause before she invites a response from the
others with her use of rising intonation and the tag question ‘has it?’
(d) The next two lines are examples of latched utterances. That is, Samantha adds her
comment to Charlotte’s statement without allowing anyone else to intervene. The
underlining and use of capitals in ‘NOW’ in Charlotte’s response to Samantha indicates both
loud talk and word stress.
(e) Charlotte’s microsecond pause, again, enables her to hold the floor so that no one is able to
intervene and she is able to complete what she wants to say. If she had not done this, one
of the other speakers could have taken the turn from her as her completed sentence.
(f) The final example of latched utterances shows that Samantha is able to project, in advance,
that a TRP is approaching as Carrie is speaking and takes the floor from Carrie with her
consent, and without difficulty. So. What is TRP (Transition Relevance Place)? It is a
completion of a turn construction unit – a place where another speaker can take a turn.
Hence, the analysis reveals how Carrie and her friends manage their conversation in a
cooperative manner. They allow each other to continue with what they want to say, rather than
compete for a place in the conversation. In addition, it also presents the strategies they use when
they want to take a turn in the conversation like not letting too much time to lapse before speaking,
in case another speaker should take the turn.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Below are questions which are frequently asked.
1. What are the advantages of doing a conversational analysis?
If you compare it to other analytical approaches, conversation analysis takes a much more
detailed approach. It does not use summarized or coded representations, but instead analyzes
detailed recordings of interactional activities and detailed transcripts. This allows it to identify various
facets and subtleties in an interaction that would otherwise not be recognized by other analytical
approaches. Conversation analysis attention is focused on naturally occurring data and not on
conversations that are manipulated in a laboratory or in other words, scripted. This approach studies
how oral language is used during a natural interaction. It tries to explain how people act as they do in
a conversation. The whole conversation is viewed as a single event.
source: https://www.communicationtheory.org/conversation-analysis/
2. The transcription conventions for conversation analysis were mentioned above in the sample
transcription of the series sex and the city. So, what are these?
The transcription conventions that were used are based on the work of Gail Jefferson -who
pioneered the system. The system is called “Jeffersonian Transcription” or the “Jefferson
Transcription System” which is a conversational analysis code used by academics looking at
speech patterns. It can also be useful for anyone trying to annotate a conversation or the style of a
participant to a conversation. It takes quite a bit more time than conventional transcription and as
such it usually comes at a premium cost. Jefferson Transcription provides a method for annotating
speech with details of performance, acts, texts, movement, interaction between actors, content and
context.

DAY 19: SEQUENCE AND STRUCTURE IN CONVERSATION

OPENING CONVERSATIONS

▪ Telephone conversation is one of the areas that has been examined in detail in conversational openings.
▪ Schegloff analyzed a large data set of telephone openings to come up with the
following for recognized opening American private telephone conversations:
((ring)) summons/ answer
sequence
Recipient: Hello
Caller: Hi Ida? identification/recognition
sequence
Recipient: Yeah
Caller: Hi, this is Carla= greeting sequence
Recipient: =Hi Carla.
Caller How are you. how are you
sequence
Recipient: Okay:.
Caller: Good. =
Recipient: =How about you.
Caller: Fine. Don wants to know .. reason for call
Sequence

This American private telephone opening conversation has a similar pattern in Australia, only
that, in the Australian data, the caller most frequently self-identified in their first turn after they had
recognized their recipient rather than in the second turn, as in the American data.
On the other hand, the opening telephone conversations in Mandarin Chinese have less
greeting and “how are you” sequences unlike in American and Australian phone calls. Hence, the
majority of the telephone openings went straight from identification or recognition to the first topic of the
conversation (Yang, 1997). For instance, below is a typical example of the opening of telephone calls in
Chinese:
((ring)) summons
Recipient: Wei? (Hello) answer
Caller: Jinghong (Jinghong) identification
Recipient: Ei (Yes) recognition

Closing Conversations
Telephone closing usually goes over four turns of talk which is made up of pre-closing and closing
moves (Button,1987).

Pre-closing

This is made up of two turn

units consisting of items like
“Okay” and “alright” with falling
intonation.

CLOSING
This is made up of two further units such as
“bye-bye” and “goodbye”. In this closing, both
speakers mutually negotiate the end of the
conversation.
It can be preceded by a number of
pre-sequences such as making of an arrangement,
referring back to something previously said in the
conversation, the initiation of a new topic (which may
not be responded to), good wishes (such as ‘give my
love to Jane’) etc. a restatement of the reason for
calling and thanks for calling.
Further, the closing may be extended by
continued repetition of pre-closing and closing items.

TURN TAKING
Turn-taking is a term for the way in which organized conversation normally takes place. From the
term itself, it is the idea that people in a conversation take turns in speaking. The basic rule in English
conversation is that one person speaks at a time, after which they may nominate another speaker, or
another speaker may take up the turn without being nominated.
The analysis may go deeper into topics such as:
▪ how people know when it's their turn to speak,
▪ how much overlap there is between speakers,
▪ when it's OK to have overlap; and ▪ how to consider regional or gender differences.
Ways to signal that we have come to the end of our turn:
▪ completion of a whole sentence.
▪ Use of falling intonation and then, pausing.
▪ Using signal “mmm” or “anyway”
▪ Through eye contact, body position, movement and voice pitch.
Ways to hold on to a turn:
▪ Do not pause too long at the end of an utterance. Instead, start right away with saying something
else.
▪ Pause during an utterance rather than at the end of it.
▪ In increasing the volume of what we are saying, extend a syllable or vowel or speak over someone’s
attempt to take a turn.
Turn taking varies according to situations. For example, in the classroom, it is often the teacher
who nominates who can take a turn. A student may, or may not respond, or students may compete to
take the turn. Students may also put up their hand to ask permission to take a turn.
Turn taking may also depend on factors such as the topic of the conversation, whether the
interaction is relatively cooperative, how well the speakers know each other and the relationship
between, and relative status of, the speakers (Burns and Joyce 1997).
ADJACENCY PAIRS
Adjacency pairs are utterances produced by two successive speakers in a way that the second
utterance is identified as related to the first one as an expected follow-up to that utterance. For
instance, a radio call-in programme illustrates speakers using adjacency pairs in a typical and expected
way. In each of the pairs of utterances in this interaction the first speaker stops and allows the second
speaker to produce the expected second part to the pair of utterances:
Announcer: Sharon Stone’s on the phone. (.) how are yo:::u.
Caller: very good.
Announcer: I bet you get hassled about your surname.
Caller: yes I do::
Announcer: and what do you want to tell Patrick.
Caller: umm that I love him very much (0.5) and I (0.5) and I wish him a very happy birthday for today.
-Arguments show a similar pattern in that once a point of view has been expressed, a possible
follow-up is a ‘challenge’ followed by a ‘response’.

1. Which of the following is a way to hold on to a turn?

A. Using signals “mmm” or “anyway”.
B. Pause during an utterance rather than at the end of it.
C. Overlap
D. Use of falling intonation and then, pausing.
2. Which of the following is said to be the basic rule in English conversation wherein one person
speaks at a time?
A. Conversation
B. Adjacency Pairs
C. Turn taking
D. Opening conversation
3. Which of the following is said to be one of the major areas which had been analyzed in detail in
conversational opening?
A. Radio announcements
B. Stranger to stranger conversation
C. International interactions
D. Telephone conversations
4. A telephone closing conversation is made up of two moves. What are these?
A. Pre-closing and closing.
B. Pre-closing and post-closing.
C. Closing and post-closing
D. None of the above.
5. These refer to utterances produced by two successive speakers in a way that the second utterance
is identified as related to the first one as an expected follow-up to that utterance.
A. Conversation
B. Adjacency Pairs
C. Turn taking
D. Opening conversation

1. What is the purpose of sequencing or arranging the structure of conversations?

The purpose is to keep the flow of conversation going and to avoid “overlapping”,
conversation breakdown, misinterpretations and conflicts. So, what do you mean by overlapping?
Overlapping in conversation is when both speakers are speaking at the same time. Hence, one
person starts talking before the other ends.

2. In turn taking or adjacency pairs, do we have a standard or expected rules or follow-ups to an

utterance?
No, because not all conversations follow all the rules for turn-taking as well as the expected
follow-up in an utterance can be different based on language, culture, and context. Hence, rules in
turn-taking and expected follow ups in the use of adjacency pairs vary across language and culture
(Paltridge, 2006).

DAY 20: OTHER ASPECTS OF CONVERSATIONAL INTERACTIONS: PREFERENCE, ORGANIZATION, FEEDBACK,

REPAIR AND DISCOURSE MARKERSS

Preference Organization
In adjacency pairs, the basic rule is that when a speaker produces the first pair part, they
should stop talking and allow the other speaker to produce the second pair part. However in
responding to the first pair part, the speaker who produces the second pair has a certain aMount of
freedom in responding. Thus, there are some kinds of preferences that exist for particular
cOMbinations of utterances.
For instance, an invitation can be followed by an "accept* or reject. Hence, second pair parts
May be preferred and others May be dispreferred. For example, a question May be followed by an
expected answer (preferred) or an 'unexpected or non-answer (dispreferred). When this happens
the dis preferred second pair part is often preceded by a delay, a 'preface and/or an account

First Pair Parts

Request
Offer/Invite
Assessment
Question
BlaMe
Preferred
Dispreferred
acceptance
acceptance
agreement
expected
answer
denial
100 A
refusal
refusal
disagreement
unexpected or non-answer
admission

There was also a preference for "other-correction' in interactions. For instance, when one
speaker said something that contained an inaccuracy, it was corrected by the other person.
For example: Lawyer: the twins Michael and Allan () live with the wite (1.0)
Michael is employed as an apprentice butcher.=
Client: oh not MIChael, ALLan=
Lawyer: ALLAN. Ye:s.
Solicitor: alright.
Lawyer: (0.1) ALLAN is employed as an apprentice but[cher]
(Source: O'Shannessu.1995)

iber example shows other comection by the ciene rom the ovample, the lawyer foliows the
cortection with a "correction accept then yotrectlertontrem.cgain,preferredresponses
Insertion Sequences
A speaker sometimes uses an insertion sequence in which one adjacency pair coMes between
the first pair and the second pair part of another adjacency pair.
For example: Ryan: and (0.2) can | have a DJ too (0.1) is that OK (0.2)
Marie: John
John: what
Marie: can he have a DJ (.) DJ=
Ryan: =cause you won't be spending Much on food so I thought
(0.2)
John: well how Much does a DJ cost
Ryan: yeah I've got to find out
(Source: Or, 1996)

From the sample conversation, Ryan asked his Mother, Marie, if he can have a DJ for his party.
The mother did not reply, instead, through an insertion sequence, she passes the question on to her
husband john

Feedback

Conversation analysts also examined the ways speakers provide each other with feedback.
which are ways in which listeners show they are attending to what is being said.
This can be done through:
1) 'response tokens" like "MMM' and yeah'.
2) Paraphrasing what another person has said.
3) Body position and use of eye contact.

Lecturer:
Tadashi:
Kylie:
Kylie:
Tadashi:
Kylie:
Tadashi.
Kylie:
Tadashi:
And the Middle one is..
COMmunity? COMmunity.
COMMunity?
COMMunity, I think it is?
Yeah
Yech
Oh, Yeah.
COMmuni-self coMmunity. Yeah.
yeah. CoMmunity French COMMunity
(Source: Nakame 2007: 183)

influenced by the intonation, place and timing of the utterance.

Repair
This is an important strategy speakers use in spoken discourse. In this aspect. the speaker
correct things they or someone else has said, and chack what they have understood in a conversation
It is often done through self-repair and other repairs.

In this case, there was no apparent error to the other speaker that needed to
be corrected in what had been said:
Cllent:
because (1.0) he's got a girlfriend - oh (0.5) a woMan and an
(0.5) (self-repair)
Other repair occurs where the error is apparent to the other speaker. The
following example:
Lawyer:
Michael is employed as an apprentice butcher.=
Client:
=oh not Michael, ALL an (other repair)
(Source: O'Shannessy 1995: 1)

Discourse Markers
Discourse Markers are items in spoken discourse which act as signposts of discourse coherence.
This includes interjections such as oh, conjunctions such as but, adverbs such as now and lexical
phrases such as y'*now (Schiffrin,2001).
They can be at the beginning. Middle or end of an utterance and can serve both as anaphoric
(pointing back) and cataphoric (pointing forward) reference in the discourse (Mendoza-Denton,|999).
Oh can be a Marker of inforMation MaN«GeMent where it indicates an eMotional state as in:
Jack
Was that a serious picture?
Freda
Oh:! Gosh yes!
Oh can also initiate a self-repair as in:
There were a whole bunch of oth - I was about - oh: younger than Robert. I was about uh
Maybe Joe's age, sixteen.
and it can act as other-initiated repair:
Jack
How bout uh.
. how bout the one.
Freda
Well that was a show, sure.
Jack
Oh that was a Movie too
uh.
Death of a SalesMan?
But can be used to preface an idea unit as in:
Jack
The rabbis preach 'Don't interMarry
Freda But I did- But I did say those intermarriages that we have in this country are
Healthy
Now can indicate attention to an upcoming idea unit as in:
SoleM... I think for a woMan t'work, is entirely up t'her. If she can handle the situation. Now I
could not now: alone.
and it can be used to indicate a coMparison aS im:
a. It's nice there
b. Now our street isn't that nice

4) Activity 5: Check for Understanding

To check if you have understood the lesson, do the test below.
Multiple Choicas - Pirections: Read and understand carefully the statement or question on each
iteM. Choose and circle the letter which best answers each.
The following are ways in which listeners show they are attending to what is being said, EXCEPT:
A. use of 'MMm' and yeah'
B. use of discourse Markers.
C. paraphrasing
D.
use if eye contact
What do you call when one adjacency pair comes between the first pair and the second pair part of
another adjacency pair?
A. Preferred responses
B.
Other-repair
C.
Feedback
D.
Insertion sequences
3.
In spoken discourse, when a speaker corrects what another speaker has sald. What do you call it?
A. Repair
B.
Other-repair
C.
Self-repair
D.
Correction
a which of the following is an item of spoken discourse that includes interjections such as oh
conjunctions such as but, adverbs such as now and lexical phrases such as yknow?
A. Dis preferred response
B. Conjunctions
C. Discourse Markers
D. Preferences

5. Which of the following can be a dis preferred second pair part when someone asks a question?
A. Denial
B. Refusal
C. Non-answer
D. Admission

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Below are questions which are frequently asked.
1
In what way do body positions and eye contact provide feedback?
When giving feedback, we usually focus on what to say, but nonverbal coMmunication is
also iMportant in conveying a Message to the speaker which would determine that you are listening
or not. Thus, we Must use the nonverbal aspect of coMmunication to convey the right Message and
of course, to avoid giving the wrong one.
For body postures, SoMe exaMples are below:
• crossing your arms which signifies that you are uninterested or being defensive, thus, try
to avoid this position.
Frowning to show disagreeMent or smiling to project goodwill and warmth.
• Nodding to show that you are listening and you understand what the other person says.
• Placing both hands on your waist which shows doMinance.
For eye contact:
No eye contact Means uninterested or not listening or disagreeMent.
Maintained eye contact Means you are focused, Paying attention/listening and interested
with what the other person is saying
3.
waS Mentioned that in giving feedback, we can use
"MMM"
and yech as a sign
of
acknowledgement and agreement to what the other person say, but if you are a person who uses
these words in conversations, you have probably realized that we do not only use "MMM° and yeah'
to acknowledge and agree, right? So what are there other functions?
The iteM 'MM' can perforM Many other functions. It May also serve to prompt a topic
change, a recycling of a topic or it May solve a dis proved action. On the other hand, "yeah' could
Mean other than "yes", if it is used with different intonation it could Mean 'Is that really what
happened? I GM surprised. Tell Me More" or with sarcastic intonation it could Mean "I doubt the
truth of what you said". You will need to provide stronger evidence if you want to convince Me', but
often it is heard as Oh, yeah' or "Yeah, right!". Thus, the function response iteMs such as 'MMM
"yeah' or 'OK' perform are also influenced by the intonation, place and timing of the utterance.

DAY 21: DISCOUSE GRAMMAR AND TEXTURE OF TEXT

It is a graMMatical framework that grew out of the analysis of spoken and written
linquistic discourse.
Often seen to be two very different facets of human COMMunication wherein
grGMMar specifies a set of lanquage-specifics codes, usually restricted to sentence
level units. It guides speakers on how to properly construct sentences.
Discourse on the other hand, is a product of the use of grammar in particular of
natural contexts.
Looks at discourse from the perspective of grammar, and grammar from the
perspective of discourse.

Accourse texts, this and that function in waus other than just pointing to something; fine
McCarthy (1994). This often indicates the risitheb/*a hew topic or a new focus in the
furrent topic, and that has a distancing or Marginalizing function in a text, rather then,
just demonstrative functions. Further; » otters signals reference to a continuing en
ongoing topic in a text, rather than just something inside or outside the text, as More
traditional explanations Might suggest.
Hughes and McCarthy (1998) Make a helpful comparison between discourse and
sentence-based grammars. A discourse-based grammar, they argue, Makes a strong
connection between form, function and context and aims to place appropriateness and
use at the center of its descriptions. Hence, unlike in sentence-based graMmar that
consists of a determined order of forms and established rules for sentence construction,
there is consideration of Meaning and use of forms within a larger discourse context.
Discourse Analysis and Grammar study familiar terms like: clause, pronoun,
adverbial and conjunction, and attempt to adverbial and conjunction and attempt to
relate them to less familiar set of terms: theme, rheme, reference and anaphoric, in order
to Make link between grammar and discourse.
THE TEXTURE OF A TEXT
The notion of texture was introduced by Halliday and Hasan to express the property
of being a text. A text has texture and this is what distinguishes it from something that is
not a text.
Hasan (1989a, 1989b) discusses two crucial attributes of texts which are important
for the analysis of Discourse. These are Unity of Structure and Unity of Texture.
V Unity of Structure refers to patterns which combine together to create information
structure, focus and flow in a text, including the schematic structure of the text.
Unity of Texture refers to the way in which resources such as patterns of cohesion
create both cohesive and coherent texts. Texture results where there are language
items that tie Meanings together in the text as well as tie Meanings in the text to the
social context in which the text occurs.
for instance, the Meaning of items like "it and that' can be derived from the
social context in which the text is located and this May refer outside of the text.
Teacher: Where is it?
Student: I forgot it at home, Ms. Belle
'It' refers to the assignment which the student forgets to bring. Both
speakers understood that the il they were referring to was the assignment.
though it was not Mentioned in the text. Hasan (1989b:71) describes texture as being 'a Matter of Meaning
relations'.
A
crucial notion in this discussion is that of a tie which connects the Meanings of words
to each other as well as to the world outside the text. The basis for cohesion, and in
turn texture, thus, is semantic. It is both explicit and implicit and is based on the ways in
which the meanings of items are tied in a semantic relationship to each other. The
interpretation of these items is found by reference to some other iteM, or source, within
or outside the text.

1. The discourse-based graMmar has determined the order of forms

and established rules for sentence construction.
2. The notion of texture was introduced by McCarthy and Hasan to
express the property of being a text.
3. Unity of Structure is concerned with creating coherent and
cohesive texts.
4
Unity of Texture looks into the combination of texts to create
structure of information, focus and flow in a text.
5.
The basis for cohesion, and in turn texture is Meaning

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Below are questions which are frequently asked.
1. Who started the work on Discourse GraMmar?
The development and work of Discourse GraMmar has been inspired by a lot of different
works, particularly the work of Simon C. Dik's Theory of Functional GraMmar (1970). The theory
explains how linguistic utterances are shaped based on the goals and knowledge of native
language speakers.
2. When analyzing utterances according to discourse graMMar, what should be taken into accoum!?
There a lot of coMponents you need to look into the linguistic utterances and some of these
are the coMMunicative intention that drives the statement construction to arise, its grammatical
COMponent (seMantics, phonology, syntax etc.). the history of a discourse and the situation or
environment, and the MediuM used for conveying an utterance (sound, writing etc.).
Source: Dik, SiMOn C. (1989). The Theory of Functional GraMMar, Parts
DAY 22: COHESION AND DISCOURSE: Reference, Lexical cohesion, Conjunction, Substitution, and Ellipsis

COHESION AND DISCOURSE

The Main patterns of cohesion are reference, lexical cohesion, conjunction, substitution and ellipsis.
Most of these patterns will be discussed in this Module.
If you can still remember, you have encountered the term "cohesion in
stylistic analysis. Can you still recall? What is cohesion again? Write what
you can remember:
Yes, you are right! Cohesion refers to the relationship between items in a text such as words, phrases
and clauses and other iteMs such as pronouns, nouns and conjunctions
This includes the relations hip between
Words and pronouns (reference iteMs) such as Maria to She, John to He, Doq to It
Words that COMMOnly Co-Occur in texts (collocation) such do + hoMework, Make + coffee etc.
Words with similar, related, and different Meanings (lexical cohesion) such as good and bad
(antonyM). happy and glad (synonym), etc.
clauses and the ways this is expressed through the use of conjunctions. (SeMantic relationship)
such as She lost but she was still happy. words "this' and "it are exaMples of exophoric references, both
speakers clearly know what
book those words are referring to. The words "you" and "your" are also exophoric references
Example for HoMophoric Reference:
An exaMple froM the review of He's Just Not That Into You:
First in the US, then all over the world, woMen became converts to the book's tough
love
Message. (ibid.)
This is different froM the final use of the' in this sentence. To answer which book' we know
it is the one being discussed in the text. We know, however, froM our cultural knowledge
which United States and which' world is being referred to in the text.

DAY 23: Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis

Before we start, prepare your highlighter to highlight important points or ideas which you
want to give More attention later on for clarification, and prepare your pencil or ballpen for possible
short exercises along the way! So, shall we start?
What is Critical Discourse Analysis?
Critical Discourse Analysis explores the connections between the use of language
and the social and political contexts in which it occurs.
It explores issues such as gender, ethnicity, cultural difference, ideology and identity
and how these are both constructed and reflected in texts.
It also investigates ways in which language constructs and is constructed by social
relationships.
The investigation May include tracing underlying ideologies from the linguistic
features of a text, unpacking particular biases and ideological presuppositions underlying the
text, and relating the text to other texts and to people's experiences and beliefs.

PRINCIPLES OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

1) Social and political issues
are constructed and reflected
discourse:
in
2) Power relations are negotiated and performed through discourse:
3) Discourse both reflects and reproduces social relations: and
4) Ideologies are produced and reflected in the use of discourse.
I
Social and Political Issues are Constructed and Reflected in Discourse
This is the first of Fairclough and Wodak's principles in critical discourse analysis wherein
addresses social and political is sues and examines ways in which these are constructed and
flected in the use of certain discourse strategies and choices.
)R EXAMPLE
Recently, I received Mail in My letterbox about a proposal to build 125 apartments on top of a shopping
Mall which is very near where I live. There was
a letter froM the local
I council and a paMphlet froM a local protest group, each of which expressed very different I
views on the development. One was very factual (the letter from the council) which aimed to
reMain neutral' on the topic in that it did not express a particular point of view on the
I project. It just outlined the procedures for the development, and how the public would be l
I problems the development would create for the neighborhood such as overshadowing ofI
y properties, increased demand for on-street parking and lack of privacy from windows in the
apartments that would overlook people's back gardens. Both texts, then, referred to the
I same event but chose very different ways of approaching it which were, in turn, reflected in I
, their discourse. One gave the impression it was neutral on the topic whereas the other had a
very particular take on the new development and what it would mean for people living in the
area.
II.
Power Relations Are Neqotiated and Performed Through Discourse.
The power relations are both negotiated and performed through discourse. One way in
which this can be looked at is through an analysis of who controls conversational interactions,
who allows a person to speak and how they do this
FOR EXAMPLE:
In the case of the building of the apartments near My house the two different texts I
I received çave very different impressions of how people were encouraged to speak on the l
topic and negotiate different points of view on the development. The letter from the Council
said that people would be free to speak at the public Meeting, but that they would be
I required to register their intention to speak at the start of the Meeting. The letter did not I
mention that the full Council plus representatives of the developers who had put forward the
I proposal would be at the meeting. The pamphlet encouraged residents te write to their local
I councilors about the issue and cave the names and address of each of the Members of the
local council. The area in which I live however is very Multicultural. I aM not certain the
" alderty Vietnamese couple who live next door to Me would have written to the councilors, or
I would have felt their voices would have been heard had they gone to the meeting. They would most likely
not have felt they had the power to change things. nor were they in a
I position to inflvence the outcomes of this discussion. The 90-year old woMan who lives by l
herself on the other side of My property may also not have felt comfortable going to the
Meeting and standing up in front of everyone to have her say, as unhappy as she was about
I the development.
(Paltridge, 2006)
Hutchby (1996) examined issues of power in his study of arguments in British radio talk
shows. As Hutchby and Wooffitt (2008) point out, the person who speaks first in an arguMent
is often in a weaker position than the person who speaks next. The first person has to set their
opinion on the line whereas the second speaker merely has to challenge the opponent to
expand on, or account for the claims.
Ill. Discourse both Reflects and Reproduces Social Relations
A further principle of critical discourse analysis is that discourse not only reflects
social relations but is also part of, and reproduces, social relations. That is, social relations are
both established and Maintained through the use of discourse.
FOR EXAMPLE:
The letter froM Mu Council that I referred to earlier was written with authority and
I contained a lot of technical detail, setting up a very clear power iMbalance between the l
writer and readers of the text. It was signed Director - Planning and Development - and
Gave no actual name for people to call to speak to. The pamphlet from the protest group.
1 however, was Much more informal and gave an eMail address to write to for furtherl
I
information and advice on what to do to change the situation. The social relations produced
(and reproduced) through the two texts were, thus, quite different.
(Paltridge, 2006) I
IV. Ideologles are Produced and Reflected In the Use of Discourse
Another key principle of critical discourse analysis is that ideologies are produced and raflected in the use
of discourse. This includes ways of representing and constructing society
such as relations of power, and relations based on gender, class and ethnicity.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Each of the pieces of Mail I received on the development project near My house was
I quite different. The letter from the Council presented the addition of 125 new apartments
I
(plus additional retail and cOMMercial floor space and three eight-storey residential towers
on top of the already five-storey Mall) at the end of Mu street as a neutral event that would
I have no consequences for Me or for where I aM living. The pamphlet from the protest group I
, Made it clear what the consequences of this would be, outlining them in detail and strongly
voicing its opposition to the project
(Paltridge, 2006) l
Mallins on and Brewster (2005) study of how stereotypes are formed in everyday
spoken discourse is a further illustration of the ways in which ideologies are produced and
reflected in the use of discourse. As Mallinson and Brewster point out, negative attitudes
towards non-standard social dialects of English are often transferred to negative views of the
people who speak these dialects. A job applicant who speaks a non-standard dialect, for
exaMple, May not be hired when an eMployer sees this use of discourse as a way of predicting
the applicant's future occupational performance; that is, the view that 'good workers' speak
standard English and 'bad workers' do not.
Critical discourse studies, then, aim to Make connections between social and
cultural practices and the valves and assumptions that underlie the discourse. That is, it aims
to umpack what people say and do in their use of discourse in relation to their views of the
world, themselves and their relationships with each other. Critical discourse analysis takes the
view that the relationship between language and meaning is never arbitrary in that the choice of
a particular genre or rhetorical strategy brings with it particular presuppositions, Meanings,
ideologies and intentions (Kress 1991).
As Eggins (1994) arques:
Whatever genre we are involved in, and whatever the register of the situation, our use of
language will also be inflvenced by our ideological positions: the values we hold (consciously
or unconsciouslu), the biases and perspectives we adopt.

Below are questions which are frequently asked.

I
What is the difference between dis course amalysis and critical discourse analysis?
If we define both terms, analysis of discourse is the study of the structure of
Message in a COMMunication or an exaMination regarding various functions (pragMatics)
and Critical Discourse Analysis is an effort or parsing process to give an explanation of a
text (social reality) and being reviewed by a person or a group of dominant tendency who
has a specific purpose. Further, Critical Discourse Analysis has some characteristics which
are the historical, context, action, power, and ideology.
Discourse analysis is just any sort of approach to how units of speech larger than a
sentence are structured. We could do discourse analysis to find out how sentences fit
together to create a text, to figure out the genre of the discourse (a speech, a poeM, an
announcement, etc.), to find out how often information is repeated, etc. While critical
discourse analysis is a particular approach to discourse analysis that aims to uncover
power structures eMbedded in language use.
The experts of Discourse Analysis extended discourse with the term More broadly. They
interpret the discourse as a social practice which has a specific purpose. Discourse is not
iMMediately present, but it comes with a specific purpose that wishes to deliver the
audience. The text is never viewed as soMething of a non-neutral value. Critical Discourse
Analysis sees language as an action. The Main duty of Critical Discourse Analysis is to
elaborate the relationship of power, dominance, and inequality produced in discourse.
Source: Habibie, A.
Comparison Between Discourse Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis from
Linguistics View. IAIN Sultan AMci Gorontalo. Retrieved froM: https:lIcore.ac.uklreader/2288 1 6562

DAY 24: DOING CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Critical discourse analysis includes not only a description and interpretation of

discourse in context, but also offers an explanation of why and how discourses work.
A critical analysis Might coMMence by deciding what discourse genre the text
represents and to what extent and in what way the text conforms to it (or not).
The analysis May consider the framing of the text; that is, how the content of the text
is presented, and the sort of angle or perspective the writer or speaker is taking.
So, what is fraMing? The term is closely related to "foregrounding" wherein concepts
and issues are emphasized, as well as what concepts and issues are played down or
backgrounded in the text.
Equally important to the analysis are the background knowledge, assumptions
attitudes and points of view that the text assuMes.

in certanca-lene, wine en Una mine men should be laoted into when deling antlee
Mine, analysis May also consider wino if ding what to whom that is, agertburse.
relations in the discourse, ands wens "he in pabst authority and power in the discourse
It May also consider what agents have been left out of sentences such as when the
passive voice is used, and why this has been done.
At word or phrase level. what are the things that should be looked into whan deing
critical discourse analysis?
connotations of particular words and phrases might be considered as well as the text
degree of formality or informality, degree of technicality and what this Means for othet
participants in the text.
The choice of words which express degrees of certainty and attitude May also bi
considered and whether the intended audience of the text might be expected to share
the views expressed in the text, or not.
It takes us beyond the level of description to a deeper understanding of texts and
provides, as far as might be possible, some kind of explanation of why a text is as it is
and what it is aiming to do.
It looks at the relationship between discourse and society and aims to describe
interpret and explain this relations hip.
Critical discourse analysis aims to provide a way of exploring and challenging some o
the hidden and 'out of sight' social, cultural and political ideologies and values tha
underlie texts.

1.
Are there specitic steps or procedures to follow whan doing critical dis course analysis?
No, there aren't. The procedures an analyst follows in this kind of analysis depend on
the research situation, the research question and the texts that are being studied. What is
essential, however, is that there is some attention to the critical discourse and analysis in
whatever focus is taken up in the analysis (Rogers 201 1).
2. It was Mentioned that the critical analysis Might COMMence by deciding what discourse
genre the text represents.... So, what do you Mean by discourse genre?
Genre is defined as an activity that people engage in through the use of language
There are two types of genre and these are spoken and written genres. For spoken genres. We
have academic lectures, product presentations, casual conversation and More. For written
genres, we have reports, academic essays, term papers and More. The term is viewed as G
staged, goal-oriented, purposeful activity which speakers engage as Members of a culture
(Martin, 1985:25). Furthermore, genre is said to be a social agreement about ways of doing
things with language in particular social and cultural settings. Miller discusses also the notion
of Typification" in relation to Genre. Hence, there are typical forms a genre Might take as well
as typical content and typical action that the genre performs, all of which we recognize and
draw on as we engage with the use of genre

DAY 25: CRITERIA FOR DEVELOPING DISCOURSE ANAYSIS PROJECT

There are a number of issues that need to be considered when planning a discourse
analysis project. The first of these is the actual research question.
The key to any good research project is a well-focused research question. It can, however.
take longer than expected to find this question.
~ Cameron (2001) has suggested that one important characteristic of a good research
project is that it contains a 'good idea: Hence, the project is on soMething that is worth
finding out about.
~ As Cameron and others have pointed out, deciding on and refining the research question is
often the hardest part of the project.
Criteria for Developina a Discourse Analysis Project
Criteria for developing discourse analysis projects (Johnstone2000) include:
1) a well-focused idea about spoken or written discourse that is phrased as a question
or a set of closely related questions:
2) an understanding of how discourse analytic techniques can be used to answer the
research question(s) you are asking:
3) an understanding of why your question(s) about spoken or written discourse are
iMportant in a wider context; that is, why answering the questions) will have practical
value and/or be of interest to the world at large;
4) faMiliarity with and access to the location where your discourse analysis project will
be carried out:
5) ability to get the discourse data that is needed for the research project;
6) the time it will realistically take to carry out the discourse analysis project, analyze the
results and write up the results of the project;
7) being comfortable with and competent in the ways of collecting the discourse data
required by the project;
being coMpetent in the Method(s) of analysis required for the project.
M
1) Establish the context
Jot down where the Material coMes froM.
YOu
should
ask
yourself
what
the
social
and
historical context is in which each of your sources was
produced.
Write down what language your source is written in, what
country and place it is from, who wrote it (and when), and who
published it (and when).
2) Explore the production
process
You have already recorded who wrote and published your
sources, but you still need to do a More thorough background
check.
Try to find additional information on the producer of your
source Material, as well as their institutional and personal
background.

Then, take notes on the medlum and the genre you are working
3) Prepare your Material for
analysis
4) Code your Material
In order to analyze the actual text. it is wise to prepare it in a
way that will allow you to work with the source, home in on
specific details, and Make precise references later.
When you code data, it Means that you are assigning attributes
to specific units of analysis, such as paragraphs, sentences, or
individual words.
5) Examine the structure of
the text
it is time to look at the structural features of the texts.
Are there sections that overwhelmingly deal with one
discourse?
Are there ways in which different discourse strands
overlap in the text?
See if you can identify how the argument is structured:
does the text go through several issues one by one?
You should at this point also consider how the headers and
other layout features guide the argument.
6)
Collect and exaMine
discursive statements
1 Once you have a good idea of the Macro-features of your text,
you can zooM in on the individual statements, or discourse
fragments.
7)
Identify
references
cultural
Now think about how the context Informs the arguMent.
Explore questions which will help you figure out what
function intertextuality serves in light of the overall arguMent.
Identify linguistic and
rhetorical MechanisMs
You will need to identify how the various statements function at
the level of language (word groups, grammar features, literary
figures etc.)

9) Interpret the data

M
You now have all the elements of your analysis together, but

the Most important question still reMains: what does it all

Mean? In your interpretation, you need to tie all of your results
together in order to explain what the discourse is about, and
how it works.
10) Present your findings
Once you have the answer to your original question, it is time
to get your results across to your target audience.