Discourse analysis

Yule, G., 2006, The Study of Language (Third Edition), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press

The word ‘discourse’ is usually defined as ‘language beyond the sentence’ and the analysis of discourse is typically concerned with the study of language in text and conversation.
Cohesion is the ties and connections that exist within texts.
Cohesive ties
-words to maintain reference to the same people and things, such as father-he; a Lincoln convertible-that car-the convertible
-terms that share a common element such as ‘time’-once-nowadays-sometimes
-connector such as however
-the verb tenses
Coherence-everything fitting together well; something that exists in people
-You would have to create meaningful connections that are not actually expressed by the words and sentences.
A: That’s the telephone. (A makes a request of B to perform action.)
B: I’m in the bath. (B states reason why B cannot comply with request.)
A: OK. (A undertakes to perform action.)
Conversation analysis
Speech event such as debate, interview, various types of discussions
-the roles of speakers and their relationship such as friends, strangers, men, women, young, old, of equal or unequal status, and many other factors
-the topic of conversation
-in what setting it took place
Turn-taking
-rudeness (one speaker cuts in on another speaker)
-shyness (one speaker keeps waiting for an opportunity to take a turn and none seems to occur.)
-filled pauses (hesitation marker such as er, em, uh, ah, you know)
-[ is conventionally used to indicate a place where simultaneous or overlapping speech occurs.
Completion point
-Speakers can mark their turns as complete in a number of ways: by asking a question or by pausing at the end of a completed syntactic structure like a phrase or sentence.
-Other participants can indicate that they want to take the speaking turn, also in a number of ways. They can start to make short sounds, usually repeated, while the speaker is talking, and often use body shifts or facial expressions to signal that they have something to say.
Hedges can be defined as words or phrases used to indicate that we’re not really sure that what we’re saying is sufficiently correct or complete, such as sort of, kind of, as far as I know
Implicature is an additional conveyed meaning
A: Are you coming to the party tonight?
B: I’ve got an exam tomorrow.
(B’s answer means ‘No’ or ‘Probably not.’ It is not a statement about tomorrow’s activities, it involves tonight’s activities, which mean ‘study tonight.’)