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Discourse Analysis

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Submitted By mozaza
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Title

I. Topic

The topic of this paper is regarding discourse analysis

II. What is Discourse?

There is not a straight-forward definition to describe what exactly "discourse analysis" is. Barbara Johnstone, a Professor of English and Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon University, said the following about what the word "discourse" means, "To discourse analysts, 'discourse' usually means actual instances of communication in the medium of language." (Discourse Analysis, 2002, p 2)

So, according to Johnstone (2002), discourse is the occurrences of communication in the form of language. This means there are many ways in which communication can take form in, such as gesture and dance, but discourse focuses in the way language is being used to communicate.

I think this definition helps in understanding what discourse analysis is. It is implied, through this definition, that when we are talking about discourse analysis, we are discussing about how language is being used to communicate. This means we don't focus ourselves with language as a system, but rather how language is being applied to express something or to declare a notion. For that reason, when we study about discourse analysis that means we study the process in which language as an instrument of communication is involved.

III. Spoken and Written Language

Discourse analysis is dealing with analysing the function of language as a tool of communication. When people use language to communicate, they can either use language by saying something, like people do in conversations, or they write it. For this reason, this function of language can also be separated into two forms: spoken and written.

Gillian Brown, Professor of English as an International Language
In University Of Cambridge, and George Yule, Professor of Linguistics
In Louisiana State University, mentioned the pros and cons of being a speaker and a

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