Discourse Analysis

 Definition of Discourse

1. Discourse (from Latin discursus, "running to and from") denotes written and spoken communications
2. Discourse is the creation and organization of the segments of a language above as well as below the sentence.
3. Discourse is the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. Language can never be 'neutral' because it bridges our personal and social worlds." (Frances Henry and Carol Tator, Discourses of Domination. University of Toronto Press, 2002)
4. Discourse is language in context refer to language in action, while a text is written record of interaction (communicative event).
5. Discourse is generally used to designate the forms of representation, codes, conventions and habits of language that produce specific fields of culturally and historically located meanings.

Analysis

1. Analysis is a set of techniques for exploring underlying motives and a method of treating various mental disorders (based on the theories of Sigmund Freud)
2. Analysis is a form of literary criticism in which the structure of a piece of writing is analyzed
3. Discourse analysis is a broad term for the study of the ways in which language is used in texts and contexts

Discourse Analysis

1. DA is  concerned with language use as a social phenomenon and therefore necessarily goes beyond one speaker or one newspaper article to find features which have a more generalized relevance. This is a potentially confusing point because the publication of research findings is generally presented through examples and the analyst may choose a single example or case to exemplify the features to be discussed, but those features are only of interest as a social, not individual, phenomenon.
2. DA is not only about method; it is also a perspective on the nature of language and its relationship to the central issues of the social sciences. More specifically, we see discourse analysis as a related collection of approaches to discourse, approaches that entail not only practices of data collection and analysis, but also a set of metatheoretical and theoretical assumptions and a body of research claims and studies." (Linda Wood and Rolf Kroger, Doing Discourse Analysis. Sage, 2000).
3.  DA is sometimes defined as the analysis of language 'beyond the sentence'. This contrasts with types of analysis more typical of modern linguistics, which are chiefly concerned with the study of grammar: the study of smaller bits of language, such as sounds (phonetics and phonology), parts of words (morphology), meaning (semantics), and the order of words in sentences (syntax). 
4. DA is a primarily linguistic study examining the use of language by its native population whose major concern is investigating language functions along with its forms, produced both orally and in writing 
5. DA is a hybrid field of enquiry. Its "lender disciplines" are to be found within various corners of the human and social sciences, with complex historical affiliations and a lot of cross- fertilization taking place. 
6. DA is is the study of social life, understood through analysis of language in its widest sense (including face-to-face talk, non-verbal interaction, images, symbols and documents).
7. DA is study of naturally occurring connected sentences, spoken or written, is one of the most promising and rapidly developing areas of modern linguistics  

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