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Discourse Studies : Theories and Methods

Discourse Studies : Theories and Methods. Johannes Angermuller University of Warwick Centre for Applied Linguistics (CAL) http:// www.johannes-angermuller.net. What is Discourse Studies?. Discourse Studies as an intellectual fad? a method ? an orientation ?

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Discourse Studies : Theories and Methods

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  1. DiscourseStudies: Theories and Methods Johannes Angermuller University of WarwickCentre for AppliedLinguistics (CAL)http://www.johannes-angermuller.net

  2. WhatisDiscourse Studies? Discourse Studies as • an intellectual fad? • a method? • an orientation? • a fieldofresearch? Discourse Studies = Discoursetheory + discourseanalysis in a varietyoffieldsandorientations

  3. Overview • Introducingthetopicandourselves • Mapping Discourse Studies • Theory • Analysis • Fields • Orientations • Analysingdiscourseas a positioningpractice

  4. 1 Introduction: Discourse Studies as a transdisciplinaryfield Discourseassocialproductionofmeaning in interactivesituationsand large communities Discourse Studies integrates theories and methods to account for discourse in the social sciences Key features: • Discourseasconstitutiveofthesocial • Subjectivityas a discursiveeffect • Meaningmakingpractice in context • Institutionalandsocietalrelevance

  5. 2 a) Discoursetheory in the SSH • Taking up the intellectual place once held by Marxism and psychoanalysis • Adversaries • Causalist(“positivist”) strands of social research • Universalism in letters and humanities

  6. 2 a) Three strands of discourse theory • Poststructuralism • Jacques Lacan: split subject • Louis Althusser: subject positions • Michel Pêcheux: ideology • Michel Foucault: knowledge-power • Jacques Derrida: play of difference • Laclau/Mouffe: hegemony • Judith Butler: gender as construction • SlavojŽižek: splits in culture

  7. 2 a) Discourse theories: deliberative and realist strands • Normative-deliberative strands • Jürgen Habermas: reaching agreement in the public sphere • Jean-François Lyotard: differend • Luc Boltanski: actors as moral agents • Critical realism • Bob Jessop: cultural political economy • Norman Fairclough: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

  8. 2 a) The triangle of discourse theory

  9. 2 b) Discourse analysis • Discourse analysis as a methodological project: applying methods to analyse empirical material in order to study an object • Qualitative (interactionism) vs. quantitative (corpus analysis) methods • Semantics versus pragmatics • Alternative methodological projects • Content analysis (communication sciences) • Hermeneutics (history)

  10. 2 c) Discourse analysis as a subdisciplinary field Pragmatics as the interdisciplinary space of language & society studying uses of texts in contexts Adjacent fields: • Conversation analysis • Sociolinguistics • Linguistic anthropology • Semiotics • Corpus analysis • Sociology of language • Rhetorics

  11. 2 c) The triangle of discourse analysis

  12. 2 d) Orientations Four ideal-typical orientations • Interdiscourse (‘French antihumanism’) • Interaction (‘American pragmatism’) • Language in use (‘English pragmatics’) • Understanding the meaningful whole (‘German hermeneutics’)

  13. 3) Analysingdiscourseas a positioningpractice Poststructuralist theory • Discourse as a space where order needs to be constituted • Construction of subject positions as existential challenge Pragmatic methodology • Enunciative pragmatics • Utterances as smallest units • Indexical references to its many ‘speakers’

  14. 3) Whatis an utterance? An utterance refers to a locutor... • is hot a it day (2) L (locutor): ‘it is a hot day’ ...and enunciators via markers (3) it is not a hot day (3’) l: ‘it’s a hot day’ (3’’) a: No, l is not right!

  15. Howarepositionsconstructed in utterances? Excerpt from Spiegel (17 March 2010) “Germany with its export power is too successful – that’s at least what thinks the French minister of economics Lagarde. … The Chancellor Angela Merkel refutes this criticism : ‘We’re not renouncing our strengths where we are strong.’ Her government was supporting a policy which aimed to increase Germany’s competitiveness. It would be an error to follow the slowest one.”

  16. Howarepositionsconstructed in utterances? ExcerptfromManager Magazin (21 January 2013) „High exportsurplus Germany‘sexportsurplusisbecoming a problem. Nowitis so high thattheythreatenEurope‘sstabilityaccordingto a definition. Ifthisgoes on, Germany risksbeingsubjectto a punishmentprocedure. ...“

  17. Howarepositionsconstructed in utterances? Excerpt from Frankfurter AllgemeineZeitung (11 March 2014) “The Illusion of the current account The illusory debate about the success of Germany‘s exports is beneficial for Sigmar Gabriel’s [minister of the economy and president of SPD] political objectives. Yet a a minister of the economy who ignores the capital side is a danger for Germany. The EU Commission arouses the dispute over Germany’s export success. Although the German current account surplus within the Euro zone will hardly be relevant any more this year, Brussels warns against ‘dangerous macroeconomic imbalances’ in Europe.”

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