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{{Short description|Field of theory which examines elements of conversation}}{{Other uses|Discourse (disambiguation)}}{{technical|date=May 2018}}{{Sociology}}Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication.The noun derives from a Latin verb meaning "running to and fro". For a concise historical account of the term and the concept see Dorschel, Andreas. 2021. "Diskurs." Pp. 110–114 in Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte XV/4: Falschmünzer, edited by M. Mulsow, & A.U. Sommer. Munich: C.H. Beck. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophy, and discourse analysis. Following pioneering work by Michel Foucault, these fields view discourse as a system of thought, knowledge, or communication that constructs our experience of the world. Since control of discourse amounts to control of how the world is perceived, social theory often studies discourse as a window into power. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics, in which expressions' denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context.

Social theory

In the humanities and social sciences, discourse describes a formal way of thinking that can be expressed through language. Discourse is a social boundary that defines what statements can be said about a topic. Many definitions of discourse are largely derived from the work of French philosopher Michel Foucault. In sociology, discourse is defined as "any practice (found in a wide range of forms) by which individuals imbue reality with meaning".JOURNAL, Ruiz, Jorge R., 2009-05-30, Sociological discourse analysis: Methods and logic,weblink Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 10, 2, Article 26, live,weblink Dec 10, 2022, Political science sees discourse as closely linked to politicsWEB,weblink Politics, Ideology, and Discourse, T A, van Dijk, 2019-01-27, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190127094109weblink">weblink 2019-01-27, WEB,weblink What is Political Discourse Analysis?, van Dijk, Teun A., 2020-03-21, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20200331132441weblink">weblink Mar 31, 2020, and policy making.JOURNAL, Does discourse matter? Discourse analysis in environmental policy making, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 7, 3, 161–173, 10.1080/15239080500339638, 2005, Feindt, Peter H., Oels, Angela, 143314592, free,weblink Likewise, different theories among various disciplines understand discourse as linked to power and state, insofar as the control of discourses is understood as a hold on reality itself (e.g. if a state controls the media, they control the "truth"). In essence, discourse is inescapable, since any use of language will have an effect on individual perspectives. In other words, the chosen discourse provides the vocabulary, expressions, or style needed to communicate. For example, two notably distinct discourses can be used about various guerrilla movements, describing them either as "freedom fighters" or "terrorists".In psychology, discourses are embedded in different rhetorical genres and meta-genres that constrain and enable them—language talking about language. This is exemplified in the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which tells of the terms that have to be used in speaking about mental health, thereby mediating meanings and dictating practices of professionals in psychology and psychiatry.Schryer, Catherine F., and Philippa Spoel. 2005. "Genre theory, health-care discourse, and professional identity formation." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 19: 249. Retrieved from SAGE.

Modernism

Modernist theorists were focused on achieving progress and believed in the existence of natural and social laws which could be used universally to develop knowledge and thus a better understanding of society.Larrain, Jorge. 1994. Ideology and Cultural Identity: Modernity and the Third World Presence. Cambridge: Polity Press. {{ISBN|9780745613154}}. Retrieved via Google Books. Such theorists would be preoccupied with obtaining the "truth" and "reality", seeking to develop theories which contained certainty and predictability.BOOK, Best, Steven, The Postmodern Turn, Kellner, Douglas, The Guilford Press, 1997, 978-1-57230-221-1, New York City, Steven Best, Douglas Kellner, Modernist theorists therefore understood discourse to be functional.Strega, Susan. 2005. "The View from the Poststructural Margins: Epistemology and Methodology Reconsidered." Pp. 199–235 in Research as Resistance, edited by L. Brown, & S. Strega. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press. Discourse and language transformations are ascribed to progress or the need to develop new or more "accurate" words to describe new discoveries, understandings, or areas of interest. In modernist theory, language and discourse are dissociated from power and ideology and instead conceptualized as "natural" products of common sense usage or progress. Modernism further gave rise to the liberal discourses of rights, equality, freedom, and justice; however, this rhetoric masked substantive inequality and failed to account for differences, according to Regnier.Regnier, 2005

Structuralism (Saussure & Lacan)

Structuralist theorists, such as Ferdinand de Saussure and Jacques Lacan, argue that all human actions and social formations are related to language and can be understood as systems of related elements.BOOK, Howarth, D., Discourse, Open University Press, 2000, 978-0-335-20070-2, Philadelphia, This means that the "individual elements of a system only have significance when considered in relation to the structure as a whole, and that structures are to be understood as self-contained, self-regulated, and self-transforming entities".{{Rp|17}} In other words, it is the structure itself that determines the significance, meaning and function of the individual elements of a system. Structuralism has made an important contribution to our understanding of language and social systems.Sommers, Aaron. 2002. "Discourse and Difference." Cosmology and our View of the World, University of New Hampshire. Seminar summary. Saussure's theory of language highlights the decisive role of meaning and signification in structuring human life more generally.

Poststructuralism (Foucault)

Following the perceived limitations of the modern era, emerged postmodern theory. Postmodern theorists rejected modernist claims that there was one theoretical approach that explained all aspects of society. Rather, postmodernist theorists were interested in examining the variety of experiences of individuals and groups and emphasized differences over similarities and common experiences.In contrast to modernist theory, postmodern theory is pessimistic regarding universal truths and realities. Hence it has attempted to be fluid, allowing for individual differences as it rejects the notion of social laws. Postmodern theorists shifted away from truth-seeking, and instead sought answers for how truths are produced and sustained. Postmodernists contended that truth and knowledge are plural, contextual, and historically produced through discourses. Postmodern researchers therefore embarked on analyzing discourses such as texts, language, policies, and practices.

Foucault

In the works of the philosopher Michel Foucault, a discourse is "an entity of sequences, of signs, in that they are enouncements (énoncés)."BOOK, M. Foucault, 1969, L'Archéologie du savoir, Paris, Éditions Gallimard, M. Foucault, The enouncement (l’énoncé, "the statement") is a linguistic construct that allows the writer and the speaker to assign meaning to words and to communicate repeatable semantic relations to, between, and among the statements, objects, or subjects of the discourse. There exist internal relations among the signs (semiotic sequences) that are between and among the statements, objects, or subjects of the discourse. The term discursive formation identifies and describes written and spoken statements with semantic relations that produce discourses. As a researcher, Foucault applied the discursive formation to analyses of large bodies of knowledge, e.g. political economy and natural history.BOOK, M. Foucault, The Order of Things, 1970, Pantheon Books, 0-415-26737-4, M. Foucault, In The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), a treatise about the methodology and historiography of systems of thought ("epistemes") and of knowledge ("discursive formations"), Michel Foucault developed the concepts of discourse. The sociologist Iara Lessa summarizes Foucault's definition of discourse as "systems of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs, and practices that systematically construct the subjects and the worlds of which they speak."JOURNAL, Lessa, Iara, Discursive Struggles within Social Welfare: Restaging Teen Motherhood, The British Journal of Social Work, 36, 2, 283–298, 10.1093/bjsw/bch256, February 2006, Foucault traces the role of discourse in the legitimation of society's power to construct contemporary truths, to maintain said truths, and to determine what relations of power exist among the constructed truths; therefore discourse is a communications medium through which power relations produce men and women who can speak.The inter-relation between power and knowledge renders every human relationship into a power negotiation,Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977 (1980) New York City: Pantheon Books. because power is always present and so produces and constrains the truth. Power is exercised through rules of exclusion (discourses) that determine what subjects people can discuss; when, where, and how a person may speak; and determines which persons are allowed speak. That knowledge is both the creator of power and the creation of power, Foucault coined "power/knowledge" to show that it is "an abstract force which determines what will be known, rather than assuming that individual thinkers develop ideas and knowledge."BOOK, Sellars, Maura, Educating Students with Refugee and Asylum Seeker Experiences: A Commitment to Humanity, 2020, 2020, 2020, 23, en, Chapter Two: Power: Discourses of Power, 10.2307/j.ctv12sdz0r.7,weblink BOOK, Kłos-Czerwińska, Paulina,weblink Discourse: an introduction to van Dijk, Foucault and Bourdieu, 2015, Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły Filologicznej : Komisja Nauk Filologicznych PAN. Oddział ; International Communicology Institute, 978-83-60097-37-3, Languages in Contact, Wrocław : Washington, 166, Interdiscourse studies the external semantic relations among discourses,BOOK, Keller, Reiner,weblink Doing Discourse Research: An Introduction for Social Scientists, 2013, SAGE Publications Ltd, 978-1-4739-5764-0, en, 10.4135/9781473957640, as discourses exists in relation to other discourses.

Discourse analysis

There is more than one type of discourse analysis, and the definition of "discourse" shifts slightly between types. Generally speaking, discourse analyses can be divided into those that are concerned with "little d" discourse and "big D" Discourse. The former ("little d") refers to language-in-use, such as spoken communication; the latter ("big D") refers to sociopolitical discourses (language plus social and cultural contexts).BOOK, Gee, James P., James Paul Gee,weblink An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method, 2005, Taylor & Francis, 2005, 2nd, 7, 26, en, pdf, March 23, 2024, Common forms of discourse analysis include:

• Critical discourse analysis
• Conversation analysis
• Foucauldian discourse analysis
• Genre analysis
• Narrative analysis

Formal semantics and pragmatics

{{further|Domain of discourse}}In formal semantics and pragmatics, discourse is often viewed as the process of refining the information in a common ground. In some theories of semantics such as discourse representation theory, sentences' denotations themselves are equated with functions which update a common ground.ENCYCLOPEDIA, Green, Mitchell, Zalta, Edward, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Speech Acts,weblink 2021-03-05, 2020, ENCYCLOPEDIA, Pagin, Peter, Zalta, Edward, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Assertion,weblink 2021-03-05, 2016, ENCYCLOPEDIA, Nowen, Rick, Brasoveanu, Adrian, van Eijck, Jan, Visser, Albert, Zalta, Edward, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Dynamic Semantics,weblink 2020-08-11, 2016, ENCYCLOPEDIA, Stalnaker, Robert, Robert Stalnaker, Cole, P, Syntax and Semantics, Vol. IX: Pragmatics, Assertion, 1978, Academic Press,

See also

{hide}Columns-list|colwidth=44em|

• Common ground
• Conversational scoreboard
• Deconstruction
• Difference (philosophy)
• Discipline and Punish
• Discourse community
• Discursive dominance
• Discourse Studies
• Dynamic semantics
• Episteme
• Parrhesia
• Post-structuralism
• Pragmatics
• The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, a 1985 book by Jürgen Habermas, regarded as an important contribution to Frankfurt School critical theory
• Public speaking
• Rhetoric

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References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Foucault, Michel, 1972, Archaeology of Knowledge, New York, Pantheon Books, 978-0-415-28752-4, M. Foucault, 1969,
• BOOK, Foucault, 1977, Discipline and Punish, New York, Pantheon Books, 978-0-394-49942-0, M. Foucault

  author-mask=1, — (1980). "Two Lectures", in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews, edited by C. Gordon. New York; Pantheon Books. BOOK, Foucault, Michel, 2003, Society Must Be Defended, New York, Picador (imprint), Picador, 978-0-312-42266-0, 1, M. Foucault, BOOK, McHoul, Alec, 1993, A Foucault Primer: Discourse, Power, and the Subject, Grace, Wendy, Melbourne, Alec McHoul, Wendy Grace, Melbourne University Press, 978-0-8147-5480-1, JOURNAL, Motion, J., Leitch, S., 2007, A Toolbox for Public Relations: The Oeuvre of Michel Foucault, Public Relations Review, 33, 3, 263–268, 10.1016/j.pubrev.2007.05.004, 1959.3/76588,weblink free, BOOK, R. Mullaly, Robert, 1997, Structural Social Work: Ideology, Theory, and Practice, 2nd, New York City, Oxford University Press, 978-0-7710-6673-3, Robert Mullaly, Howard, Harry. (2017). "Discourse 2." Brain and Language, Tulane University. [PowerPoint slides]. JOURNAL, Norton, 1997, Language, identity, and the ownership of English, TESOL Quarterly, 31, 3, 409–429, 10.2307/3587831, 3587831, Bonny Norton, Bonny, BOOK, Sunderland, 2004, Gendered Discourses, New York City, Palgrave Macmillan, J., External links DiscourseNet, an international association for discourse studies. Beyond open access: open discourse, the next great equalizer, Retrovirology 2006, 3:55 Discourse (Lun) in the Chinese tradition {{Authority control}}{{formal semantics}}

  
  
  
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