Discourse Analysis
The Analysis of Language Longer Than a Sentence
Texts May Be of Any Length…
Literary Stylistics: poetry, prose, novels…
Forensic Linguistics: courtroom discourse,
police discourse, language of the law, etc.
Critical Discourse Analysis: political texts,
speeches, constitutional/civil rights issues…
Methodologies for Performing
Discourse Analysis
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Speech Act Theory
Interactional Sociolinguistics
Ethnography of Communication
Pragmatics
Conversation Analysis
Variationist Approach
Speech Act Theory
Stems from the Philosophy of Language
How we accomplish actions with words
Knowledge of required underlying
assumptions
Interpretations of acts through
language
Contextually dependent
Interactional Sociolinguistics
Culturally bound
Lack of shared background knowledge
produces mismatched
intentions/interpretations
How language is situated in different
areas of life
Ethnography of Communication
Holistic analysis of meaning/behaviour
Includes world views and cultural
values
Focus in particularities of each
communicative situation, e.g.:
People
Setting
Context, etc.
Pragmatics
Inferential interpretations of speaker’s
intent
Assumption of cooperation (Grice)
Hearers search for meaning behind
adherence to or breaking of maxims
Contextually bound
Conversation Analysis
Stems from sociological studies
Sees conversation as the building of
social order
Interpretation is limited to the
utterances themselves
No preconceived categories before the
analysis takes place.
Variationist Approaches
Search for patterns in discourse
How are the patterns constrained by
the discourse?
Segementation of discourse (typically
narrative) into sections
More emphasis on text than context
Uses traditional linguistic categories of
analysis
Data Collection
Collection methods and requirements
vary for each methodology.
May be fragments of conversation (IS)
to a wide range of texts (V).
Some require close personal knowledge
and/or assimilation into a society (EC),
others may use hypothetical discourse
of ideal speaker (P).
Derivational Thinking (DT)
Linguistic Postulates:
number (use of singular/plural structures)
sex-based gender (with the masculine form
as the root and the feminine derived from the
masculine)
ranking comparative/absolute
(e.g.
better, best)
e.g. Hardman (1996)
Evanescence (featuring Paul McCoy) –
“Bring Me To Life”
(I can’t wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me)Save me
How can you see into my eyes,
Like open doors
Leading you down into my core
Where I’ve become so numb
Without a soul
My spirit sleeping somewhere cold
Until you find it there,
And lead it back home
(Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name
And save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me) Save me
From the nothing I’ve become
Now that I know what I’m without
You can't just leave me
Breathe into me and make me real
Bring me to life
(Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name,
And save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up)
And save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
From the nothing I’ve become
Bring me to life
(I've been living a lie, There's nothing inside)
Bring me to life
Frozen inside without your touch, without your love, darlin’
Only you are the life among the dead
All this time
I can't believe I couldn't see
Kept in the dark
But you were there in front of me
I’ve been sleeping a thousand years, it seems
Got to open my eyes to everything
Without a thought, without a voice, without a soul
Don't let me die here
There must be something more
Bring me to life
(Wake me up) Wake me up inside
(I can’t wake up) Wake me up inside
(Save me) Call my name
And save me from the dark
(Wake me up) Bid my blood to run
(I can’t wake up) Before I come undone
(Save me) Save me
From the nothing I’ve become
(Bring me to life) I’ve been living a lie,
There’s nothing inside (Bring me to life)
Issues with ‘Bring Me to Life’
Theme song of widely popular film
‘Daredevil’
Calls for ‘hero’ to ‘Bring me to
Life’
Mismatch with the movie - Elektra
Export of sexism
Nickelback – “Never Again”
He's drunk again, It’s time to fight
She must have done something wrong tonight
The living room becomes a boxing ring
It's time to run when you see him
Clenching his hands
She's just a woman
Never Again
I hear her scream, From down the hall
Amazing she can even talk at all
She cries to me, Go back to bed
I'm terrified that she'll wind up
Dead in his hands,
She's just a woman
Never Again
Been there before, but not like this
Seen it before, but not like this
Never before have I ever
Seen it this bad
She's just a woman
Never Again
Just tell the nurse, You slipped and fell
It starts to sting as it starts to swell
She looks at you, she wants the truth
It's right out there
In the waiting room
With those hands
Looking just as sweet as he can
Never Again
Seen it before, but not like this
Been there before, but not like this
Never before have I ever
Seen it this bad
She's just a woman
Never Again
Father's a name you haven't earned yet
You're just a child with a temper
Haven't you heard "Don't hit a lady"?
Kickin' your ass would be a pleasure
He's drunk again, it's time to fight
Same old shit,
Just on a different night
She grabs the gun, she's had enough
Tonight she'll find out how fucking
Tough is this man
Pulls the trigger
Just as fast as she can
Never Again
Seen it before, but not like this
Been there before, but not like this
Never before have I ever
Seen it this bad
She's just a woman
Never Again
DT and ‘Never Again’
 This song tells the story of a woman suffering domestic
abuse from her male partner.
 Denial of Agency
 The singer here is an onlooker, and though he attests
“Haven’t you heard ‘Don’t hit a lady?’ Kicking your ass
would be a pleasure,” the woman in the song does not allow
him to deny her the agency required to finish this for
herself. She shoots the man while he is beating her.
 Double Standard of Content
 “She’s just a woman”
Examples of artists that have songs that
lean towards sexism:
Guns ‘n’ Roses (e.g. ‘Rocket Queen)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (e.g. ‘Suck my
Kiss’)
Kid Rock (e.g. … most anything !)
Puddle of Mudd (e.g. ‘Control’)
Velvet Revolver (e.g. ‘Dirty Little Thing’)
Saliva (e.g. ‘Survival of the Sickest’)
The ‘Good Guys’…
Do not take from this that all rock music is
sexist!!
Linkin Park
Godsmack
Metallica
3 Doors Down
Audioslave
Crossfade
Crossfade – “Cold”
Looking back at me I see
That I never really got it right
I never stopped to think of you
I'm always wrapped up in
Things I cannot win
You are the antidote that gets
me by
Something strong
Like a drug that gets me high
What I really meant to say
Is I'm sorry for the way I am
I never meant to be so cold to
you
And I'm sorry about all the lies
Maybe in a different light
You could see me stand on my own again
Cause now i can see
You were the antidote that got me by
Something strong like a drug that got me high
I never meant to be so cold
I never really wanted you to see
The screwed up side of me that I keep
Locked inside of me so deep
It always seems to get to me
I never really wanted you to go
So many things you should have known
I guess for me there’s just no hope
I never meant to be so cold