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Review of: Discourse Analysis
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9 (2010) 335e338
337
Review of: Discourse Analysis, Barbara Johnstone, 2nd edition).. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing (2008), (xvii þ 311 pp., $47.95) ISBN 978-1-4051-4427-8. This book offers an overview of discourse in human affairs, drawing on many subfields of linguistics and, more broadly, on history, philosophy, psychology, critical theory, anthropology, communication studies, and literary theory. It is thus an attempt, largely successful, to acquaint readers with a wide variety of theoretical and research perspectives useful in analyzing the role of discourse in expressing and creating human identities and social relationships. Though the book discusses a wide range of theories that the non-expert reader may not be aware of, it does a good job of explaining these and showing their relevance to the project of understanding discourse. According to the preface to the first edition, reprinted in the second edition, “the book is intended to be a first-level text for undergraduates and beginning graduate students taking their first (or only) course about discourse” (p. xiii). Instead of treating discourse analysis narrowly as a branch of linguistics, the book seeks to provide “a systematic, rigorous way of suggesting answers to research questions posed in and across disciplines throughout the humanities and social sciences and beyond” (p. xiii). Thus, the book is more comprehensive than the usual treatment of discourse from a strictly linguistic perspective. Aside from the introductory and final chapters, each chapter is organized around specific ways of understanding one of the six major pairs of features that the author argues are characteristic of discourse (see below). Useful aspects of each chapter are a preview of the topics that will be addressed, many specific examples that illustrate the points made, questions at the end of most chapter sections that encourage readers to apply and critique the concepts discussed, a concluding summary of the chapter, and a short annotated bibliography of works for further reading. A brief glossary of technical terms appears at the end of the book. Chapter 1, “Introduction,” defines discourse as “actual instances of communicative action in the medium of language” (p. 2) and explains that discourse analysts are “not centrally focused on language as an abstract system. [but on] what happens when people draw on the knowledge they have about language.to do things in the world” (p. 3). The chapter defines discourse analysis as a systematic method for investigating six fundamental reciprocal paired features of discourse, which subsequently function as the central topics for chapters 2 through 7. These are summarized in a figure in chapter 1 (p. 10): Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse
is is is is is is
shaped shaped shaped shaped shaped shaped
by by by by by by
the world, and discourse shapes the world. language, and discourse shapes language. participants, and discourse shapes participants. prior discourse, and discourse shapes the possibilities for future discourse. its medium, and discourse shapes the possibilities of its medium. purpose, and discourse shapes possible purposes.
Chapter 2, “Discourse and World,” looks at the relationship between discourse and the world of experience that it both reflects and shapes. Major topics include the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and beliefs about what language is and how it relates to the world. Chapter 3, “Discourse Structure: Parts and Sequences,” looks at various methods for analyzing how discourse is organized. It includes sentence grammar, paragraph analysis, story grammars, conversation analysis, information focus, and cohesion. Chapter 4, “Participants in Discourse: Relationships, Roles, and Identities,” discusses how the social identities of discourse participants affect and are affected by the nature of the discourse. It examines power and solidarity relationships, “indexical” (p. 133) forms that indicate the social role adopted by a discourse participant, the ways in which discourse participants signal their stance toward propositions, generalized styles for framing propositions, the social roles of participants, politeness phenomena, the creation of social and personal identities through discourse choices, and the tension between convention and creativity in discourse. Chapter 5, “Prior Texts, Prior Discourses,” examines the links of present discourse with past and future discourses. Major subtopics here are intertextuality and interdiscursivity, how and why chunks of discourse are repeated in conversations, register, genre, discourse frames, and coherence. The effect of medium e whether spoken, written, or signed e on discourse is the topic of Chapter 6, “Discourse and Medium.” Major subtopics include the distinction between oral and literate cultures, various forms and social meanings of literacy, the effect of modern technology on discourse, the effect of planning (or lack of planning) on discourse structure, how fixed or fluid a particular medium is and how this influences coherence, how the medium affects relations between people, and an analysis of multimodal discourse.
338
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9 (2010) 335e338
Chapter 7, “Intention and Interpretation,” considers theoretical models for understanding the communicative goals and ways of understanding them of discourse participants. The major elements of this discussion are speech act theory, Grice’s Cooperative Principle and implicature, how speakers can mark their discourse to signal intent, rhetoric as a persuasive strategy, and verbal art as performance. Chapter 8, “Some General Themes,” summarizes the main arguments of the book about the six paired features, which are the basis for sets of questions for exploring how discourse works. This chapter underscores the author’s thesis that discourse analysis is primarily a rigorous methodology for deriving a thorough description of what is happening in discourse as a human activity. The chapter discusses where the meaning of a text is to be found e in the speaker, in the text itself, in the audience, or in all of them. This leads to a discussion of whether discourse is to be understood as strategically planned or as adapted to circumstances, and the author concludes that both may be true. In the final section, the author argues that discourse analysis “is a methodological tool that has been useful, or is potentially useful, in disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiry of many sorts” (p. 271). This book is deeply humane in its core purpose of promoting rigorous and systematic understanding of discourse as a prototypically human activity. It is also impressive in the broad array of theoretical paradigms and research methodologies it integrates in achieving this end. The focus of the book ranges from detailed analyses of small samples of discourse, such as face-to-face and chatroom conversation transcripts, brochures, newspaper articles, speeches, and poems, to general considerations of larger concerns of sociocultural theory, and the transition from one to the other always seems natural and unforced. In spite of the often technical nature of the analyses presented, the book very successfully explains and illustrates each form of analysis, as well as showing the relevance of each for understanding how humans use discourse to conduct their social lives. Sample analyses and application tasks help to make the concepts accessible to serious readers, even if they are not already familiar with the theories it discusses. One of the book’s great strengths is this learn-by-doing approach. Finally, as a piece of highly planned discourse itself, the book is very coherently structured around the six paired reciprocal features. Nevertheless, less serious or less sophisticated readers may find Discourse Analysis to be a difficult read. If the book were to be used in an undergraduate class, it may prove somewhat challenging; however, it is clearly a fine introduction to the broad scope of discourse analysis for graduate students in linguistics or in many other social sciences. In its breadth and clarity, Discourse Analysis makes a very useful contribution to the social sciences and is a provocative, enjoyable, and richly rewarding read. Patrick Rosenkjar Temple University, Japan Campus 2-10-8 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0047, Japan E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2010.02.008
337
Review of: Discourse Analysis, Barbara Johnstone, 2nd edition).. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing (2008), (xvii þ 311 pp., $47.95) ISBN 978-1-4051-4427-8. This book offers an overview of discourse in human affairs, drawing on many subfields of linguistics and, more broadly, on history, philosophy, psychology, critical theory, anthropology, communication studies, and literary theory. It is thus an attempt, largely successful, to acquaint readers with a wide variety of theoretical and research perspectives useful in analyzing the role of discourse in expressing and creating human identities and social relationships. Though the book discusses a wide range of theories that the non-expert reader may not be aware of, it does a good job of explaining these and showing their relevance to the project of understanding discourse. According to the preface to the first edition, reprinted in the second edition, “the book is intended to be a first-level text for undergraduates and beginning graduate students taking their first (or only) course about discourse” (p. xiii). Instead of treating discourse analysis narrowly as a branch of linguistics, the book seeks to provide “a systematic, rigorous way of suggesting answers to research questions posed in and across disciplines throughout the humanities and social sciences and beyond” (p. xiii). Thus, the book is more comprehensive than the usual treatment of discourse from a strictly linguistic perspective. Aside from the introductory and final chapters, each chapter is organized around specific ways of understanding one of the six major pairs of features that the author argues are characteristic of discourse (see below). Useful aspects of each chapter are a preview of the topics that will be addressed, many specific examples that illustrate the points made, questions at the end of most chapter sections that encourage readers to apply and critique the concepts discussed, a concluding summary of the chapter, and a short annotated bibliography of works for further reading. A brief glossary of technical terms appears at the end of the book. Chapter 1, “Introduction,” defines discourse as “actual instances of communicative action in the medium of language” (p. 2) and explains that discourse analysts are “not centrally focused on language as an abstract system. [but on] what happens when people draw on the knowledge they have about language.to do things in the world” (p. 3). The chapter defines discourse analysis as a systematic method for investigating six fundamental reciprocal paired features of discourse, which subsequently function as the central topics for chapters 2 through 7. These are summarized in a figure in chapter 1 (p. 10): Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse Discourse
is is is is is is
shaped shaped shaped shaped shaped shaped
by by by by by by
the world, and discourse shapes the world. language, and discourse shapes language. participants, and discourse shapes participants. prior discourse, and discourse shapes the possibilities for future discourse. its medium, and discourse shapes the possibilities of its medium. purpose, and discourse shapes possible purposes.
Chapter 2, “Discourse and World,” looks at the relationship between discourse and the world of experience that it both reflects and shapes. Major topics include the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and beliefs about what language is and how it relates to the world. Chapter 3, “Discourse Structure: Parts and Sequences,” looks at various methods for analyzing how discourse is organized. It includes sentence grammar, paragraph analysis, story grammars, conversation analysis, information focus, and cohesion. Chapter 4, “Participants in Discourse: Relationships, Roles, and Identities,” discusses how the social identities of discourse participants affect and are affected by the nature of the discourse. It examines power and solidarity relationships, “indexical” (p. 133) forms that indicate the social role adopted by a discourse participant, the ways in which discourse participants signal their stance toward propositions, generalized styles for framing propositions, the social roles of participants, politeness phenomena, the creation of social and personal identities through discourse choices, and the tension between convention and creativity in discourse. Chapter 5, “Prior Texts, Prior Discourses,” examines the links of present discourse with past and future discourses. Major subtopics here are intertextuality and interdiscursivity, how and why chunks of discourse are repeated in conversations, register, genre, discourse frames, and coherence. The effect of medium e whether spoken, written, or signed e on discourse is the topic of Chapter 6, “Discourse and Medium.” Major subtopics include the distinction between oral and literate cultures, various forms and social meanings of literacy, the effect of modern technology on discourse, the effect of planning (or lack of planning) on discourse structure, how fixed or fluid a particular medium is and how this influences coherence, how the medium affects relations between people, and an analysis of multimodal discourse.
338
Book reviews / Journal of English for Academic Purposes 9 (2010) 335e338
Chapter 7, “Intention and Interpretation,” considers theoretical models for understanding the communicative goals and ways of understanding them of discourse participants. The major elements of this discussion are speech act theory, Grice’s Cooperative Principle and implicature, how speakers can mark their discourse to signal intent, rhetoric as a persuasive strategy, and verbal art as performance. Chapter 8, “Some General Themes,” summarizes the main arguments of the book about the six paired features, which are the basis for sets of questions for exploring how discourse works. This chapter underscores the author’s thesis that discourse analysis is primarily a rigorous methodology for deriving a thorough description of what is happening in discourse as a human activity. The chapter discusses where the meaning of a text is to be found e in the speaker, in the text itself, in the audience, or in all of them. This leads to a discussion of whether discourse is to be understood as strategically planned or as adapted to circumstances, and the author concludes that both may be true. In the final section, the author argues that discourse analysis “is a methodological tool that has been useful, or is potentially useful, in disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiry of many sorts” (p. 271). This book is deeply humane in its core purpose of promoting rigorous and systematic understanding of discourse as a prototypically human activity. It is also impressive in the broad array of theoretical paradigms and research methodologies it integrates in achieving this end. The focus of the book ranges from detailed analyses of small samples of discourse, such as face-to-face and chatroom conversation transcripts, brochures, newspaper articles, speeches, and poems, to general considerations of larger concerns of sociocultural theory, and the transition from one to the other always seems natural and unforced. In spite of the often technical nature of the analyses presented, the book very successfully explains and illustrates each form of analysis, as well as showing the relevance of each for understanding how humans use discourse to conduct their social lives. Sample analyses and application tasks help to make the concepts accessible to serious readers, even if they are not already familiar with the theories it discusses. One of the book’s great strengths is this learn-by-doing approach. Finally, as a piece of highly planned discourse itself, the book is very coherently structured around the six paired reciprocal features. Nevertheless, less serious or less sophisticated readers may find Discourse Analysis to be a difficult read. If the book were to be used in an undergraduate class, it may prove somewhat challenging; however, it is clearly a fine introduction to the broad scope of discourse analysis for graduate students in linguistics or in many other social sciences. In its breadth and clarity, Discourse Analysis makes a very useful contribution to the social sciences and is a provocative, enjoyable, and richly rewarding read. Patrick Rosenkjar Temple University, Japan Campus 2-10-8 Minami Azabu, Minato-ku Tokyo 106-0047, Japan E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.jeap.2010.02.008