What Is the Role of Discourse in Linguistics?

by mimi cici Thu May 24, 2012 5:13 pm

[color=red]Discourse is generally any form of verbal communication, whether spoken or written. The role of discourse in linguistics is to provide a body of text for various types of analysis. These may include research into grammar, sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and discourse analysis.

Corpus linguistics is the area where discourse is most commonly used in linguistics. The word corpus means "body," so a linguistic corpus is a body of text or speech occurring in the real world. Whereas much linguistic research can be done on texts created for the purpose of linguistic research, such as most research related to computer-generated language, corpus linguistics relies exclusively on naturally occurring language. Discourses of various types can provide language for this type of research, which may seek to analyze, for instance, levels of competence among language learners.

Researchers might use discourse in linguistics research relating to sociology and psychology. For example, sociolinguistic research indicates that on average, women use more pronouns than men. Pronoun usage can also be used as a predictor of a person's personality and emotional health. People who are emotionally healthy, for instance, tend to use plural pronouns like "we" or "their" much more often than they use singular pronouns like "I" or "me." These conclusions were reached by studying samples of discourse.[/color]

jouliya