Language As Discourse: Macmillan English Dictionary

LANGUAGE AS DISCOURSE
A dictionary like the(Macmillan English Dictionary) takes a word-level view of

language: language is organised as a list of words.language is described in terms of
the rules that govern the formation of acceptable sentences. By contrast, a discourse-
level view of language takes discourse as its primary unit of analysis. Discourse is the
way that language is used to construct connected and meaningful texts, either spoken
or written. It is a view of language, therefore, that extends ‘beyond the sentence’.To
define sentence and discourse this example can be used-
a.That’s his
b.No man does.
c.That is their tragedy
These three of them are grammatically correct sentences.But none of them have any
sense without preceded reference.If we use-
"All women become like their mothers.That is their traged. No man does.That's
his"(The importance of being earnest by OSCAR WILDE)
The word discourse comes from the Latin word discursus, which means “running to
and fro.” The definition of discourse thus comes from this physical act of transferring
information “to and fro,” the way a runner might.Discourse can be define as written or
spoken communication.It can also be described as the expression of thought through
language. While discourse can refer to the smallest act of communication, the analysis
can be quite complex. Several scholars in many different disciplines have theorized
about the different types and functions of discourse.
Types of Discourse
While every act of communication can count as an example of discourse, some
scholars have broken discourse down into four primary types: argument, narration,
description, and exposition.Many acts of communicate include more than one of these
types in quick succession.
Argument: A form of communication meant to convince an audience that the writer
or speaker is correct, using evidence and reason.
Narration: This form of communication tells a story, often with emotion and
empathy involved.
Description: A form of communication that relies on the five senses to help the
audience visualize something.
Exposition: Exposition is used to inform the audience of something with relatively
neutral language.
Other literary scholars have divided types of discourse into three categories:
expressive, poetic, and transactional.
Expressive: Expressive discourse comprises those acts of literary writing that is
creative, yet non-fiction. This could include memoirs, letters, or online blogs.
Poetic: Poetic discourse comprises creative, fictional writing. Poetic discourse
includes novels, poems, and drama. These types of work often prioritize emotion,
imagery, theme, and character development, as well as the use of literary devices like
metaphor and symbolism.
Transactional: Transactional discourse is used to propel something into action, such
as advertising motivating a customer to buy, or showing a customer how to use a
product via a manual. This type of discourse generally does not rely so much on
literary devices.
Noam Chomsky is an eminent American theoretical linguist, cognitive scientist and

philosopher, who radically changed the arena of linguistics by assuming language as a
uniquely human, biologically based cognitive capacity. He said that human brain is
full of innate traits for generation of grammar and language. He said that sentence
production are unlimited though grammatical rules limited.
Discourse is the opinion or context of matter to be expressed. So without language, no

one can express his context. Language is the root of the discourse. Every learner
expects to be instructed in the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of the target
language, and teachers and learners alike expect that major coursebooks will have
grammar charts and target vocabulary, listening and speaking sections where
pronunciation and stress are practised, and reading and writing material where
working with the graphic substance is on offer.For example, learning a new alphabet
or learning punctuation rules.
Language does not take place in a vacuum.However, language as system, often

presented at sentence level and isolated from real world contexts, can be studied as if
it does, and, at least up to the recent past, was the starting point from which many
teacher education programmes approached the language elements of their
syllabuses.Nowadays, thanks to our ability to record and store huge amounts of
spoken and written data in corpora, we can observe significant differences between
written and spoken discourse, and where they meet and create blends such as social
media usage.
One problem with abandoning the sentence as the core unit for teaching and moving
instead towards notions such as discourse marking and responding or following up is
that, in the traditional, teacher-led classroom, it is teachers who get to use markers
like Anyway, Right!and Now then! and responses/follow-ups such as Good! and That
great! while students may get little or no opportunity to use them because of their
limited, less powerful discourse roles. This is the kind of challenge we face in moving
from language as discourse. It is only one of many challenges, but it represents a
prime example of what happens when we break free from seeing the sentence as the
principal unit of communication. If markers and response tokens are common and
central to the organisation of discourse, how can we create the conditions in the
classroom where students themselves can take on roles where the use of markers and
other discourse features traditionally the province of the teacher (e.g. initiating, using
follow-up moves) become natural for them to use?
Dell Hathaway Hymes American Linguist, Sociolinguist, anthropologist, and

Folklorist.He developed a valuable model to assist the identification and labeling of
components of linguistic interaction that was driven by his view that, in order to speak
a language correctly, one needs not only to learn its vocabulary and grammar, but also
the context in which words are used He construced the acronym S-P-E-A-K-I-N-G
for easy understanding the language usages in the discourse.
 Setting and scene: Setting refers to the time and place of a speech act and Scene
refers to the "psychological setting."
 Participants: Speaker and audience
 Ends: Purposes, goals, and outcomes.
 Act sequence: Form and order of the event.
 Key:Clues that establish the "tone, manner, or spirit" of the speech act.
 Instrumentalities:-Forms and styles of speech.
 Norms: Social rules of the participants' actions and reaction.
 Genre: The kind of speech act or event.
Walsh (2006) refers to his four modes of classroom talk under the umbrella label of
SETT (Self-Evaluation of Teacher Talk).In here teacher is seen as centrally
responsible for the maintenance and monitoring of appropriate discourse in the
classroom. It is important to acknowledge that English language teachers are faced
with a unique teaching context, where language is both the medium and intended
outcome of instruction. Language teachers, in common with all teachers, strive to
become experts in their field of teaching. Therefore, not everything in language
teaching needs to be about the classroom; aspects of language teacher education, such
as the understanding of language as discourse, should also be concerned with teachers
becoming experts in their stock and trade, language. If our goal truly is to move from
system to discourse, teacher education has to support teachers professional
development in not only gaining knowledge of discourse.
In sum up,we can say that analysing language as discourse is a critical and
fundamental part of any teacher education programme. However, teachers need to feel
that time spent on fostering natural discourse is not time wasted and will pay
dividends in greater fluency and higher achievement in assessment contexts, as well
as increased student motivation and satisfaction.
References
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S. and Finegan E. (1999) Longman
Grammar of Spoken and Written English, London: Longman.
Blum-Kulka, S. (1997) Dinner Talk: Cultural Patterns of Sociability and Socialization
in Family Discourse, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hymes, D.H. (1967). Models of the interaction of language and social setting. Journal
of Social Issues, 23(2), 8–38.
Carter, R.A. and McCarthy, M.J. (2006) Cambridge Grammar of English, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Hymes, D.H. (1961). Functions of speech: An evolutionary approach. In F. Gruber

(Ed.), Anthropology and education. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.
Language Awarness:Discourse(http://www.macmillandictionaries.com)
The Meaning of Discourse(http://thoughtco.com)
Fatema Tuj Johora

Roll:08
MA In English(LET)
Batch:Fall 2019
Subject:Sentence and Discourse
Course Code:6103

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LANGUAGE AS DISCOURSE

A dictionary like the(Macmillan English Dictionary) takes a word-level view of

Noam Chomsky is an eminent American theoretical linguist, cognitive scientist and

Discourse is the opinion or context of matter to be expressed. So without language, no

Language does not take place in a vacuum.However, language as system, often

Dell Hathaway Hymes American Linguist, Sociolinguist, anthropologist, and

Cambridge University Press.

Hymes, D.H. (1961). Functions of speech: An evolutionary approach. In F. Gruber

The Meaning of Discourse(http://thoughtco.com)

Fatema Tuj Johora

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