KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL

SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF LITERATURE AND
LANGUAGES

ENG/LAL 850: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

(MODULE)

Prepared by:
CHULU C.R.

(M.A. Linguistic Science, BA ED -UNZA)

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ENG/LAL 850: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Prerequisite: Nil

Background:
This course will give students an opportunity to develop their theoretical skills in the analysis
of language in use.

OUTCOMES
By the end of the course, the students will:
(i) identify and explain the main theoretical issues in Discourse Analysis;
(ii) show how speech and writing are organized around particular events; and
(iii) analyse pieces of both spoken and written discourse.

CONTENT

i. Discourse as process vs. discourse as product; (approaches to discourse analysis)

ii. The social dimensions of discourse; (multimodal discourse)
iii. Written discourse vs. spoken discourse;
iv. The structure of written discourse;
v. Conversation as discourse;
vi. Discourse cohesion and coherence;
vii. Transcription of pieces of spoken discourse; and
viii. Analysis of pieces of discourse

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STUDY UNITS

Unit 1: Discourse Analysis: An Introduction

Unit 2: Major Concepts in Discourse Analysis
Unit 3: Kinds of Discourse
Unit 4: Ethnomethodology
Unit 5: Conversational Analysis
Unit 7: Organisation of Information / Thematic Structure
Unit 8: Thematic Progression
Unit 9: The Birmingham School Approach
Unit 10: Text Linguistics
Unit 11: Grammatical Cohesion
Unit 12: Lexical Cohesion
Unit 13: Speech Acts Theory
Unit 14: Grice’s Cooperative Principles
Unit 15: Politeness Principles
Unit 16: Critical Discourse Analysis
Unit 17: Discourse in Use (Discourse and The Media)
Unit 18: Discourse in Use (Discourse and Society)

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UNIT 1: DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: AN INTRODUCTION
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 What is Discourse
3.1 What is Discourse Analysis
3.2 Origin of Discourse Analysis
3.3 Self-Assessment Exercises
3.4 Earliest Studies of Discourse Analysis
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Introductory Unit you should be able to do the following:
• define Discourse Analysis,
• describe what discourse analysis do,
• explain the origin of Discourse Analysis
• explain some earliest practices of Discourse Analysis
3.0 Introduction
Prior to the advent of Discourse Analysis (henceforth DA), the predominant practice of was to
analyse language according to the structure without much regards for the context and other
features that shape meaning. DA started by focusing on speech, mainly naturally-occurring
conversation. Contrary to the traditional practice, DA studies naturally-occurring instances of
language use beyond the sentence boundary. So, unlike most traditional linguistic analyses, the
text is not invented. This is to underscore the importance of context in language use. Linguists
have identified two major approaches to language: formalism and functionalism. Formalism
sees language as a mental phenomenon and tends to explain linguistic universals as deriving
from a common genetic linguistic inheritance of the human species. Formalists are inclined to
explain children’s acquisition of language in terms of a built-in human capacity to learn
language. Functionalists regard language primarily as a societal phenomenon and tend to
explain it in relation to the social institution from where the language derives. The approach to
DA is functionalist approach. In this Unit, we shall be looking at the concept of discourse,
which is what linguists analyze when they do DA. We shall also look at the origin of the
discipline and the earliest practices in DA.
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3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1. What is Discourse?
DA has a very strong link with many other disciplines other than language and this affects the
way scholars see the discipline. In this section, we shall examine some views of DA. Before
trying to define DA, it is important to define the term discourse. Originally the word 'discourse'
comes from Latin 'discursus' which denoted 'conversation, speech'. Discourse is generally seen
as “language in use.” Johnstone (2002: 2) defines discourse as “actual instances of
communication in the medium of language.” Discourse can also be seen as a continuous stretch
of spoken or written language larger than a sentence, often constituting a coherent unit
(Pustejovsky, 2006). It is also commonly referred to as connected speech or writing. The term
discourse has several definitions. In the study of language, discourse often refers to the speech
patterns and usage of language, dialects, and acceptable statements, within a community. It is
a subject of study in peoples who live in secluded areas and share similar speech conventions.
Johnson defines discourse as an institutionalized way of speaking that determines not only what
we say and how we say it, but also what we do not say which can be inferred from what we
say. Initially the term refers to speech, but later, its meaning extends beyond speech to include
every instance of language use.
Sociologists and philosophers tend to use the term discourse to describe the conversations and
the meaning behind them by a group of people who hold certain ideas in common. Such is the
definitions by philosopher Michel Foucault, who holds discourse to be the acceptable
statements made by a certain type of discourse community.

For linguists, discourse is an extended stretch of language, such as we find in conversations,

narratives, polemical statements, political speeches, etc., is not just a string of sentences, one
following the other, but rather it exhibits properties which reflect its organization, coherence,
rhetorical force, thematic focus, etc.
3.2 What is Discourse Analysis?
DA is generally viewed as language above the sentence or the clause. It is the aspect of
linguistics that is concerned with how we build up meaning in larger communicative, rather
than grammatical units. It studies meaning in text, paragraph and conversation, rather than in
single sentence. Stubbs (1983:1) describes DA thus: The term discourse analysis is very
ambiguous. I will use it in this book to refer mainly to the linguistic analysis of naturally
occurring connected speech or written discourse. Roughly speaking, it refers to attempts to
study the organization of language above the sentence or above the clause, and therefore to
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study larger linguistic units, such as conversational exchanges or written texts. It follows that
discourse analysis is also concerned with language use in social contexts, and in particular with
interaction or dialogue between speakers. Brown and Yule (1983)) observe that DA examines
"how addressers construct linguistic messages for addressees and how addressees work on
linguistic messages in order to interpret them." From this description of DA by Stubbs, we can
gather some important information about the discipline:
(a) DA studies naturally-occurring connected speech or written discourse
(b) DA studies language above the sentence or clause
(c) DA is concerned with language use in social context
Every instance of language use is situated in a particular social context, which determines the
kind of meaning communicated. There are contextual features that shape the kind of language
people use. These include: the interactants themselves, their discourse roles, the physical
environment of the discourse, the worldview and cultural practices in the domain of the
discourse, and so forth. DA looks at the language together with these features in order to
interpret meaning. This is why any good DA will generate data based on observation and
intuition of the language users. Discourse analysts analyse conversations (casual, telephone,
gossip, etc), speeches (campaigns, formal speeches delivered by political figures, etc), written
discourse (novels, plays, news, written speeches, editorials, etc). Discourse analysis is
concerned not only with complex utterances by one speaker, but more frequently with the turn-
taking interaction between two or more, and with the linguistic rules and conventions that are
taken to be in play and governing such discourses in their given context. The overall goal of
any DA is to explain how language users construct and interpret meaning in discourse.
3.3 Origin of Discourse Analysis
The term Discourse Analysis was first use by Zellig Harris in 1952 in a paper he published
then. Harris was an American structural linguist; he did not use the term in the sense it is now
commonly used. Later in the 1960s and 1970s, scholars started using the term to describe an
approach to the study of social interaction. The earliest discourse analysts were ethnographers,
anthropologists and sociologists.

Assessment
Describe what in your own words what discourse analysts do.
3.4. Earliest Studies of Discourse Analysis The earliest studies of discourse analysis were
done by people in other disciplines namely, sociologists, anthropologists and ethnologists.

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Their major concern was not language, but social interaction. They developed a method for
investigating such interaction, which they called Ethnomethodology. The proponent of this
method is Harold Grafinkel an American sociologist. Other scholars who were inspired by
ethno-methodologists focused their attention on how the conversation is ordered and
structured. Their method is called Conversational Analysis. They observe and describe the
sequential patterning of conversation. The key figures in this school of thought are Emmanuel
Schegloff, Harvey Sacksand Gail Jeffesons. We shall examine in details the methods of
Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis later in this course. Much later, linguists who
perceive language as a social phenomenon got interested in analysing discourse from that
perspective. They see Linguistics as a sub-branch of Sociology, as opposed to another school
of thought, which sees Linguistics as a sub-branch of Psychology (The Transformational
Generative grammarians). The first major attempt to analyse discourse from the perspective of
Linguistics was done by John Sinclair and Michael Coulthard of the University of Birminghan
in the UK. They analysed the language used by teachers and pupils in the secondary school and
proposed a five-point discourse rank scale for analysing discourse. After these scholars, other
scholars in the Birmingham School have followed their theory.
4.0 Conclusion
Discourse Analysis is the approach to language that focuses on the use of discourse in society
and the role context plays in the interpretation of discourse. Unlike earlier approaches before
it, it examines naturally occurring texts, such as conversation and written texts. The goal is to
bring out the salient discourse features in such texts.
It looks at language as used by human beings and that language functions not haphazardly.
Language use is related to reality which involves; language use to provide information. This is
termed as ‘transactional’ use of language or functional use of language. However, creation of
reality is also known as manipulative. In addition, language use is meant to provide information
in order to moderate behaviour of other human beings, i.e. language is used to manipulate and
control the behaviour of other humans.
It also creates what is concrete as if it is not concrete. For instance; ‘The Constitution’ – This
is language use. The constitution constitutes language so as to control the behaviour of people.
This is not concrete.
Language is also used to create reality and to manipulate. For instance; language used in
advertisement – this language creates “reality which does not exist.”
For example; Whisky Black advert: “As strong as the men who drink it”

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Intention: Is this piece of text conveying factual information in nature? Is it to control? Or is
it to manipulate? Notice here that the sender of information uses passive form, he also uses
expectation. This is neutral in terms of the doer of the action. That is; by not indicating the
subject.

5.0 Summary
Background issues on Discourse Analysis were our focus in this unit. We started by looking at
what we mean by the term “Discourse” and the discipline “Discourse Analysis.” Afterwards,
we traced the origin of Discourse Analysis from its earliest times to Anthropologists and
Sociologists, whose goal was just to look at how the society is organized through the use of
discourse. Linguists later got involved in the practice. Lastly, we examined the earliest
practices of Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis.

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UNIT 2: SOME MAJOR CONCEPTS IN DISCOURSE ANALYSIS CONTENTS
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Text
3.2 Context
3.3 Self-Assessment Exercises
3.4 Speech and Writing
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
In this Unit, we shall be examining some selected basic concepts used in Discourse Analysis.
These concepts will lay the foundations for many other things we shall be discussing later in
the course. We shall be examining two all-important concepts: text and context. Since discourse
is both writing and speech, we shall look at the nature of written and spoken discourse briefly.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• identify some basic concepts in DA
• define these concepts and give appropriate examples to support your definition
• differentiate between speech and writing.
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Text
Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. A text is an instance of language
in use. It ranges from a word to a large chunk of language. Sometimes, people associate text
with just written language, but text is any instance of language use. A text could be a statement,
an utterance, a sentence, a paragraph, a whole chapter, a news item, a conversation, and so
forth. One aspect of Linguistics that studies written text is called Text linguistics. Text
linguistics tends to focus on the patterns of how information flows within and among sentences
by looking at aspects of texts like coherence, cohesion, the distribution of topics and comments,
and other discourse structures. Much like syntax is concerned with the structure of sentences,
text linguistics is concerned with the structure of texts.
One of the criteria of a text identified by Halliday and Hasan (1976) is that it must form “a
unified whole.” A text may be spoken, written, prose, or verse, dialogue, or monologue. It may
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be anything from a proverb to a whole play, form a momentary cry for help to an all-day
discussion on a committee (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 1). A text is best regarded as a semantic
unit. According to Halliday and Hasan (1976), a text has a texture and this is what distinguishes
it from something that is not a text. It derives its texture from the fact that it functions as a unity
with respect to its context.

3.2 Context
The word context is a commonly used expression, which may mean different things to different
people. Its general meaning is the set of facts that surrounds a particular event or situation.
From the linguistic point of view, context is everything that surrounds the production of a piece
of communication. These include the physical situation in which the communication takes
place, the interactants or interlocutors, the knowledge of the communicators of their cultural
norms and expected behaviour, and the expressions that precede and follow a particular
expression. All these features of context help language speakers to interpret meaning
appropriately. Linguists are particularly interest in the linguistic context of any form of
language use.

Assessment
Discuss the role of context in the construction of a text.
3.3 Speech and Writing
Speech and writing are the primary medium of language use. Speech however is the oldest
form of language use and writing is said to be a derived form of speech. The fact that there are
still a good number of languages that do not have any written form is a pointer to the fact that
speech predates language in human history. Gestures are also forms of language, but they are
seen by linguists as primarily complementing speech. There is a branch of Linguistics that
studies sign, and this branch is called Semiotics.
In this section, we shall look through some of the features of speech and writing and how they
are studied in Discourse Analysis. Speech is the primary medium of human communication. It
can be said to be as old as human existence. Children automatically learn to speak because
there is an inbuilt mechanism in humans that makes them to acquire whichever language is
spoken in their immediate environment. Most people speak more than they write, because every
human society builds relationships through speech. Speech simply refers to oral medium of

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transmission of language. It is the meaningful oral sound produced through the use of our
respiratory, phonatory and articulatory system and perceived by our auditory system. Humans
express thoughts, feelings, and ideas orally to one another through a series of complex
articulation, which results in specific, decodable sounds. Speech is produced by precisely
coordinated muscle actions in the head, neck, chest, and abdomen.

Speech development is a gradual process that requires years of practice. During this process, a
child learns how to regulate these muscles to produce understandable speech. Speech is
spontaneous, so it is characterized by repetitions of speech sounds, hesitations before and
during communication, and the prolonged emphasis of speech sounds. Speech, especially a
casual one is susceptible to errors or slips, hence the expression “slip of the tongue.” This
occurs when we say things we do not intend to say. Speakers many times self-correct their
speech, when they are aware that they did not produce the correct utterance. People’s origin
and identity are very often recognized from their speech. They either speak with a particular
accent or intonation. Most times when people speak, one is able to identify their social roles
and gender. Speech is transient and time bound which basically means that when someone
speaks to you, it doesn’t really stay in your memory for that long which gives it a disadvantage.
Certain human behaviours aid speech. They include body language, gesture and facial
expressions and people use these modes without even realizing it. Speaking is as fundamental
a part of being human as walking upright but writing is an optional extra. Writing, on the other
hand is a product of a more careful thought, so it is expected as much as possible to be flawless.
It is not a spontaneous act rather it is a well thought out process. Children have to be taught
how to write any particular language, even their mother tongue. Unlike speech that uses the
medium of phonic substance, writing uses the medium of graphic substance. Written words
can be chosen with greater deliberation and thought, and a written argument can be
extraordinarily sophisticated, intricate, and lengthy. These attributes of writing are possible
because the pace of involvement is controlled by both the writer and the reader. The writer can
write and rewrite at great length, a span of time, which in some cases can be measured in years.
In writing, there is a time lag between the production and reception, while in speech, the
reception is instant and extra-linguistic cues help the listener to interpret. Writing is more
associated with formality than speech. The chances are that we write more often to people we
are less familiar with than the ones we are familiar.
4.0 Conclusion

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The major concepts in Discourse Analysis discussed in this Unit are meant to help you to
understand what we shall be spending our time discussing in the better part of this course. They
are concepts you will come across from time to time and a good grounding in them will help
you to interpret them whenever you come across them in future in any of the modules ahead of
this.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have examined some major concepts, which are meant to help to be more
grounded in the whole course. Such concepts are widely used in other disciplines, but what we
have been able to do in this Unit is to explain them as they are used in the field of language
study. Text and context are very important concepts in discourse. While text is what we analyse,
context helps us to understand the text better, thereby having a more accurate interpretation.

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UNIT 3: KINDS OF DISCOURSE
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Spoken Discourse
3.1 Monologue
3.2 Dialogue
3.3 Multilogue
3.4 Conversation
3.5 Written Discourse
3.6 Interpersonal Discourse
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
This Unit introduces you to the kinds of discourse we have. The term discourse is so widely
applied that we need to delimit it and identify some of the kinds of discourse that discourse
analysts are particularly interested in. Such types of discourse include: spoken discourses, such
as monologue, dialogue, multilogue and conversation. We shall also look at written discourse
and the different types, and lastly, interpersonal discourse.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• identify the different kinds of discourse,
• explain the peculiarities of each type of discourse,
• discuss how spoken discourse is different from written discourse
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Spoken Discourse
A spoken discourse is any discourse that is verbalized or spoken. It is also generally referred
to as speech. Every language is spoken, so every social activity we are involved in where speech
is used is referred to as spoken discourse. Some examples of spoken discourse are: casual
conversation, sermon, political campaign, symposium, public lecture, classroom discourse,
doctor-patient discourse, telephone exchange, service encounter, sports commentaries, etc.
Though a spoken discourse is essentially verbal, certain non-verbal behaviour helps speakers
to interpret the discourse. They include our facial gestures, body movements and other sounds
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uttered that are not necessarily regarded as speech. Spoken discourse takes place in different
forms. We have face-to-face discourse in which the speakers are together physically. Apart
from this, we have distance communication, in which though the speakers are not necessarily
together physically, they are still able to transmit their voice through some other media like:
radio, telephone, and so forth.
3.2 Monologue
Monologue refers to a speech situation in which an individual is doing the talking for a long
time either to himself or to other people who are not responding. The Wikipedia Dictionary
defines monologue as “an extended, uninterrupted speech by one person only. The person may
be speaking his or her thoughts aloud or directly addressing other persons, e.g. an audience, a
character, or a reader.” Many times, we get carried away that we express our thoughts aloud
even when they are not really addressing some specific people. Monologue is also used in
drama to make the audience or readers to know the thought of a character. This is often referred
to as dramatic monologue. However, a dramatic monologue is also called a soliloquy when it
refers to a lengthy talk in which a character, alone on stage, expresses his or her thoughts aloud.
Soliloquy is often used to reveal thoughts or feelings that is delivered by a character in a play
to him or herself, or directly to the audience.
3.3 Dialogue
A general definition of dialogue is “a conversation between two persons” A dialogue is a
discourse that involves 2 or more interlocutors. The roots of the word Dialogue can be traced
to the Greek "dia" and "logos" which means "through meaning." In a dialogue, there is an
exchange of ideas by the participants. Dialogues have some socio-cultural characteristics, such
as the participants listening while the person who has the floor is speaking, respect for
differences, with the believe that everyone has an essential contribution to make and is to be
honoured for the perspective which only they can bring equality of perspectives, and
minimization of interruption as much as possible. A dialogue is not just a situation in which
two or more people are interacting, it is a skilful exchange or interaction between people with
shared understanding based on their cultural practice and shared world-view. For two or more
people to be involved in a dialogue successfully, they must be able to share some sort of
understanding about the Topic in focus.
3.4 Multilogue
Multilogue refers to a situation in which too many people are engaged in conversation at the
same time. This may refer to the situation in which many conversations are happening at one
time within a chatroom. The term is also more commonly used to describe a situation in which
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many interactants communicate using the aid computer mediated forms, such as online video,
message boards, forums, etc.
3.5 Conversation
Conversation simply refers to the use of speech for exchange of ideas by two or more people.
A conversation may be formal or informal. This is determined by the kind of relationship that
exists between the people involved. People involved in a conversation are referred to as
conversationalists or to use more technical term interlocutors. A conversation is built on
certain conventions, such as:
• the people involved do share some common grounds, such as a culture, a belief or norm,
• their conversation is guided by these culture, norms and beliefs
• the people know that ideas are being shared, so no one dominates, except they are allowed by
convention or the conversationalists,
• the conversationalists respect one another’s views despite their differences
The whole idea of conversation is based on the understanding that turns have to be taken. We
shall soon come to deal more extensively with the term turn taking in conversation.
3.6 Written Discourse
A written discourse is any discourse in which the thoughts of the producer are represented
graphically on a surface, such as paper and other media. Initially in the study of discourse
analysis, written discourse was not considered. The attention then was on the spoken discourse.
Written discourse as we have seen earlier is quite different from spoken discourse. It is more
carefully constructed and gives a lot of room for correction and possible reconstruction.
Written discourse is organized in such a way that similar ideas are put together in sections of
the writing called paragraph and each paragraph can usually be summarized in one sentence,
which is generally called the topic sentence. Also, each paragraph is linked with the one
directly before it and the one after, and all the paragraphs can be seen as a unified whole, which
can also be summarized in a sentence. To make written language easy to read, certain marks
are used to punctuate it. These marks are used to indicate where the reader needs to pause for
a period of time (full stop and comma), raise the tone of their voice to either show that they are
asking a question or that they are surprised. These marks are called punctuation marks. They
make the written discourse readable in a meaningful way. When punctuation marks are not
used in any written discourse, such discourse loses the full meaning that it ought to convey to
the reader. A group of linguists, who developed interest in the study of written discourse in the
tradition of Systemic Linguistics refers to the study of written discourse as Text linguistics.
They believe written discourse has certain characteristics, which make them essentially
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different from spoken discourse. They focus on the textuallity of the discourse, which is
marked by its cohesion and coherence. They also look at the elements that are thematised in a
written discourse and how one paragraph relates to the other thematically (thematic
progression). Examples of written discourse are: newspaper stories, letters, novels, articles in
magazines, editorial in newspapers, etc.

Assessment
Using adequate examples, differentiate between monologue, dialogue and multilogue
3.7 Interpersonal Discourse
Interpersonal discourse is the kind of discourse that involves two or more persons. One of the
commonest forms of interpersonal discourse is a conversation. If you will remember, we earlier
dealt with conversation. Interpersonal communication is not restricted to face to face
communication, it may also be a feature of written or even distance communication, e.g.,
telephone discourse, letters, communication through electronic media, such as e-mail, mobile
phones, SMS texts and so forth. Interpersonal communication may not necessarily be verbal.
They can also be non-verbal, using movements and body positions, such as kinesics, posture,
gesture, eye gaze, etc. It is important that every human being possess the skills for interpersonal
discourse. Such skills help them to build, manage and sustain intimate relationships with other
people around them. Interpersonal discourse skills also help us to counsel, negotiate for prices
in the market, teach or coach, mentor others and manage conflicts in our relationships and other
people’s relationships.
To engage successfully in any interpersonal discourse, the people involved must use simple
and clear language based on the premise that the other(s) involved in the discourse will be able
to understand. It is more difficult for people from different cultural background to successfully
engage in interpersonal discourse even sometimes when they share same language. For
instance, a Zambian English speaker and a Canadian English speaker do not share the same
cultural background, yet they speak the same language. When two people from different
cultural backgrounds are engaged in interpersonal discourse, they should not base their
discourse on too much assumption. Every expression that is likely to be misunderstood must
be expressed in simpler terms.

4.0 Conclusion

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The kinds of discourse were extensively examined in this Unit. They clearly show that the
discourse analyst is open to a lot of options in his analysis of both spoken and written discourse.
The most essential view of a discourse analyst of these various kinds of discourse is that they
are instances of language use in different social contexts, therefore, these social contexts play
a prominent role in their interpretation. The discourse analysts do not lose focus of the linguistic
peculiarities of the discourse as they examine how the context informs and shapes such
peculiarities.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we looked at the different kinds of discourse that we can come across in any human
social context, such as the various kinds of spoken discourse (monologue, dialogue, multilogue
and conversation). Also we examined the kinds of written discourse. We particularly noted the
practice of analysing written discourse by looking at the devices used for making the text
appear as a unified whole and how themes in each paragraph progress.

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UNIT 4: ETHNONMETHODOLOGY
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objective
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Ethnomethodology
3.2 Language and the Social World
3.3 Conducting Ethnomethodological Research
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
This Unit looks at one of the earliest approaches to discourse analysis. The discussions in this
Unit will help you to understand how the approach to language analysis, which you are
studying emerged. The earliest practitioners of discourse analysis were not linguists and in
contemporary times, discourse analysis is fast adopting a multidisciplinary approach, which
makes it relevant not only to linguists, but also sociologist, philosophers, psychologists,
political scientists and other social scientists. This Unit will expose you to the earliest ways of
studying discourse.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to:
• Explain the terms Ethnomethodology and Conversational Analysis
• Describe how to conduct a research using ethnomethodological approach
• Describe how language functions in the social world
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 What is Ethnomethodology?
Ethnomethodology is a blend of the words Ethnography and methodology. It is a branch of
Anthropology which studies people in their environment. Methodology simply refers to the
way of doing things. The major focus is the cultural behaviour of the people) and the methods
involved in doing a particular thing). The term Ethnomethodology is a sociological term, which
describes a discipline that studies how people make sense of their world. How they are able to
understand one another to the extent that they are able to exist in an orderly social context.
Ethnomethodological approach was developed by a sociologist named Harold Garfinkel. The
approach looks at the organization of practical actions and reasoning, the organization of talk-
18
in-interaction. Ethnomethodologists are concerned primarily with Ethnomethodology which is
concerned with the how (the methods) by which social order is produced, and shared. One thing
that is of central concern to ethnomethodologist is “context.” Their focus is always on the ways
in which words are dependent for their meaning on the context in which they are used.
Ethnomethodology is concerned basically with the following:
• The organization of practical actions and practical reasoning: This was the concern of
earliest ethnomethodologists
• The organization of talk-in-interaction: This is known in modern times as Conversational
Analysis. We shall be looking at this late in this unit.
• Talk-in-interaction within institutional or organizational settings: this is basically
concerned with interactional structures that are specific to particular settings.
• The study of work: The study of any social activity within the setting in which it is performed
3.2 Language and the Social World
Language is an essential part of the human social structure. Everyday, we use it actively to
create and shape the world through social interaction. Every language operates in a social
world. Speakers, as part of a society, rely on a corpus of practical knowledge, which they
assumed is shared, at least partly with others. This is why a group of linguists, generally
referred to as Functionalists, see language as a social activity being performed in a social world.
The primary concern of such linguists, who belong to the schools of Sociolinguistics, Systemic
Functional Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, Text Linguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis, and
so forth is that language is context-dependent and the general context is the world we live in,
while the specific contexts are the contexts of a particular usage. Context here includes the
knowledge of the speaker of his/her world, the culture, values, expectations and norms.
One way in which language is believed to influence our understanding of social reality goes
back to the ideas of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
stresses that we view and perceive our world in terms of our language. It also stresses that the
social reality we experience is unique to our language, since no two languages/cultures shares
exactly the same social reality. This is why oftentimes terms for specific phenomena in
languages do not have precise counterparts in other languages. What we have discussed in this
section is really an important guiding principle for our approach to the analysis of discourse.
We can only analyze any particular discourse effectively if we situate it within the social
context or domain of its use. And this will take into consideration a lot of factors such as, the
interlocutors, their role relationships in discourse, the mode of discourse. All these are used to
create the text that will fit appropriately into the social world of the language users.
19
3.3. Conducting Ethnomethodological Research
Ethnomethodological research has its own peculiar characteristics. An ethnomethodological
research is often referred to as a qualitative research. The goal of a researcher using this
approach is to understand local knowledge and practices relating to the daily life of the people
being investigated. Therefore, ehnomethodologists do not just conduct their research from a
distance. They participate in the life of the people and observe daily interactions among them
in formal and informal conversations among the groups and individuals. This method of doing
research is called participant observation method, and the researcher is called a participant-
observer. The traditional method of doing research that distances the researcher from his field
has been observed to be characterized by normative descriptions. Scholars working from the
perspective of seeing language as a social phenomenon have emphasized the importance of an
interaction between the researcher and the community. This makes the outcome to be that in
which the researcher is present in the text. This is more authentic than the traditional research
method.
Ethnomethodological research demands that the researcher resides in the community he or she
is investigating to facilitate his/her interaction with the people. So, it involves months and years
of fieldwork. It is usually an in depth study of the historical, demographical and cultural norms
of the people alongside with the specific issue being investigated. One can summarize the
features of an ethnomethodological research as follows:
• It involves the study of naturally occurring phenomena in their setting
• It involves social interaction with the community within their social context
• It involves data collection and analysis that takes place at the micro level
• It involves discovery through interaction
• It involves the study of the local knowledge, ie: identifying terms, concepts and logic used by
individuals and the group to talk about specific subjects

Assessment
Identify the major principles of an ethnomethodological research.
4.0 Conclusion
One of the earliest approaches to research in Discourse Analysis is Ethnomethodology. Though
the study of discourse keeps undergoing changes from time to time, the use of this approach
has remained one of the key approaches to investigating discourse. It presents a common
ground for linguists studying discourse. This is particularly so because it emphasizes the

20
importance of context in discourse analysis. The two major ways of collecting data in discourse
analysis are really context-dependent. The use of tape recorder as a data collecting method
depends largely on the context of the discourse. This implies that the researcher has to be
present at the setting to do his/her recording. The other method, which is emphasized in
Ethnomethodology is the participant observation, which requires the researcher to be present
in the community for a period of time.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have looked at a major approach to discourse analysis – Ethnomethodology.
We examined its origin and its use in discourse analysis. We particularly focused attention on
the methods of doing Ethnomethodology, with its emphasis on interaction between the
researchers and the people they are investigating. The emphasis students should note is that
language is a social phenomenon and each time people use language, they are being creative,
so, this makes each social event and situation unique and worthy of being analysed distinctly
by looking at the social factors that facilitates the creation of the text.

21
UNIT 5: CONVERSATIONAL ANALYSIS
Contents
0.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 What is Conversational Analysis?
3.1 Turn Taking and Turn Allocation
3.2 Insertion Sequences
3.3 Self-assessment Exercises
3.4 Adjacency Pairs
3.5 Error and Repair Mechanisms
3.6 Simultaneous speeches
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, we shall be examining another approach to Discourse Analysis – Conversational
Analysis. This approach is concerned with the study of talk in interaction. We shall be
examining such topics as how people allocate and take turns in conversation (the mechanisms
used). This shows that people do not just talk anyhow in conversation. They are guided by
some specific rule. We shall also look at the concepts of insertion sequences and adjacency
pairs. This will show us how conversations are ordered. There are appropriate responses to
specific expressions and when these responses do not come, then it is either the person
responding did not understand the question or he/she is deliberate in giving such response. This
will then lead us to how we repair errors in discourse. How simultaneous speech is managed,
to the extent that it does not degenerate into confusion.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• define all the terms used in conversational analysis
• identify how conversationalists allocate and take turns in discourse
• explain the terms insertion sequence and adjacency pairs
• explain how errors are repaired in conversation
• describe how simultaneous speech occurs and how it is managed

22
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 What is Conversational Analysis?
Conversational Analysis (CA) is an approach to discourse analysis that is concerned with the
study of talk in interaction. The major aim of CA is to describe how conversationalists achieve
orderliness in their interaction. It studies how interactions are structured in a sequential manner.
CA studies any instance of talk, which may include institutional discourse, such as, classroom
discourse between the teacher and the students, doctor-patient interaction, antenatal classroom
discourse, courtroom discourse. It also studies routine or casual conversation. CA was a method
introduced by Emmanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacks and Gail Jefferson in the early 1970s. It was
inspired by Ethnomethodology. CA has now become an established force in sociology,
anthropology, linguistics, speech-communication and psychology.
3.2 Turn Taking and Turn Allocation
Turn taking is a general feature of conversation. It has been observed that people involved in a
conversation do not just talk in a disorderly manner. A person speaks and after his turn, another
person takes the floor. It is not normal in a conversation for one person to speak all the time
while others just listen. It is also the case that people are aware when it is their turn to speak.
There are some clues to when a speaker’s turn has finished and when another speaker should
commence talk. Turn taking is a basic characteristic of any normal conversation. Speakers and
listeners change their roles in order to begin their speech (Coulthard, 1985: 59). Turn taking
mechanisms may vary between cultures and languages. Scholars have identified a set of rules
that govern turn taking in discourse. These are:
• When the current speaker selects the next speaker, the next speaker has the right to and is
obliged to commence the turn
• If the current speaker does not select the next speaker, any one of the speakers has the right
to self-select and become the next speaker
• If neither the next speaker selects the next speaker nor the next speaker self-selects, the current
speaker may resume his or her turn Sacks, Schegloff and Jeffeson (1974:704)
There are signals to turn taking that are called turn-eliciting signals. We have the Turn
Construction Unit (TCU), which is the fundamental segment of speech in conversation. It
describes pieces of conversation, which may comprise an entire turn. The end of a TCU, called
a Transition Relevance Place (TRP), which marks a point where the turn may be go to another
speaker, or the present speaker may continue with another TCU. The change of turn occurs
only in the TRP. TRP is the possible structural completion point of one-word, lexicon, phrase,
clause or full sentence. There are other signals to turn taking. The dominant referring tone, the
23
interrogative functions of tones and phatic questions serve a role in turn taking. For instance, a
speaker may use a rising tone rather than a fall-rise tone in ending a sentence to hold his turn
by underlining his/her present status as the dominant speaker. This indicates that the speaker
expects to be allowed to go on without an interruption. Story tellers are fond of using this
continuative rising tone (Brazil, 1997:93). Other signals are, the last speaker’s gaze direction,
the last speaker calling the name of the next speaker, the last speaker aligning his body towards
the next speaker, and so forth.

Assessment
Observe a conversation in a “home video” and identify the mechanisms for turn taking
3.3 Adjacency Pairs
Adjacency Pair is a unit of conversation that contains an exchange of one turn each by two
speakers. The turns are so related to each other that the first turn requires a range of specific
type of response in the second turn. It is a sequence that contains functionally related turns.
Examples of adjacency pairs are Question – Answer Pair
Q. When will you be home?
A. At 5 o’clock
Greeting – Greeting Pair
G. Good morning Bola.
G: Good morning.
Request – Acceptance/Rejection
R: Can I use your pen for one minute.
A: Yes, please have it/ R: I am sorry. It’s the only one I have
Inform – Acknowledgement
I: You have to see the head of department before he leaves for the Senate meeting at 4.
A: Okay.
Apology – Acceptance/Rejection
App.: I am sorry, I could not make the appointment
Acc.: That’s okay, we can fix another time/
Rej.: You have no excuse. You just kept me waiting for nothing.
Congratulations – Thanks
C: Congratulations on your PhD.
T: Oh, thanks

24
In an adjacency pair, the first pair part invites, constrains, and partially determines the meaning
and range of possible second pair part. If somebody shouts “help”, it is an action not language
that is required. If the exclamation is 'ouch', it is likely to elicit a question, 'What's the matter'
which in turn starts off an adjacency pair, completed by, for example, 'I've cut my finger'.
Adjacency pairs are normal in conversations, but sometimes they do not necessarily occur.
Some instances may affect the flow of adjacency pair. For instance, if a person decides to ask
another question after being asked a question, the flow is disrupted. This is called an insertion
into what would have been a normal sequence of conversation. This is called insertion
sequence. We shall treat this in the following section.
3.4 Insertion Sequences
An insertion sequence is a sequence of turns intervenes between the first and second parts of
an adjacency pair. It is a kind of delay in which the response expected is not given, rather, an
entirely different, though related response is given. Conversations usually occur in pairs, for
instance we have question-answer, request-acceptance/rejection, invitation-
acceptance/rejection, and so forth. For instance, let us see a conversation 1. Ben: When are
you traveling back to Lusaka? 2. Jessy: Why do you ask? 3. Ben: I would like to send you with
a parcel to my auntie in Makeni. 4. Jessy: Okay, I will be going in a week’s time. In this piece
of conversation above, Ben asked a question and expects a direct answer. But turns 3 and 4 are
together an insertion sequence, which separates the earlier question in turn 1 from the direct
answer in turn 4, which comes later. Insertion sequences occur in situations when people do
not want to provide a direct response to an elicitation until they are sure of the intention of the
speaker as we can see in the conversation piece above.
3.5 Error and Repair Mechanisms
In conversation, we do not always say things the correct ways we desire to say them. When we
did not say what we ought to say, we still have a way of saying them. This is called error repair.

3.6 Overlap in speeches

An overlap in speech occurs when two or more interlocutors are talking at the same time. It
can also be described as occurrences of two or more participants trying to take their turns at
the same time after the previous speaker had finished or is about to finish his turn. The real
overlap occurs when the two participants start their turns simultaneously and none of them
relinquishes the floor for the other. This is not always the case in a normal conversation. Earlier
on we said that conversations are orderly, because speakers will naturally take turns. An
overlap in speech may occur in any of the following situations:
25
• when a speaker deliberately comes in while another speaker is having turn,
• when a speaker thought another speaker had finished his/her turn and decided to come in.
4.0 Conclusion
Analysing a conversation involves how turns are taken and allocated and other features such
as how people correct their errors in speech when they realize them. It also involves looking at
the way some talks are connected despite their seemingly unconnected nature. Apart from all
these, we realize that talks overlap, especially when the speakers involved are eager to make
their points, or when a speaker feels that the last speaker has finished their turn. All these
features of conversation simply tell us that natural conversation is not always smooth and
orderly. Some of the features discussed above contribute to the naturalness of most
conversation. In fact, when a conversation moves on without any of these features, it seems
less natural than when they are present.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have looked at the features of conversation that discourse analysts look at when
they study the conversation. Such features include: turn taking and turn allocation, insertion
sequences, adjacency pairs, overlap in speech, and so forth. These features exist in most
conversations. Though as we have observed, some of them feature more in some conversations
than others. For instance, adjacency pairs are a very visible feature of any form of interview,
such as employment interview or newspaper interview. It is also important to note that in some
kinds of speech, turns are necessarily allocated by a person who has the social role to do so.
For instance, in a discussion, a moderator has such social role. Also in classroom discourse,
the teacher determines who takes up a turn and when they do so.

26
UNIT 6: LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY
CONTENT
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Linguistic Anthropology: Introduction
3.2 Speech community
3.3 Speech Situation/Event
3.4 Self-assessment Exercises
3.5 Ethnography of Speaking
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, you shall be learning about a discipline that is central to your understanding of the
whole idea of discourse analysis – Linguistic Anthropology. The field methods of Linguistic
Anthropology are very useful for discourse analysts, because the latter place a lot of importance
on context, as you earlier saw. The whole idea of analysing discourse originated from
Anthropologists, whose focus was not really on the language corpus but on how the society is
structured through human interaction. We shall also take you through other notions related to
Linguistic Anthropology, such as the concept of a speech community and Dell Hymes’ notion
of Ethnography of Speaking.

2.0 Learning Objectives

By the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• Explain clearly what Linguistic Anthropology is all about.
• Define the concept of Speech Community
• Use Ethnography of Speaking to describe any particular speech situation
• Explain the terms “speech community” and “speech event”
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Linguistic Anthropology: Introduction
Linguistic Anthropology is a branch of Anthropology. The focus of the discipline is on how
language is used in various social contexts. It focuses on speech both ancient and contemporary
ones. Linguistic anthropologists are interested in how many languages there are, how those
languages are distributed across the world, and their contemporary and historical relationships.
27
It is also the study of the relationship between language and social relations. So, the concern
of Linguistic Anthropology is the diachronic or historical, evolutionary, and internal structure
of human languages in relation to the context. For instance, a linguistic anthropologist may
decide to study the Etymology of names of places. This will require some historical data on the
origin of those places. Linguistic anthropology is an interdisciplinary field. It draws a great
deal from other, independently established disciplines and in particular from the two from
which its name is formed: linguistics and anthropology. Linguistic anthropologists use
traditional ethnographic methods such as participant-observation and work with native
speakers to obtain local interpretive glosses of the communicative material they record. They
also use elicitation techniques similar to those employed by typological linguists interested in
grammatical patterns. Recently, these methods have been integrated with new forms of
documentation of verbal practices developed in such fields as urban sociolinguistics discourse
analysis, and conversation analysis. The advent of new technologies for the electronic
recording of sounds and actions has broadened the range of phenomena that can be studied,
increased our analytical sophistication, and, at the same time, multiplied the number of
technical, political, and moral problems that a fieldworker must confront. As we enter this new
technological era, it is imperative to develop a discursive arena in which to examine the pros
and cons of the new tools within a general discussion of methodology for the study of human
communicative behaviour.
3.2 Speech community
Speech community is a group of speakers who use language in a distinct way generally
accepted among them. This group of speakers may be located in the same area or situated in
different locations. What is common to them is that they recognize a language or a dialect of a
language as their standard means of communication. For instance, we can talk about a Yoruba
speech community comprising of Yoruba speakers in the south-western Zambia and in other
parts of the world, such as Benin Republic, parts of Brazil and USA.
The speech community is the locus of most sociolinguistic and anthropological linguistic
research. Earliest attempts to identify speech communities date back to the Prague School
notion of sprechbond or ‘speech bond”, which refers to “shared ways of speaking which goes
beyond language boundaries.” They also talk about sprachbond “language bond”, which
involves “relatedness at the level of linguistic forms” (Romaine, 1994: 23). Several scholars
have defined of speech community in different ways. Below are some of the definitions. “The
speech community is defined by the participation in a set of shared norms…which may be
observed in behaviour and in the uniformity of abstract patterns of variation.” Labov (1972:
28
120 ff) “A speech community is made up of individuals who regard themselves as speaking the
same language” Corder (1973: 53) "any human aggregate characterized by regular and frequent
interaction by means of a shared body of verbal signs and set off from similar aggregates by
significant differences in language usage". Gumperz (1971: 101) "A community sharing rules
for the conduct and interpretation of speech, and rules for the interpretation of at least one
linguistic variety... A necessary primary term... it postulates the basis of description as a social,
rather than a linguistic, entity." Hymes (1972: 54 ff). "A speech community is a group of people
who do not necessarily share the same language, but share a set of norms and rules for the use
of language. The boundaries between speech communities are essentially social rather than
linguistic... A speech community is not necessarily co-extensive with a language community."
Romaine (1994: 22).
3.3 Speech Situation/Event
A speech event is a communicative event with the main role of a speech component (planned,
organized, controlled, socially significant), e.g.: meeting, conference, summit, wedding,
funerals, elections, party, primaries. Any social activity in which speech is used can be seen
as a speech event or situation.

3.4 Assessment
Explain the differences between the following kinds of speech community:
• a geographical speech community
• a social speech community
• a virtual speech community
3.5 Ethnography of Speaking
The term Ethnography of speaking was originally formulated by Dell Hymes in 1962 to
describe what happens whenever we engage in communication through speech. Since the use
of the term by Hymes, it has been developed to be known as a method in the social approach
to language, which draws on the anthropological field of Ethnography to explain how we
communicate our experiences in our cultures. The concept was redefined in 1964 as
Ethnography of Communication to include the two major means of communication: speech
and writing. Any speech event can be seen as comprising several components, and the analysis
of these is a major aspect of an ethnography of speaking. Seven types of component or factor
can be discerned. Every speech event involves:
Setting/scene

29
This refers to the time when a speech takes place and place. Scene does not only refer to the
physical scene, but also the psychological setting. This includes the nature of the
communication, the degree of its formality, which is determined by the institutionalized
cultural way of behaving when engaged in such kind of communication. For instance, there are
ways a priest is expected to behave when conducting a service. Informal interactions are less
rule-governed when compared to formal ones.
Participants
This refers to the speaker and his/her audience in any particular speech situation. The speaker
is the person who is performing a speech act. He/she may be informing, directing, or eliciting
some form of behaviour form his/her audience. The audience is the people involved in the
speech situation, usually, they are being addressed by the speaker. Participants do not have to
be physically present before the speaker. There instances of communication in which the
speaker is far away from the participants, e.g.: news, telephone, e-mail, and so forth.
Ends
This refers to the purpose, goal or outcome of the communication. For instance, a goal might
be to educate as in the speech situation involving a teacher and his/her students; to entertain,
as in a comedian and his/her audience; to promote a view, as in a political campaign, an
advertisement, etc.
Act Sequence
Every even has a form and an order it follows. This is what is being referred to here. There are
always ways to order one’s communication so that they can be meaningful to the other
participants. For instance, a story usually starts with the following phrase “once upon a time”,
“a long time ago”, in the year_____”, and so forth. This is the point of departure and it makes
the communication a story. Every meeting starts with a greeting. This is particularly more
prominent in formal presentations, where protocols are observed, that is, some people have to
be recognized and greeted in a particular order (usually, the order of their status).
Key
The ways of behaving differ when people are engaged in different speech events. For instance,
we use different tones when we are engaged in different discursive practices. Our tone and
facial expression are serious when we are warning people. When we are engaged in any form
of banter, we are more relaxed in our tone. There are ways we speak that will make people
laugh and there are ways we speak that will make people sober or even cry. These are what we
mean by key as a component of Ethnography of Speaking.
Instrumentalities
30
This refers to the style we adopt in our speech. For instance, when we are engaged in any casual
conversations, our words comprise mostly colloquial expressions. However, in any formal
situation, we choose our words carefully. Two words may mean the same thing, but each of
them is used in different speech style. For instance, the word loo is an informal expression,
while its formal counterparts are gents, ladies or convenience.
Norms
Norms refer to the social rules governing the behaviour of people when they speak. Such rules
govern their actions and reactions in the speech situation. There are norms for every speech
community. For instance, in Yoruba land, when younger male persons greet older people, they
prostrate in addition to what they say. The whole idea of greeting therefore is not just saying
the words, but also performing the gesture that goes along with the words.
Genre
Genre refers to the kind of speech act being performed. Different speech communities have
different ways of identifying a genre.
4.0 Conclusion
Linguistic Anthropology is a hybrid discipline combining the methods of Anthropology and
Linguistics in its investigation. One typical feature of Linguistic Anthropology is its
dependence on the social context and culture of conversation. It depends on the practices of a
community and the real events that take place while the linguistic performance is going on.
Dell Hymes identified a set of components necessary for the interpretation of speech, which he
called Ethnography of Speaking representing each letter of the word SPEAKING with another
word that describes these components.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we looked at the discipline – Linguistic Anthropology and some of the terms used
in it. The idea of a speech community is very vital to the discipline because every linguistic
behaviour is not only enacted within a particular speech community. It is also made to follow
the norms and practices in the community. We also noted that a speech event is a social activity
planned and structured in a particular way to be identified as meaningful. In addition, we also
looked at the factors that come to play in any typical speech situation or event. These factors
help to shape the meaning of the event.

31
UNIT 7: ORGANISATION OF INFORMATION/THEMATIC STRUCTURE
CONTENT
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Information Structure
3.2 The Given
3.3 The New
3.4 Thematic Structure
3.5 Theme
3.6 Rheme
3.7 Marked and Unmarked Themes
3.8 Multiple Themes
Self-assessment Exercices
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
In this Unit, we shall examine how information is organized in discourse, using the two well-
known paradigms: Information Structure and Thematic Structure. This Unit will expose you to
how people structure their information in such a way that they are able to put things considered
more important before the others that are considered less important them and their listeners or
readers.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of your study of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• explain the concepts of information structure and thematic structure
• differentiate between “Give/New” and “Theme/Rheme” concepts
• identify instances of multiple themes in texts
• analyse texts for instances of information structure and thematic structure
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Information Structure
Information structure is all about how speakers arrange the information in their message. It is
natural for the shared message to come before the one not known to the hearer. The shared
message is usually found at the beginning of the clause and it is called the Given information.
32
The other information is the focus of the speaker’s message and it is referred to as the New
information. The Given and the New information make up the information structure of the
clause.
3.2 The Given
The Given information is the information that is known to both the speaker and the hearer. It
is normally taken for granted that the listener(s) or reader(s) know the information. So the
speaker takes off from that point to supply the new information. For example:
8.1. My younger son travelled to Samfya yesterday
In the sentence above, it is assumed that the hearer knows who the younger son is, so the
speaker does not have to mention the name or use any descriptive term beyond the one he used.
The expression in bold is the Given (My younger son…). The referent therefore is obvious to
both the speaker and the hearer.
3.3 The New
The new information is the rest of the clause. It is called New because it is actually what is new
to the hearer or reader. For instance, in the sentence above, ‘…travelled to Samfya yesterday’
is the new information. It is what the speaker actually wants the hearer to know. In writing the
writer usually engages in a carefully thought-out exercise, because he wants to be understood.
So the nature of information structure in writing differs from that of speaking. In informative
texts, sometimes questions are used to elicit the required information. For example:
8.2. What is Linguistics?
Linguistics is the scientific study of the nature of language The Given element is put before the
New information, because there is an area of mutual knowledge the writer wants to share with
the readers (see Bloor and Bloor (1995; Taiwo, 2003). Sometimes, authors may not necessarily
use question heading. They may just use an ordinary heading. It is also possible that the whole
information in the clause is new, for example:
8.3. It is my belief that you are coming tonight.
Since the word it is a dummy or an empty subject, it carries no information, the whole stretch
can be regarded as New information. Writers may also use ellipsis as a style in writing. Ellipsis
is the omission of a word or a chunk from a sentence in such a way that only the given
information is left. This does not render the text incomprehensible in any way, as the reader
can still make up the omitted part. For example:
8.4. (a) Bwembya got up from the bed (b) rushed to the bathroom (c) and took her bath.
In (b) and (c) above, all the information is new, because the Given information has been
omitted, but the hearer can still link it to the subject of (a). In spoken texts, there are more
33
assumptions, since the situation helps the interlocutors to interpret the message. For instance,
in the sentence:
8.5. Please get me my slippers.
The entire information is new. This is because the speaker shares some information with the
hearer, which include the fact that the hearer knows he/she is the one being addressed and that
the hearer knows where the speaker’s slippers are., and so forth.
3.4 Thematic Structure
This is similar to what we just finished discussing, but not exactly like it. Thematic structure
refers to the organisation of the message in the clause. A special status is given to one part of
the clause that is called the Theme and the other part is called the Rheme. This simply has to
do with what the writer or speaker chose as the starting point of the clause.
3.5 Theme
The theme is the defined as Halliday (1985: 39) as: the element which serves as the starting
point for the message. He went further to say that the Theme is what the clause is all about. In
most cases, the Theme assumes the first position in the clause. For example:
8.6. The president of Zambia is from the northern part of the country.
The Theme here refers to a person. In other instance, it may refer to places, time, attitude, and
so forth, as we can see in the following examples respectively:
8.6. In Ghana, Zambia lost a football match
8.7. Last week, I went to Ndola by road
8.8. In my own opinion, you are wrong
3.6 Rheme
The Rheme is defined by Eggins (1993: 275) as: that part of the clause in which the Theme is
developed. It is every other part of the clause apart from the Theme. The Rheme is the part of
the clause that contains the real message of the clause. The speaker/writer departs at the point
of the Theme to supply the message to the hearer/reader.
Self-assessment Exercices
Take two newspaper editorials and identify the Themes and Rhemes in theme. Also, identify
the Given and New information in them. Now, compare the differences and similarities in the
Theme/Rheme and Given/New information.

3.7 Marked and Unmarked Themes

34
A marked theme is the unusual Theme. The usual Theme is the one that occupies the position
of the subject. This shows that in most cases, the subject position and that of the theme overlap.
When there is this overlap, which is often the case, we are said to have Unmarked Theme.
However, when other elements apart from the subject are given prominence by being placed in
the initial position, they are called Marked Theme. Examples of Marked Theme are given
below:
8.9. While in school, I was very sickly.
8.10. Away it flew.
8.11. Strangely, I could not recognize her.
8.12. Before you arrived, my father had spoken about you.
In the examples above, we can see other elements functioning as Theme apart from the subject,
thereby pushing the subject to a second position in the clause. In 8.9, we have an adverbial
group indicating time. In 8.10, we have a complement. In 8.11, we have a comment adjunct,
while in 8.12, we have a subordinate adjunct of time.
3.7 Multiple Themes
Multiple Themes do sometimes occur in clauses when more than one constituent in the clause
are given thematic status. Halliday (1985) identifies three types of theme that can feature in the
multiple themes. He used the three dimensional metafunctions: Experiential, Textual and
Interpersonal. The three types of theme recognized are the Textual Theme, the Interpersonal
Theme and the Topical Theme. The latter, Topical Theme is typically unmarked, because it is
the usual Theme. Textual Theme are used mostly in conversation to indicate argument.
Interpersonal Themes are used to address listeners in conversation. They are usually signified
by first names (David), terms of affection (darling), mood adjuncts (maybe), comment adjuncts
(fortunately). Now let us see how multiple themes operate in clauses.
Now
Darling
my aim
is to get him to follow me tomorrow
TEXTUAL
INTERPERSONAL
TOPICAL
RHEME

4.0 Conclusion
35
The organization of information in the clause structure is determined by the speaker or writer.
As we have seen in this unit, a speaker may choose to identify and place a piece of information
important to him than others in a position, which ordinarily that piece of information does not
occupy. The whole essence of the organization of information is to present elements in their
priority to the speaker/writer. In the example above, we can see the textual theme signified by
the discourse marker now, showing the boundary of a conversation and indicating that the
speaker is about to focus on a specific topic. The word Darling is an affectionate term, which
indicates the interpersonal relationship between the speaker and the listener. The topical theme
my aim in the sentence above is usually a constant theme. Even when other kinds of theme are
not there, the topical theme is always present. The rest of the message is the rheme.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have examined two related but different aspects of information organization in
the English clause: Information Structure and Thematic Structure. We looked at how
speaker/writers organize the clause in such a way that they are able to place the information
that is important to them before the others. We also identified different types of Theme in the
clause structure. The concept of Multiple Themes was also examined and we saw how language
users can give thematic status to more than one element. This is a departure from what we had
been discussing before, where only one element of the clause structure took up the thematic
position.

36
UNIT 8: THEMATIC PROGRESSION
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Thematic Progression
3.2 The Constant Theme Pattern
3.3 The Linear Theme Pattern
3.4 The Split Rheme Pattern
3.5 Derived Theme Pattern
4.0 Identifying Themes in Discourse
5.0 Conclusion
6.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
This Unit is a continuation of what we looked at in the last Unit. Thematic structure deals with
how the message is organized in the clause. Some scholars went beyond the organization of
the message in the clause to show how thematic choices work in instances of language use
longer than the clause, for instance text. They focus on how the theme is organized across
sentence boundaries, how themes progress from one sentence to another. This Unit will look
at all these

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of your study of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• explain the concept of “Thematic Progression”
• illustrate the different thematic progression patterns
• identify any of the TP patterns when you see them in a text
3.1 Thematic Progression
In the last Unit, we looked at the concepts of Theme and Rheme in clauses. We did not go
beyond the clause. However, in looking at Thematic Progression, we will look at how themes
in different clauses associate and how the entire text becomes a meaningful whole through this
interaction. Thematic Progression (TP) refers to how one theme progresses into another from
clause to clause. Danes (1974) identified four types of Thematic Progression. In the following
sections, we shall discuss each of these in succession.

37
3.2 The Constant Theme Pattern
The first kind of TP is called the Constant Theme Pattern. The constant theme pattern occurs
when a common theme is shared by clauses that follow one another in a text. The theme of
each clause either refers wholly to the first theme or partly to it. This TP pattern is common in
biographical information and other narratives. Example of Constant TP is
1. Mr Chanda is my friend.
2. He attended Kings College Lagos.
3. After his secondary education,
4. he travelled to England,
5. where he was trained as a lawyer.
6. He was one of the foremost lawyers in Zambia.
You will see that in all the six clauses in this short text, the themes have something to do with
Mr. Chanda either directly or indirectly through the use of first person pronoun he. In the third
clause, the expression, his secondary education still refers to Mr. Chanda.
3.3 The Linear Theme Pattern
The Linear Theme Pattern is a pattern in which a rheme is taken up as a theme in a subsequent
clause. In other words, the rheme of the last clause becomes the theme of the following clause.
An exampole of this is produced below:
1. The president of LATAZ is Mukunta.
2. Mukunta was the last Civilian governor of Mansa.
3. Mansa is one of the provincial capital of Zambia.
4. Zambia is regarded as one of the peaceful nation in Africa. In the text above, part of the
rheme of the first clause (Mukunta) is taken up as the theme for the second clause. Likewise,
the nucleus of the rheme for the second clause (Mansa) is taken up as the rheme for the third
clause, and so forth.
3.4 The Split Rheme Pattern
The third type of TP is called the Split Rheme Pattern. The split Rheme TP is the type in which
the Rheme of the clause has two components and each of the components is taken in turn as
the theme of subsequent clause. So, the idea is that the components of the rheme are split and
elaborated upon in subsequent clauses. An example of the Split Rheme TP is produced below.
1. Nigeria can be conveniently divided into three major regions: the Northern, Western and
the Eastern regions.
2. The Northern Region is mainly populated by Hausa speakers and they are mostly Moslems.

38
3. The Western Region has mainly Yoruba people who are well-exposed to Western education
and it has a mixture of Islam and Christianity.
4. The Eastern Region is inhabited mainly by the Igbo speakers, who can be described as the
economic livewire of the nation. This text shows clearly that the rheme of the first clause is
what is split to develop the text. The rheme has three major components and each of these
components was taken in turn to develop each of the subsequent clause.
3.5 The Derived Theme Pattern
This kind of TP is a feature of longer text with a variety of topics for discussion. The author
may pick any of the topics earlier mentioned and use it as the theme for a clause. An example
is given below.
1. Lion is one of the most dreaded animals.
2. The large cat is fierce-looking and always looking ferocious.
3. Its cubs are just like domestic cats.
4. The mane of male lions makes them look dreadful.
5 Its powerful claws can tear even the hardest skin
6. and its canines are equally very strong. The text contains some derived items that have been
given thematic positions. They include its cubs, the mane of the male lion, its canines. All these
are themes derived from the hyper theme lion.

Self-Assessment Exercise
Use your own texts to illustrate the four Thematic Progression Patters discussed in this Unit.
3.6 Identifying Themes in Discourse
There are some specific ways a theme can be identified in a clause. We have seen that themes
are not just chosen. They are chosen to agree with the message and they are chosen so that the
entire text can be seen a unified whole. One major way a theme can be identified is through
identical wording. This means, the writer or speaker simply repeats the same word as theme in
subsequent clauses. For example:
9.1. Mr. Brown is my boss. Mr. Brown is a very nice man. In the sentence above the theme
Mr. Brown is repeated in the second sentence. Another way is through the use of synonymous
expression, ie occurrence of an element which communicates information similar in meaning
to an expression in the preceding context, eg:
9.2. My little boy came home from school weeping. The lad was beaten by a bully. The theme
can also be identified by semantic inference. Words that are related to the ones used earlier can
still be used as themes of subsequent clauses (see the example under split rheme)
39
5.0 Conclusion
The organization of information in any text is essential because it determines the kind of
meaning being communicated. The choice of what element to start with and which ones to
come later show what a writer places emphasis on. Equally important is the way one theme
progresses into another within a larger text, that is texts that flow form one paragraph to
another. Different kinds of Thematic Progression patterns have been identified to be peculiar
to different kinds of writing. For instance, stories will naturally choose the constant theme
pattern, since they are about some individuals or a particular event. This is to ensure that the
story is followed by the listener or reader, as these persons or events keep recurring in the text.

6.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have looked at Thematic Progression. It is a follow-up to the last unit, where
we looked at the Information and Theme distribution in texts. We observed that it is important
to know how themes progress in larger texts. The progression of themes has implications for
meaning. As we have observed, in some texts, the same theme dominates the clauses, while in
others, the themes are varied. An instance is the Derived Theme pattern, where other themes
are derived from a hyper theme. The rheme can also be split in such a way that they will lead
to the formulation of subsequent themes in the text, as we saw in the Spilt Rheme pattern.

40
UNIT 9: THE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOL APPROACH
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Classroom discourse
3.2 Discourse Structure
3.2.1 Lesson
3.2.2 Transaction
3.2.3 Exchange
3.2.4 Move
3.2.5 Classes of Acts
4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
In this Unit, we shall be examining the trends in the study of discourse that was introduced by
a group of scholars in the University of Birmingham in the early 1970s. The idea started with
the study of classroom discourse and later became a possible theory for the study of any human
interaction. The study undertaken by John Sinclair and Malcolm Coulthard proposed a scale
for the study of the structure of discourse in the classroom.

2.0 Learning Objectives

By the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• explain the Birmingham School Approach to Discourse Analysis
• use these units to attempt analyses of instances of discourse
• write a classroom lesson showing different classes of acts used by the teacher and the students
• differentiate the differences between the units of discourse
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Classroom discourse
Classroom discourse is an institutional discourse that involves the teacher and pupils
interacting and exchanging ideas. The teacher initiates the discourse and ensures that it follows
a particular course, which he/she has pre-determined. The typical structure of the classroom
discourse identified by Sinclair and Coulthard is IRF (Initiation, Response and Follow-up).
This means that the teacher initiates the discourse while the students supply response to the
initiation and the teacher typically gives the feedback. Though, there are several ways teacher
41
and students exchange ideas, the teacher is the one saddled with the responsibility of controlling
the discourse and determining the direction it goes. The teacher has a role that is described in
discourse as [+ HIGHER ROLE], while the students have the [− HIGHER ROLE]. With this
tenor relationship between the teacher and the pupils, the classroom discourse is able to run
smoothly. In the next section we will discuss the features of classroom discourse as observed
by Sinnclair and Coulthard (1975).
3.2 Discourse Structure
Sinclair and Coulthard’s (1976) work represents one of the earliest descriptive work on
classroom discourse as an institutional discourse. The work was based on Halliday’s scale and
category. Discourse was seen by them as a level of language higher than grammar. They did
an extensive study of the language used by teachers and pupils in classroom in Britain and
proposed a five scale category of discourse, namely: lesson, transaction, exchange, moves and
acts. These are discussed in the next section.
3.3 Lesson
Lesson is the highest unit in the discourse rank scale. It is everything that happens in the
classroom from the point the teacher enters till he/she leaves. The structure of a lesson is
determined by several factors. These include pupils’ responses to the teachers’ instructions and
the teachers’ ability to respond to the pupils’ responses. For instance, a teacher may initiate a
discussion that the whole class would be on for the entire lesson. Good teachers do not rush
their lessons with the aim of finishing everything they set out to do. As they teach, they monitor
pupils’ responses and sometimes repeat and go over a lesson they had taught earlier.
3.4 Transaction
Transaction is next to lesson. It is the basic unit of interaction. It has to do with minimal
contribution made by the participants in a discourse. Every transaction has an opening, which
is usually a greeting and it possibly closes with a greeting as well.
3.5 Exchange
An exchange is the whole dialogue between the teacher and the pupils. It is the fundamental
unit that realizes social interaction (see Taiwo and Salami, 2007: 29). The structure of a typical
exchange is an initiation followed by a response and followed by a follow-up. Initiation simply
refers to the starting up of a topic by the teacher when he enters the classroom. The teacher
expects his/her initiation to elicit a kind of response from the students. An initiation is usually
a question or a comment. Teachers use questions a lot for initiating responses from their pupils.
Then the response will come in form of an answer to the question. The exchange will not be

42
complete without the teacher responding as a follow-up to the pupils’ response. A follow-up
may be a commendation for a good answer, a rejection of the answer, and so forth.
3.5 Move
Move refers to the contribution made by one of the participants in the discourse at a point in
time. Speakers take turns in conversation and when they have the floor, they speak for a specific
period of time before another speaker takes over.
3.7 Act
Act is the smallest unit of the discourse structure. According to Sinclair and Coulthard (1992:
4), “discourse acts are typically one free clause plus any subordinate clauses, but there are
certain closed classes where we can specify almost all the possible realizations which consist
of single words or groups.” Acts are defined principally by their functions. Sinclair and
Coullthard recognized 22 classes of act in the classroom discourse, while Olateju (1998)
recognized 24 classes of act. Later in the Unit, we shall discuss the nature of the classes of act
in details.
Self-assessment Exercises
Explain how classroom discourse different from any other kind of institutional discourse?
3.8 Classes of Acts
To discuss the classes of acts, shall present a table showing them, how they are realized and
their functions in discourse.
SN
CATEGORY
REALIZATION AND FUNCTION
1 Elicitation (elc)
This is realized by a question. Its function is to request a linguistic response
2 Directive (dir)
This is realized by a command. Its function is to request a non-linguistic response
3 Informative (inf)
This is realized by a statement. The function is to provide information. The only response is an
acknowledgement of attention or understanding Prompt (prm) This is realized by a closed class
of items – ‘go on’, ‘come on’, ‘hurry up’, ‘have a guess’, etc. Its function is to reinforce a
directive or elicitation by suggesting that the teacher is no longer requesting a response but
expecting or demanding one
Bid (bid)

43
This is realized by a closed class of verbal and non-verbal items – ‘sir’, ‘miss’, teachers name,
raised hand, ‘finger clicking’, etc. Its function is to signal a desire to contribute to the discourse
6 Re-state(res)
This is realized by statements that tend to repeat a point or an idea that had earlier on been
mentioned
7 Focus (foc)
This is realized by statements which are not strictly part of the discourse but inform us about
what the topic is all about
8 Frame (frm)
This is realized by words that indicate the boundaries in a lesson, such as ‘right’, ‘today’,
‘good’, ‘well’, etc.
9 Repetition (rpt)
This is realized by statements that are repeated to emphasize the importance of the message in
the discourse
10 Demonstration (dem)
This is realized by statements showing that the teacher is giving a practical illustration of what
is being presented to the pupils
11. Contrastive (con)
This is realized by a statement that are opposite of what had earlier been said. They are usually
marked by expressions such as, in contrast to…’, ‘on the contrary’, etc.
12 Illustrate (ill)
This is realized by a statement that further explains a point being discussed
13 Expatiate (exp)
This is realized by a statement that adds to the information that had already been given
14 Additive (add)
This is realized by a statement, which gives additional information to the discourse. It is
realized typically by words such as, ‘and’, ‘in addition’ , etc.
S/N
CATEGORY
REALIZATION AND FUNCTION
15 Hearing/check (h/c)
This is realized by words such as ‘hen’, ‘abi’, (Yoruba expressions for ‘is it so?’) or any local
language equivalent, which are meant to check whether the pupils are following the discourse.
16 Accept (acc)
44
This is realized by a closed class of items such as ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘good’, ‘fine’, and a repetition of
pupil’s reply, all with neutral low-fall intonation. Its function is to indicate that the teacher has
heard or seen and that the information, reply, or react was appropriate.
17 Comment (com)
This is realized by a statement or a tag question. It is subordinate to the head move. Its function
is to expand, justify, and provide additional information.
18 Evaluation (eva)
This is realized by statements and tag questions including words and phrases such as ‘good’,
‘fine’, with high-fall intonation and repetition of pupil’s reply with either a high-fall (positive
evaluation) or a rise of any kind (negative evaluation).
19 Causative (cau)
This is realized by a statement showing that what is about to be said is as a result of one thing
or the other. It is typically realized by words such as , ‘so’, ‘therefore’, ‘as a result’ etc.
20 Reply (rep)
This is realized by a statement, question or moodless item and non-verbal surrogates, such as
nods. Its function is to provide a linguistic response, which appropriates elicitation.
21 React (rea)
This is realized by a non-linguistic action. Its function is to provide the appropriate non-
linguistic response, which is appropriate to the directive
22 Nominate (nom)
This is realized by a closed class consisting of names of all students. You, anybody, ‘yes, etc..
The function is to give permission to a student to contribute to the discourse
We can then illustrate each of the classes of act, using possible excerpt from a classroom
exchange. Note: T = Teacher, while S = Student(s).
Elicitation (el) T (I): Who can tell me the first civilian president of the Federal Republic of
Zambia? (el) S (R): Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe T (F): That’s not correct. Can somebody else try?
Directive (dir) T: Class monitor, can you get me a piece of chalk from the staff room (dir) S:
(runs out to go and pick the pieces of chalk
Informative (inf) T: Bilabial plosives are produced using the two lips: the upper and the lower
lips. In The production of such sounds, the air stream from the lungs is block with the closure
of the two lips and thereafter there is a release of the air, which is called a plosion. This is why
the sound is also called a plosive. (inf) Examples of bilabial plosives are /p/ and /b/ I hope that
is clear to you S: Yes.

45
Prompt (prm) T: Can you give me an example of a word in English with the bilabial plosive.
S: (raising up their hands) T: Yes, Daniel S: brain, … (hesitation) T: Yes go on (prm)
Bid (bid) T: Yes does anybody want to try to answer that question S: (raised their hands) Yes
ma (bid)
Re-state T: The lungs have very important function in the production of sounds. Why? Because
the air that comes from the lungs are used to shape the quality of sounds that are eventually
produced. Is that clear? S: Yes sir (chorus answer) T: The lungs perform a very crucial function
in shaping the kind of sound we produce. This is what enables us to classify the sounds (res)
Frame T: Today, We shall be looking at the topic manner of articulation of English consonant
sounds Focus T: Now, Let us stand up and move to the language laboratory for our drills
(focus) S: (the students filed out of the class) Note that frame always precedes focus. A frame
indicates the boundary in a lesson, while a focus starts off on what the speakers is about to do.
Repetition T: Please note that the most important articulator in the production of speech sound
is the tongue. Again, the most important articulator is the tongue.(rep) I hope you noted that.
S: Yes sir (chorus answer)
Demonstration T: Now, look up. I want you to see how I will produce the bilabial sound /p/.
(the teacher pronounced the sound). Can you all repeat after me /p/ (dem) S: (the students
repeat the sound T: Thank you. Let us move on to the next sound
Contrastive T: I told you that when producing a stop sound, there is a total blockage of the
air from the lungs. In contrast to this, when producing fricatives, , there is a partial blockage
of the air form the lungs and this produces a type of hissing sound (con) Let’s try to produce
the fricative sound /s/ (con) S: ssssssssssss. T: Thank you, let us move on.
Illustrate T: We have just talked about manner of articulation. This helps us to describe the
sound produced. In addition to this, we also want to look at another way we can describe
sounds and that is the place of articulation or the point of articulation. This refers to those
places in our vocal cavity where our articulators contact before sounds are produced. (Ill)
Bola, stand up and tell me what I have just said. I noticed you were busy discussing with your
friend. S: (Bola stood up and could not talk) T: You see what I keep telling you? While I was
busy explaining, she was talking.
Expatiate T: I earlier said some sounds are produced with a plosion and they are called plosive
sound. What then is a plosion? A plosion is a forceful sound. It comes out with some force,
because there is an obstruction prior to its production. (exp)
Additive

46
T: To describe any consonant, your have two ways: the place of articulation and the manner
of articulation S: In addition to this, we can also describe a consonant using voicing, which is
the vibration or non-vibration of the vocal cord. (add)
Hearing/Check T: In this course, you will do a lot of drills, to help you perfect your production
of the sounds. Who can tell me the classes of phonetic sounds we have in English? Yes, S:
consonants and vowels T: very good, you know we have consonant and vowel letters, hen (h/c)
Or you don’t know. Please don’t confuse one for the other. Okay (h/c)
Accept T: Who can tell us the basic difference between consonants and vowels? P: In
the[production of vowels, there is free flow of air from the lungs, while in the production of
consonants, there is either a total or partial obstruction of the air at a point in the vocal cavity.
T: Excellent! (Acc)
Comment T: I taught you about the syllable in the last lesson. Did I? I think I did and maybe
we should revise that before going on to today’s topic. (com) Who can give me an English word
with CCCVCC
P: Stretched T: Good! Can you transcribe this on the board and showing the consonants and
vowels. (Hands over the chalk to the student to write)
Evaluation T: How many English vowel, letters do we have? S: five T: Five, good (eva)
Causative T: The tongue is the most important articulator. Therefore, without a tongue we
cannot speak (cau) S: (listening)
Reply T: What did I just say about the tongue? S: Sir, T: Okay, Bridget S: You said it is the
most important articulator (rep)
React T: (Seeing that a student is sleeping while the lecture is going on, signals that the student
should stand up. S: (student stand sup)
Nominate T: Tell me, what do you call a sound produced with a plosion? S: Sir T: Yes, Angela
(nom) S: A plosive sound T: Very good, let’s clap for her
4.0 Conclusion
The study of classroom discourse marked the beginning of how discourse is structured and
organized, especially in an institutional setting. Sinclair and Coulthard proposed what they
believe constitute discourse structure, using a rank scale similar to Halliday’s grammatical rank
scale. Their study further opened up several attempts on the study of how the discourse is
organized.

5.0 Summary

47
In this Unit, we have seen an attempt by two scholars to produce a structural analysis of
naturally occurring discourse, drawing a lot of ideas form Halliday’s Scale and Category
Grammar. In their observation, discourse is higher than grammar and just like grammar, it has
its own rank scale, which consist of five units: Lesson, Transaction, Exchange, Move and Act.
We have discussed each of these units and given you the appropriate examples. The importance
of this is that you should be able to analyze a classroom interaction using the method we have
outlined in this Unit.

48
UNIT 10: TEXT LINGUISTICS
CONTENT
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.1 What is Text?
3.2 Textuality
3.3 Sentence Connection
3.4 Self-assessment Exercises
3.5 Cohesion and Coherence
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In this Unit, we shall be looking at the practice in a school of thought within Discourse Analysis
called Textlinguistics, whose sole aim is to examine written texts and how such texts are
meaningful, and the linguistic resources used by writers to achieve meaning in written texts.
With these in view, of central concern to us in this Unit are the concepts of text, textuality and
cohesion and coherence in text.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• define and identify what a text is
• explain what it means for the sentences in a text to be connected
• discuss the concepts of cohesion and coherence in written texts
• identify texts that are coherent and the resources that are used for such coherence
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 What is Text?
A text can simply be described as a type of written or spoken discourse or a sequence of
paragraphs that represents an extended unit of speech. A text is not just a random collection of
sentences. A text must be meaningful, in the sense that the ideas of the communicator of the
text must be understood by the communicatee. A text must be seen as a unified whole, whose
meaning can be summarized. Halliday and Hasan (1976) describes a text as “a semantic unit.”
Typicaly in any text, every sentence except the first exhibits some form of cohesion with the
preceding (Halliday and Hasan 1976: 292). Texts are classified into genres on the basis of the
intent of the communicator. Although there are different ways of classifying texts, six text types
49
are generally recognized , and they are: recount, report, procedure, explanation, exposition, and
experimental report. Each of these text types has different linguistic structures and features.
For instance, a report is written in the past tense since it is an account of something the
communicator had experienced sometime ago.
3.2 Textuality
A text is said to have textuality if it has unity with respect to its context. What distinguishes a
written text from a random collection of sentences is the quality of textually. It is also referred
to as convexity or connectivity. Every text has certain resources that enable the reader/listener
to identify that it is a text with respect to the context in which it is produced. Let us look at a
stretch of sentence to explain more clearly what we mean by textuality. I bought two pairs of
shoes when I went to Lagos yesterday. They were both black. One was made in Italy, while the
other was made in England. I hope to wear both on alternative days to work. Any good speaker
of English should not have any problem with the stretch above. There are some elements in the
four sentences that signal meaning and unity.
• The word they refer back to the another group of words two pairs of shoes
• One refers implicitly to a pair of the shoes
• The other refers the other pair of shoes
• The word both refers to the two pairs of shoes.
It is not difficult to identify all these references in the text. That is why we can easily say there
is texture because those items signify that we have a text before us and not just a collection of
unconnected sentences. Textuality therefore is those things that make a collection of sentences
to qualify as a text rather than just a collection of sentences. Shortly, we shall look in details
into the technicalities involved texture.
3.3 Sentence Connection
Sentence connection is a term used to describe how sentences are connected in larger texts and
the resources used to signal such connection. Every collection of sentences cannot be seen as
being connected unless they possess some elements that signal their connection. Sometimes
the term is referred to as inter-sentence connection to differentiate it from intra –sentence
connection – the way words in a sentence are connected as opposed to the way sentences in a
text are connected. The whole of this Unit and two others that will follow are all about sentence
connection

3.4 Assessment

50
Select a short story and discuss how the text is connected.
3.5 Cohesion and Coherence
Cohesion is a term used to describe the relation of meanings that exist within a text. According
to Halliday and Hasan (1976: 4), “cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in
the discourse is dependent on that of another.” They went further define cohesion as: A set of
possibilities that exists in the language for making text hang together: The potential that the
speaker or the writer has at his disposal… Thus, cohesion as a process always involves one
item pointing to another; whereas, the significant property of the cohesive relation… is the fact
that one item provides the source for the interpretation of another (P.19). This happens in the
sense that the occurrence of one element presupposes the other. That is that element cannot be
effectively decoded without recourse to the other element. For instance, in the text we looked
at earlier in Section 11.4, the words they, one, the other, both are elements that one cannot
effectively interpret without recourse to the text that has gone before them. Cohesion in the text
is expressed through the ties of reference. Items referring to others are used to signal cohesion
in a text. The interpretation of these words cannot just stop by looking at them, but by looking
beyond them to other words in the text. This may not be the case with some other words in the
text, such as shoes, black, days, and so forth whose meanings are completely interpreted by
just looking at them. Cohesion is signalled both by grammatical and lexical items in a text.
Coherence works together with cohesion. Coherence refers to the continuity of ideas in a text
and the relations between them. When sentences, ideas, and details fit together clearly, readers
can follow along easily, and the writing is coherent, i.e., the ideas tie together smoothly and
clearly. A text is coherent when the ideas are seen to hang together and present the text as a
united whole. Coherence goes beyond just the connection of the sentences, but that of the whole
idea. The two terms, cohesion and coherence are the two primary ways of signalling textuality.
Some ways of signalling cohesion in a text are through the use of pro-forms that indicate co-
reference, definite articles, ellipsis, repetition, connectives or conjunctions, substitution and so
forth. In the next two units we shall examine these.
4.0 Conclusion
A collection of sentences that are well connected are said to be cohesive and coherent.
Textuality is a property of such collection because it is what shows that what we have is not
just a random collection of sentences, but a well-connected piece. Cohesion and coherence are
the two technical terms used to describe the connectedness of sentences and ideas in a text.
Cohesion is signalled by the use of certain items that cannot be decoded without recourse to
what had gone before them.
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5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we examined text and textuality. We looked at the concepts “text” and “textuality”
and how one relates to the other. We saw that textuality is what makes a text to be qualified to
be describes as one and it is signalled by the use of items within the text. We looked particularly
at cohesion and coherence and how these two essential qualities determine textuality.

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UNIT 11: GRAMMATICAL COHESION
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is grammatical Cohesion
3.2 Reference
3.2.1. Personal Reference
3.2.2. Demonstrative Reference
3.2.3. Comparative Reference
3.3 Substitution
3.4 Ellipsis
3.5 Identification
Self-assessment Exercises
4.0 Conjunction
4.0.1. Additive Conjunction
4.0.2. Adversative Conjunction
4.0-3. Temporal Conjunction
6.0. Conclusion
7.0. Summary
1.0 Introduction
This Unit is a follow up to the previous unit, which was its introduction. In this Unit, we shall
be looking in greater details at cohesion at the grammatical level and how it is signaled in texts.
We shall examine the devices used for grammatical cohesion, such as Reference, Ellipsis,
Substitution, Identification, and Conjunction.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• define each of the grammatical cohesive devices to be treated
• analyze a text and bring out the elements that signal grammatical cohesion
• differentiate between substitution, ellipsis and identification as grammatical cohesive devices
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 What is Grammatical cohesion

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Grammatical cohesion is a means of creating links between sentences in a text through the use
of the grammatical resources of the language, ie, items that are grammatical in nature, as
opposed to the ones that are lexical in nature, such grammatical resources include: Reference,
Substitution, Identification, Conjunction, and Ellipsis.
3.2 Reference
Reference is a grammatical device commonly used for cohesion in texts. A reference item is
an item that cannot be interpreted semantically in its own rights. It has to be interpreted by
looking at other elements that have been used before it or the ones that will be used after it.
Reference is typically signified through the use of pronouns, such as personal pronouns (he,
she, it, they, them, we, etc.) and comparative pronouns (this, that, these, etc.). Reference is
typically signified through phoric relations. Reference can generally be divided into two
different types: Endophoric (Textual) Reference and Exophoric (Situational/Contextual)
Reference. Endophoric Reference is also known as Textual Reference. It is a kind of reference
that is within the text. For endophoric reference, we can find the referent (what it refers to)
within the text. Such a referent can either be anaphoric or cataphoric. An anaphoric reference
is a reference whose referent precedes it, i.e., the reference is to the preceding text. This kind
of reference is the most common in any form of text. For example, 3.1. The man came
yesterday, but he did not meet me. In the text above, the pronoun he is anaphoric in nature
because it refers back to another item in the text – the man. Pronouns are typically anaphoric
in English. However, sometimes, they could be cataphoric, when the referent precedes the
reference, i.e. the item that refers comes before what it refers to, e.g.:
3.2. He walked into the room looking haggard. The man stood by the door to my living room
and I was wondering who he was. His look was expressionless, so I kept looking at him. I later
beckoned to him to come in. It took me some time to recognize Mr. Adams. But much later, I
was able to identify some of his old features that I used to know when we were at the Teachers’
College. I quickly embraced him. “Sit down Mr. Adams, I am sorry, I did not quickly recognize
you”, I said. He sat down and we started talking. The first sentence in the text starts with a
third person personal pronoun he, and continues using pronouns to refer to somebody not
identified until the fifth sentence and seventh clause. By the end of the text we can see clearly
that the pronoun refers to Mr. Adams, who was an old classmate of the writer at Teachers’
College. This is a cataphoric reference. Cataphoric references are sometimes employed for
literary effects to create suspense in the mind of the reader as you can observe in the text. If
you will notice, you will realize that anaphoric references are also used to refer to the same
person in sentences six, seven and the last sentence. We also have Exophoric Reference, which
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is a reference to the context of situation and not any element within the text. An example of
Exophoric Reference is produced below. 3.3. Will you come here and let me have that. In the
text above, the words here and that are exophoric items. We can only get their meanings by
looking at the context in which they are produced. For instance, here will refer to somewhere
close to the speaker and that will refer to something with the addressee. Halliday and Hasan
(1976) recognized three types of reference: Personal Reference, Demonstrative reference and
Comparative Reference. Each of these are discussed below 3.2.1 Personal Reference: This is
defined by its function in the speech situation
3.4. The girls just returned from the party. They are all very tired.
3.5. My father is a consultant to many oil companies in Zambia. He will be returning from
Denmark where he went to represent one of his clients.
3.6. Bola just came back from the youth camp. I saw her yesterday. The Personal References
are: they in
3.4; he and his in
3.5; I and her in 3.6.
3.2.2 Demonstrative Reference
This is reference by means of location. The writer or speaker locates this kind of reference
along a scale of proximity defined in terms of selective participation and circumstances that
define the textual occasion (Halliday and Hasan, 1976: 37). Examples are:
3.7. Leave the book on the table and come here
3.8. Please bring the red apples. Those are my favourite.
3.9. He said something just before we left his office. That I can’t remember.
The Demonstrative References are: her in 3.7; those in 3.8 and that in 3.9.
3.2.3 Comparative Reference
This is a form of indirect reference that is established by means of identity. Examples are: 3.10
I love those oranges. Can I have more. 3.11. The little cats are very playful. But one is not as
playful as others.
3.12. You have taken enough apples. Other people will also need some.
The Comparative References are: more in 3.10; one and others in 3.11; some in 3.12. Halliday
and Hasan emphasize the uniqueness of reference by pointing out that: What distinguishes
reference from other types of cohesion is that it is overwhelmingly nominal in character. With
the exception of demonstratives and some comparative adverbs, all reference items are found
within the nominal group. (p. 43)

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3.3 Substitution
Substitution simply refers to the replacement of one item by another in a text that has the same
meaning. Initially, Substitution and Reference may appear to be similar but they are not.
Reference is a relation between meanings. For instance, the reference items he, she, they are
related to some nouns in terms of the meaning connections they have. The relationship between
these reference items and their referents lies in the semantic identity between the reference and
the referent. Substitution however is a relation in wording, between linguistic items such as
words and phrases. A substitute is a sort of counter used in place of repetition of a particular
item. Examples of substitute are given below: 3.13 My notes are not complete. I need to get an
up to date one. 3.14. You don’t seem to like bread, but I do 3.15. Many people think reducing
your age gives you the advantage of more time in the civil service. But I don’t think so
In 3.13 – 3.15, we have words that are used as substitute for others – one in 3.13; do in 3.14,
and so in 3.15. These substitutes represent the three types of substitute recognized in Halliday
and Hasan (1976) – Nominal, Verbal and Clausal Substitution respectively. Nominal
substitution refers to the use of a nominal substitute to replace a nominal item. Verbal
substitution is the use of a verbal substitute, typically do to replace a verbal item and clausal
substitution is the use of a substitute to replace an entire clause. Other items used as substitute
are cardinal numerals, as in the text below.
3.16. There are seven oranges in the bowl. Can I have two?
Here the word two is a cardinal numeral used as a substitute for orange.
3.4 Ellipsis
Ellipsis is the omission of a lexical item, which is usually easily recoverable form the linguistic
context of the text. Halliday and Hasan define ellipsis as “substitution by zero” (p. 89). This
means Ellipsis a kind of Substitution. Unlike in Substitution, where something is used to
replace an item, in Ellipsis, nothing is used to replace the item, yet the reader or hearer is able
to identify the zero element. In Ellipsis, something is not said, yet it is understood. In Ellipsis,
there is a structural slot with missing information, which is not misunderstood in spite of the
missing information. It is important to note that by Ellipsis, we are not referring to every
instance in which something is not said. If this were to be so then that would apply to every
sentence ever spoken or written. We are referring here to only instances of sentences, clauses,
etc., whose construction leaves us to presuppose some missing items. Just like Substitution,
there are three types of Ellipsis: Nominal, Verbal and Clausal. In Nominal Substitution, there
is an ellipsis within the nominal group, e.g.:
3.16. He came in quickly had his bath and rushed out.
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In the text above, the pronoun he is conspicuously missing, but we are still able to understand
that it is the same person who came in quickly, who had his bath and rushed out. We do not
have to keep repeating the pronoun he to communicate meaning in the text. Verbal Ellipsis is
ellipsis within the verbal group, e.g.,
3.17. He may come or may not
3.18. Some were sweeping and others mopping the floor.
In 3.17 and 3.18, we can see two different types of Verbal Ellipsis. In 3.17, the ellipsis affected
the lexical verb come, hence it can be tagged lexical verb ellipsis. In 3.18, the ellipsis affected
the operator, which is an auxiliary verb were. This may be regarded as operator or auxiliary
ellipsis. There is also clausal ellipsis, ie: the omission of a whole clause or at least a substantial
portion of the clause. This is very common in conversation, where there are enough contextual
clues to help in the comprehension of meaning, eg, 3.19. A: What are you doing Cynthia? B:
Reading. 3.20. A: Will you go home now? B: Yes. In 3.19, a substantial part of the clause is
omitted, yet the meaning is not lost. In 3.20, the whole clause is omitted. The word yes has
rendered redundant any other thing B may want to say.
3.5. Identification
Identification is the use of determiners to point out that their noun phrase is co-referential with
some earlier item, usually a noun or noun phrase (Aremo, 2004: 629). Identification is different
from Reference, because reference makes use of pro-forms, while Identification, as the name
goes, identifies a nominal item/group through the use of determines and a nominal item.
Determiners used include the definite article the and demonstrative adjectives, such as this,
that, those, etc. Examples of texts with Identification are given below.
3.21. A man came to my office yesterday. The man was sent by my uncle.
3.22. I have heard a lot of terrible stories about kidnapping in Lagos. Those stories make me
afraid whenever I visit the city.
3.23. She is married to a well-respected man in the country. That man is generous and humble.
3.24. When he came last year, he asked me where he could get a young girl to play with. The
question keeps bothering me because I do not consider him that irresponsible.
In the three texts above, the nominal groups the man, those stories, that man and the question
are elements signifying identification, because they identify the nominal groups in the clauses
that precede the ones in which they occur. Sometimes, the identifying element may be more
complex than just a determiner and a noun. It may include some adjectives, as in the example
below:
3.25. You walked out on me yesterday because I called you to order at the meeting.
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Your irresponsible behaviour may get you sacked if you don’t exercise some caution. The
expression your irresponsible behaviour is an identification of what the addressee did to the
speaker the previous day. The word irresponsible is used to qualify the addressee’s behaviour.

Assessment
Using your own adequate and copious examples, explain the differences between Reference,
Substitution and Identification
4.0 Conjunction
Conjunction is an explicit marker of meaning connection between two clauses. Though the
term is used generally to include any linker or connector, in this Unit, we are using it in the
sense of items used to link clauses and sentences together. According to Halliday and Hasan
(1976), conjunctive elements are not cohesive in themselves but by virtue of their specific
meanings; they are not primarily devices for reaching out into the preceding (or following) text,
but they express certain meanings, which presuppose the presence of other components in the
discourse (p. 226). There are several conjunctive items for signaling meaning in sentence
connection. Halliday and Hasan (1976) identify four categories of conjunctive relations. They
are Additive, Adversative, Causal and Temporal. We shall discuss each of them below.
4.0.1 Additive Conjunction
This is a conjunction that introduces an addition to the erstwhile clause. The most prominent
Additive Conjunction is and. Other Additive Conjunctions are yet, so, further, moreover, etc.
Examples of texts with Additive Conjunction are:
3.26. He drove 800 kilometres, and he was very tired after his arrival
3.27. The thieves were caught, yet they denied being thieves.
3.28. I was so tired last night, so, I could not visit Gbade as promised
3.29. Bisola does not need the scholarship. Moreover, she is got full sponsorship for her PhD.
4.0.2 Adversative Conjunction
This signals a relationship contrary to expectation. The proposition expressed in the second
clause is contrary to what is stated in the preceding clause. Adversative Conjunctions are
signaled by words such as; but, however, instead, rather, etc, as can be seen in the following
example:
3.30. He took the money, but he denied it.
3.31. The bus broke down somewhere very lonely. However, we miraculously found a mechanic
to fix it before we continued with the journey.

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3.32. You were planning to go to Lagos before. Instead, please go to Abuja as I would need
something urgent from our client there.
4.0.3 Causal Conjunction
Causal relation expresses that something caused another to happen. It signifies, result, purpose
or reason for the erstwhile proposition. It is signalled by words such as: so, hence, therefore,
consequently, etc. Examples are seen in the following texts:
3.33. He lost his money, so he could not travel again.
3.34. She got late to school. Consequently, he was punished.
3.35. The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore, I shall not want
4.0.4 Temporal Conjunction
Temporal Conjunction is a relation between two successive sentences in sequence of time. This
could be sequential (then, next), simultaneous (simultaneously, at the same time), preceding
(earlier, previously), immediate (at once, immediately), durative (meanwhile). Examples:
12.36 I found the money on the grass. Then I reported to the police.
12.37 My father died in June last year. Earlier he had been in and out of the hospital.
12.38 He got the news of his shortlisting for the interview. Immediately, he started preparing
for it.
12.39 I was busy planning for my wedding. Meanwhile, my mother-in-law was busy arranging
for how my fiancé would travel to go and meet a boy she would prefer her to marry.
5.0 Conclusion
Grammatical cohesion is one of aspects of cohesion important for signalling text
connectedness. It includes the use of Reference items, such as pro-forms that serve the purpose
of coreferentiality. It also includes the use of substitution, replacing a word with another, and
ellipsis. Ellipsis is particularly interesting because it is a kind of substitution in which there is
no explicit element. Identification is like Reference in the sense that a combination of
determiner and noun refers to a nominal item/group. Conjunction is also the use of explicit
conjunctive items to signal meaning relations between clauses that are related. It is important
to be able to identify these devices discussed in any text and explain how they signal the
connectedness of the text. It is also important to identify how Reference, Substitution and
Identification differ from one another.

6.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have examined the grammatical cohesive devices used in English to signal text
connection. We examined five cohesive devices, namely: Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis,

59
Identification, and Conjunction. We also gave adequate examples to illustrate these different
categories and sub-categories of grammatical cohesive devices. We expect that you will be able
to produce your own examples and identify instances of these devices when you come across
them in any written or spoken text.

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UNIT 12: LEXICAL COHESION
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Lexical Cohesion?
3.2 Reiteration
3.3 Synonymy
3.4 Antonymy
3.5 Hyponymy
3.6 Meronymy
3.7 Collocation
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
This Unit is a continuation of what we started in Unit 11. In Unit 1, we started looking at the
idea of a text and the properties of a text. You learnt about the textuality, which is what makes
a text not just a random collection of sentences, but a collection of related ideas and, which has
meaning as a whole. The two most important properties of a text we examined are cohesion
and coherence. In Unit 12, we looked at the five grammatical cohesive devices. In this Unit,
we shall be looking at the lexical cohesive devices, which are six in number.

2.0 Learning Objectives

Since this Unit is all about lexical devices used for achieving cohesion, by the end of it, you
should be able to do the following:
• explain clearly what is meant by the term lexical cohesion
• make a clear distinction between grammatical and lexical cohesion
• identify any instance of lexical cohesion in a written or spoke text
• analyze a text to bring out and explain the lexical cohesive devices
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Lexical Cohesion?
Lexical cohesion is the use of lexical items to connect and unify a text. The connection of a
text through the use of lexical items is sometimes referred to as a lexical chain. A lexical chain
is a sequence of related words in the text, spanning short (adjacent words or sentences) or long
61
distances (entire text). A chain is independent of the grammatical structure of the text and in
effect it is a list of words that captures a portion of the cohesive structure of the text. A lexical
chain can provide a context for the resolution of an ambiguous term and enable identification
of the concept that the term represents. Lexical cohesion involves the selection of a lexical item
that is in some way related to one occurring previously. It is established through the structure
of the lexis or vocabulary. Lexical cohesion or chain may be achieved by repetition of the same
lexical item or reiteration. It could also be achieved through the use of lexical items that are
similar or nearly similar in meaning. Other ways of achieving cohesion through the selection
of lexical item are hyponymy (use of general and specific items), meronymy (part-whole
relationship), and collocation (habitual lexical co-occurrence). We shall be discussing each of
the lexical devices, one after the other in the following sections of the Unit.
3.2 Reiteration
Another word for reiteration is repetition. Reiteration is the clearest way to show that two
lexical items are related. The whole idea is that the writer or speaker keeps repeating a
particular word each time he needs to make reference to it in a text. Sometimes Repetition can
be boring to the reader and the listener, therefore some scholars do not see it as a very effective
means of signaling lexical connectedness. Examples of texts with lexical reiteration are:
13.1. Kunle is my friend. Kunle and I attended the same primary and secondary school. Kunle
was the best student in my set in the secondary school.
13.2. Man is a social animal. The biblical account spells it out that man was created to have
dominion over all other animals. Man in the 20th century has really maintained dominion over
the world. One significant things that has happened to man in the century is the invention of
computer.
From the two text produced above, we can see clearly instances of repetition. In 13.1, Kunle is
repeated in the three sentences in the text. Likewise in 13.2, man keeps recurring in each of the
sentences. These are clear instances of use of reiteration or repetition to achieve cohesion.
3.3 Synonymy
We mentioned earlier that Repetition sometimes can make a text boring. As a result,
sometimes, rather than repeating the same word, a writer/reader may vary his/her use by
selecting a synonymous item to replace the one being referred to. Synonymy as a lexical device
is a device that employs the use of words that have similar meaning interchangeably in a written
or spoken text. It is also referred to as Equivalence Relation. Sometimes, writers or speakers
create synonymy rings (a list of synonyms or near synonyms that are used interchangeably. For

62
example, a writer may use any of the following terms interchangeably: speech disorder, speech
defect, defective speech, speech problem, disorder of speech, etc.
Mundane, earthly, secular, temporal, worldly, etc.
Energy, drive, strength, vigour, stamina, zeal, power, etc. Flimsy, shallow, superficial, weak,
trivial, etc. Ancient, primitive, archaic, obsolete, pristine, antiquated, old, etc. Now, let us look
at instances in which synonymy is used to achieve lexical cohesion in texts, using some of the
synonyms we have identified above.
13.3. When asked why he came late, he gave a flimsy reason. His weak reason did not in any
way absolve him from punishment.
13.4. Christianity discourages adherents from engaging in worldly pleasures, as such earthly
practices will perish with the world. They are temporal.
13.5. His ideas are always archaic. I guess he got such obsolete ideas from
his grandfather, who brought him up. He grew up in the village, where primitive ideas are
still celebrated in the name of culture and tradition. 13.6. My children are always full of
energy. Sometimes I wonder where they get the strength from. They play with so much vigour
during the day that when they sleep, they sleep like log of wood.
3.4 Antonymy
Antonymy as a lexical device is the use of relationship of oppositeness to signal cohesion in a
text. Examples of antonyms are listed below. quick, fast and slow, sluggish
big, large, enormous, mighty and small, little, tiny, petit happy, glad, joyful and sad, dejected,
unhappy rich, affluent, wealthy and poor, indigent, strange and familiar Now, let us construct
texts that portray the use of antonymy as lexical device for connection. Note: That no two
words are absolutely synonymous in every context of use, likewise, no two words are
absolutely antonymous.
13.7. Goliath was a mighty man. Despite that David was a little shepherd boy, he
was not intimidated by Goliath’s enormous size.
13.8. The man was so unhappy when he got sentenced to six months imprisonment.
However, a few weeks later, when he was set free he was so joyful.
13.9. In Lagos, the places where you find the affluent are Ikoyi, Victoria Island,
Victoria Garden City, Ikeja GRA, and so forth. The indigent are found in parts of Ajegunle,
Mushin, and Agege 13.10. The twins have different traits. Taiwo is fast, though oftentimes
shoddy in doing things. However, Kehinde is sluggish, but always comes out perfect in most
of the things he does.
3.5 Hyponymy
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Hyponymy is a relationship of inclusion. In Hyponymy, the meaning of a lexical item is
includes in the meaning of another one. Hyponymy operates in such a way that there is an item
regarded as the general item, also technically called the superordinate, which subsumes other
words, which are the hyponyms. Readers/listeners are able to connect hyponyms and
superordinates in texts, even when there is no proximity in their occurrence within the text..
Examples of some English words that have relationship of hyponymy are listed below.
vegetable – lettuce, okra, cabbage, water leaf, beans, potato, carrot insect – grasshopper,
cockroach, termite, praying mantis computer – laptop, desktop, palmtop, digital wrist watch,
mobile phone cat – pussy cat, tiger, puma, leopard, lion, cheetah
clothes – shirt, trousers, blouse, skirt, coat, cardigan, flower – hibiscus, rose, daffodil, rose
periwinkle, lilly Now, let us use some of these hyponyms in text to signal cohesion. 13.11. My
mother loves flowers. Her favourite ones are rose and lilly.
13.12. A lion is such a fearful animal. Nobody dares to stand without shaking
at the first sight of the big cat.
13.13 Most of my clothes are now dirty. I hardly get a clean shirt to wear to
work. I still manage the trousers because of their dark colours. The cold weather has really
helped me, as I often put on cardigans. They help to cover my dirty shirts. 13.14 Computers
are indispensable for every average person. One needs a desktop for the home and possibly
the office. You also need a laptop to help you work anywhere you find yourself. And of course,
our mobile phones are needed for communication without boundary. Self-assessment
Exercises Identify and discuss the lexical cohesive devices used in Scene One of The Trials of
Brother Jero by Wole Soyinka.
3.6 Meronymy
Meronymy is the technical name coined by Raquiya Hasan to refer to a Part-whole relationship.
In this kind of relationship, a lexical item represents the part and the other or others represent
the whole. Just like Hyponymy, it is a relationship of inclusion. However, while Hyponymy
involves general items and specific ones, Meronymy involves whole items and part ones.
Below are some examples of Part- whole relationship. Car – dashboard, fender, rear light,
bonnet, boot, tyre, radiator, throttle Computer – monitor, CPU, keyboard, mouse, House –
living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, pantry, balcony Tree – trunk, leaves, branch,
stem Book – preface, foreword, chapter, index, cover, contents
Examples of lexical cohesion, using meronymy in texts:
13.15. My driver took the car out yesterday. After his return, I discovered that the bumper had
been dented and the mirror at the passenger’s side had cracked.
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13.16. When I checked the computer supplied by the company yesterday, I discovered that the
mouse was missing. The keyboard was also defective, because it is very stiff. However, the
monitor met our specification.
13.17. The house is quite a big one. Each of the bedrooms has its toilet and bathroom. The
living room is massive. I also love the design because of the courtyard.
13.18. Our new book came out yesterday. We were commended for the contents, which covers
a wide range of issues in the discipline of Discourse Analysis. A renowned professor of English
at the University of Lagos wrote the foreword. It has all together twenty chapters.
3.7 Collocation
Some words frequently occur together than others. Most times, when you mention a particular
lexical item, another one usually associated with it comes to the mind of your listener. This
shows that words keep company of one another. This habitual co-occurrence of words is
generally referred to as Collocation. According to J.R. Firth, who first talked about collocation,
“you know a word by the company it keeps.” Collocation is one of the most important lexical
devices used for cohesion. Any good text can be said to reflect the writer’s/speaker’s choice of
the right kinds of words – words that collocate. Only such combinations can form a unified
text. The following pair of words are said to collocate in English: shoulder – shrug pharmacy
– drug hospital – doctor car – accident class – teacher fish – swim bed – sleep wardrobe –
clothes zoo – animal sports – stadium king – palace book – read dark – night fan – air key –
door One can go beyond the pairs we have above to provide a range of words that a particular
word will naturally co-occur with in English. Find the examples below. Library – read, silent,
borrow, catalogue, book, shelves, Car – drive, road, engine, garage, mechanic, highway, seat
belt, petrol, Hospital – patient, doctor, ward, out-patient, theatre, nurse, casualty, diagnose
Computer – program, word-process, Internet, document, Microsoft, flash drive, CD, type
Newspaper – headlines, editor, advert, editorial, news, report, beat, proof-read, vendor
Language – tongue, speak, write, conversation, communication linguist,
4.0 Conclusion
This unit is the conclusion of what we started in Unit 11. Apart from the grammatical devices
used for achieving cohesion in texts, which we discussed in Unit 12, we identified also the
lexical devices in this Unit. Six lexical devices were discussed in this Unit – Reiteration,
Synonymy, Antonymy, Hyponymy, Meronymy, and Collocation. Any good text is made up of
a carefully chosen series of lexical items that are related in any of the ways we have identified.
It is the relatedness of the items in meaning that makes a text to be cohesive and coherent.

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5.0 Summary
Cohesion is a very important attribute of any well-constructed text. Cohesion is achieved either
through the use of any of the grammatical or lexical devices we have discussed in the unit. It
is important that you are able to identify in any text – written or spoken, any of the following
devices we have discussed and explain how you have come to recognize the link.

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UNIT 13: SPEECH ACT THEORY
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0. Objectives
3.0. Main Content
3.1. Speech Acts: An Introduction
3.2. Performative Verbs
3.3. Locutionary, Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Acts
3.4. Self-assessed Exercises
3.5. Felicity Conditions
3.6. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts
4.0. Conclusion
5.0. Summary
1.0. INTRODUCTION
The Speech Act Theory is one of the earliest theories proposed in Pragmatics. J.L. Austin in
his popular book How to do Things with Words observes that whenever we make any utterance,
we are performing an act. Such acts may include requesting, questioning, commanding and so
forth. In general sense, we can know the act performed by a sentence when it is uttered. In this
Unit, we shall be looking at how we perform acts through our utterances. We shall also look at
some types of speech act.

2.0. Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following.
• explain what we mean by ‘speech act’
• identify performative verbs when you see them in an utterance
• differentiate between direct and indirect speech act
3.0 MAIN CONTENT
3.1 Speech Act
Every sentence we make is designed to perform certain functions. Such functions include, just
informing people about something, warning, ordering somebody or a group of people to do
something, questioning somebody about a fact, thanking somebody for a gift or an act of
kindness, and so forth. When we utter statements, we expect our listeners to recognize and
understand the functions such statements are meant to perform. For instance, when we ask a
question, we expect our addressee to realize that we are requesting for information. If they
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failed to appreciate our intention, then we can say they have ‘misunderstood’ us. This is what
is termed as speech act. The theory of speech act therefore states that whenever we utter a
statement, we are attempting to accomplish something with words (see Austin, 1962 and
Searle, 1969). Below, we have a table indicating some utterances and their forms and their
functions.
Utterance
Form
Function
Did you see him yesterday?
Interrogative
Question
My son is a medical doctor
Declarative
Statement
Shut the door please
Imperative
Command
Other examples of utterances that perform some speech act.
15.1. I pronounce you husband and wife (uttered by a pastor when joining a
couple together)
15.2. I hereby sentence you to ten years in jail (uttered by a judge in a court)
15.3. I promise to pay you by month end (uttered by a debtor to a creditor)
3.2 Performative Verbs
Performative verbs are verbs used to indicate that certain acts are meant to be performed by the
utterance. For instance, each of utterances 15.1 – 15.3 above has a performative verb –
pronounce (15.1); sentence (15.2), and promise (15.3). There are several other verbs in English
that can be considered as performative verbs. They include the following: Appoint - I appoint
you as the director of the institute. Thank - I thank you for your kind gestures. Warn - I warn
you to desist from that act. Congratulate - I congratulate you on call to the Bar. Announce -
We hereby announce the death of our grandfather. Guarantee - I guarantee you that the
product will last. Request - I hereby request for my transcript Offer - I offer you the job on a
monthly salary of K10,000
Looking at the structural pattern of these utterances, you can see that the performative verbs
have a special place in the utterances fitting into the sentence frame like this I (hereby) [verb]
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you [complement]. Such utterance we have above are also referred to as performative
utterances.
3.3 Locutionary, Illocutionary and Perlocutionary Acts
Austin identifies three kinds of acts that are performed when a language is used. He made a
distinction between locutionary act, illocutionary acts and perlocutionary acts. Locutionary
acts are considered as acts of speaking – acts involved in the construction of speech. They
include using particular words in conformity with the particular rules of a language and with
certain senses and references as determined by the rules of the language from which they are
drawn. (Sadock, 2006:54). Illocutionary acts are acts done in speaking – acts that are the
apparent purpose for using a performative utterance, such as promising, sentencing,
guaranteeing, thanking, and so forth. Perlocutionary acts are the consequences or the by-
product of speaking. They produce some effect upon the thoughts, feelings and actions of the
addressee and the speaker.

3.4 Assessment
(i) What is Speech Act?
(ii) Select a written short play and discuss the use of speech acts in it.
3.5 Felicity Conditions
Felicity conditions are the conditions that have to be fulfilled before an utterance can be said
to be successful. They are the conditions that have to be met before one can say that a speaker
has made a sincere statement. For instance, for A to request B to shut the door, the following
conditions must be met:
a. A must believe that B has the ability to shut the door.
b. A must have the desire that B should shut the door.
c. A must believe that B will shut the door, if requested.
d. A must have good reasons for B to shut the door.
3.6. Direct and Indirect Speech Acts
A direct speech act is one whose proposition is clearly represented in the utterance and
understood by the addressee. For instance, the statement:
15.4. Please lock the door.
Is a direct speech act because it is clearly seen as a request that the addressee do something –
lock the door. Some speech acts are not this direct in their proposition, yet the addressee will

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still through inference and implicature understand the intention of the speaker. For example,
the statement:
15.5. It’s cold in here.
May be an indirect counterpart of 15.4. The addressee will by inference understand that being
hot is uncomfortable. So the addressee will recognize the utterance as an indirect speech act
that is making a request of him to lock the door. Even though the utterance is a statement, its
function is that of a command. It is also possible for the speaker to accomplish his intention by
using the utterance:
15.6. Do we have to stay in this cold all day?
which is a question, but still achieving the same purpose of indirectly requesting the addressee
to lock the door. The addressee would not have understood the speaker’s intention if he/she
had taken 15.4 as a mere statement of fact or 15.6 as a Polar or Yes/No question.
4.0 Conclusion
Each time we make an utterance, we are using them to perform certain acts. Such acts may be
directly stated by the speaker or indirectly stated. Certain verbs are used to explicitly signal
that an utterance is meant to perform an act. They are referred to as performative verbs, while
the utterance in which they occur are called performative utterance. For any utterance to be
judged as sincere, it has to fulfil certain felicity conditions. The meaning of utterances is not
always directly reflected in their surface forms. Some utterances have surface forms that differ
from the intention of the speaker. These are called indirect speech acts.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we looked at the theory of speech act as proposed by J.L. Austin and .R. Searle.
We examined performative verbs used in performative utterances, the types of speech act, and
the felicity conditions that have to be met before a speech act can be successful. Lastly, we
looked at direct and indirect speech acts. Indirect speech acts are particularly considered as
being important because their meaning is arrived at through inference, since the surface form
does not indicate the meaning.

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UNIT 14: GRICE’S COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0. Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Cooperative Principles: General Formulation
3.2 Maxims of the Cooperative Principles
3.3 Maxim of Quantity
3.4 Maxim of Quality
3.5 Maxim of Relevance
3.6 Maxim of Manner
Self-assessed Exercises
4.0. Conversational Implicatures
5.0. Conclusion
6.0. Summary
1.0 Introduction
In this Unit, we shall be learning about the principle that H.P. Grice identified as what we
follow whenever we are engaged in a conversation. When we are engaged in any conversation,
there is a basic underlying assumption we make in the sense that we try to cooperate with one
another to construct meaningful conversation. This assumption is known as Cooperative
Principle. This assumption is what will be our concern in this unit. Within the assumption,
Grice identified four maxims that we try to observe. We will also discuss these maxims.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• explain what is meant by Cooperative Principle
• identify in any conversation the observation of any of the maxims of the cooperative principle
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Cooperative Principle: General Formulation
Speakers try to contribute meaningful, productive utterance to further whatever conversation
they are involved in. Listeners also assume that their conversational partners are doing the
same. The summary of cooperative principle according to Grice (1975) is:
Make your conversational contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by
the accepted purpose or direction of the talk exchange in which you are engaged Speech errors
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are often ignored in conversation as long as the meaning the speaker is trying to get across is
clear. Likewise, we often find that meaning in some statements on the surface seem ridiculous
and unrelated, eg, sarcasm, metaphors, hyperbolic statements and so forth, because we assume
that speakers who use them are trying to get across some meaning. This is what the whole idea
of cooperative principle is all about.
3.2 Maxims of the Cooperative Principle
Grice came up with four general maxims that speakers and listeners obey in conversations. The
maxims are like a rule of thumb. They are not hard and fast rules, but speakers try to observe
them in most conversations. The observance of Cooperative Principle allows for the possibility
of implicatures. Implicatures as treated earlier are meanings that are not explicitly conveyed in
what is said, but they can still be arrived at through inference
3.3 Maxim of Quantity
• Make your contributions as informative as required.
• Do not make your contribution more informative than is required
This is what language users do in conversations when they make sure that they go straight to
the point by providing only the necessary information. People who provide too much detail
than necessary in conversation end up discouraging other speakers because they would have
taken too much time saying what they would have said in a short period. Most people will
frown at such things in conversation. This shows that we are always conscious of this maxim.
3.4 Maxim of Quality
• Do not say what you believe to be false.
• Do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence.
People who always provide false and unsubstantiated information in conversation are not
usually liked. This is why lying is not an acceptable speech behaviour in any human culture.
In any normal conversation, people try to provide truthful information to maintain their
integrity. Once a person is known to be a liar by people around him/her, people will not always
believe his/her utterances.
3.5 Maxim of Relevance
• Be relevant
Every utterance in any conversation is meaningful only in relation to other utterances made
earlier before it. Those who make statements that are not relevant to the conversation are either
seen as not following the conversation well enough to make meaningful contributions or they
are, in extreme cases, seen as people who need to have their head examined. It is generally

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believed in most human cultures that it is better to keep quiet and follow a conversation than
to make irrelevant utterances.
3.6 Maxim of Manner
• Avoid obscurity of expression
• Avoid ambiguity
• Be brief
• Be orderly
The maxim of manner is one of the ways people collaborate to build an intelligible
conversation. Utterances must no be obscure, that is, as much as possible the meaning should
not be hidden to the extent that the addressee would not be able to decode it. Likewise,
ambiguous statements are always avoided. It could be frustrating listening to people whose
utterances are full of ambiguous expressions. It is also important for our utterances to be brief
and orderly. Brevity is one of the skills we try to acquire whenever we converse with others.
We will not always have all the time to say all that we need to say. Since we know we have
limited time to speak at any time, we organize our speech in such an orderly manner that we
are still able to capture everything we need to say within the limited period available to us.

Assessment
Discuss Grice’s Cooperative Principle.
4.0 Conclusion
Whenever people are engaged in a conversation, they are engaged in a cooperative venture.
They have a sense of how long they should talk and the kind of things they should say that will
make their speech meaningful to their addressee. They also know what is meaningful to say in
any context and how they should say it. These are the things H.P. Grice summarized under his
Cooperative Principle. Cooperating in conversation is done naturally as part of an average
speaker’s competence.

9.0 Summary
In this Unit we have examined the Grice’s Cooperative principle. The principle comprises of
four maxims, which state how we cooperate whenever we are engaged in a conversation. For
instance, we do not say more than we ought to say .We also ensure that we say is informative.
We try to say only what is true and we ensure the relevance of our speech to the ongoing
situation.

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UNIT 15: POLITENESS IN CONVERSATION
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Politeness?
3.2 Face and Politeness
3.3 Politeness Strategies
3.4 Self-assessed Exercises
3.5 Politeness Principle
Self-assessed Exercises
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
Politeness is one of the most important factors in language use. Users of every language
practice politeness in one form or the other. In our daily interactions, we have ways of speaking
to and addressing people that shows that we have some form of respect for them. There are
ways we speak to our friends and there are ways we speak to people we are not familiar with.
We are more polite in our use of language in informal settings than in formal settings. This
Unit looks at the whole idea of politeness in conversations. The idea of politeness in the study
of Pragmatics is closely tied to the concept of face. Some scholars have identified some
politeness strategies and maxims generally used by speakers. We shall be examining these and
other issues connected with politeness in conversation and writing.

2.0 Learning Objectives

By the end of this Unit, you should be able to do the following:
• explain the whole concept of politeness in discourse
• show how politeness and face relate
• use the politeness principles identified to analyze a text for occurrences of politeness or
otherwise
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Politeness?
Politeness is a kind of disposition we have towards other people that makes us not to want to
hurt their feelings or do things that we know will make them feel unwanted. When we speak
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to others, we try to be polite in the kinds of things we say to them by carefully choosing our
words. We are tactful and nice in what we say, even when we do not sometimes mean it. We
choose our words to fit the different occasions we experience everyday. Even when we say
things that are not too polite, especially when they are not said deliberately, we try to apologize.
We are quick to recognize it when people are not polite in their speech because we have a sense
of what it means to be polite when we address other people. For instance, respect is a form of
politeness. In the Yoruba culture, greeting is considered as part of politeness, especially when
we are meeting people for the first time in a day or after a very long time, or even people we
have never met before. We are more polite with people we are meeting people for the first time
than we are with people we are familiar with. We are also more polite in formal situations than
in informal ones. We are more polite when we speak with people older than us than we are
with people who are our contemporaries or people who are junior to us. It is important to note
that what constitutes politeness differs from one culture to another. For instance, it is impolite
for a child to speak where adults are speaking in the Yoruba culture unless such a child was
permitted to do so. However, in the English culture it may not be necessarily seen as an impolite
act
3.2 Face and Politeness
The most relevant concept in politeness is face. Face refers to the respect an individual has for
himself or herself. According to Brown and Levinson (1986), speakers develop politeness
strategies to maintain their self esteem. One’s face is one’s public self-image. Every person has
an emotional sense of self that they want every other person to recognize. So when we are
polite, we have shown awareness of another person’s face. If you say things that make people
embarrassed or uncomfortable, or something that threatens another person’s self image, you
are said to have employed a face threatening act (FTAs). Politeness strategies are developed
to deal with FTAs. For instance, if one uses a direct imperative to demand something from
somebody, the impression you are creating is that you are better placed socially than the person,
ie, you have a more superior social power than the person. It is alright to use direct imperative
for people who have lower social power than to use the same for people one is not socially
superior to. To do the later is to use a FTA. On the other hand, when you say something that
lessens possible threat to another person’s face, you are said to be performing a face-saving
act.
Everybody has what Brown and Levinson call a negative face and a positive face. A negative
face is the tendency in a person to be independent and have freedom from imposition. When a
speaker says I am sorry to bother you for instance to someone he is trying to make an enquiry
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from, then he/she has used a face-saving act that emphasizes the addressee’s negative face. A
face-saving act that emphasizes the addressee’s positive face draws attention to a common goal,
eg, such a person is likely going to make a statement such as: You and I have a common problem
or We can do it together.
3.3 Politeness Strategies Brown and Levinson (1987) identified four major types of politeness
strategies, namely
• bald on record
• negative politeness
• positive politeness, and
• off-the-record or indirect strategy.
Bald on record strategies are strategies that do not attempt to minimize the threat to the
hearer’s face. It is commonly used by speakers who know their addressees very closely. With
the bald on record strategies there is a direct possibility that the audience will be shocked or
embarrassed by the strategy. For instance, a bald on record strategy might be to tell your brother
to wash the car, by saying “it’s your turn today.” Positive politeness will attempt to minimize
the threat to the hearers face. This strategy is most commonly used in situations where the
interlocutors know each other fairly well. In many instances attempts are made to avoid
conflicts. For example, a positive politeness strategy might be the request such as, “I know you
are very busy now, but could you please spare me five minutes.” Negative politeness presumes
that the speaker will be imposing on the listener. It is the desire to remain autonomous. For
Instance, a speaker may request this way “I know you just paid your children’s school fees, but
plesae can you lend me N1,000 till the weekend?” The addressee is likely to acceed to the
request if he/she has the means because the request shows a respect for their ability to maintain
autonomy. The final politeness strategy outlined by Brown and Levinson is the indirect
strategy. Here the language is indirect, but the intention is usually clear from the context. For
instance, a request can be made this way “Is there any eatry und the corner?” by someone who
is hungry and wants to eat. This question insinuates that the speaker is hungry and would want
to go and eat, but it is not put so directly.

Assessment
(i) Discuss in details how the concept of face is related to politeness.
(ii) Describe how you would politely make at least ten different requests.
3.4 Politeness Principle

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Politeness Principle is a set of maxims, just like the Cooperative Principle discussed in the last
unit. These maxims were proposed by Geoffrey Leech. Leech observes that participants in
social interactions try to interact in an atmosphere of relative harmony. Below are the maxims.
Tact Maxim: minimize cost to other, maximize benefit to other. The first part of this maxim
aligns with Brown and Levinson’s strategies of minimizing imposition, while the second part
reflects the positive politeness strategy of attending to the hearer's interests, wants, and needs.
For example: “Can you spare me just two minutes please.”
Generosity Maxim: Minimise benefit to self; maximize cost to self. This maxim makes it clear
that to really express politeness in conversation, the speaker should put others first before
him/her. For instance: “Don’t worry, it’s my pleasure to serve you.” Or “Never mind, I’ll do
it.’
Approbation Maxim:. Minimise dispraise of other; maximize the expression of beliefs which
express approval of other This maxim implies that we should make others feel good by giving
them complements and we should not praise ourselves, but rather allow others to do so. This
also implies that we should as much as possible avoid disagreement with others. For instance:
“I know you are good at electronics, can you check what the matter is with this tape recorder?”
Modesty Maxim: Minimise praise of self; maximize praise of others. We should find
opportunities to praise others, while we dispraise self. For example: “I’m so stupid, can you
imagine that I forgot my pen. Do you have an extra one for this exam? I will get one
immediately after the paper”
Agreement Maxim: Minimise disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement
between self and other. This is in line with Brown and Levinson’s positive politeness strategy.
In expressing politeness in conversation, we should avoid disagreement with other people. For
example: “I thought we agreed that you would have to call before setting out to see me.”
Sympathy Maxim: Minimise antipathy between self and other; maximize sympathy between
self and other. One way of expressing politeness is to identify with people by congratulating
them, commiserating with them or expressing condolences when they are bereaved. These,
according to Brown and Levinson shows that we are interested in the welfare of other people.
For example: “I am sorry to hear about your mother’s demise.”

Assessment
Visit any shop where there is service-encounter, like a post office or restaurant and observe
how the people at the counter observe or disregard politeness principle.

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4.0 Conclusion
It is natural for us as we interact to be sensitive to the social situation in which the interaction
takes place. One way of being sensitive to the social situation and cultural practices is to be
polite in our interaction. Politeness is one phenomenon we observe in our daily interactions.
Pragmatists have identified the strategies we use when being polite and the maxims we observe

in the process. Some of such pragmatists include Brown and Levinson and Leech. 5.0
Summary
In this Unit, we examined politeness in conversation. Politeness is a form of behaviour that
helps us to establish and maintain comity and engage in actions in an atmosphere of harmony.
We examined the concept of “face” and how it relates to politeness. We also looked at four
politeness strategies identified by Brown and Levinson (1987). Lastly we learnt that politeness
principle has a set of maxims we adhere to when we are being polite in conversation.

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UNIT 16: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Critical Discourse Analysis?
3.2 Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Linguistics
3.3 Language and Ideology
Self-assessed Exercises
3.4 Conducting Critical Discourse Analysis Research
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
Our speeches and writings are not always neutral. They are products of our social identities,
relationships and ideologies leanings. Language is not an abstract entity. It is related to the
world in which it is produced in the sense that meaning is derived from the historical, social
and political contexts in which a text is produced. The discipline we shall be looking at in this
unit, looks at language beyond the surface text. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), as it is
referred to draws attention to power imbalances, social inequities and the manipulative
tendency people have in discursive practice. In this unit, we shall examine what CDA is, how
language is related to ideology and how we can conduct research in CDA.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following:
• discuss explicitly what we mean by Critical Discourse Analysis
• identify the link between language and ideology
• describe how we can conduct research using Critical Discourse Analysis
3.0 Main Content
3.1 What is Critical Discourse Analysis?
Critical Discourse Analysis is an approach to doing Discourse Analysis that emphasizes the
study of language and discourses in social institutions. It draws on poststructuralist discourse
theory and critical linguistics to focus on how social relations, identity, knowledge and power
are constructed through written and spoken texts in different linguistic contexts. CDA is
founded on the idea that there is unequal access to linguistic and social resources. The discipline
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developed within several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, such as Pragmatics,
Linguistics Sociolinguistics, Sociology, Psychology, Stylistics, Anthropology and
Ethnography. CDA produces insights into the way discourse reproduces (or resists) social and
political inequality, power abuse or domination. CDA focuses on the ways discourse structures
enact, confirm, legitimate, reproduce or challenge relations of power and dominance in society.
Several scholars have worked within the CDA framework on areas such as media discourse,
political discourse, gender discourse, and various institutional discourse, such as hospital
discourse, office discourse and so forth. Later in the course of this module, we shall look at
how to conduct a research using the CDA theory.
3.2 Critical Discourse Analysis and Critical Linguistics
CDA has a strong historical link with an approach developed by a group based at the University
of East Anglia in the 1970s (Fowler, 1981; Fowler, et al, 1979) led by Roger Fowler. This
group was strongly influenced by the work of Systemic Linguistics, combined with stylistic
approaches borrowed from Chomskyan Transformational Generative Grammar and the works
of Roland Barthes and early French semiotics. The earliest and one of the most influential
linguistically-oriented critical approaches to discourse analysis is called Critical Linguistics.
It was concerned with reading the meanings in texts as the realization of social processes,
seeing texts as functioning ideologically and politically in relation to their contexts. This was
very much an approach in which discourse was text, but there was little emphasis on the
production and interpretation of texts, a too ready assumption of the transparent relationship
between textual features and social meanings and a neglect of discourse as a domain of social
struggle or of the ways in which changes in discourse might be related to wider process of
social and cultural change (Threadgold, 2003). CDA therefore, draws on poststructuralist
discourse theory and critical linguistics. It focuses on how social relations, identity, knowledge
and power are constructed through written and spoken texts. The techniques of CDA are
derived from various disciplinary fields, such as Pragmatics and Speech Acts theory, Systemic
Functional Linguistics and Critical Linguistics. Pragmatics and Speech Acts theory see texts
as forms of social action that occur in complex social contexts. Systemic Linguistics shows
how linguistic forms can be systematically related to social functions. CDA uses analytical
tools from these disciplines to address issues on class, power, gender, race and culture.
3.4 Language and Ideology
Scholars working within the field of CDA see a very strong relationship between language and
ideology. The word Ideology is used in many disciplines with different, but overlapping shades
of meaning. Ideology simply refers to attitudes, set of beliefs, values and doctrines with
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reference to religious, political, social and economic life which shape the individual's and
group's perception and through which reality is constructed and interpreted. It is the belief of
scholars in CDA that every instance of language use is produced from an ideological
perspective. According to Taiwo (2007), in most interactions, users bring with them different
dispositions towards language, which are closely related to their social positioning. Kress
(1990) also stresses that the defined and delimited set of statements that constitute a discourse
are themselves expressive of and organized by a specific ideology.

Assessment
(i) Discuss extensively what you understand by the term “Critical Discourse Analysis.
(ii) In what way is Critical Discourse Analysis different from Discourse Analysis?
3.5 Conducting Critical Discourse Analysis Research
Conducting a research in CDA is not exactly like conducting a research in other disciplines.
One thing that should always be behind the mind of a CDA researcher is that a text, either
spoken or written is not neutral. What the CDA researcher seeks to unveil is the ideology
behind every text. A researcher doing a CDA research is also concerned with the way social
power is used in interactions. Generally, the research is concerned with the way social power
is abused to reflect dominance, manipulation, discrimination and every form of inequality.
They are also concerned with how the dominated resist dominance linguistically. The
enactment and resistance of power is central to any research in CDA.
Data collection in CDA research follows the ethnographic methods - the use of tape recorder
and participant observation. For spoken discourse, the tape recorder is used to collect
utterances, which will later be transcribed for the purpose of the research. It is important for
the researcher to observe the interaction. This will enable them to take observational notes,
which would normally help in the interpretation of the data. CDA researchers always focus on
areas such as feminist discourse, which they have observed reflects gender inequality. One of
the key areas to focus on are power differences in everyday conversation between interactants
of different gender, verbal sexual harassment, stereotype and sexual representations of women
in male-dominated discourse, gender inequalities in bureaucratic and professional talk, the
representation of women in the press, and so forth. Another area is political discourse. Scholars
have observed that political discourse, such as campaigns, parliamentary debates, speeches are
full of expressions that show the enactment, reproduction and legitimization of power and
domination. Interactions that reflect inter-ethnic relations are also studied. Scholars, such as

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Teun van Dijk have done a lot of empirical work on discourse and racism showing how
discourse shows one form of resentment or another against racially or ethnically defined
Others. Other discourse genres that have been studied from a critical point of view are medical
discourse, courtroom exchange, education and science, and corporate texts. Data for any CDA
study is subjected to critical analysis looking beyond the words used to see how the text reflects
power dynamics in the society. The researcher, using the utterances looks at the context that
produces the text. The context includes the historical dimension and the cultural practices that
are typically associated with that form of social action.
4.0 Conclusion
The enactment of power in discourse is considered very important as it has implications for the
participants and the interpretation of the discourse. CDA recognizes that those who are
privileged to have access to social power through their wealth, status, knowledge, age, gender
often abuse it in discourse when they interact with people without such power. This has been
shown in gender, political, racist, legal and medical discourse. The goal of CDA is to establish
this fact in discourse.

5.0 Summary
In this unit, we have examined the discipline Critical Discourse Analysis. We looked at how it
originated and the practices. Tracing its origin to the Systemic Functional Linguistics, we
identified CDA as having a very strong link with Critical Linguistics. The concept of ‘ideology’
is very important in CDA because texts are linked to the ideology behind their presentation.
We also looked at the various areas that CDA has employed over the years and how to conduct
research in CDA.

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UNIT 17: DISCOURSE IN USE
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Unit Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 CDA and Written Discourse
3.2 Newspaper Discourse
3.3 Ideology in Newspaper Discourse
3.4 Discourse and Power in newspaper
Self-assessed Exercises
3.5 Applications of CDA to Newspaper Reports
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
The last unit was a kind of introductory one on Critical Discourse Analysis. This unit builds on
the last one by examining in details an aspect of CDA, which focuses on written discourse,
specifically newspaper discourse. A newspaper is a product of the social system in which it is
published. It is therefore expected to mirror the societal values. Despite the claims of
objectivity by journalist, news items are known to be written from the writer’s angle of
judgement. In this unit, we shall see how news also reflect the enactment and reproduction of
social power.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following:

• explain the whole idea of newspaper discourse
• show how ideology is reflected in newspaper discourse
• discuss how women are represented in the Media
• identify how power is enacted in newspaper discourse
3.0 Main Content
3.1 CDA and Written Discourse
Discourse Analysis generally is sometimes associated with speech. But this should not be so,
since language is not just speech. It is also writing as well as non-verbal. Discourse analysis
takes care of everything significant both linguistically and extralinguistically. Written
discourse as we earlier observed is more carefully constructed. Critical Discourse analysts are
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interested in written discourse such as newspapers, other literature and electronic discourse,
such as e-mail, chats, text messages, and so forth. Power is not only enacted in spoken
discourse. Written discourse also reflects the societal power structure. Since writing is meant
for others to read, and in most cases, the writer may not be with the reader, writers try to be
explicit. Writing reflects the mind of the writer and this is not always neutral, because every
writer writes from a point of view, which may not be obvious unless a critical analysis is done.
In this unit, we are concentrating on newspaper discourse, which critical discourse analysts
have found to be a genre rich in what they look for in texts.

3.2 Newspaper Discourse

Newspaper discourse covers a wide range of issues that are connected with newspaper. It
includes such aspects of newspapers as headlines, news reports, editorials, advertisements,
announcements, features and so forth. Any of these aspects can be subjected to a critical
analysis with the view to knowing how much they reflect the use of social power and the
ideologies that underlie their construction. Newspaper headlines are particularly of importance
to critical discourse analysts. Headlines are constructed to catch the attention of readers, so
they employ the use of catchy lexicon selected to arouse the emotion of the reader to read the
news. Any study of different newspaper headlines on a particular issue in the news will note
that each newspaper constructs headlines from different points of view. For instance, let us see
the following likely newspaper headlines on an issue:
19.1 Kano boils again! Twenty killed in Religious Riots
19.2 Religious Riots Erupts in Kano
19.3 Twenty killed in Religious Riots in Kano
19.4 Panic Among non-indigenes in Kano as 20 died in Religious Riots
A critical analysis of these headlines shows that all of them set out to arouse the attention of
readers, but with focus on different aspects of the news. 19.2 will not arouse much emotion as
the other three because it is silent on the number of casualties. In 19.1, the use of the word
again is an indication that riots are regular features in Kano. Note the use of dramatic
expressions like boils, erupts, panic, etc. 19.4 has another dimension to it by focusing on non-
indigenes who are typically the targets of religious riots. This kind of headline may evoke
retaliation in other parts of the country by a people against the group perceived to have attacked
their own people in Kano. In news reports, biases can also be identified, such biases may be in
form of the manipulation in the choice of expressions to either obscure a group or magnify
another. A group may also be painted in bad light, while others are a given a positive image.
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For instance, some scholars have observed that women’s image in the media is not always as
positive as that of men. For instance, women are said to be portrayed more as sex objects and
dependants in advertisements, while men are often portrayed as breadwinners and strong
people.
Newspaper editorials are the opinions of the newspaper on happenings in the location where
the newspaper is published. They are written with some form of bias, which shows the
ideological stand of the owners of the newspaper. An editorial tries to balance issues, but at the
end of the day it is still clear where the interest of the newspaper lies. Just like headlines,
editorials on the same issues can be critically analyzed to determine the ideological standpoints
of each newspaper on such issues and how they have been able to pas across these using some
specific linguistic resources.
3.3 Ideology in Newspaper Discourse
Every instance of language is a reflection of the prevailing discursive and ideological systems
in the society where it is used. Newspaper editors use different linguistic devices to project
their ideological viewpoints and to suit the ideological expectations of their audience. What
then is ideology? Ideology in this context will be defined as a set of ideas or beliefs, which are
held to be acceptable by the creators of a media text. Ideologies are based on a set of beliefs
and attitudes shared by a group, class or society. Such ideologies can be projected in the media
through news, advertisement, editorials and features. For instance, some writings are regarded
as expressing gender imbalance since they tend to portray the female gender in the negative
light.
3.4 Power in Newspaper Discourse
Power in newspaper are expressed is expressed through the news writer and the editorial board.
The news writer expresses his power through their choice of linguistic resources of the
language. One major power expressed through newspaper is the power of persuasion, which is
often used in the construction of headlines. Some headlines are so emotionally-laden that they
could spark up riots as soon as readers set their eyes on them. Editorials also express some
form of power as the board of the newspapers view their opinion on public issues and debates.
Some newspapers are considered elitist, that means they represent the interest of the elites.
Others are considered populist newspapers, representing the interest of the general public,
particularly the less-privileged. Some are pro-government, while others are considered anti-
government. Most anti-government newspapers will always carry headlines that are anti-
government. While pro-government newspapers will carry only news that will paint the
government in positive light. The power of persuasion is also enacted in advertisements.
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Advertisers are careful to choose words that will portray their mind set. Their goal is to
persuade people to buy their products or patronize their services. Due to competition, they
either emphasize what makes their products preferable or what makes other products less
preferable. When advertisers focus on ‘Others’, their aim is to ensure that the image of others
diminishes while that of theirs increases. This is clearly an enactment of power to show
superiority over Others. Paid advertisements are particularly known to struggle for the
expression of power. This is particularly striking in obituaries and remembrance adverts. Since
the media space is open to all those who can afford to pay for its use, some advertiser want to
show that they are different from Others, by looking for striking status symbols. For instance,
it is common in Zambia to see obituaries that will list all the children of the deceased and their
locations, usually outside Zambia., such as UK, Germany, Australia, USA, and so forth. Colour
may also be used to portray power. Full colour advertisements are costlier than black and white
ones. Glossy pages are costlier than newsprint pages. Some Zambian magazines like Ovation
are published in glossy pages with full colour making them affordable to only the Rich. The
news focus is also the Super Rich. Such magazines are published to celebrate the affluent.

Assessment
Select 5 newspaper headlines on similar theme and identify how they differ in their reflection
of the ideological stands of the writers.
3.5 Gender Representation in the Media
Scholars in Media Studies have identified the typical ways women are represented in the
Media. Women are often represented as being part of a context (family, friends, colleagues)
and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role of helper. or object,
passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood. In addition,
representation of women across the Media tend to highlight the following: beauty, sexuality
and emotion. Discussion of women in the media tends to focus a lot on physical beauty to the
near-exclusion of other values. This is clearly seen as stereotyping women in the media, while
the male gender is portrayed in positive light. There is a general belief that the society is largely
patriarchal in nature and until in the recent times women have been marginalized in everything,
including their representation in discourse. When compared with the representation of women,
representation of men in the media seems to be more positive. Representations of men across
all media tend to focus on the following: strength, power, sexual attractiveness, physique and
independence. Male characters are often represented as isolated, as not needing to rely on

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others (the lone hero). Though our focus in this section is on the representation of gender, it is
important to mention that there are other groups represented in the media, which have caught
the attention of scholars. Some other focus on representation in the media in addition to gender
are class, age, race or ethnicity, religion, ability, and so forth. For instance, media scholars
believe that the entertainment industry tend to exaggerate affluence and under-represent the
working class. Likewise ethnic minorities are often stereotyped, while the majority is more
favoured in media reports.
4.0 Conclusion
Research into the discourse of newspaper has shown that the written discourse is also one area
well explored by scholars. Written discourses are not ideologically neutral. Newspaper
discourse ranges from headlines to news and advertisements have their features that make them
to be labeled sometimes as stereotyped discourse against a particular social group. Groups that
have been found stereotyped in the media are women, ethnic minorities, people of a particular
religious belief, the physically challenged, such as the blind, the deaf, the lame, the uneducated,
and so forth.

5.0 Summary
This unit examined how the newspaper, just like any other form of discourse is used as a forum
for enactment of social power in the society. We examined the different aspects of newspaper
where such power imbalances are expressed, such as in advertisement, news reports, editorials,
and features. We particularly focused on gender representation in the media to show the way
the media portray men and women in newspapers.

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UNIT 18: DISCOURSE IN USE (DISCOURSE AND SOCIETY)
Contents
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Discourse and Culture
3.2 Discourse and Gender
3.3 Discourse and Racism
Self-assessed Exercises
3.4 Discourse and Conflict
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
1.0 Introduction
In Unit 19, we looked at discourse in newspapers and how it is used to represent the imbalance
of power in the society. Discourse is a social phenomenon, so the meaning of any form of
discourse can only be traced back to the society in which it evolves. This unit will examine the
various ways discourse is used to reflect and discriminate against the people who belong to the
same culture, gender and race. In addition, we shall also see how discourse is used to engage
in conflict and how it can be used to resolve conflict.

2.0 Learning Objectives

At the end of this unit, you should be able to do the following:
• show how discourse is used to reflect gender and how it is used to discriminate against a
particular gender
• identify the link between discourse and gender
• explain the use of discourse to show bias for people of different race
• discuss the relationship between discourse and conflict
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Discourse and Culture
Discourse and culture are very close in terms of relationship, because discourse is used to
express culture in so many ways. It is always the case that a group of language speakers
constitute a discourse community and their discourse reflects their agreed ways of life. This is
why discourse varies for instance with the context in which it is practiced. We can therefore on
the basis of this identify various kinds of discourse. The classroom discourse, which takes place
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between the teacher and the pupils is characterized by certain discursive practices that set it
apart from other kinds of discourse. For instance, the classroom culture demands that the
teacher initiate the lesson and the pupils respond to their initiation, while the teacher gives the
feedback (see Unit 10). The culture of some discourse types demands strictly that turns are
properly taken, while others do allow interruption. A group of people who have the same ethnic
background share and express the same culture when they participate in discourse. That is why
the Yoruba culture constrains the speaker to behave in a particular way when they practice their
discourse. For instance the norms for greeting differs form one language to another. In Yoruba
, the norm is that a younger male person prostrates when greeting adults, while a younger
female person kneel when greeting adults. From our discussion so far, we have seen that
cultural practices are closely intertwined with discursive practices. Cultural practices are
sometimes expressed verbally, like in the Yoruba use of the honorific forms é or èyin for adults
or people they are not too familiar with. Culture can also be expressed in discourse non-verbally
through gestures. For instance, gaze direction. In the Yoruba culture, young persons being
scolded are not expected to look straight into the eyes of the adult who is scolding them.
Likewise, young children are not expected to stay where adults are discussing or even
contribute to the discussion.
3.2. Discourse and Gender
The study of discourse is oftentimes not complete without examining how Gender affects
discourse and how discourse is used to portray gender (representation of gender in discourse).
Scholars on Feminist Discourse and Gender Studies have identified different ways Gender
shapes discourse. One way of looking at Gender and discourse is to look at the speech of men
and women. Women and men do not speak the same way in the sense that what they talk about
is different. For instance, women often talk about feelings and relationships, their work, and
their family. On the other hand, men talk most often about practical matters, like their latest
computer update, how to repair their car, or even business. Another way is to look at how
women are represented. The general feeling of scholars on Media and Gender Studies is that
women are stereotyped in discourse especially in the Media. Oftentimes they are presented as
sex symbols with the display of sensitive parts of their bodies like their busts, thighs in adverts.
Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following: beauty, sexuality,
emotions and relationship. Women are often represented as being part of a context (family,
friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In drama, they tend to take the role
of helper or object, passive rather than active. Often their passivity extends to victimhood.

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Men on the other hand are represented with focus on the following aspects of masculinity: sex,
power, physique and independence. With these stereotyping, Feminists scholars believe that
women are most times misrepresented and this amounts to discrimination against the female
gender. Men are provided with a larger number of opportunities to present their viewpoints and
shown in diverse role in all areas like administration, law, business, science and technology.
Representation of women varies from negligible to total exclusions and women in certain
accepted professions are interviewed and talked about in the Press. For example women
educationists or women doctors. If they are interviewed for achieving success in a ‘male’
profession, then the article often goes to great pains to point out her ‘femininity’.
3.3. Discourse and Racism
Racism is the expression of any form of prejudice, denial or discrimination against a person or
a group of people on the basis of the colour of their skin, language, customs, place of birth or
any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. Racism is also seen as a
belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race
is superior to others. Racism is often expressed by discriminatory or abusive behavior and
practices towards the members of the supposed inferior races or denial of certain rights to them
on the basis that they are inherently inferior to another or other races. Though racism is often
expressed through actions, such as violence, oppression and denial of legal rights, it has been
observed that racism is also expressed through discourse. Critical discourse analysts have
labeled any discourse that has discriminatory tendencies towards people of other race(s) as
‘racist discourse.’ Racist discourse is not only practised by individuals. It is practised by
institutions, such as government, corporations and educational institutions, which have power
to influence the lives of many individuals. Scholars like Teun van Dijk has been working
extensively on Racism and discourse since 1981. His focus has been on the reproduction of
Racism in the Media, representation of immigrants, racism in elite discourse, the representation
of ethnic minorities in the Press, and so forth.

3.4. Assessment
Discuss at length the relationship between Discourse and Culture
3.5. Discourse and Conflict
The relationship between discourse and conflict is considered to be very important mainly
because conflicts are better managed when discourse is tactically used by those involved in it
and the mediators. On the other hand, conflicts get out of hand when tact is not employed in

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the use of discourse for resolution. A major focus of CDA is the enactment of power in
discourse. Since words are said to be very powerful, they could be used to change behaviour
and societal orientation towards issues. Conflicts arise from time to time among individuals
and groups of people. For instance, ethnic conflicts are quite rampant all over the world.
Conflicts arise in the face of perceived opposition of needs, values and interest. The idea of
conflict ranges from minor disagreement over issues to conflicts that involve the use of force,
termed “armed conflict.” Though scholars in the area of conflict studies have identified some
possible ways of handling conflicts, such as collaboration, compromise and accommodation,
none of these can be done without the use of discourse. Engaging in dialogue and negotiation
around conflict is a major way of resolving conflicts. To dialogue means to tactically use
language or discourse to resolve issues.
4.0 Conclusion
Discourse is a very powerful tool for individuals and the society. It is the means by which we
engage in all forms of social practices. Our discourses represent our individualistic tendencies
and they help us to shape our society. The use of discourse involves the use of different tact to
manage our feelings and those of our listeners.

5.0 Summary
In this Unit, we have examined how we use discourse in the society. Some of the issues
addressed are the ways we use discourse to express our culture, how our gender feature in our
discourse, how gender is represented in discourse, how our prejudices about others who belong
to another races are expressed in discourse and how discourse is used to handle different kinds
of conflicts.

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REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

Brown, G. and Yule G. (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press.

Courlthart M. and Montgomery M(eds.) (1981). Studies in Discourse Analysis. London:

Routledge & Kegan Paul.

Wardhaugh R. How Conversation Works. (1985). Oxford: Blackwell

Grice H.P. (1975). Logic and Conversation: In p. Code and J. Morgen (eds.) Syntax
and Semantics Vol. 3 Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press.

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