Discourse Analysis: Approaches to Talk, Action, and Text

This course examines approaches to language phenomena beyond the sentence level. We will study four aspects of discourse, spoken and written, that are relevant to linguistics: the interaction between grammar (e.g. deixis, inflection, tense-aspect) and discourse; functions of larger units of text (e.g. discourse markers, turn-taking, repair, (im)politeness, structure of discourse); functions of text types (e.g. discourse and ideology). Discussion of methodologies: qualitative analysis, use of language corpora, and triangulation approach. Case studies on Slavic languages. Open to concentrators in Slavic Studies and students interested in languages and/or linguistics.