ADV Discourse Analysis

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

Description: This is a pre-dissertation level seminar offering training in advanced discourse analysis, with a focus on apologies. The goal is to use discourse analysis to investigate naturally-occurring discourse in any context of interest to students. The class will survey classic and current literature in interactional sociolinguistics, intertextuality, identity and/or other theoretical and methodological issues relevant to seminar members' interests. The class will examine each other's discourse data in workshop format. The goal and expectation is that final papers will be potentially publishable and eventually published.Requirements:Bibliography: Each student will be responsible for finding, summarizing, and commenting on 10 outside readings, and for providing both a one-page written summary and a five-minute oral summary of each outside reading. These readings will form the basis for the literature review section of each student's final paper.Final paper: Each student will conduct an independent research project which will provide the material for workshop-style class analysis; a presentation of pre-final findings; and a final paper of 25-30 pages. Final papers are expected to be of near-publishable quality.Required reading:A reading packet will be assembled to reflect class interests.Recommended reading:Becker, A.L. 1995. Beyond translation: Essays toward a modern philology. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Gumperz, John J. 1982. Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Tannen, Deborah. 2007. Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue and imagery in conversational discourse second edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Other requirements and limitations:Attendance is required. No auditors, no incompletes, no late papers.Prerequisites:Discourse Analysis: Conversation or Discourse Analysis: Narrative; advanced graduate standing or demonstrated interest in a related area; permission of the instructor.