National open university of nigeria school of arts and social sciences

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National Open University of Nigeria Headquarters
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245 Samuel Adesujo Ademulegun Street Central Business District Opposite Arewa Suites Abuja. email centralinfo@nou.edu.nig
URL: www.nou.edu.ng
National Open University of Nigeria First Printed 2010 ISBN All Rights Reserved Printed by …………………………………. For National Open University of Nigeria

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MODULE ONE
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS INTRODUCTORY ASPECTS

MODULE ONE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS INTRODUCTORY ASPECTS
Unit 1: Discourse Analysis An Introduction
Unit 2: Major Concepts in Discourse Analysis
Unit 3: Kinds of Discourse
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
6.0 Tutor-marked Assignment
7.0. References/Further Reading
2.0 Unit 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

14 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 builtin 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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