A groundbreaking collection by leading scholars that spans a broad range of social situations, cultural contexts, and analytic perspectives The contemporary landscape of discourse analysis-which examines spoken, written, and multimodal communication-is so diverse that, as volume contributor Deborah Tannen observes, "discourse" has become almost synonymous with "language" and, for many scholars, extends well beyond it. The ways in which we communicate grow and change and so do approaches to discourse analysis along with the diversity of topics, analytic contexts, and disciplinary foundations. How do we conceptualize discourse? What are the various approaches to studying it? And how can we put these approaches into dialogue? Scholars within the field of linguistics and beyond contribute to this volume with discourse analyses in multiple languages, contexts, and modes. These snapshots show the different ways language is used in modern social situations-from email messages between professors and students, to Twitter activism, to political trolling on online news articles, to video-chats between US doctors and patients. Collectively, the chapters highlight the diversity and complexity of the field. Across these varied approaches, what emerges is a common understanding of communication as fundamentally connected to human agency and creativity and as embedded in and constitutive of our social and cultural worlds. Approaches to Discourse Analysis demonstrates the importance of the diverse perspectives that various approaches to discourse bring to bear on human communication. Linguists and other readers interested in the interplay of language and culture will gain new insight and understanding from this rich compilation.

A groundbreaking collection by leading scholars that spans a broad range of social situations, cultural contexts, and analytic perspectives The contemporary landscape of discourse analysis-which examines spoken, written, and multimodal communication-is so diverse that, as volume contributor Deborah Tannen observes, "discourse" has become almost synonymous with "language" and, for many scholars, extends well beyond it. The ways in which we communicate grow and change and so do approaches to discourse analysis along with the diversity of topics, analytic contexts, and disciplinary foundations. How do we conceptualize discourse? What are the various approaches to studying it? And how can we put these approaches into dialogue? Scholars within the field of linguistics and beyond contribute to this volume with discourse analyses in multiple languages, contexts, and modes. These snapshots show the different ways language is used in modern social situations-from email messages between professors and students, to Twitter activism, to political trolling on online news articles, to video-chats between US doctors and patients. Collectively, the chapters highlight the diversity and complexity of the field. Across these varied approaches, what emerges is a common understanding of communication as fundamentally connected to human agency and creativity and as embedded in and constitutive of our social and cultural worlds. Approaches to Discourse Analysis demonstrates the importance of the diverse perspectives that various approaches to discourse bring to bear on human communication. Linguists and other readers interested in the interplay of language and culture will gain new insight and understanding from this rich compilation.

This fascinating study explores the ways of establishing coherence in the discourse of a thought-disordered patient. Ribeiro analyzes the discourse between a doctor and a patient who is under an acute psychotic crisis, and then later, when the patient is deemed recovered. Ribeiro looks at how the participants jointly establish referential meaning, and how topic coherence is achieved or breaks down. She then considers how the participants convey superordinate messages, metamessages, and how the patient signals and assesses the frame of talk. Ribeiro concludes that psychotic discourse, while incoherent on the level of topic, may be coherent on another level--that of frame. Using sociolinguistic discourse analysis, conversational analysis, and frame analysis, with a dose of theory from contemporary cognitive psychology, Ribeiro's book demonstrates the importance of contextualization in interaction.

This fascinating study explores the ways of establishing coherence in the discourse of a thought-disordered patient. Ribeiro analyzes the discourse between a doctor and a patient who is under an acute psychotic crisis, and then later, when the patient is deemed recovered. Ribeiro looks at how the participants jointly establish referential meaning, and how topic coherence is achieved or breaks down. She then considers how the participants convey superordinate messages, metamessages, and how the patient signals and assesses the frame of talk. Ribeiro concludes that psychotic discourse, while incoherent on the level of topic, may be coherent on another level--that of frame. Using sociolinguistic discourse analysis, conversational analysis, and frame analysis, with a dose of theory from contemporary cognitive psychology, Ribeiro's book demonstrates the importance of contextualization in interaction.