Discourse (from Latin discursus, "running
to and from") denotes written and spoken communications:
In semantics and discourse analysis: Discourse
is a conceptual generalization of conversation
within each modality and context of communication.
The totality of codified language (vocabulary)
used in a given field of intellectual enquiry
and of social practice, such as legal discourse,
medical discourse, religious discourse, et
cetera.
In the work of Michel Foucault, and that of
the social theoreticians he inspired: discourse
describes "an entity of sequences, of signs,
in that they are enouncements (énoncés)",
statements in conversation.As discourse, an
"enouncement" (statement) is not a unit of
semiotic signs, but an abstract construct
that allows the semiotic signs to assign meaning,
and so communicate specific, repeatable communications
to, between, and among objects, subjects,
and statements. Therefore, a discourse is
composed of semiotic sequences (relations
among signs that communicate meaning) between
and among objects, subjects, and statements.
The term "discursive formation" (French: formation
discursive) conceptually describes the regular
communications (written and spoken) that produce
such discourses, such as informal conversations.
As a philosopher, Michel Foucault applied
the discursive formation in the analyses of
large bodies of knowledge, such as political
economy and natural history.In the first sense-usage
(semantics and discourse analysis), the term
discourse is studied in corpus linguistics,
the study of language expressed in corpora
(samples) of "real world" text. In the second
sense (the codified language of a field of
enquiry) and in the third sense (a statement,
un énoncé), the analysis of a discourse
examines and determines the connections among
language and structure and agency.
Moreover, because a discourse is a body of
text meant to communicate specific data, information,
and knowledge, there exist internal relations
in the content of a given discourse; likewise,
there exist external relations among discourses.
As such, a discourse does not exist per se
(in itself), but is related to other discourses,
by way of inter-discursivity. Discourses are
also perpetually differentiating toward each
other in time. Therefore, in the course of
intellectual enquiry, the discourse among
researchers features the questions and answers
of What is ...? and What is not. ..., conducted
according to the meanings (denotation and
connotation) of the concepts (statements)
used in the given field of enquiry, such as
anthropology, ethnography, and sociology;
cultural studies and literary theory; the
philosophy of science and feminism.
== The humanities ==
In the humanities and in the social sciences,
the term discourse describes a formal way
of thinking that can be expressed through
language; the discourse is a social boundary
that defines what statements can be said about
a topic.
Discourse can affect the person's perspective;
it is impossible to avoid discourse for any
subject. For example, two notably distinct
discourses can be used about various guerrilla
movements describing them either as "freedom
fighters" or "terrorists". In other words,
the chosen discourse provides the vocabulary,
expressions and perhaps also the style needed
to communicate.
Discourses are embedded in different rhetorical
genres and metagenres that constrain and enable
them. That is language talking about language,
for instance the American Psychiatric Association's
DSMIV manual tells which terms have to be
used in talking about mental health, thereby
mediating meanings and dictating practices
of the professionals of psychology and psychiatry.Discourse
is closely linked to different theories of
power and state, at least as long as defining
discourses is seen to mean defining reality
itself. This conception of discourse is largely
derived from the work of French philosopher
Michel Foucault.
== Formal semantics ==
A discourse representation theory describes
the formal semantics of a sentence using predicate
logic.
== Modernism ==
Modern theorists were focused on achieving
progress and believed in the existence of
natural and social laws which could be used
universally to develop knowledge and thus
a better understanding of society. Modernist
theorists were preoccupied with obtaining
the truth and reality and sought to develop
theories which contained certainty and predictability.
Modernist theorists therefore viewed discourse
as being relative to talking or way of talking
and understood discourse to be functional.
Discourse and language transformations are
ascribed to progress or the need to develop
new or more "accurate" words to describe new
discoveries, understandings, or areas of interest.
In modern times, language and discourse are
dissociated from power and ideology and instead
conceptualized as "natural" products of common
sense usage or progress. Modernism further
gave rise to the liberal discourses of rights,
equality, freedom, and justice; however, this
rhetoric masked substantive inequality and
failed to account for differences, according
to Regnier.
== Structuralism ==
Structuralist theorists, such as Ferdinand
de Saussure and Jacques Lacan, argue that
all human actions and social formations are
related to language and can be understood
as systems of related elements. This means
that the "…individual elements of a system
only have significance when considered in
relation to the structure as a whole, and
that structures are to be understood as self-contained,
self-regulated, and self-transforming entities."
In other words, it is the structure itself
that determines the significance, meaning
and function of the individual elements of
a system. Structuralism has made an important
contribution to our understanding of language
and social systems. Saussure's theory of language
highlights the decisive role of meaning and
signification in structuring human life more
generally.
== Postmodernism ==
Following the perceived limitations of the
modern era, emerged postmodern theory. Postmodern
theorists rejected modernist claims that there
was one theoretical approach that explained
all aspects of society. Rather, postmodernist
theorists were interested in examining the
variety of experience of individuals and groups
and emphasized differences over similarities
and common experiences.In contrast to modern
theory, postmodern theory is more fluid and
allows for individual differences as it rejected
the notion of social laws. Postmodern theorists
shifted away from truth seeking and instead
sought answers for how truths are produced
and sustained. Postmodernists contended that
truth and knowledge is plural, contextual,
and historically produced through discourses.
Postmodern researchers therefore embarked
on analyzing discourses such as texts, language,
policies and practices.French social theorist
Michel Foucault developed a notion of discourse
in his early work, especially the Archaeology
of knowledge (1972). In Discursive Struggles
Within Social Welfare: Restaging Teen Motherhood,
Iara Lessa summarizes Foucault's definition
of discourse as "systems of thoughts composed
of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs
and practices that systematically construct
the subjects and the worlds of which they
speak." Foucault traces the role of discourses
in wider social processes of legitimating
and power, emphasizing the construction of
current truths, how they are maintained and
what power relations they carry with them.
Foucault later theorized that discourse is
a medium through which power relations produce
speaking subjects. Foucault (1977, 1980) argued
that power and knowledge are inter-related
and therefore every human relationship is
a struggle and negotiation of power. Foucault
further stated that power is always present
and can both produce and constrain the truth.
Discourse according to Foucault (1977, 1980,
2003) is related to power as it operates by
rules of exclusion. Discourse therefore is
controlled by objects, what can be spoken
of; ritual, where and how one may speak; and
the privileged, who may speak. Coining the
phrases power-knowledge Foucault (1980) stated
knowledge was both the creator of power and
creation of power. An object becomes a "node
within a network." In his work, The Archaeology
of Knowledge, Foucault uses the example of
a book to illustrate a node within a network.
A book is not made up of individual words
on a page, each of which has meaning, but
rather "is caught up in a system of references
to other books, other texts, other sentences."
The meaning of that book is connected to a
larger, overarching web of knowledge and ideas
to which it relates.
One of the key discourses that Foucault identified
as part of his critique of power-knowledge
was that of neoliberalism, which he related
very closely to his conceptualization of governmentality
in his lectures on biopolitics. This trajectory
of Foucault's thinking has been taken up widely
within Human Geography.
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
M. Foucault (1977). Discipline and Punish.
New York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-394-49942-5.M.
Foucault (1980). "Two Lectures," in Colin
Gordon, ed., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews.
New York: Pantheon.M. Foucault (2003). Society
Must Be Defended. New York: Picador. ISBN
0-312-42266-0.A. McHoul & W. Grace (1993).
A Foucault primer: Discourse, power, and the
subject. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
ISBN 0-8147-5480-5.J. Motion & S. Leitch (2007).
"A toolbox for public relations: The oeuvre
of Michel Foucault". Public Relations Review.
33 (3): 263–268. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2007.05.004.R.
Mullaly (1997). Structural social work: Ideology,
theory, and practice (2nd ed.). New York:
Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-7710-6673-2.Howard,
H. (2017). Discourse 2 [PowerPoint slides].
Retrieved from http://www.tulane.edu/~h0Ward/BrLg/Discourse.htmlB.
Norton (1997). "Language, identity, and the
ownership of English". TESOL Quarterly. Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other Languages,
Inc. (TESOL). 31 (3): 409–429. doi:10.2307/3587831.
JSTOR 3587831.Research as resistance: Critical,
indigenous and anti-oppressive approaches.(2005).
In Brown L. A., Strega S. (Eds.), Toronto:
Canadian Scholars' Press.
S. Strega (2005). The view from the poststructural
margins: Epistemology and methodology reconsidered.
In L. Brown, & S. Strega (Eds.), Research
as resistance (pp. 199–235). Toronto: Canadian
Scholars' Press.
J. Sunderland (2004). Gendered discourses.
New York: PalgraveMacmillan.
== External links ==
Interdisciplinary research portal discourse
analysis. Register and get the news in discourse
analysis.
Beyond Open Access: Open Discourse, the next
great equalizer, Retrovirology 2006, 3:55
Discourse (Lun) in the Chinese tradition.
