Discourse Analysis 3700-ISSC-DA-WOR

The aim of this course is to provide insights into how language is used and how meaning is created and negotiated in various social, political, cultural contexts; how the way we use language presents different perspectives on and understanding of the world, shaping opinions and beliefs; how it is involved in maintaining, normalising or privileging some frames of thinking, while marginalising others; or how it is involved in creating social identity.
Discourse analysis has been employed in many fields of studies and a study of discourse requires an interdisciplinary approach as it draws on many disciplines: linguistics, literature, philosophy, cultural studies, sociology, or psychology among others. Several approaches to, definitions and theories of discourse will be presented and discussed, focusing primarily on its relation to modern theories of language and communication, its implication in maintaining or undermining existing norms, social hierarchies, and power structures, or its role in constructing identity (identities) within social contexts.
Analysing a variety of texts (literary works, newspaper articles, political speeches and manifestoes, transcripts of conversations, advertising campaigns, inscriptions and signs present in public spaces, posts on social media etc.), we will focus on register, style, linguistic structures, rhetorical patterns, or diction to reveal underlying attitudes, beliefs, assumptions and ideological frameworks.
Apart from a brief theoretical overview, the course offers practical exercises in various forms of discourse analysis in selected texts that mostly refer to contemporary social, political or cultural issues, developing in students critical thinking and greater consciousness of discursive practices present in various aspects of modern life.