Disourseanalysisisatermwhichhascometohavedifferentinterpretationsforscholarsworkingindifferentdisciplines.Forasociolinguist.itisconcernedmainlywiththestructureofsocialinteractionmanifestedinconversation;forapsycholinguist,itisprimarilyconcernedwiththenatureofcomprehensionofshortwrittentexts;forthecomputationallinguist,itisconcernedwithproducingoperationalmodelsoftext-understandingwithinhighlylimitedcontexts.Inthistextbook,theauthorsprovideanextensiveoverviewofthemanyanddiverseapproachestothestudyofdiscourse,butbasetheirownapproachcentrallyonthedisciplinewhich,tovaryingdegrees,iscommontothemall-linguistics.Usingamethodologywhichhasmuchincommonwithdescriptivelinguistics,theyofferalucidandwide-rangingaccountofhowformsoflanguageareusedincommunication.
Theirprincipalconcernistoexaminehowanylanguageproducedbyman,whetherspokenorwritten,isusedtocommunicateforapurposeinacontext.Thediscussioniscarefullyillustratedthroughoutbyawidevarietyofdiscoursetypes(conversationsrecordedindifferentsocialsituations,extractsfromnewspapers,notices,contemporaryfiction,graffiti,etc.).Thetechniquesofanalysisaredescribedandexemplifiedinsufficientdetailforthestudenttobeabletoapplythemtoanylanguageincontextthatheorsheencounters.
Afamiliaritywithelementarylinguisticsisassumed,buttherangeofissuesdiscussedinconjunctionwiththevarietyofexemplifcationpresentedwillmadethisavaluableandstimulatingtextbooknotonlyforstudentsoflinguistics,butforanyreaderwhoishestoinvestigatetheprinciplesunderlyingtheuseoflanguageinaturalcontextstocommunicateandunderstandintendedmeaning.
Thisbookmakesforabsorbingreading.Itisverywell-written,inspiringandclear.Itisindispensableliteratureforanyoneworkinginthefieldofdiscourseanalysis.JournalofSemantics.