Aims

At the end of the course, the students should:
- have developed knowledge about the main approaches to discourse and "talk-in-interaction" discourse organisation)
- have developed the ability to transfer theoretical knowledge of discourse analysis to the practical analysis of everyday language situations,
- have acquired a deep understanding of the different current approaches in discourse analysis, that is, how each model defines what "discourse" and "interpretation" is.

Main themes

Discourse analysis studies units "above the sentence" and the way they are organised into coherent texts or dialogues. Discourse is also considered as a social practice. This course gives a brief overview of the increasing attention being paid by linguistics to "speech" (and not only to "sentences"). The course then considers the role of different discourse units in the different levels of discourse organisation: speech act, turn and turn constructional unit, clause, information units (topic, focus), intonative units, etc. Finally, a general overview is given of the Geneva model of discourse analysis and its epistemology.
All theoretical concepts are illustrated with concrete everyday language examples.

The course requires the student's active participation in discussions, and in solving exercise problems.

Content and teaching methods

The course gives an overview of the different theoretical and methodological approaches to spoken discourse.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Evaluation Written exam.

Resources 1. Written outline of the course, 2. Exercises

Other credits in programs