definition of discourse analysis

WHAT IS DISCOURSE?

 Discourse

“Discourse is language-in-action, and investigating it requires attention both to language and to action.“ (Hanks, 1996)

“Wacana adalah bahasa dalam tindakan, dan untuk meneliti hal itu membutuhkan perhatian yang dalam, baik dari aspek untuk berbahasa dan maupun aspek untuk pertindak.” (Hanks, 1996)

• "Discourse in context may consist of only one or two words as in stop or no smoking. Alternatively, a piece of discourse can be hundreds of thousands of words in length, as some novels are. A typical piece of discourse is somewhere between these two extremes."
  (Eli Hinkel and Sandra Fotos, New Perspectives on Grammar Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Lawrence Erlbaum, 2002)
• "Discourse is the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. Language can never be 'neutral' because it bridges our personal and social worlds."
  (Frances Henry and Carol Tator, Discourses of Domination. University of Toronto Press, 2002)

• "Discourse can also be used to refer to particular contexts of language use, and in this sense it becomes similar to concepts like genre or text type. For example, we can conceptualize political discourse (the sort of language used in political contexts) or media discourse (language used in the media). In addition, some writers have conceived of discourse as related to particular topics, such as an environmental discourse or colonial discourse (which may occur in many different genres). Such labels sometimes suggest a particular attitude towards a topic (e.g. people engaging in environmental discourse would generally be expected to be concerned with protecting the environment rather than wasting resources. Related to this, Foucault (1972: 49) defines discourse more ideologically as 'practices which systematically form the objects of which they speak.'"
  (Paul Baker and Sibonile Ellece, Key Terms in Discourse Analysis. Continuum, 2011)

• Discourse
  "'Discourse' is sometimes used in contrast with 'text,' where 'text' refers to actual written or spoken data, and 'discourse' refers to the whole act of communication involving production and comprehension, not necessarily entirely verbal. . . . The study of discourse, then, can involve matters like context, background information or knowledge shared between a speaker and hearer."
  (Meriel Bloor and Thomas Bloor, The Practice of Critical Discourse Analysis: an Introduction. Routledge, 2013)