Discourse: A Concept for Information and Communication Sciences

  Discourse is not just a means of expressing thought; it is also an autonomous body, an act through which we aim to achieve a certain effect. Modern linguistics proposes a broader definition of discourse, as a discrete and unique enunciative process, where the speaker or author makes language concrete through speech (in the Saussurian sense), and describes the various acts (oral, illocutionary, perlocutionary) that discourse performs. This book examines discourse, an object of analysis and criticism, from a wide range of perspectives. Among the concepts explored are the contributions of rhetoric in the art of discourse, the evolution of multiple approaches and the main methods of discourse analysis conducted by a variety of researchers. The book deepens our knowledge and understanding of discourse, a concept on which any research related to information and communication can be based.  

Table of Contents:
Preface ix Introduction xiii Part 1. Epistemological Foundations 1 Introduction to Part 1 3 Chapter 1. The Art of Discourse: Rhetoric 7 1.1. Thinking, Speaking Out, Persuading 7 1.2. Ethos, Pathos, Logos 9 1.3. The Rhetorical System 10 1.3.1. Invention 11 1.3.2. The Disposition 14 1.3.3. Elocution 17 1.3.4. The Action 19 1.3.5. The Memory 20 1.4. Contemporary Rhetoric 21 Chapter 2. Discourse Analysis 25 2.1. What Do We Mean By Discourse? 25 2.2. A Diversity of Points of View 27 2.3. The Different Approaches in Discourse Analysis 30 2.3.1. The Enunciative Approach 30 2.3.2. The Communication Approach 35 2.3.3. The Sociolinguistic Approach 38 2.3.4. Interactionist and Conversational Approaches 46 2.3.5. The Pragmatic Approach 52 2.3.6. The Semiological Approach 55 Chapter 3. Interdiscourse 61 3.1. Bakhtin and Foucault 61 3.2. Verbal Interaction 64 3.2.1. Dialogism and Polyphony 64 3.2.2. Further Developments 66 3.3. Sociohistorical Approach 70 3.3.1. The Statement 70 3.3.2. Discursive Formation 71 3.3.3. Discourse Control Procedures 76 3.3.4. The Method of Analysis 84 Chapter 4. Discourse and Communication 91 4.1. The Problem of Communication 91 4.2. Linguistics and Discourse 94 4.3. The Communicability of Sense and Reference 96 4.4. The Communicability of the Force of Discourse 99 4.5. The Communicability of Noetic Intention 101 Part 2. Discourse Analyses Developed in the Information and Communication Sciences 105 Introduction to Part 2 107 Chapter 5. Sociolinguistic Analysis 109 5.1. A Brief History of Discourse Analysis 109 5.2. The Interdisciplinarity of Discourse Analysis 112 5.3. Discourse Analysis and Comprehensive Sociology 116 5.4. Other Approaches to Discourse Analysis 117 Chapter 6. Content Analysis 119 6.1. Production Conditions for Statements 120 6.2. Empirical Description of Attitudes and Opinions 122 6.3. More Linguistic Methods 125 6.4. Taxonomic Analysis 131 6.5. Systematic Analysis 135 6.6. Observation or Experimentation 136 Chapter 7. Documentary Analysis 139 7.1. Representation of the Content 139 7.2. Index and Concordances 141 7.3. Documentary Interpretation 142 7.4. The Syntol System 147 7.5. Metalanguage 148 7.5.1. The Three Components of Metalanguage 148 7.5.2. The Basic Relational Unit 150 7.5.3. The Calculation of Relationships 151 7.5.4. The Procedure for Interpreting a Text 151 Chapter 8. Logometry 153 8.1. What Is Logometry? 154 8.1.1. The Question of the Corpus 154 8.1.2. The Units of the Text 158 8.1.3. Quantitative and Qualitative Tools 160 8.2. The Logometric Approach 164 8.2.1. Logometry, Between Reading and Interpretation 165 8.2.2. The Descriptive and Heuristic Capacity of Logometry 165 8.2.3. Going Beyond the Hypothetical-Deductive Method 167 8.3. Logometric Software 168 8.3.1. Morphosyntax Lemmatizers and Analysers 169 8.3.2. Logometry Software 170 8.3.3. The TXM Platform 171 8.4. Conclusion 172 8.4.1. Number Has Meaning 172 8.4.2. Meaning Comes From Context 172 8.4.3. An Alphanumeric Study of Texts 173 Conclusion 175 References 177 Index of Names 191 Index of Common Terms 195