discourse analysis

n. Discourse analysis is the study of the principles underlying the organization of discourse, a unit of language spanning beyond individual sentences. Discourse analysts are predominantly concerned with analyzing language that occurs naturally, rather than language elicited artificially. Methodologically, discourse analysis relies heavily on the transcription of recorded speech and therefore demands careful consideration regarding the way such recordings are to be obtained. Discourse analysis can also be performed on corpora from written sources, including newspapers as well as Internet chat rooms and other such electronic forms of communication. Research on discourse analysis has important applications in areas such as language instruction and human-machine interaction.

- EMF