Journal of Discourse Review
Open Access Humanitarian scholarship
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Open Access Humanitarian scholarship
Time to first decision
Volume: 1 Issue: 1
1 Department of English, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Sonepat, India
*Corresponding author: [email protected]
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7196-5780
Year: 2025, Page: 56-64,
Received: Feb. 17, 2025 Accepted: April 1, 2025 Published: April 22, 2025
This paper explores discourse as both a concept and a methodological tool across various academic disciplines. It explores the theoretical underpinnings and evolving definitions of discourse, highlighting its interdisciplinary nature and post-structuralist roots. The study distinguishes discourse from other linguistic units such as sentence, text, and utterance, emphasizing its focus on language in use rather than language as an abstract system. It further outlines the two major approaches to discourse—formal and functional—highlighting the centrality of context in discourse analysis. Drawing on definitions from linguists and dictionaries, the paper shows how the term discourse has acquired diverse meanings across disciplines like linguistics, sociology, philosophy, feminism, and post-colonial studies. The paper argues that despite this diversity, discourse analysis is unified by its commitment to investigating real, naturally occurring language beyond the sentence level. The paper concludes that discourse analysis enhances our understanding of language by integrating linguistic and extra-linguistic elements, offering practical insights into how language operates in social, cultural, and ideological contexts.
Keywords: Discourse, Discourse analysis, Language in use, Context, Interdisciplinarity, Text, Utterance, Functional approach, Formal approach
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